Category: Letters

2nd letter to parents that day

Dec 28,1944

Dear Family,
   Since I have a little more time today I’ll try to get off what’s on my mind. I hope both of today’s letters get there at the same time. I’ll finish on the mail situation. Guess that’s about the biggest thing on my mind now. In the box Leila Leake sent me she had made some cookies the size of a No. 2 can and had canned them up. If you could find out how she did it lots of things might be sent in that way. They sure were good. If they don’t have to be heated to be sealed maybe you could make some home made candy in small pieces and send it that way. Even individually wrapped pieces of boughten candy could be sent. Fruit cakes come through alright but of course they aren’t my favorite form of amusement. Any goodies that can be shipped no matter  what they are are appreciated. Yours and Grandma’s box caught up with me in the U.S. or I’m afraid the marshmallow would not have been good. Once in a while we get stuff similar to the can of fruit cocktail but even that is good. Some of the boys are asking for boxes of candy but I doubt if they arrive in very good shape. If the bulk of our Christmas packages ever arrive I’ll get more ideas.
Love,  Donald

Hello Folks,
    Our mail situation seems to be messed up as usual so if these letters I write take a good while to get there you’ll have to understand. Since these Vmails are furnished for us, it saves us the worry of carrying stationary so I hope you don’t mind getting them. I’m well and happy as can be expected. I think I’ll try to give you a little information about packages. If you have sent the wristlets and helmet by first class mail it should be here before long and I’m glad of that. I’d like the pocket knife I asked for to be sent in a similar manner and also a good tough watch strap. You’ll have to keep in mind that the packages that are sent regular mail take a long time to get here that anything important should not be sent that way. Too many things can happen in four or five months. Since we don’t even have our duffle bags now, we must carry in our pockets anything we get. So we must either put what we get to immediate personal use or eat it up. Anything to eat that would add a little variety to those plain overseas rations would be greatly appreciated. I have a few suggestions to give you before long. God be with you all.
      Love,  Donald

From 346th Infantry:

The short respite from fighting came to a halt on December 21, as orders were received instructing the outfit to leave its present mission and proceed to locations near Obergailbach, Neidergailbach, and Bliesbruck, France. Here two Battalions relieved the First and Third Battalions of the 320th Infantry of the 35th Division at 1200 hours. The men climbed into their defensive foxholes at dusk and prepared for the attack the next morning.

WE LEAVE THE SAAR –  On the 23rd of December orders calling for another move puzzled everyone but were carried out the next morning. The nature of the change was not known at the time. Christmas Day was celebrated by a special turkey dinner and church services for all the troops. It was a far cry from Hometown, U. S. A. But there was turkey and holy thoughts and a chance to imagine and dream of the family. However, the brief celebration was interrupted in mid-afternoon by an order to move on to a new area.

Under bitter weather conditions, the convoy crossed the IP shortly after dusk and not too long thereafter was bombed and strafed resulting in the injury of three D company men. That Christmas night will remain in the memories of those who experienced it for some time to come, etched there by intense suffering from the agonizing cold, cramped quarters and utter fatigue. But notwithstanding, the Regiment arrived at the Assembly Area, ten miles east of Reims, France, at 0900 hours the next morning.

From: An Historical and Pictorial Record of the 87 Infantry Division in WWII:

On December 13 the Germans launched their Ardennes offensive into Belgium. On December 23 orders were issued for the 87th Division to break contact with the enemy in the Saar region, turn its sector over to another division and get going to Belgium in a hurry. The movement in three stages to Dieuze, to a forest near Reims, to the vicinity of Seviscourt and Bertrix, Belgium, a total of over 350 miles, was accomplished with the loss of only five days fighting time for the Division.

Christmas Day

Hello Everyone,
   I sure hope you are having a Merry Christmas. To tell the truth, although it may not seem so, this has turned out to be a very wonderful day for me. I hate to always seem to be keeping secrets but, of course, I can’t explain the circumstances now. I’ll probably remember this particular day so if you’ll ask me about it later, I’ll tell you about it! Compared to how we might have spent today it is truly a work of God to be able to spend Christmas in this crude fashion. We have already got mail once today and before the day is over a few packages may come. I got the Christmas card and letter that you wrote Dec. 13. I generally have to destroy my mail as soon as I get it but this one today did me so much good that I think I’ll try to find some place in my pocket for it. To make the day complete we are having a worship service and turkey for dinner. Sorry I haven’t been able to write more but I’ve been getting mail every couple of days. Use Vmail. The other takes about a month.
God be with you all,  Donald

