POST SEVENTY-EIGHT ("The Letter from Tomah Sharing the News") 19 SEPTEMBER 1943

Less than two weeks before leaving Camp McCoy

September 19, 1943

Sunday Evening

Dearest Mother, Dad, Brother & All,

    Here I am in Tomah at Marian's house. Had a nice dinner and also supper. I asked Marian what she thought about me writing this letter and she said I should. Here it is.

    Now, Mother dear, keep your chin up and don't forget you have someone to lean on in times of troubles. I know you pray and your prayers will always follow me no matter where I go. Mother dear, I may move, although I'm not sure it may be overseas. Don't worry, Mother dear, I'm coming back because your prayers will bring me back home. I'm O.K. and feel fine. I've got my chin up, shoulders back and marching straight forward like a good soldier. Please don't take it hard dear. I'm coming home soon. It won't be long now. Next week is like a black cloud on the horizon, but I'm ready because I have the grandest Mom in the world going with me even if I can not see her beside me. You know the old saying, "For Mother's prayers will follow me. Will follow me the whole world through." After to-night my letters I send may be censored. Give my love to my family and my friends. Good bye, Mother, Good bye, Dad, also brother and sisters.

P.S. I love you, Mother. Love and Kisses to All. Charles.

I was choking back tears as I wrote this letter this evening. It had to have been one of the hardest letters he would ever have to write. He must be scared but is also assured his mother's prayers, my grandmother's prayers, will bring him back home. 

I was also moved to know he had shared this news with Marian and had spent time with her and asked her what he should do about writing the letter to the mother he loved so very much. I know without a doubt Uncle Charlie and Marian's relationship was completely platonic. He knew and had said several times marriage would never be a possibility for them. However, I can see Marian sitting beside my uncle as he wrote this letter and even holding him in her arms while tears may have flowed down both their cheeks. By the postmark on the envelope, it is clear the letter was sent from Tomah, Wisconsin.

Even after going overseas Marian and Uncle Charlie would write letters to each other and Marian would even write to Uncle Charlie's mother at least once. I don't know when the letters stopped, but I know Marian gets married to Bernard Sauer a month after my uncle was discharged from Camp Swift, Texas in October 1945. So sometime a letter must have been sent from Marian about her engagement.

We are, however, two years from those dates. The evening of September 19, 1943, at Marian's family home, Uncle Charlie writes the letter that would have a major impact on many lives in Wisconsin and Maine. I am thankful my uncle had Marian in this time of his life where he could have been completely open and honest to share with someone how he was feeling as the "black cloud on the horizon" was moving closer to him and his future.

Marian and her family

 ^^Sep 17 Load of "ammunition in transit" explodes at 

 Norfolk, Virginia Naval Air Station 

 Norfolk, Virginia Naval Air Station

 Norfolk, Virginia Naval Air Station

^^Sep 17 Soviet city of Bryansk is liberated from Nazis.

   Bryansk is liberated from the Nazis

  MEMORIAL  

Lonestar - I'm Already There (Soldiers Tribute)

POST SEVENTY-SEVEN ("Boy, Did I Get A Hair Cut!!!") 17 SEPTEMBER 1943

ONLY TWO WEEKS LEFT

MILITARY POLICE HEADQUARTERS Camp McCoy

September 17, 1943

Dear Mother,

    One day gone by which leaves it one day closer to coming home. You may be sure I'm longing with all my heart for that day. 

     Gee, Mom, I got a nice long letter from Helen to-day.  She said, "I never thought Joe and I could get along so good. I've yet to have our first spat." She sure wrote as if she was happy. She also told how good you and Dad had used her and Joe both. I guess she realizes now that she has a chance to look back and think it over. She guessed she had many times left a lot of work for you to do when she may have helped out. Mom, she wrote so nice about you and Dad both. I know she sees now how much and also how good you both used them. Told how she would look at the new flag while sitting on the porch in the evening and think of her brother fighting for freedom, that she and Joe both were looking for me  to come home. She wrote Joe sent brother his love. Gee, it was swell. (It will be almost two years before Helen and Joe will see Uncle Charlie and for him to see home again.)

