23 March 1945

438^th AAA AW BN

APO 230 % Postmaster, N.Y.

23 March, 1945

Germany

My dearest sweetheart –

I’m listening to the radio as I’m writing this and it’s playing “It had to be you” – and I’m so glad it was you, dear, because I know you’re going to make me glad always.

Yesterday I had a chance to write you a V-mail only – and a short one at that. We’ve settled again and each time I’m more impressed with the ease and speed with which we adjust ourselves. As usual – the 438th looks for and – if at all available – finds a fairly comfortable spot. If I ever write you, dear, that we’re not in a very good set-up, you can be sure there isn’t a good place within miles of the area we’re in.

This is an old Schloss – or castle. It’s not particularly beautiful from the outside – although there is a dried up moat around it, but it has been completely modernized so that it has central heating, tile bathrooms etc. The occupants were – and we made them move – an honest-to-goodness Count and Countess.

CLICK TO ENLARGE
This is one wing of the castle.
23 March 1945 - Germany

And everything in this place smacks of royalty. They had to leave on one hour’s notice and left everything as is. The wardrobes are terrific and you’d never know there was a shortage of anything at all. The family is or was in the wine business and what a wine cellar they had! The finest Rhine wine, red and white. I guess there must have been about 800 bottles. I don’t know how many are left now. I don’t mean to imply it has all been drunk already, but it certainly has been laid away. The officers had their share.

First C.P. across Rhine - Note Corner Knocked Off - Shell
Königswinter - March 1945

I’m sitting at a large desk, with book-ends, trays, chronometer etc. decorating. My office was the drawing room – measuring about 40 by 25 feet. Bookcases, filled, line the walls and above the bookcases are hunting trophies and mounting of all sorts. It’s comfortable and livable here. So you see, Sweetheart, war or no war – we manage to live as comfortably as possible. Last night we played Bridge and listened to some fine recordings. It was a nice evening, and relatively quiet – and for a change, I was able to sleep rather soundly. Do you toss and turn, dear. I believe you told me once, but I can’t remember. I turn frequently – and when I don’t sleep soundly, I’m all over the bed – so watch out, darling. I’m likely to be all –– oh, what am I saying?

Well – we didn’t get any mail yesterday and supposedly we don’t get any today. By the way – you mentioned in one of your latest letter that you thought I was doing a heck of a lot of drinking. I guess it did sound like a lot – it was when we were in Stolberg. Maybe it was. Every now and then it seems as if you’ll go a little whacky if you don’t forget things for an hour or two and then you look for an excuse to drink – someone’s promotion, a coming birthday – anything. But that’s not steady drinking – dear – and I – at least – don’t drink in between times – as some of the fellows do. The fact is I don’t like the taste of the stuff at all – and don’t worry. I’ll never be a souse.

Well, sweetheart, the time has slipped by – with a few interruptions – and the boys are starting to drift in. I love, you, darling, from the Count’s castle, too, from everywhere in fact – and I really won’t love you the way I can and will – until I get home.

Love to the folks, regards to the girls, and

All my everlasting love –

Greg.

Here is the beginning of this letter as written on the castle letterhead
CLICK TO ENLARGE

* TIDBIT *

about the Kesselstatts and Longenburg

Count Johannes (Hans) Kesselstatt was born on 16 April 1902 in Grundslee, Steiermark, Austria. His first wife, Princess Ferdinanda Hahn was born on 1 July 1902 in Arensfels. The Count and Countess (Graf und Gräfin) Hans and Ferdinanda had 4 children. The eldest, Count Ferdinand Kesselstatt was born on 16 December 1930 in Bonn and died in Eltville on 20 October 1984 at the age of 54, leaving his wife and three children. The second child of the Count and Countess, Alice-Eugenia, was born on 2 May 1932.

Calling Card of the Castle Count and Countess

The last two children of Hans and Ferdinanda, Count Eugen, born on 23 February 1935 in Bad Godesberg and Count Franz-Edmund, born on 6 April 1936 in Bad Godesberg both died on 22 April 1944 in Longenburg at Königswinter. Princess Ferdinanda died two days later on 24 April 1944 in Longenburg at Königswinter. It happened that during a terrible air raid in the early evening of the 22nd which killed 56 people in Königswinter, three heavy bombs landed in the immediate area of Longenburg. Two hit the southeast side. The third bomb struck at an angle just in front of the north tower. The huge blast shook the east side of the building from the foundation, and it collapsed in on itself. Countess Johanna and her two young sons died in the wreckage. Greg noted on his picture in this letter the part of the castle that was hit. Is is unlikely that he knew anything about the deaths that went with the destruction. Here are some pictures from when it was intact.

Hans subsequently remarried a woman named Alexandra von Schmettow (born 28 Jun 1914 in Potsdam, Brandenburg, Prussia) on 28 June 1945 in Longenburg. The Count died on 9 January 1963 in Berenbach, Eifel, Germany. Alexandra lived until 1975, leaving no children of her own.

