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World War II History, Captured in a Private’s Letters to His Wife
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/13/nyregion/world-war-ii-history-captured-in-a-privates-letters-to-hi ^ | July 12, 2015 | By James Barron

Posted on 07/12/2015 3:34:47 PM PDT by Brad from Tennessee

Edited on 07/12/2015 5:58:18 PM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]

For years the letter lay in a box in the attic. It was postmarked in April 1945, just before the Nazis

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Extended News; Germany; US: New Jersey; US: New York
KEYWORDS: brooklyn; buchenwald; demagogicparty; germany; holocaust; hymanschulman; jamesbarron; memebuilding; newjersey; newyork; newyorkcity; newyorkslimes; newyorktimes; partisanmediashill; partisanmediashills; scotchplains; theholocaust; weimar; worldwareleven; wwii

1 posted on 07/12/2015 3:34:47 PM PDT by Brad from Tennessee
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To: Brad from Tennessee

FROM ARTICLE:

“In the Army,” she said, “they all believed in God. They had to believe in something.”


2 posted on 07/12/2015 3:36:06 PM PDT by Brad from Tennessee (A politician can't give you anything he hasn't first stolen from you.)
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To: Brad from Tennessee

We typed and printed all of the letters from my uncle who flew a B-26 in Europe. He sent one to my grandmother virtually weekly from October 1942 through May 1945. A truly great report on the life of a pilot.


3 posted on 07/12/2015 3:42:51 PM PDT by Herzo61
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To: Brad from Tennessee

In foxholes there are no athiests,,,,not sure who said it first.


4 posted on 07/12/2015 3:45:27 PM PDT by Craftmore
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To: Herzo61

I have a box about the size of two shoe-boxes with my dad’s letters to my mom. He was on a small mine sweeper - I think in our harbors and sweeping them for any enemy mines that they might sneek in. So pretty safe. He never saw any action, but they were always itching to come across a submarine.

My daughter has that on her list of things to do - scan them in and sort them by date. I imagine that will never happen!

We read them once-in-awhile. Pretty mundane. Although he did write about a Marine that came on board. He was the brother of one of his guys on the ship. The marine spent the night, and was commenting on what a cushy job they had to spend the war on a cruise ship. (My dad knew he was lucky too.)

The marine had just come in from a battle, and was heading out the following day to another battle. “I’m sure you’ll hear about it in the news in a little while.”

I looked up a timeline - the letter was sent a little bit before the invasion of Tarawa where we lost so many men. I wondered how that marine fared.


5 posted on 07/12/2015 4:13:17 PM PDT by 21twelve (http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2185147/posts It is happening again.)
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To: Brad from Tennessee

I look forward to a book from these letters!


6 posted on 07/12/2015 4:24:12 PM PDT by yoe
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To: Brad from Tennessee

Bookmark


7 posted on 07/12/2015 4:49:12 PM PDT by Fiddlstix (Warning! This Is A Subliminal Tagline! Read it at your own risk!(Presented by TagLines R US))
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To: Craftmore

The first guy to dig a foxhole


8 posted on 07/12/2015 4:52:39 PM PDT by USNBandit (Sarcasm engaged at all times)
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To: Herzo61
When he passed we found the diary of my great uncle, from WWI. It was quite interesting, especially the rumors near the armistice.

I remember a time, when I was about seven, sitting at his kitchen table after lunch. My brother and I were astonished and amazed when he pulled the majority of his teeth out of his mouth to clean them. We had never seen dentures before. He said he had lost them in the War. Nothing so gallant as combat, but instead it came from losing a bet. He was an officer in the mounted engineers and had bet his buddies he could jump a trench on his horse. He said he still came out better than the horse, which broke its leg.

All the animal lovers can slam him for getting that horse killed, but I remember this quiet, little old man, with a big denturey grin, that at one time must have been quite the hell raiser.

9 posted on 07/12/2015 5:05:40 PM PDT by USNBandit (Sarcasm engaged at all times)
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To: Brad from Tennessee

BFL


10 posted on 07/12/2015 5:07:23 PM PDT by 4everontheRight (And the story began with..."Once there was a great nation......")
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To: Brad from Tennessee

I have letters from my GGGF from the Civil War and his wife’s letters back to him. He was serving in the US Cavalry from Tennessee. His letters and hers back to him give me an entirely different attitude about the Civil War that are much different from the history books.


11 posted on 07/12/2015 6:03:29 PM PDT by vetvetdoug
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To: vetvetdoug

More info please!


12 posted on 07/12/2015 6:45:06 PM PDT by Talisker (One who commands, must obey.)
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To: 21twelve

We’ve just recently completed scanning my Marine grandfather’s letters home from Guam in ‘44 & ‘45. He was too old for the front, and spent his time either in the infirmary or the quartermasters’ corp. He wrote virtually every day, and I understand my grandmother did the same from the home front. Unfortunately, those letters did not survive.


13 posted on 07/12/2015 7:13:49 PM PDT by condi2008
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To: condi2008

I imagine the guys on the front line seeing all the action didn’t have a whole heck’uv a lot of time to write!


14 posted on 07/12/2015 10:12:58 PM PDT by 21twelve (http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2185147/posts It is happening again.)
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