    You should see the haircut I had to get to-day. It had to be about a half  inch long, not over 1 inch and clippers on the sides. (no longer than 1.27 to 2.54 cm long) Boy, you wouldn't know me. It's a fact, Mother, I ran the comb backward, forward, crosswise and then messed it all up with my fingers but one way looked as good as the other. I can comb it as well with my fingers as I can with a comb. If I could only give the Indian war whop like Dad, I could scare a man to death. You don't know what I look like. Well, I had to get it. ( Yes, my dear Uncle, you did, because you are heading some place where you will need to make a war cry.)

    That black iron thing you found was a used hand grenade. It was one used for practice. (must have brought it home when on furlough) Someday I am going to paint it for a souvenir, either black or O.D. Don't think because it's small that baby isn't bad medicine. That little thing will blow the track off a big tank if thrown into it. Yes, Dad, was right. You can use it for a mine, although it's not a mine. You also can rig up booby traps with it in a thousand different ways.  

    As for the picture, are you able to find any of the boys by looking at the back? I wrote quite a few in my letters. I wondered if you could find the ones I was writing about? Some fellows are rough but a lot only think they're hard, just wise guys. You can always bring them down to your size. I'd be willing to take a licking trying it on some of those guys. (Now, Uncle Charlie, whose talking like a wise guy in this letter? Trying to impress your dear mother?) So you like the picture. Did I tell you "Baby Hays" broke his ankle? Can you find him? He's a pretty good fellow from Chicago. If you have that frame cut down, have a good job done and I will pay for it. (The frame must never got made because I found the picture in the original tube it came in.)

    I think you wrote that Jake Rogers was going into the army. Gee, that sure will be hard on him. He gets so nervous and excited. It must be hard to leave a wife and a little baby behind. Oh, if only this war would only end. If you could only picture in your mind what I have seen. Mother, in plain words, "It's Hell." It surely changes a man's life.

    Gee, Mom, wish I could get ahead not because I like it but so many boys back home are. I feel I should do partly as good as they. Other mothers tell, my boy is a Sgt., my boy is a Cpl., mine's a S/Sgt. and my boy is going to school. Your boy, Mom, has got one - just one stripe ^ a P.F.C. (In his discharge papers it states he was Private for 3 months, a Gunner Corporal 29 months and a Sergeant for two months. I know he became a Sgt. when he returned to the States and went to Camp Swift to train new recruits in preparation of the war with Japan.) Guess I got a bad break. Oh well, the main thing is to get back home. I could do it if they let me. One fellow was just in here talking with me. He said the other day when I made that direct hit with the bazooka he almost shit his pants. He was so glad. Most of the fellows were non-coms (a noncommissioned officer) or fellows with a few stripes. I shot the second best hit of all (out of the 16 that had been chosen to shoot the bazooka.) You see most all the rest of the battery was back on the hill watching us fire. Some of the guys do something then go around patting themselves on the back. Just big kids with a few years of education. That damn Spic (Davila) backed out. Guess he got cold feet and was afraid. Someday I'm going to have trouble with him. I'm just waiting my chance. (Uncle Charlie (and others) has been having trouble with Davila since March when this Corporal came in to replace the Sgt. of Uncle Charlie's gun unit who had been seriously injured. Uncle Charlie had been told by a S/Sgt. that the Battery Commander was considering making Uncle Charlie the Gunner Corporal. They knew there were problems with Davila. Maybe that is why my uncle was stated as a Gunner Corporal on his discharge papers for 29 months because maybe the paperwork had got lost and was discovered while he was at Camp Swift.)

    Well, Mom, guess this will have to do for to-night. Give my love to Dad and brother.

                        

                       Love, 

                            Charles

INSIDE TODAY'S ENVELOPE

C.D.K         CAMP McCOY

 

^^Sep 16 Montgomery's 8th army contacts invasion – arm forces at Salerno

Montgomery's 8th army contacts invasion – arm forces at Salerno

^^Sep 16 Soviet army under General Vatutin reconquer Romny a city in northern Ukrainian Sumy Oblast. It is located on the Romen River.

General Vatutin

*September 3-17, 1943 – Invasion of Italy ENDS – European Theater

More information: https://www.thoughtco.com/invasion-of-italy-2360451

MILITARY HAIRCUT

MAYBE SOMETHING LIKE UNCLE CHARLIE'S

POST SEVENTY-SIX ("Burned Gloves But Still Hits Target") 16 SEPTEMBER 1943

 

16 DAYS BEFORE CAMP SHANKS, NEW YORK

CLAUDE DAIGLE'S HOME. UNCLE CHARLIE COULD SEE FROM

HIS HOME IN GORHAM, MAINE. POTATO FARMER

^^Sep 15 Benito Mussolini forms a rival fascist government in northern Italy under Hitler’s regime called the Italian Social Republic historically known as the Republic of Salò.