In 1952, automotive and commercial highway steel and aluminum wheels manufacturer Lemmerz-Werke acquired the entire property of Königswinter. Four years later they had finished their first building in the immediate vicinity of the castle. In 1959 the farm buildings and stables were demolished for another factory. In April 1962, the old knight's hall fell victim to the pickaxe and before the end of November the last remains of the manor house were razed to the ground.

22 March 1945

V-MAIL

438^th AAA AW BN

APO 230 % Postmaster, N.Y.

22 March, 1945      0900

Germany

Dearest sweetheart –

Only a few moments – in which to say “hello, hello, hello; I love you, I love you, I love you!” Sorry to be so curt and scrawly, darling, but I’m on my way – as usual – and I’m trying to reverse the procedure by writing you now instead of later.

But time’s-a-wastin’ – dearest and duty calls – so I’ll be off in a cloud of dust. But I love you deeply – even when I’m in a hurry – so there’s no way out; you’ll just have to marry me!

Love to all – So long for now –

All my love, sweetheart

Greg

Route of the Question Mark


[CLICK TO ENLARGE]

(A)Friesdorf to (B) Königswinter, Germany
(2-6 miles, depending on where the bridge was...)
15 March - 22 March 1945

March 22... Longenburg (at Königswinter). The crossing of the Rhine, and the castle where we found the wine. The pleasant life on the terrace, where we ate and listened to Pfc HANSON's records, and had our parties. Chow call was played on the Victrola at meal times. The memorable party on the last night of our stay. Here Pvt BIGGIE and T/5 DE SILVA, checking a break in the line, were hospitalized when an 88 mm shell exploded near them.

Königswinter - Front Patio - Enlisted Men's Mess
Note Victrola - Continuous Music
Aid Station Directly Inside - March 1945

The following photos were taken on the way from Friesdorf to Königswinter.

March 1945 - "Long Tom" waiting to cross the Rhine


A Pontoon Bridge over the Rhine. Farther shore is West Bank.
Note guards every several yards watching for floating mines.
Bonn, Germany - March 1945


Our first crossing of Rhine - Just Above Remagen, Germany
Background is artificial smoke screen.
March 1945

21 March 1945

438^th AAA AW BN

APO 230 % Postmaster, N.Y.

21 March, 1945      0825

Germany

Good morning, darling –

The start of Spring and I hope the weather is as pleasant at home for you as it has been here recently for us. It was exactly a year ago that this outfit hit Sherborne for a swell 10 week stay. That all seems like such a long time ago. Everything seems like a long time, darling, everything that preceded landing on the continent. The fact is – it is a long time. There have been troops in combat longer than we have been – and it’s a wonder to me how they or we take it. When I refer to combat, it doesn’t necessarily mean hand-to-hand fighting every day in the week – even for the infantry. But just being in a combat area is enough. It’s the goddamned monotony that’s the hardest thing to take – and it just defies the imagination to realize that it’s going on to a year now – of exactly the same routine of living, sleeping, eating; the same clothes, the same faces. I’d like to see a little display of color – I’d like to talk to somebody other than the same group of officers.

I’m really not down in the mouth, sweetheart, because I know that’s the way it has to be and I can’t change it so long as the war continues. I was merely reflecting. For me – it has not been too hard a war and I can’t complain. I started reading “A Tree Grows etc” yesterday. We have lots of choice in books – thru Special Service and the Med. Detachment gets its own share. But I haven’t done much reading because I’m usually too restless. Yesterday I just felt I had to do something besides talking Army, Army, Army. The book – by the way – has kept me interested, and leaving the subject of style etc. – out of it , I’m finding it enjoyable reading.

I think I’m a bit cranky anyway, as are most of us these past few days, because or our inability to get any sleep at nite. This takes or breaks all records as to that. I’ve tried getting to bed early and late; it makes no difference – the noise awakes you. I guess the only way out is a couple of hours of sleep in the p.m. – but that’s a bad habit to get into.

Well – with all the bitching over with – I can tell you, dear, that I got another letter from you – 7 March and a cute letter from Sylvia B with an à propos cartoon from Esquire. I’ll have to answer her one of these days.

Yes – dear – I’ve been told I snore – so you better be looking up remedies right now. But since I’ve never heard myself – I don’t know how bad it is. Anyway, if you talk in your sleep, dear – we’re all even anyway.

Say – you wrote that you were going to a movie and anticipated a headache. You have lots of headaches, seems to me, and there’s something wrong if you can’t see a movie without definitely getting a headache. You have glasses, haven’t you, dear? Do you wear them? If you do and still get headaches – you’d better have those glasses corrected. If you don’t wear them when you should, I’ll get the cat-o-nine tails out on you. Seriously though – don’t neglect your eyes!

The war here has been going along excellently – and it seems to me that we must be writing ‘finis’ to this thing soon. I can’t see anything else. And that’s when the real ‘sweating out’ period will come. I don’t care what they do – so long as I get a chance to come back and see you, darling – even for a few weeks. There’s so much we have to say to each other – that can be said in person only. Well – I think it will work out the best way, too.

