Post by floydragsdale on Jul 18, 2013 17:57:18 GMT -5
Hello all:
When troops were on the move, such as the 106th Divisions’ excursion from England to the Schnee Eifel area in Belgium, it would take some time for the mail to catch up with the soldiers.
This was the situation, at least, with the men of the 424th Regiment. Truckloads of Christmas mail were being collected and were waiting to be distributed to the 424th Regiment soldiers when the Battle of the Bulge began the 16th of December 1944.
Days later our Company received word that our of Christmas letters and packages were used as a roadblock to halt an advancing German Panzer column.
The end result was that all of our Christmas letters and packages were blown to bits and pieces. Either by American or German forces.
Consequently, as I remember, none of us received any mail until the 1st week of the New Year. Many of those letters, delivered to us then, had questions that read. “Did you receive the packages and cards we sent you?”
That was, and is, the depressing story of our Christmas mail in 1944 up on the frontlines in Belgium.
Soldiers, at least most of us, when there was time read their letters over and over again. News, from home, diverted ones attention from miserable living conditions to something much more enjoyable.
Once I received a package of cookies packed with old newspaper wrapping material. The cookies tasted good and once the paper wrapping was unfolded, not a word on that paper was left unread.
A Soldier was always happy to see mail with a postmark from his hometown, especially if it was from his loved ones. That was a real morale booster for him.
Floyd,
Co. G
424th Regiment
When troops were on the move, such as the 106th Divisions’ excursion from England to the Schnee Eifel area in Belgium, it would take some time for the mail to catch up with the soldiers.
This was the situation, at least, with the men of the 424th Regiment. Truckloads of Christmas mail were being collected and were waiting to be distributed to the 424th Regiment soldiers when the Battle of the Bulge began the 16th of December 1944.
Days later our Company received word that our of Christmas letters and packages were used as a roadblock to halt an advancing German Panzer column.
The end result was that all of our Christmas letters and packages were blown to bits and pieces. Either by American or German forces.
Consequently, as I remember, none of us received any mail until the 1st week of the New Year. Many of those letters, delivered to us then, had questions that read. “Did you receive the packages and cards we sent you?”
That was, and is, the depressing story of our Christmas mail in 1944 up on the frontlines in Belgium.
Soldiers, at least most of us, when there was time read their letters over and over again. News, from home, diverted ones attention from miserable living conditions to something much more enjoyable.
Once I received a package of cookies packed with old newspaper wrapping material. The cookies tasted good and once the paper wrapping was unfolded, not a word on that paper was left unread.
A Soldier was always happy to see mail with a postmark from his hometown, especially if it was from his loved ones. That was a real morale booster for him.
Floyd,
Co. G
424th Regiment