02 January 1944

No letter today. Just this:

Route of the Question Mark


CLICK TO ENLARGE PICTURES

(A) Failon to (B) Aisne, Belgium (16 miles)
23 December 1944 to 2 January 1945

January 2... Aisne. The cold uncomfortable houses, the mess-hall by the stream, and the CP a mile away from everything. The miserable inhabitants of this town, and the half-man, half-woman stalking around with a brick under his or her arm. The epidemic of colds, and Capt [Stanley A.] SARGENT using all his maps to keep us informed of the progress of the battle.

Aisne, Belgium with Stream
(From Google Maps)

* TIDBIT *

about Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsay

Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsay

Born in London into an old Scottish family on 20 January 1883, Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsay entered the Royal Navy in 1898 and saw extensive service during World War I. Reaching Flag rank in 1935, he retired three years later. Coaxed back by Winston Churchill in 1939, he was promoted to Vice Admiral and given command at Dover. In this position, he masterminded the British evacuation from Dunkirk in May-June of 1940. Within the underground tunnels beneath Dover Castle, he and his staff worked for nine days straight to rescue troops trapped in France by the German forces. “Operation Dynamo” lasted from 26 May to 4 June 1940 and evacuated 338,226 British and allied soldiers from the beaches of Dunkirk.

Churchill and Ramsay planning for Dunkirk

Knighted for his efforts, Ramsay soon became an expert at amphibious warfare and was instrumental in developing the plans for Operation Torch in North Africa (1942) and the invasion of Sicily (1943). With the end of the latter campaign, he was given command of naval forces for the invasion of Normandy. Overseeing Operation Neptune, Ramsay effectively led the naval element of the D-Day landings in Normandy on 6 June 1944. As Allied troops stormed ashore, Ramsay's ships provided fire support and also began aiding in the rapid build-up of men and supplies.

As the invasion date had neared, Ramsay had defused a potential conflict between Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and the British Sovereign, King George VI, when Churchill informed the King that he intended to observe the D-Day landings from aboard HMS Belfast, a cruiser assigned to bombardment duty for the operation. The King, himself a seasoned sailor and a veteran of the battle of Jutland in the First World War likewise announced that he would accompany his Prime Minister. The two were at civil loggerheads until meeting with Admiral Ramsay who flatly refused to take the responsibility for the safety of either of these two luminaries. Ramsay cited the danger to both the King and the Prime Minister, the risks of the planned operational duties of HMS Belfast, and the fact that both the King and Churchill would be needed ashore in case the landings went badly and immediate decisions were required. This settled the matter and both Winston Churchill and King George VI remained ashore on D-Day.

In September of 1944 Ramsay began advocating for the rapid capture of Antwerp and its sea approaches as he anticipated that Allied ground forces might outrun their supply lines from Normandy. Unconvinced, Eisenhower failed to quickly secure the Scheldt River which led to the city and instead pushed forward with Operation Market-Garden in the Netherlands. As a result, a supply crisis did develop which necessitated a protracted fight for the Scheldt. Ramsay's last operation was the Allied attack on Walcheren, which allowed the port of Antwerp to be used bythe Allies.

On 2 January 1945, Ramsay, who was in Paris, departed for a meeting with Montgomery in Brussels. Leaving from an airfield in Toussus-le-Noble, his Lockheed Hudson crashed during takeoff and Ramsay and four others were killed. He was 62 years old.

01 January 1945

438^th AAA AW BN

APO 230 % Postmaster, N.Y.

1 January, 1945       1030

Dearest darling Wilma –

First of all – a Happy New Year, dear and many many more! Considering the fact that it’s 1030 now and I’ve been up for three hours you might think I had a good night’s sleep. You’re wrong, I didn’t. It went something like this: at about 1500 everyone was inviting everyone else to have a drink – so that by chow time – we were all feeling pretty high. Earlier than that – I had been invited to dinner at noon at the home of a patient. I didn’t want to come but the husband and wife insisted. Well we got to talking about New Year’s Eve and how we celebrate it in the States; over here everyone visits everyone else and they told me that there’d be several of the village’s people in to visit the Colonel. I told them – in my best French – that we were going to have somewhat of a private brawl. To become tight over here – if I haven’t already told you, dear – is “faire le Zig-Zag” or “devenir Zig-Zag”. Anyway, they said peole would come in anyway. And they did!