All for now, sweetheart – gotta run along. Be well – sending best love to the folks, and so long for another little while, dear.

My deepest and sincerest love –

Greg

* TIDBIT *

about Expanding to the Seig

CLICK TO ENLARGE

The Seig River is a Right Tributary of the Rhine
entering just to the north of Bonn

From "U.S. Army in WWII European Theater of Operations: The Last Offensive" by Charles B. MacDonald for the Department of the Army's Office of the Chief of Military History, Chapter XI, Page 231, published in 1973 in Washington, D.C. comes this excerpt:

Beginning early on 15 March, the 1st Division of General Collins's VII Corps had crossed the Rhine over the III Corps bridges and on ferries, and at noon the next day, Collins assumed responsibility for the northern portion of the bridgehead. In the process, Collins's corps absorbed the 78th Division.

Eisenhower had directed that the bridgehead was to be used to draw enemy units from the Ruhr area opposite the 21 Army Group and from the 6th Army Group's Rhine crossing sites in the south. Although an exploitation eventually might be made in the direction of Frankfurt, a minimum of ten First Army divisions had to be reserved for the time being as a possible "follow-up force" for the 21 Army Group, still designated to make the Allied main effort.

From this restriction, it was obvious that Eisenhower had no wish to see the bridgehead expanded appreciably. General Bradley in turn told the First Army to advance no farther than a line approximately twenty-five miles wide at the base along the Rhine and ten miles deep, in effect, a slight expansion of the third phase line that the III Corps commander, General Millikin, earlier had imposed.

The First Army's General Hodges disagreed, though to no avail. Like almost everybody at First Army headquarters, Hodges was piqued about the elaborate preparations Field Marshal Montgomery was making for his 21 Army Group's crossing of the Rhine and the emphasis General Eisenhower continued to place on that crossing when, in Hodges' view, a breakout from the Remagen bridgehead could have been staged at will. With evident amusement he listened to the story--probably apocryphal--of how the 21 Army Group on 7 March had asked Supreme Headquarters to stage a diversion before Montgomery jumped the Rhine and how, five minutes later, SHAEF passed the word that the First Army had already staged a diversion; the First Army had crossed the Rhine.

While advances in the Remagen bridgehead continued to average only about a thousand yards a day, Hodges was convinced this was less a reflection of German strength than of timidity in American attacks. By 17 March the German order of battle opposite the bridgehead sounded impressive on paper--in addition to those units early committed, the Germans had brought in contingents of the 26th, 62d, 272d, 277th, and 326th Volks Grenadier Divisions; the 3d and 5th Parachute Divisions; and the 3d Panzer Grenadier Division - but in no case were these real divisions. All were battalion-size Kampfgruppen or else had been fleshed out to something more than regimental strength with inexperienced replacements culled from up and down the Rhine. In most cases the Americans characterized the resistance as "moderate to light."

By 16 March, when troops of the 78th Division made the first cut of the Ruhr-Frankfurt autobahn northeast of Honnef, expansion of the bridgehead had proceeded to the point where artillery no longer was able to support the attacks properly from the west bank of the Rhine. As artillery units began to cross the river, engineers supporting the VII Corps began construction of three more tactical bridges to care for the increased logistical burden. Keyed to the northward advance of the infantry east of the Rhine, the first of the bridges was completed late on 17 March, another on 19 March, and a third, located at the southern fringe of Bonn, on 21 March. Screened by smoke from chemical generators, the engineers incurred only one casualty during the course of construction.

Of all the American attacks, those to the north and northeast by the 1st and 78th Divisions continued to bother the German army group commander most. More than ever convinced that the Americans intended to make their main effort northward toward the Ruhr, Field Marshal Model recognized that a strong counterattack had to be staged soon or the Americans would breach the natural defensive line in the north, the Sieg River, which enters the Rhine just downstream from Bonn, and then be ready for exploitation.

On 19 March Model began to strip all armored units from the eastern and southern portions of the line to assemble them in the north for counterattack. Unfortunately for Model's plan, the Americans afforded no pause in their attacks. Operating with only normal tank and tank destroyer attachments, the 78th Division on 21 March 1945 gained the Sieg River, the northern limit of the bridgehead as authorized by General Bradley.

20 March 1945

438^th AAA AW BN

APO 230 % Postmaster, N.Y.

20 March, 1945      0845

Germany

Wilma, sweetheart –

With the every increasing length of the days, we’ve changed our eating hours to 0700, 1200 and 1800. We now have our staff meeting at 0800 and so here I am off to an early start before the sick start coming in. It looks like another fine day coming up here. Yesterday was beautiful and in the p.m. I took a ride over to Baker battery. I didn’t do a heck of a lot of inspecting – but I went in that direction because of the scenery. It really is something beautiful and just a little different in its beauty than anything I’ve seen before. Although I didn’t see or hear the Lorelei, I might have. The castles in this region are worthy of their fame – and if I get to see many more castles in many more lands, I’ll really begin to think I know something about them. The castles here are the fairy-book type. They rise out of the heights overlooking the water, with spiral towers, fancy façades and all. And when a white cloud happens to drift by and partially obscure a castle – it really appears as if it’s just an image in the sky. I stood and looked at one yesterday – for some time and I was truly fascinated. I’ve read quite a bit of the history and folklore of this part of Germany and it seemed as if it all ran thru my mind in those minutes that I stood there.

