Censored Mail

[floydragsdale]

Censored Mail

Somewhere in England, Somewhere in Belgium, Somewhere in France are the words a G.I. was allowed to use to identify where he or she was while serving in Europe when writing letters to his family in the states..

All homeward bound mail was censored, consequently, a Soldier could not reveal detailed information regarding his location and what he was doing. If he did the censor blacked it out.

Example! The Battle of the Bulge made daily headlines in the papers and on the radio. When writing home during that period I would mention that Battle and that we were involved in that affair BUT no details as to who, what, when and where.

Therefore a person had to think before using words that the censor just might black out with indelible ink.

Floyd
424th Regiment

[connie]

Hi, Floyd,

This is an interesting subject. As an enlisted man in Hawaii my dad had others censoring his mail. There even some weather references were forbidden because the weather could identify the side of an island where someone was positioned. By the time he hit the ETO he was an officer. Of course his mail was subject to censorship. But for the most part he did his own censoring and noted this with a signature on the envelope. He was responsible for censoring the mail of men in his unit. I don't know whether this included the whole battery or a smaller unit.

Do you have any idea who was in charge of censoring your mail and how large a group he was responsible for censoring?

Connie

[floydragsdale]

Connie:

All of the platoon leaders (officers) censored our mail. That is all I remember.

Floyd

[connie]

Floyd,

I'm catching up on military organization. I believe a that an infantry platoon and a field artillery battery were roughly equal. It may be a small detail but I'm trying to picture how many men's mail one officer was responsible for censoring.

Field Artillery Batteries were contained roughly 100 men. Dad's Service Battery for a field artillery battalion had 70 some men at the time of the bulge. Is this also about the size of an infantry platoon?

Connie

[floydragsdale]

Connie:

There were about forty men to a platoon or four squads of men. Ten men in each squad.

Floyd.

[connie]

Thanks, Floyd,

This helps! Back to the censoring, no matter how important the concept of being careful about what was said, it had to feel invasive to know that your platoon leader was reading your mail.

Connie

[floydragsdale]

Connie, I wasn't writing to a girl friend, or wife, just family and a few friends. So, it didn't bother me to know that someone else was reading my letters, although I can understand why it could bother some of my fellow soldiers.


floyd