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| These are typed exactly as he wrote them, spelling fixed in a couple of places because he would have wanted it fixed. Soldiers weren't allowed to say where they were or what they were doing, so the letters are mostly about the weather, the food, and asking about home. Some of them were V-mail, which was a letter written on a special form, photographed onto microfilm to save space on the ships, and printed out small on the other end. My notes are in [brackets]. |
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Somewhere in England · April 1944
Dear Ma, Well I'm across the pond and still in one piece. The boat ride was not so hot, I will leave it at that. It rains here about every day and the people drive on the wrong side of the road and drink their tea warm. They are very nice though. A lady at the church gave me a cup of tea and would not take a penny. Tell Pop I am eating good. Tell Mary to quit borrowing my bike. Your son, Andy [Mary is his little sister, my great-aunt, who is 72 and still has the bike.] |
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Somewhere in France · August 1944 (V-mail)
Dear Ma, I got three of your letters all at once yesterday so I was a rich man for a day. I am with a new outfit now, a good bunch of fellows. There's a boy from Hazleton so we talk about home. Lots of apple orchards here, and cows, and they have a kind of hard cider that will take your hair off. I am being good. Please send socks if you can. Wool ones. Andy [The "new outfit" is the 1st Infantry Division. He had just joined them in Normandy.] |
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Somewhere in Belgium · November 1944
Dear Ma, By now you got a telegram and I bet you're worried sick so I'm writing this first thing. I am OK. I got a small piece of metal in my shoulder and they took it out and sewed me up and I'm in a clean bed with sheets, which is more than I can say for the last few weeks. The nurses are real nice. I'll be back with the fellows before you know it. Please don't cry, Ma. Light a candle at St. Mary's for the boys who aren't so lucky. Your loving son, Andy [This is the Hurtgen Forest wound. The family got the War Department telegram about a week before this letter arrived. My great-grandmother kept the telegram and the letter folded together.] |
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Somewhere in Belgium · December 26, 1944 (V-mail)
Dear Ma and Pop, Merry Christmas a day late. We had a hot meal yesterday so it was a good Christmas. It's cold here, colder than home, and there's plenty of snow. I got the socks. They are the best present I ever got in my life and I mean that. Don't worry about me. Andy [He was in the Battle of the Bulge when he wrote this. When I read it to him in 1996 he was quiet for a long time and then he said the socks part was true.] |
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Germany · March 1945
Dear Ma, Just a short one. We are moving a lot. Spring is coming, the mud is terrible. I'm fine. Went to Mass in a church with no roof, first time in a while. Tell Father Kostelnik hello. Tell Mary she can have the bike, I'm too old for it now. Andy |
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Czechoslovakia · May 1945
Dear Ma, Pop and Mary, It's over here! You probably heard before we did. The people in this town came out with flowers and bread and a man played the accordion, and an old lady talked to me in something close enough to Grandma's Slovak that we understood each other and we both cried. Can you believe that. I don't know when I'm coming home but it won't be long now. Keep the porch light on. Your son, Andy [His grandmother came from Slovakia, so this letter is the family favorite. We read it at his funeral.] |