Castle Katz above the town of St. Goarshausen

Baker Battery’s C.P. is in a beautiful home – not far from the water. The people here know how to live comfortably. They all have excellent balconies and in several homes now I’ve seen German translations of ‘Gone with the Wind’, Cronin’s ‘The Citadel’, H.G. Well’s books, etc. They all have exquisite China – mostly Bavarian; and the walls are covered with beautiful oil paintings – with a fine sense of interior decorating. You’ve got to hand it to the bastards – the middle class had a good design for living – certainly better than what I’ve seen in England, France or Belgium.

When I got back – I found two letters from you, dear, 3rd and 4th March. One of them told me of the car-strike which certainly made me angry. How in the world anyone can strike these days unless he is being completely exploited, is certainly beyond my conception. Much as I dislike the thought – I hope somebody becomes powerful enough after the war to break the back of organized labor – which in my mind is just about getting out of control.

I hope by now you’ve got all the details about the law case of mine. It took place in Stolberg – we’re now far enough away from there to be able to mention it – and created quite a stir for awhile. As I’ve already intimated, it was an obvious frame-up and the woman was getting a dirty deal. I’ve told you we went before the lower court – and the judge felt he didn’t have enough power to rule on so serious a charge – so he referred it to a higher court. Had he listened to all my evidence, he could have thrown it out of court – because I could prove fraternization, intimidation, the rest, etc. against the M.P. The latter – incidentally – has been reduced to the grade of private, from sergeant – by his Provost Marshall. Anyway – before we moved out I had to be released from my job as defense counsel – by the Military Government. The case had meanwhile been reviewed by the higher court; I was asked to give my testimony in writing, and on the basis of that, the case was recommended to be thrown out of court because of sufficient evidence, and the woman is now free. And, darling, I’m glad you thought her attractiveness was some compensation for my trouble (heh! heh!)

I’m so glad those pictures got thru. I don’t think I sent more than 26 – and I’m glad you liked them. We must have a fair collection by now. I have 4 or 5 more rolls – undeveloped – with no immediate prospects of getting them done. But I keep taking pictures anyway Darling, if I take close-ups – you’ll see all the wrinkles in my face – and I wouldn’t want that! Seriously, though, I’ll try.

I was surprised to read you knew so much about poker. I had no idea. Good – I’ll show you some new ones when I get back – new games – and now that I mention it – not necessarily card games. Boy! I’ve got hundreds of them – and each with a new twist – shall I say? Well – wait and see.

Tell Mother B, by the way, dear – that I understand perfectly if she doesn’t write often. She really can’t have very much to write me – you cover the picture so admirably. And besides – I realize that she can’t have been much in the mood for writing recently. I’ll drop her a line from time to time – just to let her know that she has a real future son-in-law.

And now – Sweetheart – whether you like it or not – I’m going to tell you that I love you more than you can possibly know by just reading it. I miss you, dear, like the dickens – and once I get you – I’ll never let you out of my sight. Remember!

I’ll have to stop now, dear, and do a little work. Be well, take care of yourself – and for now – so long –

All my everlasting love, darling –

Greg

* TIDBIT *

about Lorelei Rock and the Legend


St. Goarshausen (left) across from Lorelei Rock (right)

The Lorelei (also spelled Loreley) is a 433 foot high slate cliff on the eastern bank of the Rhine near St. Goarshausen, Germany in the Upper Middle Rhine Valley. It marks the narrowest part of the river between Switzerland and the North Sea. A very strong current and rocks below the waterline have caused many boat accidents there.

Aerial View of Lorelei and Narrowed Rhine

The Rhine, at the Lorelei, is up to 82 feet deep and only 371 feetwide. Because this area is so deep and narrow, it is one of the most dangerous places in the Upper Middle Rhine Valley. Ships, crossing each other here and all along the section between Oberwesel and St. Goarshausen, are directed by light signals.

Castle Katz and Lorelei Beyond

There are two theories about the derivation of the name. One theory says that the name comes from the old German words "lureln" (Rhine dialect for "murmuring") and the Celtic term "ley" (rock). The translation of the name would therefore be "murmuring rock". The heavy currents, and a small waterfall in the area (still visible in the early 19th century) created a murmuring sound, and this combined with the special echo the rock produces which acted as a sort of amplifier, giving the rock its name. The murmuring is hard to hear today owing to the urbanization of the area.

The other theory attributes the name to the many accidents occurring here, by combining the German verb "lauern" (to lurk, lie in wait) with the same "ley" ending, with the translation "lurking rock".

