Camp McCoy in the Words of My Uncle: 2020-01-12

Mar 8, 1943

Dear Dad,

How is the weather man using you folks now? The snow out here had gone quite a bit then came the sad part. To-night it is snowing hard with plenty of wind. Very fine snow and guess it will last for awhile.

Gee, I had 3 letters in 2 weeks. You see the 2nd Division (most of them) is at Watersmeet, Michigan, on winter maneuvers. The mail is all going up there first. Guess they forgot us. Hope to have some mail to-morrow. Here is something I'm going to tell you. Don't say much outside. Four boys froze to death at Watersmeet, Michigan. It might have been the lack of air inside the sleeping bags. I can't think that is it because if a fellow wasn't getting air he would come out or open the bag up a little. On the other hand you can freeze and not know it. You're cold at first then you become warm.

A lieutenant turned over in a jeep. I hear he made a mess of himself and has a small chance of living. This is no kids game. You take a lot the outside (people not in the camp or army) knows nothing about. That news won't come out in the paper.

I sent you a card. Told you I stayed in La Crosse. In the U.S.O. building I talked with an old man. He told me this was the worst winter for over 25 years.

I'm going to have it easy some afternoon this week. Going to have my teeth filled. Have the afternoon off.

I came near having K.P. duty the other day. We were in ranks. The Sgt. gave the command "at ease." When you are at ease you place your left foot to one side keeping your right foot in place. You may move your hands, look around but no talking. You can talk when at the command of "rest." Someone talked. The Sgt. is from Texas. He got mad. "All right you guys I gave at ease and I mean I ease. Some of you guys seem to think you can up and talk anytime you like. Just like a God Damn Yankee!" Boy did I burn up. I held in all afternoon. At night when he said fall out and get ready for retreat. I let go.

"Fall out you Damn Yankees and get ready for retreat," I said. The Sgt. turned and looked at me. "What do you mean?" he asked. I started. "Listen Sgt. I don't care if you have one or twenty stripes that bull shit don't go. I might be a G. D. Yankee but I'm proud of it. If you care to be dirty don't forget we Yankees gave you southerners a licken once and we can do it again. Don't think you boys from the south are going to win this war alone. A lot of us northern boys are going to die too. I'm a Yankee and proud of it and no one is going to get away with that stuff without a fight." I said plenty more and walked away. The next day the Sgt. tried to fix it up and said he didn't mean it that way. Guess someone told the Lieutenant about him. I told the Sgt. if I had anything to say I'd tell him to his face, not to someone else. He uses me good now. They'll respect you after you let them know you're no rat. Too bad the South feels that way.

We had a new boy come in from Texas. I was on No.1 gun as gunner and thought I heard a command. Looking around at No. 3 gun I saw a boy down on his back. Then two fellows took him away. We just kept working away. I found out after, he broke his leg. You see, each gun has a gunner and seven cannoneers. The new boy got under the trails when the gun crew swung the trails around. Gosh, you have to work fast. On the run all the time. If you make a wrong move, too bad. That's why it pays to learn even at night on your own time. (Cleve Barkley writes, “The trails of an artillery piece were a pair of long steel appendages that protruded backwards from the under-carriage of the 105mm howitzer gun. When the gun was deployed these were splayed out, like an inverted “V”, to provide stability for the weapon when firing. At the end of each trail was a shovel like device (called spades) which were pounded or dug into the ground to reduce recoil when the gun fired. (In one of the attached photos you will see what looks like a sandbag placed on top of the spades for additional weight.) If the direction of fire was to be changed, soldiers would grab and lift the trails to spin the gun around so it could face the assigned target. This is how “the boy from Texas” got his leg broken; apparently he stumbled or something while maneuvering the gun and the heavy trail came down on him.
When it came time to move the gun a long distance, the trails were clasped together, scissor-like, to form one long piece which was then attached to the trailer hitch of a vehicle (truck/prime mover) by means of a large ring attached to the end of the right trail.” (See attached pictures).
(PS: I, would highly recommend the book In Death’s Dark Shadow: A Soldier’s Story written by Cleve Barkley about his father in the 38th Infantry of the 2nd Infantry Division in WW II.)

105mm howitzer

Guess my rank (grade) for the whole basic training will be up in the 90's. I've worked hard. May move anytime but just don't know where. (It appears he is hearing about his division possibly moving soon, but we know they will be at Camp McCoy for another 7 months. Rumors must have been a common problem.)

Not much more to write about until I get some mail. Good bye Dad, Mother, Helen, Eugene.

Love

Son and brother Charles

*March 2-5, 1943 – Battle of the Bismark Sea, Lea (Pacific Theater)

Troops: USA/Australia 168 aircraft, 10 ships; Japan 6,900 troops, 100 aircraft, 16 ships.

Casualties (Killed/Wounded/Missing): USA/Australia 13, 6 aircraft; Japan 2,890, 20 aircraft, 12 ships. American and Australian aircraft destroy convoy of Japanese troops heading to New Guinea after intelligence of destination and timing proves accurate. Of 6,900 Imperial Japan troops heading out, only 1,200 made it to Lae.

More information: https://www.thoughtco.com/world-war-ii-japanese-stopped-2361458

^^Mar 3 Bomb fleeing crowd falls into London shelter; 173 die

^^Mar 4 Transport #50 departs with French Jews to Maidanek/Sobibor.

Majdanek, or KL Lublin, was a German concentration and extermination camp built and operated by the SS on the outskirts of the city of Lublin during the German occupation of Poland in World War II. Although initially purposed for forced labor rather than extermination, the camp was used to kill 78,000 people on an industrial scale during Operation Reinhard, the German plan to murder all Jews within their own General Government territory of Poland. The camp, which operated from October 1, 1941, until July 22, 1944, was captured nearly intact, because the rapid advance of the Soviet Red Army during Operation Bagration prevented the SS from destroying most of its infrastructure, and the inept Deputy Camp Commandant Anton Thernes failed in his task of removing incriminating evidence of war crimes. Therefore, Majdanek became the first concentration camp discovered by Allied forces.

^^Mar 6 Battle at Medenine, North Africa: German Field Marshall Rommel's counterattack. The Battle of Medenine, also known as Operation Capri (Unternehmen Capri), was an Axis spoiling attack at Medenine in Tunisia on 6 March 1943. The operation was intended to delay an attack by the British Eighth Army on the Mareth Line. The British had been forewarned by Ultra decrypts of German wireless communications and rushed reinforcements from Tripoli and Benghazi before the Axis attack, which was a costly failure. General Erwin Rommel, the commander of Army Group Africa (Heeresgruppe Afrika), could not afford to lose forces needed for the defense of the Mareth Line and the effort was abandoned at dusk that day.

Field Marshall Erwin Rommel

^^Mar 7 Major General George Patton arrives in Djebel Kouif, Tunisia.

Major General George Patton

**March 8-13 – WWII: American forces are attacked by Japanese troops on Hill 700 in Bougainville, in a battle that lasts five days.

^^Mar 8 335 allied bombers attack German city of Nuremberg, a center for military production.

^^Mar 12 Soviet troops liberate Wjasma. A town and the administrative center of Vyazemsky District in Smolensk Oblast, Russia, located on the Vyazma River.

^^Mar 13 United States Baseball approves official ball (with cork & balata: the dried sap of the balata tree, used as a substitute for rubber)

^^Mar 13 Failed assassin attempt on Adolf Hitler during Smolensk to Rastenburg flight. Time-bomb in Hitler’s plane fails to explode, on flight from Smolensk to Rastenburg, planted by Maj.-Gen. Henning von Tresckow and Lt. Fabian von Schlabrendorff.