After supper – I went back to the Dispensary and opened a bottle of J. Jameson Irish Whiskey I’d been saving for my own boys – and we stayed around until the bottle was finished. I then went over to Hq. where the officers were working on a “punch” – and that’s putting it mildly. It turned out to be a cross between my own “Purple Jesus” – and a hitherto unknown to me concoction called a “Dead Duck”. The result was explosive and at 2200 we were flying, singing, dancing around. And into this mélee suddenly came eight or ten women, a few with their daughters – young (about 20 or 21) and a couple of fathers. I don’t know what they could have thought of the Americans, but we quickly realized the only way out was to offer them a drink. They had never had anything like this before and soon a few of the women were a bit tipsy. They stayed until midnight and we all sang Auld Lang Syne – and I was back home with you, sweetheart, way, way back. Won’t it be something, dear, when we actually celebrate a Holiday together?

Well – we headed back for the C.P. where we sleep – it was now about 0030. On the way down the Colonel suggested a game of Bridge. That was a surprise because he certainly looked as if he were ready for bed. But we played Bridge, drank some Benedictine and got to bed at 0400! So you see, sweetheart, we did our best to celebrate comme les Americains.

I could have slept later – but I thought it better to get up and take care of things here. Aside from the fact that one eye keeps shutting and I look as if I were in third degree shock, I feel fine, dear. I’ll probably be able to get a nap this p.m. I’ve had so much rest though – that a little lack of sleep won’t harm.

S0 there you have New Year’s Eve 1944. What will ’45 be like? Let’s hope and pray we’ll see the next New Year in – together, darling. Right now that’s all we can do is hope. Most important of all is the fact that we love each other and will go on loving each other. We’ll have our celebrations together one day and then it will be for always, sweetheart.

For now, so long, and my love to the folks.

All my sincerest love –

Greg.

* TIDBIT *

about TIME Magazine's "Man of the Year"

This article appeared in the TIME magazine issue January 1, 1945, Vol. XLV No. 1, under the heading "A Letter From The Publisher, Jan. 1, 1945."

Helping us pick the Man of the Year for our first January cover has become quite a tradition with subscribers—so you might be interested to learn that the whole thing began because the first week of 1928 was so dull.

No one had done anything newsworthy enough to put his picture on TIME's cover, so somebody suggested we stop looking for a Man of the Week and pick a Man of the Year. This was an easy choice: Charles Augustus Lindbergh, who had soloed the Atlantic in only 33 hours and 39 minutes, was the hero of 1927.

The Man of the Year idea caught on with a bang and, somewhat surprised, we decided to make it an annual event. The choice is in no way an accolade, nor a Nobel Prize for doing good. Nor is it a moral judgment. (Al Capone was runner-up in riotous, bootleg 1928.) The two criteria are always these: who had the biggest rise in fame; and who did the most to change the news for better (like Stalin in 1942) or for worse (like Stalin in 1939, when his flop to Hitler's side unleashed this worldwide war).

Fifteen different men have been chosen in 18 years—with one man picked three times and one man twice.

For 1928 we passed up Herbert Hoover, just elected President, because that year was the businessman's year and Walter P. Chrysler was his symbol. When Business crashed in 1929 we passed by Hoover again, skipped over Explorer Byrd and Peace-Pacter Kellogg in favor of Owen D. Young, back from Paris with his plan for settling Europe's troubles under his arm.

We turned down Bobby Jones, Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler (who had just mobilized an unexpected 6,401,210 Nazi votes in Germany) to make Mohandas K. Gandhi Man of 1930. He was in jail when his selection was announced in TIME—for launching civil disobedience to get the British out of India. Next year was "a lean year for everybody," as old Ramsay MacDonald put it: Man of 1931 was Pierre Laval, picked for having steered France prosperously through 12 months which had meant breadlines in almost every other land (Laval hasn't had a good year since).

Franklin Roosevelt was picked in 1932—for winning a landslide election on a program of government economy. He was Man of the Year again in 1934, but not for economy. (That year Mussolini, Harry Hopkins and Huey Long also rated high in reader nominations.) In 1933 came NRA dministrator Hugh Johnson — then flying high with the Blue Eagle.