Lorelei from the Rhine

The rock and the murmur it creates have inspired various tales. One old legend envisioned dwarves living in caves in the rock. In 1801 German author Clemens Brentano composed his ballad Zu Bacharach am Rheine as part of a fragmentary continuation of his novel Godwi oder Das steinerne Bild der Mutter. It is the first story told of an enchanting female associated with the rock. In the poem, the beautiful Lorelei, betrayed by her sweetheart, is accused of bewitching men and causing their death. Rather than sentence her to death, the bishop consigns her to a nunnery. On the way thereto, accompanied by three knights, she comes to the Lorelei rock. She asks permission to climb it and view the Rhine once again. She does so and falls to her death; the rock still retained an echo of her name afterwards. Brentano had taken inspiration from Ovid and the Echo myth.

In 1823 Heinrich Heine seized on and adapted Brentano's theme in one of his most famous poems, Die Lorelei, translated below. It describes the eponymous female as a sort of siren who, sitting on the cliff above the Rhine and combing her golden hair, unwittingly distracted shipmen with her beauty and song, causing them to crash on the rocks. In 1837 Heine's lyrics were set to music by Friedrich Silcher in a song that became well known in German-speaking lands. A setting by Franz Liszt was also favored and over a score of other musicians have set the poem to music.

The Lorelei character, although originally imagined by Brentano, passed into German popular culture in the form described in the Heine-Silcher song and is commonly but mistakenly believed to have originated in an old folk tale. The French writer Guillaume Apollinaire took up the theme again in his poem "La Loreley", from the collection Alcools.

A statue of "Lorelei" can be seen on a small islet in the center of the river nearby.

"Lorelei"

Here is a translation of the "The Lorelei" written in 1823 by Heinrich Heine:

I wish I knew the meaning,
A sadness has fallen on me.
The ghost of an ancient legend
That will not let me be.
The air is cool in the twilight
And gently flows the Rhine;
A mountain peak in the setting sun
Catches the faltering shine.

The highest peak still gleaming
Reveals enthroned in the air,
A Siren lost in her dreaming
Combing her golden hair.
With golden combs she caresses
Her hair as she sings her song;
Echoing through the gloaming
Filled with a magic so strong.

The boatman has heard, it has bound him
In throes of desire and love.
He's blind to the reefs that surround him,
He sees but the Maiden above.
And now the wild waters awaken
Then boat and the boatman are gone.
And this is what with her singing,
The Lorelei has done.

19 March 1945

438^th AAA AW BN

APO 230 % Postmaster, N.Y.

19 March, 1945      0930

Germany

Wilma darling –

Happy first of the week to you – or something! That means it’s Monday, dear – but I’m not blue. Why am I happy? Because I love you and you love me – and that’s good enough reason – too.

We got some mail yesterday and mine included a recent copy of the Boston Herald – 12 September, a letter from you of 5 December, but also one from 5 March – which of course compensated for everything else. Oh – there was a letter from Mrs. Tucker in Salem; I hadn’t heard from here in a long time. And – another V-mail from you, darling, without any date! Now how in the world am I going to compare the relative speed between letters – if I can’t compare the dates! Will you tell me that, huh! What’s this about only V-mail going by Air from now on? We haven’t heard about it over here at all – but I don’t think they really mean it.

Your old letter of December – asked me a very pertinent question, namely: do I think I can fill the bill as your husband? And the answer is, modestly, of course, yes! You were discussing the attention you – as a wife – would want, and would be willing to give; and you said it would be 50-50, of course. That 50-50 is a very interesting expression – and it’s too literal interpretation has led to much trouble, I’m sure. The point about married life, I think, is that situations are bound to arise which call for one member to give 60 or 70 – as against 25 perhaps – at any one time; that member will at some time receive that much or more, in return. There may be a time – more than one – when the situation looks like a 60-40 arrangement; that may be all right, too, so long as it isn’t permanent – because later it will become 40-60. The point I’m trying to make, dear, is that married life should be flexible; you can’t lay down the rules as you do in a ball game and live up to them always. There must be times when allowances, interpretations, giving in, trying to understand – makes the balance swing back and forth; but so long as both parties share in the swing of the pendulum – it all equals up. And – on the whole – I think that life goes that way for two people very often. The trouble comes too often from the fact that one party is afraid it’s giving up too much and won’t wait to see things balanced up. I think that as intelligent people – sweetheart – we ought to be able to see through anything as simple as that. I honestly think we can get along swell and have a heck of a wonderful time doing it, too.

Your letter also mentioned having been out with Verna and discussing politics, marriage, and in-laws – quite a combination at lunch time, dear. You say that Verna speaks rather vigorously on the latter subject – and how! It’s quite a while now – and I don’t remember all the details, but I do know Verna never got along with hers. Whose fault it is or was – is hard to say, but as I remember it – quite a serious rift developed between Irv and Verna because of it. Living away from in-laws – on the whole – is a good thing for a couple, and yet it shouldn’t serve as an escape mechanism. It should help eliminate the little but sometimes very irritating things that crop up – for both members. Again – I feel we haven’t got a real worry at all on that score. Interference is usually the thing that starts it off – and we shouldn’t have that.