Hitler and  Mussolini

Mussolini's last stand as he forms the fascist 

puppet state of Germany in Northern Italy

^^Sep 15 Concentration Camp Vaivara in Estonia opens. Vaivara was a concentration and transit camp in northeast Estonia. It was apparently established in 1943 as a camp for Soviet prisoners of war. From August 1943 until February 1944 it was the main branch of 20 forced labor camps located throughout Estonia. Some 20,000 Jews from Latvia and from the Lithuanian ghettos of Vilna and Kovno were brought to Vaivara, where they were kept before being sent on to the labor camps. For that reason, Vaivara was considered a transit camp. https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/vaivara

Deportees in a Truck

Mass Murder at One of the Concentration Camps

^^Sep 15 Concentration Camp Kauwen in Lithuania opens

Republic of Salò

Italian Social Republic Recruitment Poster, 1944
And you... what are you doing 

Italian Social Republic Map - Also Called Salò

M9 Bazooka Anti tank Rocket Launcher

2 minutes

WW2 U.S. Army Bazooka 8 minutes

POST SEVENTY-FIVE ("A Letter Full of Questions") 15 SEPTEMBER 1943

Enlisted Men Barracks

17 DAY BEFORE ARRIVING AT EMBARKATION

PORT AT CAMP SHANKS, NEW YORK

 

September 15, 1943

Dear Mother,

    Have just come off walk post but before trying to catch a wink of sleep will not forget your letter. Hope you are feeling well, that goes for all the rest at home. It leaves me in good health.

    I sent Flavilla and Waneta a letter and also one of those 2nd Division emblems on shoulder patches. (An Indianhead patch)

    Have you heard any more about the bear story?

    You know, Mom, I answered Dot Lawrence's (Anderson) (His Uncle Dave's daughter) letter right after she wrote me. It's been a long time ago but she has never sent another word. Is her address the same?

    I also wrote to Grammy (his mother's mother) and sent her a couple of snaps of me. Do you ever get any mail from Uncle David and the folks up there? (In Bridgton, Maine, about 35 miles from the Knight homestead in Gorham, Maine. Grammy York moved to live with her son after her husband died in 1942. You will read in this letter Uncle Charlie asking if the house has been moved across the street. He was referring to the small house his Grammy and Grandpa York used to live in that was on the property of the Knight homestead.)

    Dan just came in and wanted to know if I cared for a sandwich. He slipped out and walked up to the Service Club and he had a couple of sandwiches in his pocket. He's walking post next to me so I guess the next time we have post we'll have something to eat.

    It's not very warm to-night. Hope it warms up a little to-morrow. 

    Have they moved the house across the street? It really feels it will make home look better. Things won't look so crowed.

    When will Mr. Daigle go to Florida? How are they coming with potato digging? Has Dad got his fall work done? Hope you get plenty of potatoes. Did you get a lot canned this year? With the family you have now, it won't take much. Remember the year you had so many blueberries? Did I tell you Mr. Thomas wrote me a nice long letter?

    Mom, I just can't think of any news to-night. Guess I'm quite tired. I seem a little shaky all over. Maybe some sleep that won't be much will help out. So I'll say so long for to-night. Try to find a few lines to write to you to-morrow.

                                        Love to All,

                                           Charles

2nd Infantry Division Emblem

Mentioned in Letter

Service Club Dan Went for Sandwiches

^^Sep 14 The New York Yankees clinch American League #14 in u-United States baseball. They will win their 10^th World Series in October 1943.

1943 NEW YORK YANKEES

                  Civilian Defense Poster, Pre-Season Championship Double Header Baseball Benefit Games,1943.                          Mayor LaGuardia Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

1943 ALL-STAR WAR BOND CAME

1943 ALL-PACIFIC RECREATION FUND

            1943 All-Pacific Recreation Fund Program at Wrigley Field. Wrigley Field played                      host on August 21, 1943 to a benefit baseball game between the Baseball-Service All-Stars and the Los Angeles-Hollywood team of the pacific Coast League. Proceeds went to benefit the war effort.

1943 WORLD SERIES

1943 World Series matched the defending champion

St. Louis Cardinals against the New York Yankees

                                                   

A Championship Legacy 1943