Man of 1935 surprised some. We picked him because that year he had "carried his country into brilliant focus before a pop-eyed world." He was Haile Selassie, Emperor of Ethiopia, Power of Trinity I, King of Kings, Elect of God, Light of the World, Conquering Lion of Judah. Man of 1936 was a woman—Wallis Warfield Simpson—and 1937's choice was a couple: Generalissimo and Mme. Chiang Kaishek.

No one but Hitler could be Man of 1938, but despite Hitler's victories Winston Churchill proved himself Man of 1940. Franklin Roosevelt was chosen for the third time in 1941, after Pearl Harbor made him America's sixth wartime president. And maybe you'll remember that General George C. Marshall held the place last year, as the man who, more than anyone else, could be said to have "armed the Republic."

31 December 1944

438^th AAA AW BN

APO 230 % Postmaster, N.Y.

31 December, 1944        0915

My dearest and only Sweetheart –

A year ago I wasn’t even engaged to you, but I missed you terribly. This year I miss you even more, darling. You have been my fiancée for nine months and a day; you have been consistently sweet and patient; you have been everything a fellow would want in a sweetheart. You can well imagine, dear, how much I’d like to be with you tonite to see the New Year in.

A year ago, dear, I waited until late in the evening to write you and I was miserably blue. I’m writing you earlier this year, to avoid that mood. Don’t think I wont be blue and reminiscent; I want to be both – but I am going to try to drink enough to take some of the sting off the feeling. I doubt if that will help. Between the bunch of us I think we’ll have enough to sit down and tie one on. We have the makings of a little spread – what with the Christmas packages. We’ve held on to a good bit of our stuff and now have a collection of canned lobster, crabmeat, anchovies, saltines, melba toast, olives, deviled ham etc etc, plus every assortment of sweets imaginable – except you. We have one large room available – not too warm – and we’ll probably hang around and drink, eat and sing.

Yesterday, darling, I got the only mail received by the medical detachment it included a V-mail from Lawrence, an announcement from Time Magazine telling me my subscription had been renewed – as a gift – also from Lawrence, a letter from Dr. Finnegan – and guess what? – two Birthday Cards from my Sweetheart! Dr. Finnegan’s letter was interesting. It was mailed in California – the middle of November. He just got fed up with practicing – so he and his wife decided to take a little time off and they headed for Los Angeles – just like that. He planned to return to Salem the 1st week in December. I always thought he had a design for living and I guess he’s proving that he has.

I loved your Birthday cards, dear – particularly the sentimental one which certainly hit the point. You’re writing at the bottom of the card was best of all, though. You do love me, sweetheart, don’t you? I know you do and that’s what makes me love you all the more. I understand very little about love per se. I always felt that if I loved a girl, I would do so with all the power within me; I never thought – and I should have – in terms of reciprocated love – and now I realize that that is the important thing. To feel that someone loves you as strongly as you do her – is just about the most comforting thought a fellow can have.

I’ve never made much of the habit of resolving anything on the New Year’s, dear – but on this New Year – a long way off from you I can say only that my resolution on this day is to try and make you happy for the rest of your life, to love you always as I do now, to have you with me always once we’re together again, and to try always to make you proud and glad you married me. Darling – my sincerest and deepest wishes for a Happy and Healthy New Year to you – and all your family. And for now – so long

All my everlasting love

Greg.

* TIDBIT *

about Two Poems by Elmer H. Ake


Elmer H. Ake, 1925-2007

The poems that follow are two among many written by Elmer H. Ake, as found on the site that describes him as "World War II veteran and poet." Elmer served as a medic in Company B of the 417th Infantry Division during the war. The poems, written in later years, speak of his time in the Ardennes and the Battle of the Bulge. Click here to listen to his oral history.

ARDENNES

Is that the enemy on yonder hill?
Why are they so quiet, why so still?
Those silent forms laying in the snow
Were living men a little while ago.
Over these still forms the winds will blow
A mantle of white where naught will show.

This is the Ardennes in nineteen forty-four
Where good men perished by the score.
In these snow covered barren fields
Death is the only crop they yield.
The naked barb wire our only shield
But a mightier sword did we wield.

For days we have been forced to retreat
An American army faced with defeat.
Now we have formed a defensive line
To retreat farther we must decline.
When the brass upstairs gives us the sign
We will force the Hun back across the Rhine.