Well – I’ve rambled on today without saying a heck of a lot. What I’d look to do is get married right away and give all these ideas a tryout – incidentally. I mean incidentally we’d be trying things out. Actually we’d be married – and to Hell with the theories! Boy how I’d love that, and how often I think about it! And Spring isn’t going to help it one bit, is it dear? Anyway – we know we love and want each other – and when that Spring feeling does creep in – we can at least feel that someone we love is thinking about us and thinking of the same future. The sad aspect of Spring was always depicted by the unrequited lover. Darling – I love you and you love me – and that makes everything infinitely easy to bear.

And so much for that, sweetheart, or I’ll get to missing you too acutely. Love to the folks, dear – and –

All my sincerest love

Greg

* TIDBIT *

about Book Relief

From TIME, 19 March 1945, Vol. XLV, No. 12 comes this:

One of the first moves in both German and Jap schemes of conquest was to destroy free men's ideas by destroying their books. In 1938, while the Nazis were systematically looting some 400 libraries in Czechoslovakia, the Japs deliberately dropped 50 bombs on China's National Hunan University in Changsha. The National Tsinghua University at Peiping lost many precious books and manuscripts, some irreplaceable.

With the beginning of World War II, these ravages became wholesale. In Naples, the Royal Society Library was burned in reprisal for the shooting of a Nazi in a nearby street. In Athens, the books of three American colleges reportedly were used to stoke furnaces. Not all the destruction was deliberately aimed at books, but the results were the same. In England, the contents of at least 50 libraries, plus some 6,000,000 books in stalls and publishing houses, have been bombed into dust.

ABC, Inc. Since October 1943 this stupendous loss has been the prime concern of the American Library Association's Board on International Relations. After much exploring of ways & means, the Board, with the help of the State Department and the Library of Congress, convened representatives of all interested agencies, last week took steps to form a corporation. Its name: American Book Center, Inc. Its purposes: 1) to replace lost books; 2) to supply the world's libraries with recent U.S. publications.

ABC will ask every potential source in the U.S. to donate both English and foreign-language books and periodicals. It will store them in warehouses on the East and West Coasts. There representatives of the various countries may make their selections. Another suggestion: orders may be taken at a sample-library, set up somewhere in Europe, of single copies of all wartime U.S. publications.

Funds for ABC will be solicited from business concerns which have foreign interests. The Rockefeller Foundation has already chipped in $2,500 for a starter. Kenneth Shaffer, librarian at the University of Indiana, has been appointed director of ABC at $5,000 a year.

ABC's sponsors well realize that they cannot hope to replace more than a fraction of what has been lost. But they would not, even if they could. Said brisk Luther Evans, Acting Librarian of Congress: "Those libraries oughtn't to get back all the books they had. ... All libraries ought to destroy about three times as much as they do. ... [They] clutter up their shelves with too much junk, and they never weed out the deadwood. . . ."

18 March 1945

438^th AAA AW BN

APO 230 % Postmaster, N.Y.

18 March, 1945      0840

Germany

Dearest Sweetheart –

This is pretty early for me – but it’s Sunday today and the Staff Meeting didn’t last long. I’ve already shaved and I’m waiting for sick-call. Then I’ll probably go out to visit one of the batteries – unless something else turns up here.

Yesterday was a dull day with nothing particular happening. Oh – I managed to get a bath – in a bath tub, too. Funny thing about Europe, but bath tubs certainly aren’t common – and even in the better homes – bath tubs are often missing. I don’t know how these people keep clean. Anyway I did get cleaned up and dressed up; that means a fresh uniform – field – of course, but even at that I was all ready to visit you, dear. Gee – it’s over 9 months now since I’ve worn anything but combat shoes, O.D. trousers, shirt – no tie, and a field jacket. It’s very simple though. You’ll have to keep checking up on me, dear, after we’re married. I’ll probably get hold of one suit and tie and just keep wearing it.

Again, darling, there was no mail at all for me from the States. I got one V-mail from my cousin Jack Alexander who is with Third Army – still in France. He was studying or getting ready to study dentistry, I guess, when the Army got him. He had had 4 years at the U of Alabama and one year at Dental School. Anyway – he’s now a corporal in an Ordnance Bn – but he’s in the medical detachment as a dental assistant.

