‘Boy, You Ought to See These French Women in Sarongs’

February 9, 2012 Leave a Comment

Not a French woman in a sarong. But it's a Life cover girl from the era.

Dated Sept. 10, 1943; postmarked Sept. 28. Babe should still be in North Africa at this point.

Dear Folks,

Well, I received beaucoup letters today and I had a good time reading them.

Now the first thing I want to ask you is: Where do those cousins live? If I get a chance and I know where they live, I will go to see them.

I will get Mr. Morgan’s letter, but I don’t think it will get here for quite awhile. Tell him I wish he were here and I were there. But I am having a good time right now. As soon as I finish this letter, I am going to the beach and swim for a few hours. Boy, you ought to see these French women in sarongs.

I’m learning how to speak French all over again and I’m getting along fine now. Once in awhile, I get stuck on a word or two, but usually, I get along pretty well.

Right now I’m listening to the news over my radio and he is telling us about the landings at Naples. Read more of this post

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‘It’s a Pretty Barren Place, This North Africa’

February 2, 2012 Leave a Comment

A B-24 Liberator; 'First sign of civilization since leaving the U.S.' Source: U.S. Air Force photos.

Postmarked July 29, 1943, still in Morocco based on the location of APO 776 at this time. This is the first letter he sent on V-mail.

Dear Mom and Pop,

Well, I’m feeling fine and I hope you all are the same.

It’s a pretty barren place, this North Africa, but it has a lot of background that I can’t tell you about.

We had a nice trip over here. There were Red Cross workers and Army nurses on the boat with us. The biggest thrill everyone got out of that trip was when we were a few hundred miles from Africa and a Liberator bomber came over. It was the first sign of civilization we saw since leaving the U.S.

We just got a speech from the colonels and majors welcoming us to North Africa. This page isn’t nearly big enough, but it’s all I have. I’ll have to close.

Love & Kisses,

Babe

PDF: ‘It’s a Pretty Barren Place, This North Africa’

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An Enjoyable Hope-Lamour Movie; More About the Local Money

January 30, 2012 Leave a Comment

This is the second letter within the envelope postmarked July 27, 1943, by the U.S. Army Postal Service. Click here for the first letter; this letter is dated July 26, from North Africa.

Dear Mom and Pop,

I’m feeling fine and dandy and I hope you all are the same.

We saw another show last night — “They Got Me Covered,” with Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour. I missed that picture back there so I enjoyed it here.

I got some more French money for you, too. One is five francs, worth 10 cents, and the other is 10 francs, worth 20 cents. You notice these new bills were printed in the U.S. but the old ones were made here. The French, as you will see, let their money keep in circulation until it crumples up into dust. This one is taped up like the 100 franc note I was going to send you in my last letter. The censor told me I couldn’t send more than fifty francs in any one letter, though. Read more of this post

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Getting to Know Babe’s Whereabouts When He Landed in North Africa

January 29, 2012 Leave a Comment

Piecing together the life of a soldier from his letters is substantially more difficult than I expected. I just don’t have access to the information, or the time it might take to find it. With what I have to work with, I am learning that I do little more than speculate.

For example, I’ve noticed that in Babe’s first few letters from North Africa, his return address changes three times. The first two may be the same, but rendered differently, but he moves from the “2nd Replacement Depot” to the “1st Replacement Depot” from one letter to the next.

A “replacement depot” was apparently a holding tank, essentially, for soldiers who came overseas and before they were assigned to a permanent unit. They were literally what they sound like: A holding depot for replacement soldiers. They were to replace the soldiers who were killed, captured or wounded.

One article on the subject of replacement depots doesn’t paint them in a very favorable light, calling the troops staged there “military orphans with little esprit de corps and no cohesion.” Read more of this post

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Learning More About Tracking Army Post Office Movements

January 28, 2012 Leave a Comment

From my earlier post, written by Dave Kent of the Military Postal History Society, I learned that Army Post Office numbers, or APOs, are an effective means of tracking the location of a military unit. I expect to learn more going forward about how specific that information will become.

I recently corresponded with Richard V. Horrell, who runs WW 2 Connections and lists his home in Nashville. His website says he uses his passion for World War II history to create profiles of military personnel that he “researches and creates for his clients. His clients share with him the desire to remember what these men and women did for us 60 years ago.” I came across him through AllExperts.com.

Horrell responded to my questions about how to track APO numbers, which appear in the return address of all Babe’s letters. He responded on one of the APO numbers, but I realized Babe’s APO changes a few times, so I went looking for a source. I stumbled on this blog post from someone doing genealogical research, with a link to a PDF called “Numerical Listing of APOs, January 1942 to November 1947. It seemed like what I was looking for. I have it available on my site here.  (While trying to validate its authenticity, I found it apparently listed in a Smithsonian Institution index). Read more of this post

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