No hot food no warm place to lay
Just a muddy hole in the ground where we stay.
We have formed a new line with new men and supplies
And when the Germans come over yonder rise
They are in for a big surprise.
This is the place of their demise.

As our artillery begins to fire
The enemy now knows our power.
As thousands of shells race through the sky.
Thor said smite thine enemy, Make him cry
Bare thy sword, Cause him to die.
Their advancement farther you will deny.

As the Hun tried to cross those barren slopes
Our gunfire stilled all their hopes.
Now our outlook is a lot more bright
Perhaps we can even sleep tonight.
But I think in the spring these fields will be a ghastly sight
When the warm sun melts those mounds of white.

And Thor laughed and drank a toast
To the sport he loves the most.
As a gentle snow begins to fall
Covering the wounded too weak to crawl
One of our guys had the gall
To say Merry Christmas Peace on Earth to all.


BELGIUM

You stand in ice water up to your knees
As your feet slowly start to freeze.
This is Belgium in nineteen forty-four
Your friends have vanished by the score.
The cold rations you can eat no more
The sights of death that you deplore.

Death is your companion day and night
He stands by your side in every fight.
He revels in each exploding shell
He loves the acrid powder smell
Laughs as your friends are blown to hell.
And over the living he casts his spell.

A hundred and seventy men went down this forest tract
Now fifty of us are coming back.
Death stands in the shadows wearing a grin
He has all these souls riding with him.
And he can see the bad shape we are in
He knows tomorrow he will win.

We know the enemy at first light
Will come to finish up this fight.
It's best to meet him on open ground
Where our big guns can thin his ranks down
Without our cannon to roar and pound.
None of us will ever be found.

It's now morning the sky is overcast
We can see our enemy he is coming at last.
Now we can see his advance scouts.
About the same time our radio gives out
Today will be another rout
God really does favor the krauts.

But hundreds of gray clad figures are passing us by
If we're surrounded then we will die.
Then the Captain says out of your holes and on your feet
Once more it's time to retreat.
If we move fast Death we can cheat.
And the Grim Reaper we won't have to meet.

Get up and fall back another mile or two
With just fifty men what else can we do?
We fall back each day and dig in each night
Too few of us to put up a fight
Thousands of the enemy always in plain sight.
The Battle of the Bulge is sure named right.

30 December 1944

438^th AAA AW BN

APO 230 % Postmaster, N.Y.

30 December, 1944        1100

Hello Sweetheart –

Saturday morning, reports to get out for today and also the end of the month and a lot of other things to take care of. One thing I don’t have to think about is my tux and whether or not my stiff shirt is back from the Chink’s – because we’re not going Formal tomorrow nite, dear. As a matter of fact – we’re just not going – but I can well remember the times when I was keyed up about such things.

There’s not much along the lines of New Year’s Spirit here at present – although I imagine a few bottles will turn up by tomorrow nite. No mail or anything again yesterday and we’re really starting to miss be coming thru soon.

Hopped around quite a bit yesterday, darling, but hope to take it a bit easier today. Will have to stop now, dear, but not before reminding you that all my love is yours and yours alone for always – sweetheart – just as I know yours is mine. Regards to all –

My deepest love, dear.

Greg.

* TIDBIT *

about Artillery and AAA
in the Battle of the Bulge

American artillery played a crucial part throughout the Battle of the Bulge. Without the battalions at Brig. Gen. Anthony McAuliffe's disposal, the defenders of Bastogne would probably never have been able to hold against the German attacks. The same was true across the Ardennes front, and although the artillery did not react strongly to the initial attacks on 16 December because the German bombardment disrupted communications and many units were hampered by having to displace rapidly to the rear to keep from being overrun, the guns soon came into their own. Bad weather also hampered observation of fire on the first day. Nonetheless, the artillery at Monschau literally stopped a German attack by itself, and in the V Corps sector, the 99th Infantry Division Artillery helped that green unit to hold its ground for two days, until the V Corps artillery on Elsenborn Ridge began to carry the burden. The weight of fire was tremendous: on the night of 17 December, for example, one V Corps infantry battalion was covered by a defensive barrage of 11,500 rounds. As the American defense solidified, particularly on the northern and southern shoulders of the German penetration, the artillery really began to make itself felt. By 23 December, the artillery brought 4,155 guns into action and fired 1,255,000 rounds of ammunition during the course of the battle.