You mentioned once – in a fairly recent letter, dear – that you wonder what it will be like when I come home. It can be a frightening thought – I agree with you there. Will it be the same – you want to know – you and millions with you. I wonder, too, sweetheart, – and it’s natural. If people who have been married, lived together and had children – wonder about it – certainly we have a right to. But our problem is not one of re-adjustment – the word so much in use these days, for strictly speaking – we have yet to be adjusted. What I mean is that whether you wait 3 months – or a couple of years – the plunge into marriage is always a big step, and that is our only problem. All this elapsed time has served to make us know each other a whole lot more – and marriage is the logical conclusion. I have no fears whatsoever about what you’ll be like when I get back – I trust my judgement and I know I would have married you had I remained at home. Sure – I’m getting dimmer in my ability to picture you – etc., but I’m relying on that initial judgement – backed up by my knowledge about you through our correspondence. No – dear – our only problem is one which every couple has to face and that is – one of adjustment. That can be answered – only by marriage – and I feel quite certain we can hit it off. I say that not lightly, for I’ve given it a lot of thought myself.

What irritates me particularly is to read and hear about married couples who are doing all the wondering and worrying. Damn it – if 2 people married and got along – why should a wife worry about her husband? Sure – he’s been to war – but he’ll be goddam glad to get back to her – unless he didn’t love her in the 1^st place and uses the war as an excuse. And why should a husband worry about his wife? She’s either faithful – and he need not worry – or she isn’t – and she’s no good. I just can’t agree with everyone who maintains the step from Army life to civilian status will be a big one. It ought to be as easy as rolling off a log – and anyone – outside of the sick – who says otherwise is merely looking for an excuse to ‘act up’.

And with that – sweetheart – I’ll have to sign off. I don’t think you’ll have much trouble with me – or I hope not. Just give me the chance, and I’ll show you how adjusted I can be. Love to the folks, darling, and

My deepest love,

Greg

* TIDBIT *

about The Canadian Rabbi


Honorary Captain Rabbi Samuel Cass
Cleve, Germany - 18 March 1945

Rabbi Samuel Cass was born in Toronto in 1908. He served as the senior Jewish chaplain in the Canadian Army from 1942 to 1946, and by 1944 he was stationed overseas at the Canadian military headquarters.

On 18 March 1945 Rabbi Samuel Cass of Vancouver, Canada conducted the first worship service celebrated on German territory by Jewish personnel of the 1st Canadian Army near Cleve, Germany. Rabbi Cass assisted with the reorganization of Jewish communities liberated by Canadian forces in Belgium and Holland. He also worked with Holocaust survivors after the war.

For Canada and Jewish Canadians, the Second World War was the Jewish community’s most sustained war effort ever. Out of a Canadian Jewish population of approximately 167,000 Jewish men, women and children, over 16,880 volunteered for active service in the army, air force, and navy. There were an additional 2,000 Jews who enlisted, but who did not declare their Jewish identity in order to avert danger if captured by the Nazi forces.

Of the 16,880 who served, which constituted more than one-fifth of the entire Jewish male population in the country, 10,440 served in the army, 5,870 in the air force, and 570 in the navy. 1,971 Jewish soldiers received military awards. Over 420 were buried with the Star of David engraved on graves scattered in 125 cemeteries. Thousands returned home with serious physical and mental wounds.

Saskatchewan Jews were among the first to volunteer during both World War I and II, and many lost their lives in the European trenches. The province honoured those who sacrificed their lives, including a number of Jewish heroes, by naming several lakes and mountains of the vast northern region after them.

The Canadian Jewish Heritage Network provides the date of death and place of burial of many of the Canadian Jewish servicemen who died serving in the Canadian Armed Forces in World War I, World War II, and the Korean War.

17 March 1945

438^th AAA AW BN

APO 230 % Postmaster, N.Y.

17 March, 1945         0940

Germany

Wilma, darling –

As I remember it – they used to have quite a time of it on this date in Boston. I wonder how they’ll celebrate this year. They ought to send the Irish over here – there’s plenty of celebrating going on all over the place. One of the funny things around this town at the present – is the group of local policemen who wear the typical Nazi uniform but who were not part of the Army proper. Anyway – none fled and when the Americans came they were checked by the Military Government personnel and allowed to carry out their usual municipal duties. Well – an Armored division is in the area, too, and when the Commanding General saw these ‘guys’ – he ordered them to salute the Americans – not only officers, but every American soldier. And it sure is a riot to see these fellows saluting along the main street where the GI’s are driving or walking by without cease. The temptation, particularly on the part of the enlisted men – is to salute back, but that is strictly taboo. We have orders never to return the salute of a German.

Yesterday saw one of my boys getting the Silver Star – presented to him by the General of this Corps. He’s one of my corporals – and a good soldier under pressure – although I had trouble with him in the States and also in England. You may or may not remember – but he’s the one I had to court-martial in England. He was reduced to the Grade of private. But when we hit Normandy he showed he had the stuff, when he ran out into an open field to take care of 2 of our boys who were hit by 2 strafing planes. The planes were returning for another run on the field – and everybody hit the foxholes – but he got out and administered first aid nevertheless. This last episode – he went into a mine field to help one of our men who had been severely wounded. The field was covered with mines – but he went in anyway and got him out. We recommended the Bronze Star – and the Corps boosted the Award itself. Incidentally that’s the 1st such award for the battalion and I was glad a medic got it.

