Camp McCoy in the Words of My Uncle: POST FORTY-EIGHT (9 MILE SURPRISE) 24, 25 JUN 1943

June 24, 1943

Thursday Evening

Dear Mother,

Another note to-night. Hope you are still keeping your chin up. Give Dad a poke on the chin to see if he is keeping his up.

I wrote you last night about the hike we were taking this morning. Well, I may be a damn Yankee but I gave them a go for their money. We started out and stayed together for five miles. Then some of them started falling out. The Lieutenant told those that could go ahead to strike out. A lot of them went ahead. I waited a few minutes then I opened up. I passed one after another. Each time I'd pass someone he tried to keep up for awhile, then fall back. I came in 4th in 1 hour 34 minutes. The three ahead made it in 1 hour 31 minutes. How is that for making 9 miles (1 hour 34 minutes)? Came in rested for an hour, had breakfast, rested another hour then went to work. On top of that you can't guess what I'm doing to-night. Walking guard duty all night, then fall in with the Battery to-morrow morning. Guess they think a man is a Jack--s. My right leg near my the hip has a hard muscle in it. Hope it don't get stiff. One fellow even cut across trying to beat me, they got him. I just keep my mouth shut but it sure makes them mad. You know, Ma, "I'm a Yankee Boy" Ha! Ha! They figure you lose at least 5 pounds on a march like that.

I got just a short note from Flavilla to-night. It was a postcard or a card inside an envelope. She didn't say very much because it wasn't very long.

Gee, it is hot to-night. Boy oh boy, I'm all wet now.

We had a few strawberries for dinner to-day. No taste at all. Have you had any yet? (His dad grew his own strawberries and sold them beside the road. Uncle Charlie knew how fresh strawberries tasted.)

I see from a clipping I had sent me that the apple crop in Maine took quite a loss due to the heavy hailstorm. Hailstones 2 inches thick.

How is everything at home? Are the pigs growing good? Guess I'll sign off now. Say Hello to all for me. Good Night Mom, Dad, Helen, Eugene, Joe.

Love,

Charles

June 25, 1943

Friday Noon

Dear Mom,

Hurray!!!! At last I am coming home anytime now. Boy oh boy. I'll telegram when I leave so you can meet me in Portland. Let me know if you can't or if I don't see you there I'll call by phone from Portland. I might leave before your letter gets back. All I have to do now to get my furlough is a 25 mile hike in 8 hours. Don't you think for a minute I won't make it.

Later- I got your letter before putting this in the mail. Hold everything and I'll tell you all about my suit later.

Gee, I'm glad you sent that picture. I'll bring it home when I come.

You didn't say much about the rest of the box except the picture. Ha Ha I'm glad you liked it. How much did it cost to send it?

All I want you to do is tell Dad - Helen - Eugene - Joe tell them all I am coming home.

Love

Your Son

Charles

Reichsführer Arthur Seyss-Inquart
*Reichskommissar in the Netherlands,
orders mass arrests of Dutch physicians.

*Crematorium 3 at Auschwitz-Birkenau is finished.

The Crematorium II and III buildings contained a gas chamber and furnaces for burning corpses. Several hundred thousand Jewish men, women and children were murdered here with poison gas, and their bodies burned. The bodies of Jewish and non-Jewish prisoners who died in the concentration camp were also burned here. According to calculations by the German authorities, 1,440 corpses could be burned in this crematorium every 24 hours. According to the testimony of former prisoners, the figure was higher. The gas chamber and Crematorium II functioned from March 1943 through November 1944.

https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/crematoria-and-gas-chambers-at-auschwitz-birkenau

*The eradication of Jews in the Soviet Ukrainian city of Stanislav (now Ivano-Frankivsk) was completed, with less than 100 surviving out of several thousand.

The Jewish cemetery of Ivano-Frankivsk is a shocking location. The terrain is huge, but it is largely empty. Here everything has been systematically destroyed during the German occupation. We see several memorials for people who are buried here in mass graves or were deported from the local ghetto to be murdered at other places. At several spots we see large piles of grave stones, which obviously came to light during construction works in the city and were brought here. https://vanishedworld.blog/2013/05/07/from-ivano-frankivsk-to-stryi/