In many cases, artillery did not need to destroy the enemy to have the desired effect. Often, artillery fire diverted the German attacks from their axis of advance and derailed the German scheme of maneuver, even without causing much physical damage. Most of the firing involved conventional artillery, although some 210,000 rounds of ammunition had been fitted with the new and highly secret VT (variable time) or POZIT fuse, which detonated the shell by external influence in close vicinity of the target, without explosion by contact. The VT fuze allowed artillery to detonate above ground, thus spending its effect much more effectively against troops in the open. Claims were made that the VT and POZIT fuse played an important part in winning the battle. The truth seems to be that, however effective such ammunition was, very little of it was fired before January 1945.

As at Bastogne, artillery took over much of the effective anti-tank combat, with 155-mm guns particularly successful in attaining mobility kills. Artillery was successful not just in the indirect fire mode, however, but also in direct fire. Post-battle examination of destroyed German tanks showed that many of them had been put out of action by howitzer fire. The Antiaircraft Artillery Gun Battalions assigned to the various corps played an important role as well. Trained to deliver indirect fire in the traditional artillery fashion, the AA gunners also had a 90-mm weapon that packed a powerful punch because of its high muzzle velocity. Antiaircraft batteries were therefore successful throughout the Ardennes in the anti-tank role. Once artillery spotter aircraft were able to fly, the gunners also had considerable success in breaking up concentrations of both tanks and troops before they were able to deliver attacks against American positions.

The many American artillery battalions would have been less effective, however, had they not been directed by the most effective fire direction system used by any nation during the war. American forward observers could call down an enormous weight of fire on their selected targets, mixing divisional and corps fires with the fires of the mortar units organic to the infantry regiments. Indeed, German commanders later criticized American artillery fire as "methodical, schematic, and wasteful." It was also true that American gunners sometimes allowed gaps to develop at division and corps boundaries where they failed to provide overlapping fire between zones. Nonetheless, the system functioned when it was needed, and the successful defense of Elsenborn Ridge by V Corps units (among many similar cases) depended on the accuracy and weight of the defensive concentrations that V Corps Artillery fired, particularly on the night of 17/18 December. Much of the artillery's effectiveness came from well-trained forward observers dedicated to their supported infantry and armor units, for "men counted as much as weight of metal," as the official historian wrote. In the 15th Field Artillery Battalion, to cite only one case, 32 forward observers out of a total of 48 became casualties in six days of battle.

29 December 1944

438^th AAA AW BN

APO 230 % Postmaster, N.Y.

29 December, 1944       0945

Wilma, darling –

If I don’t get a hold of some air-mail envelopes soon I’ll have to write V-mail, dear. I’m pretty near down to the last one and our mail orderly has been unable to get any more. But one of these days there’ll be a whole new batch in. I’ve been rather fortunate in being able to write a letter at all this past week. I know a good many soldiers who haven’t been able to.

We’re still not getting any mail at all, although packages continue to come through. I got another one day before yesterday, totally unexpected, from a woman in Chicago who used to be a patient of mine when she lived in Salem. I don’t know where she got my address – although she used an old AP number 515 – remember it, dear? That makes ten packages in all and that’s not bad. I’m afraid, though, that a good many packages and letters will never get to us and a good lot of other soldiers due to circumstances out of our control and about which I can’t write. It’s a damn shame, too, and we won’t know for weeks whether we’re missing letters or packages. If I don’t acknowledge some of your letters from here in and for awhile, darling, you’ll know why.

The weather is icy but the snow which fell yesterday did not materialize to any great extent, and no one is sorry about that fact. It’s trying to clear up right now – but I doubt if it will.

I’ve just re-read your letter of 28 November which I’ve had for some time. You wrote that you imagined you were having a date with me that night, you read some of my letters and mentally answered them. You recalled school, canoeing, week-ends, Sunday Mornings, the Roger Smith –– all fragments of thoughts – which have run through my mind a thousand times since the time they were real events. And it was all in a four month’s span – which is the interesting part of it all – interesting because it proves we did have a very strong nucleus in those 4 months, and strong enough to have kept us together during all these months of separation. And it will keep us together no matter how many months intervene before we can be together once again. I wonder sometimes just how much I do know about you and you about me – and I end up satisfied that we’ve learned a good deal about each other in the months we’ve written each other. It doesn’t seem as if we take up many matters in our letters – but altogether I think we’ve been able to get a good cross-section of our likes, dislikes, interests and moods. Are you satisfied, dear? You’d better be – or I’ll sue!

