October 6, 1944
(England)
Dear Folks,
What’sa matter anyway. The last letter I got from you was mailed September 6, a whole month ago. Some folks here are getting letters postmarked as late as the 28th—but for me, “nuttin”. I don’t know what’s wrong but whatever it is I don’t like it—not even a little bit, but I guess it won’t do me any good. You say some of my mail comes as quickly as 7 days. That’s pretty good. I wonder why I can’t do as well.
(England)
Dear Folks,
What’sa matter anyway. The last letter I got from you was mailed September 6, a whole month ago. Some folks here are getting letters postmarked as late as the 28th—but for me, “nuttin”. I don’t know what’s wrong but whatever it is I don’t like it—not even a little bit, but I guess it won’t do me any good. You say some of my mail comes as quickly as 7 days. That’s pretty good. I wonder why I can’t do as well.
Really there’s not a “helluva” lot to write about these days. Our training just seems to drag along in an easy but boresome manner and outside of that I don’t do much of anything. In evening I generally go to the Red Cross for a “Coke” or maybe take in one of these old shows. In general I live a typical E.T.O. army life “Confidentially”. You know how the saying goes.
By now school must be pretty well underway. Write and tell me how things are; even tell me what you’re having for dinner if you must.
I’ll close now. I haven’t said much but that’s about all there is. Anyway, it sounds as if a murder were being committed down stairs. I’d better investigate. Hope you’re not having colds like me.
Best love,
Bill
Best love,
Bill
I posted a query on the World War II Usenet newsgroup asking if soldier mail ever yielded up useful intelligence for an enemy. So far, no one has answered yes. POWs hid coded messages in their letters home, but this was different. I don't think anyone cared to read Bill's letters other than his parents.
ReplyDeleteDid the enemy even have the resources to plod through millions and millions of G.I. letters home? I would think that German intelligence was overwhelmed with other sources of information far more likely to produce results.
ReplyDeleteDavid, do you have any recommended reading on the subject of intelligence gathering during WWII?
Wow, World War II intelligence is a separate category in card catalogs. Works started coming out as soon as peace broke out whether from the eyewitnesses or serious historians. The for the U.S. Army the Center of Military History is a good place to start http://www.history.army.mil/index.html
ReplyDeleteThere is a multi-volume history covering different aspect of Army operations and intelligence should be one of them. I tried to tickle the exact title of the series out of a couple of catalogs, but could not. If you befriend a librarian he/she can help you find even obscure works.
The CIA has published a lot of the declassified work of the O.S.S. etc.
It looks like the subject of WWII Intelligence is a bit too broad for the topic at hand. I have posted a brief "About Censorship" blurb on the blog. I guess that will do it for now.
ReplyDelete