Lieutenant General J. Lawton Collins
Awards the Silver Star to Eckle Ashworth
16 March 1945

Other than that, dear, it was a rather quiet day with no mail again. As usual when we start moving about – the mail gets kicked around but I understand the APO has caught up with us and we may get mail this pm.

Say, darling, I want to make or take exception to one of your statements in a letter of yours – to the effect that I said “less about everything than any other man” – referring to such things as complimentary remarks etc. Hell, girl – I actually thought I was overdoing it! I guess you’re right, though, Sweetheart – I never did say very much – although I thought a lot. I never was the flattering type and always felt that rather than have you think I was just trying to say the right thing – I’d keep quiet. And I was making you like me without telling you all I thought. That – at that stage – was enough. I didn’t know we’d become engaged and grow to love each other so. And I do remember your hair, sweetheart – and it was lovely – but why single out the hair! All of you was lovely and I’d just love to show you what I mean –

So you’ll come to San Francisco if I arrive there 1st. I hope you don’t have to, darling. The chances are though that it will be back thru N.Y. or Boston. I just don’t know what reactions I’ll experience that day. Most likely I’ll have to call you –sweetheart – to tell you I’m back. Damn it! I’ll bet your line will be busy! Well – I’ll wait – honestly.

I’ll have to go now, dear. I’m treating someone with Penicillin today and it’s time for another injection. Hope all is well at home, darling. Love to the folks – and

My own sincere, deep love to you –

Greg

* TIDBIT *

about The Silver Star

According to the Home of Heroes web site:

The Silver Star Medal is the United States' THIRD HIGHEST award exclusively for combat valor, and ranks fifth in the precedence of military awards behind the Medal of Honor, the Crosses (DSC/NC/AFC), the Defense Distinguished Service Medal (awarded by DOD), and the Distinguished Service Medals of the various branches of service. It is the highest award for combat valor that is NOT unique to any specific branch; it has been bestowed by the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, Coast Guard, and Merchant Marines. It may be given by any one of the individual services to not only their own members, but to members of other branches of service, foreign allies, and even to civilians for "gallantry in action" in support of combat missions of the United States military.

The Silver Star was established by President Woodrow Wilson as a "Citation Star" during World War I, and was solely a U.S. Army award, though it was presented by the War Department (U.S. Army) to members of the Navy and to U.S. Marines. (More on that can be found in the introductory pages to WWI awards.) Originally it provided for a 3/16" silver star to be worn on on the ribbon of the service medal for the campaign for service in which the citations were given. Based loosely upon the earlier Certificate of Merit, the Citation Star was available retroactively to those who distinguished themselves by gallantry as far back as the Spanish-American War. (Subsequently it has been awarded for gallantry to Civil War heroes who were similarly cited for gallantry in action.) Prior to 1932 the General Orders announcing awards of the "Citation Star" typically began:

By direction of the President, under the provisions of the act of Congress approved July 19, 1918 (Bul. No. 43, W.D., 1918), the following-named officers and enlisted men are cited for gallantry in action and a silver star may be placed upon the ribbon of the Victory Medals awarded to such officers and enlisted men." (A narrative of the act or acts followed for each man thus cited.)

On February 22, 1932, the date that would have been George Washington's 200th birth day, Army Chief of Staff General Douglas MacArthur revived General Washington's "Badge for Military Merit (1782)" as the Purple Heart. That same year he also successfully advocated for conversion of the "Citation Star". When his recommendation was approved by the Secretary of War, the 3/16' silver star was converted from a "ribbon device" to a full-fledged MEDAL.

The Silver Star Medal was designed by Rudolf Freund of Bailey, Banks and Biddle, and consisted of a gilt-bronze five-pointed (point-up in contrast to the point-down design of the Medal of Honor) star bearing a laurel wreath at its center. The ribbon design incorporated the colors of the flag, and closely resembled the medals earliest predecessor, the Certificate of Merit Medal. The reverse of the medal is blank, save for the raised text "For Gallantry in Action", beneath which is usually engraved the name of the recipient.

The gold hue of the gilt-bronze star seems at odd with the award's name, Silver Star. That title derives from the medal's World War I lineage and the 3/6" silver star, once displayed on a victory ribbon, and now prominently displayed in the center of the medal.

The Silver Star Medal remained exclusively an Army decoration until August 7, 1942, nearly a year after World War II began. On that date the Silver Star Medal was expanded by Act of Congress for award by the Navy Department for actions on or after December 7, 1941, (Public Law 702, 77th Congress).

It is estimated that the number of Silver Stars awarded from World War I to present is somewhere between 100,000 and 150,000. While that number seems quite large, when compared to the more than 30 million American men and women who have served in uniform during that time period, it is obvious that the Silver Star is a rare award, bestowed on fewer than 1 in every 250 veterans of military service.

Eckle Ashworth, Silver Star Award recipient, was born on 09/28/1908 and died at the age of 90 on 11/15/1998. He is buried in Lakewood Memorial Park (cemetery), which is located in Hughson, California.