And now – although I haven’t written very much, I’ll have to stop. A bunch of fellows have just arrived and I’ve got to go to work – such as it is. I don’t know what you’re thinking about all that’s going on these critical days, darling, but whatever it is, rest assured I’m taking good care of myself and I’m managing to stay one step aside from trouble.

My best love to the folks, dear – and so long for awhile.

All my deepest love –

Greg

* TIDBIT *

about The Siege of Budapest

According to Wikipedia:

In 1944, Hungary was an unwilling satellite of Germany. In March 1944, Hungary was attempting to quit the war, and was seen by Nazi Germany as reluctant to take sufficient measures against the Jews. Germany needed Hungarian oil wells located around Lake Balaton. On 19 March, the Germans launched Operation Margarethe and their armed forces (Wehrmacht) entered Hungary. The Hungarian Regent, Admiral Miklós Horthy, put Hungary's attempts to quit the war on hold.

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Horthy with Hitler

In October 1944, Horthy was caught negotiating peace with the Allies. The Germans launched Operation Panzerfaust (initiated to keep Hungary at Germany's side), on 16 October and forced Horthy to abdicate. Horthy and his government were replaced by "Hungarist" Ferenc Szálasi, from the Arrow Cross Party.

Szálasi with Hitler

On 29 October 1944, the Red Army started its offensive against the city. More than 1,000,000 men, split into two operating maneuver groups, advanced. The plan was to cut Budapest off from the rest of the German and Hungarian forces. On 7 November 1944, Soviet and Romanian troops had entered the eastern suburbs, 20 kilometers from the old town. The Red Army, after a much-needed pause in hostilities, resumed its offensive on 19 December. On 26 December, a road linking Budapest to Vienna was seized by Soviet troops, thereby completing the encirclement. The "Leader of the Nation", Ferenc Szálasi, had already fled on 9 December.

As a result of the Soviet link-up, nearly 33,000 German and 37,000 Hungarian soldiers, as well as over 800,000 civilians, became trapped within the city. Refusing to authorize a withdrawal, German dictator Adolf Hitler had declared Budapest a fortress city (Festung Budapest), which had to be defended to the last man. Waffen SS General Karl Pfeffer-Wildenbruch, the commander of the IX Waffen SS Alpine Corps, was put in charge of the city's defenses.

Pfeffer-Wildenbruch

Budapest was a major target for Joseph Stalin. The Yalta Conference was approaching and Stalin wanted to display his full strength to Churchill and Roosevelt. He therefore ordered General Rodion Malinovsky to seize the city without delay.

Rodion Malinovsky

On 29 December 1944, Malinovsky sent two emissaries to negotiate the city's capitulation. They never returned. Some German and Hungarian historians argue that the emissaries were deliberately shot by the Soviets. Others believe that they were in fact shot by mistake on their way back to the Soviet lines. In any case, Soviet commanders considered this act a refusal to negotiate and ordered an attack.

28 December 1944

438^th AAA AW BN

APO 230 % Postmaster, N.Y.

28 December, 1944       1025

Good Morning, Sweetheart –

We’ve finally had a change of weather, and today it’s grey and snowing slightly. It looks as if it could develop into a real snowstorm. We’re comfortable where we are – and I can think back to my school days when I’d be looking out of the window as I am now – but seeing a different picture. I’m not anxious for a two foot snowfall. I don’t care if the pond is covered with snow or remains clean and good for skating; the same snow, the same frozen ponds – but what a difference beyond that! Why – I haven’t even got a pair of skates – or a sled!

I used to like to go tramping across the fields and woods of Franklin Park, usually with a couple of good friends. We’d talk about books we had read, about what we’d do when we got older, about traveling, – about almost everything, but never do I remember talking about war and the possibility of our ever being soldiers. Of the 3 of us who were close friends, one is now dead – committed suicide several years ago after a wild life which followed the death of his father. The other fellow became an engineer, went to California, married a gentile, has 3 or 4 kids and never got into the Army – and here I am. In those days – I never thought I’d ever study medicine; it always seemed to me that I’d end up in business with my father. Things work out quite a bit differently from the way we plan and although I can’t exactly say I planned anything, I just let things happen – and they happened.