Dec 18,1944

Dear Folks,
   This will likely get there at the same time as the one I wrote yesterday but I hope you don’t mind. I’ve thought of a few more things I want to tell you.
   I can tell you that I saw Metz and you can get a way general idea of where I have been. The places in the central part of France weren’t torn up too badly but things here like the coast are in bad shape.
   I am praying that it will be possible for Christmas to go on as nearly as normal back there as possible. We had a church service yesterday more because we had a chance then because it was Sunday. As I started to say we sang Christmas hymns and the chaplain preached an appropriate sermon so it gave us a little holiday feeling. That’s almost the first it has even entered our minds. Its a good thing that the bulk of our packages arrived while we where back in England where we had time to enjoy them. Don’t send my Bible because I couldn’t take care of it.
   Let’s put our complete trust in the Lord to bring us together again soon. Complete faith is the only way I can endure conditions like this. Don’t worry about me but just continue praying. I’ll write again as soon as I can.
Love,  Donald

No further letters were received from Donald until the one dated December 17, 1944. Here are some background details of his service during that period.

From 346th Infantry:

On December 4th, the trucks were loaded in preparation for the movement, and on the following day at 0400, the organizational vehicles departed for Metz, France; the personnel of the Regiment entrained at Critot, France. December 7th found the troops billeted in Metz where the signs of war were still freshly in evidence. Metz had taken a beating from General Patton’s Third Army not too many days before, but there were still snipers and at night the boom of American artillery pieces shelling the forts still occupied by the enemy near the city gave the men and inkling of what was to come four days later. The 9th of December found the Regiment at the town of Kalhausen and a night of sleeping in the snow. On 10 December the Regimental CP was set up at Achen and orders were received to relieve the 104th Infantry Regiment of the 26th Division at dawn, 11 December, 1944.

FIRST COMBAT IN SAAR BASIN
At 0930 hours it was over the top and a few minutes later the men of the Regiment were combat veterans. The Second Battalion was on the right, the Third Battalion [Donald’s] on the left and the First in reserve as the attack plowed through the mud and heavy fire from tanks and pill-boxes. The Second Battalion was hardest hit as the initial assault fell slightly short of its target. A lot of mistakes were made as was to be expected, but the experience and valuable combat information gained from this first day of battle far outweighed the errors. The next day found the attack shifting in the direction of Rimling, France. Two days of bitter fighting carried the troops slowly toward the town objective. Not only were the front line troops catching it, but the enemy had located the Regimental CP set-up in the town of Gros-Rederching and were giving it a heavy artillery shelling. Morale was low, casualties high and the weather was proving almost as formidable as the enemy. Finally on the evening of the 13th, the attack had moved up far enough to allow patrols to be sent into Rimling itself.

Dawn found the Second and Third Battalions jumping off on the final assault of the town and the complete capture of Rimling took place around noon. Resistance stiffened and in the early morning hours of the following day the First Battalion was called upon to repulse a surprise counter-attack in their sector. Air support in the form of twelve P-47’s flew over on a strafing mission, and at 1425 hours of December 15th, the Regiment led by Charley Company crossed the German Border. The troops were located in the vicinity of Erching, France and Guiderkirch, France. Col. Travis, commander of the Third Battalion, was wounded in the assault and his command was taken over by Major Reilly. At the end of the day the Regiment was relieved by the 345th for a well-earned breathing spell and the men had a chance to think things over and take stock of themselves. They had weathered four days of combat and although they had suffered many casualties, their combat efficiency was rated officially as “very satisfactory.”

For next few days the Regiment was given the mission of defending its own Regimental Area which meant a rest and a chance to clean both men and weapons. On December 16, Col. Costello was relieved of command of the Regiment and Col. Richard B. Wheeler from the 35th Division assumed command of the 346th.

Dec 17,1944

Dear Mother and all,
    I sure hope everything is OK back there. I know that by the time this gets there you’ll be very anxious to have heard from me but this is the best I could do. We got mail today for the first time since we left England and we sure had a celebration reading it. I got seven letters from you and three others. They were dated  from Nov. 17 to Dec. 4 and it sure was worth several months' pay to get them. We may get more mail this evening or tomorrow and I’ll try to get at least one more letter written while I have the opportunity. Your sweater and knot helmet that you sent will be very useful now if they get here. I hope (and we may) that we’ll get mail every few days now. You’ll just have to spread the news around that you heard from me because I sure doubt if I’ll get to write anyone else. I guess about all you can tell them is that I’m very busy and am OK.
   It’ll be after Christmas when you receive this but it’ll be my only opportunity or at least my nearest one to wish you the best of holiday wishes. And even more than that I want to wish God’s blessings upon you. In a situation like this I am wholly dependent upon Him so I ask interest in your prayers.
Your loving son & brother,  Donald