I had no ideas about women; it wasn’t indifference, because if I saw a pretty girl I can remember being aware of it. Our gang just didn’t go out with girls – but the boys of 15, 16 and 17 weren’t going out as much in those days as they do now. As I grew older – I couldn’t help but crystallize some ideas about girls, women – about what I’d want in a wife. I knew I’d want to marry – because fundamentally, I was a lonesome sort of fellow and I knew I didn’t want to go thru life single. That was a selfish point of view, I guess, but looking at it from another aspect I figured that I could keep someone from being lonesome too, that I could make someone happy, that I could do a lot for the right sort of woman. That was pretty simple thinking – almost primitive – but if you leave out all the fancy words – isn’t that fundamentally the most important thing of all? I think it is.

Well, sweetheart, I went a long long time before I was able to meet the girl I want to make happy and who I know will make me happy. And if a couple can be happy – it means they get along, love each other, have common interests, have good friends, enjoy their home, want and have a family. I think you and I darling will be just such a couple. All we have to do is get this war over with and the rest will just follow naturally. That’s what I’m waiting for, dreaming of, concentrating on every minute of every day I’m away from you, darling. Always, always remember that.

Have to stop now, dear. I love you so much, I can hardly begin to hit the nail on the head, but you surely know it by now. Be well, darling, send my love to the folks – and for now, so long.

My everlasting love is yours

Greg

* TIDBIT *

about "Today in History"
from Pilsen, Czech Republic

From "City of Pilsen: From D-day to V-Day" on a former web site of the City of Pilsen, Czech Republic, came this status summary for 28 December 1944...

General Eisenhower, the supreme commander of the Allied forces in Europe, and Field Marshall Montgomery held a meeting in Hasselt to discuss plans for the next offensive. Meanwhile in the Ardennes, there was still heavy fighting against Hitler's intention to win a route to Antwerp. The Germans were slowing starting to lose steam, though, not only due to increasing pressure from American as well as British troops, but also due to entirely banal reasons – such as the lack of fuel for the Nazi's Panzerwaffe.

The 8th Infantry Division from the Ninth Army's XIX Corps finished mopping up the salient south of Obermaubach.

The 1st Infantry Division from the US First Army's V Corps deflected the enemy's swift attack that attempted to push its units out of defense positions on the Elseborn Ridge. There was relative quiet that day in the operational zone of the XVIII Airborne Corps. Units from the 9th Armored Division's Combat Command B and the 28th Infantry Division's 112th Infantry Regiment were moved in to support the 3rd Armored Division and the 75th Infantry Division. The VII Corps' 75th Infantry Division, currently without the 289th and 290th Infantry Regiments, was reassigned to the XVIII Corps. The Germans broke through the sector under the 3rd Armored Division's Combat Command A and occupied Sadzot, but were pushed back by a swift counterattack. The 83rd Infantry Division relieved the 2nd Armored Division in its positions and took over the sector east of the Buissonville – Rochefort line. The 2nd Armored Division later started to regroup.

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Troops of the 28th Moving on 28 December 1944

The US Third Army's 11th Armored Division was released from reserve and placed under the command of the VIII Corps. In the course of the day, the III Corps created a limited advance against enemy delaying units in the area between the Sauer and Wiltz Rivers. Continuing to advance to the southern flank of the German breakthrough, the 35th Infantry Division came under heavy enemy artillery fire southwest of Villers-la-Bonne-Eau. The 26th Infantry Division attempted to break through to Wiltz, but did not achieve any greater success. Part of the 80th Infantry Division that was attached to the 4th Armored Division returned back to its parent division while the 6th Armored Division was reassigned from the XII Corps to the III Corps. In the meantime, the XII Corps received an order to go on the defensive. During the day, the 80th Infantry Division deflected a counterattack led against its units' defense positions near Ringel.

On December 28, 1944, a sizable formation of American bombers from the Fifteenth Air Force once again appeared over the skies of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. The targets of the huge formation of 360 four-engine bombers and 480 fighters were the gasoline refineries in Pardubice, Kolín and Kralupy nad Vltavou as well as a fuel storage facility in Hněvice, a small town near Roudnice nad Labem.

Main Square of Pardubice, Czech Republic, today

Part of the formation also headed over the Bavarian city of Regensburg. American bombs caused greater damage mainly to the targets located in Kolín and Pardubice. The fighter escorts, which absolutely outnumbered any potential defense from the German Reich, assailed land targets – first and foremost including railroad transport. This was one of the first very serious warnings for residents of the Protectorate. Once the front had neared, not a day would pass without fighter aircraft sporting white stars on their wings appearing over Bohemia. The aircraft fired at everything that moved along the roads and the railroads. Transportation would grind to a halt and the number of civilian casualties would rapidly rise. On this day in December, the Americans lost at least one fighter aircraft in the territory of pre-1938 Czechoslovakia. A P-51D Mustang from the 325th Fighter Group crashed in Pelhřimov. The pilot, 2/Lt William C. Margets, died of his injuries in the local hospital.

Pelhřimov, Czech Republic, today

27 December 1944

438^th AAA AW BN

APO 230 % Postmaster, N.Y.

27 December, 1944        1330

My dearest darling –

It’s another clear, cold crisp day with not a cloud in the sky. Certainly the Air Corps can’t complain. It’s the nicest stretch of weather we’ve had since we first arrived in Normandy and it comes at an opportune time.

I’ve been here at battalion all day so far and I think I’ll be sticking around for the rest of the day, anyway. We were busy this a.m. – here at the Dispensary and took care of quite a few civilians, too. We had a B.C.’s meeting the latter part of the morning – the meeting being chiefly devoted to Orientation. Later this afternoon I have several house calls to make – a sick kid, a woman with phlebitis, a boy with a bad Rheumatic heart etc. Our evenings here are uncertain; last night we sat around and waited; tonite we’ll try to play some cards, I guess. The mail continues to be elusive – but we expect that. The only letters I want are those from you and my folks, darling. I still have about a dozen letters to answer but I haven’t the time or the desire, for that matter.

I still have a couple of your letters as yet unanswered, sweetheart – and that reminds me, I want to take exception to a statement you once made in reference to my failure to answer some of your questions. Darling – I answer every one of them, sometimes vaguely, I know, due to necessity, but I always mention the subject. I never destroy one of your letters before re-reading it and making certain that I’ve covered every subject. And that reminds me – your mention of dog-tags and changing them with others – seems to affect the infantry more than any other branch of the service. Don’t worry, mine are around my neck at all times, dear. And another thing – give one of my T3 Sergeants credit for packing the clock; all I did was to watch and advise. I wonder how that clock is going now and whether you’ve grown to like it or not.

Say – your cigarette shortage must really be something. If nothing more – I hope it makes you smoke less – and your mother, too. I have a sneaking suspicion, darling, that you must be smoking more than is good for you. We get a pretty good supply here – with our rations and therefore, gratis. I had quite a supply at one time – Camels and Chesterfields – but I couldn’t send them home to you, Sweetheart, because they’re tax free and not mailable. I don’t smoke a pack a month but I have used them for getting my laundry done etc. Incidentally – I had quite a bunch of dirty laundry, O.D.’s, field jackets etc and I’m getting them washed in this town. The women come to the Aid Station and ask if we want our laundry done. Imagine that! After they talk us into it – we say “Yes!”

You wrote (28 Nov) that you sat around one evening, all dressed up, smoking cigarette after cigarette, listening to the radio, perfume and all (what perfume?) and you ended your sentence thus “ – and I was ready”; ready for what, darling –– and you shouldn’t write like that – because you make me feel like jumping out of my boots and heading straight for home – which, of course, I feel like doing anyway. But – boy – oh boy! When you write “I’m ready” – you don’t know what you’re in for – so beware! I’m ready too, darling, and – well what’s the use. I’ll tell you when I see you. For now – I’ll say only that I love you, darling – and that I’ve been ready for a long long time. Love to the folks, dearest –

And my sincerest love –

Greg

* TIDBIT *

about More from General Hodges

The snapshots that follow were taken from Normandy to Victory: The War Diary of General Courtney H. Hodges & the First U.S. Army, maintained by his aides Major William C. Sylvan and Captain Francis G. Smith Jr.; edited by John T. Greenwood, copyright 2008 by the Association of the United States Army, pp.238-241.

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