Letters to our boys
(Editor’s Note: This is another installment of The Express’ “Letter to Our Boys,” written during World War II to let “our boys” know what was happening back in their home towns. The Express will bring the letters to you occasionally, thanks to the efforts of Fred and Anna Snyder, who compiled the letters over several years of research and donated a full copy of them to the Clinton County Historical Society.)
July 14, 1945
Dear…
The sincerity of a letter from Pfc. Dale MAUCK who is stationed in the Marianas impressed me much this week.
“During the long months away from their homes and their families millions of service men are wondering if they will have jobs and a future when they come home. They feel they have been fighting and sweating out this war not only for the survival of democracy but for a future in which they ask only for security and a chance to live.
A job is the answer to both questions.
“Perhaps you have heard (as many of us have) of the ‘Bridgeport Plan,’ a plan made possible through the efforts of the professional men of Bridgeport, Conn. These men set up an agency financed by the local ‘Community Fund.’ The agency has at its disposal the knowledge and experience of its members and with the cooperation of the public, it has helped the returned veteran to readjust himself.
“The agency explains the GI Bill of Rights and helps the veteran to obtain benefits. They provide aptitude tests which determined the type of work or profession the veterans should be in and assist him in securing that work or profession. Their services are free to the veteran and are given with the sincere interests in the veteran in mind.
“Those who have taken advantage of this plan and reaped its benefits will be better citizens and assets to the community. Perhaps during my absence there has been something done about the returning servicemen. However, if nothing has been done, I offer the Bridgeport Plan as an efficient example.
“The GI in the last war had nothing to look forward to but medals and speeches and found out during the postwar period the medals and speeches did not make a good substitute for a job or food when he got hungry.
“If you think that the veteran is asking too much, then I suggest you come out here and see some of the boys who have given too much at Iwo Jima and Okinawa. I sincerely hope this letter will give some food for thought and tend to convey to the people back home that the boy who returns wants only a chance to live, not just exist.”
Earlier this week, Dale, The Express, published a good story that should answer your question. Simply turn over this clipping. The story is repeated today for interested readers of Col. O’Corn.
Recently promoted to Sergeant, Judson H. LONG, B-29 gunner, writes he has completed his 15th mission out of Saipan. On his 22nd birthday, June 29, he started out on his 14th mission. He also sends a plug for the hometown newspaper, which on June 6 printed an article about the Superfortress activity of Long’s unit. He claims it was the “most completely accurate and best of all clippings from the fellows’ home town papers.” While Judson is in Saipan, his father, J. Harold LONG, and his brother, Richard, are working at the Pennsylvania Woven Wire Company which makes screens for our bases in the Pacific.
Richard M. SWEITZER, of Mill Hall, now a hospital corpsman on a new hospital ship, recently met an old friend, and former fellow Boy Scout, Roy BARNARD, while on shore leave in the Pacific. BARNARD is in the Army.
Sgt. Gerard PUTNAM writes that he’s out in Iowa, just outside Nebraska — 1,147 miles from Fort Meade, Md. He claims he can make real time on the highways as traffic is not too bad, and there are stretches of straight road for miles at a time. He is enroute to a new post in Oregon. He has been stationed at Meade.
Pfc. Ardell BOTTORF is a member of the 42nd “Rainbow” Infantry Division which freed 32,000 from the prison camp in Dachau, Germany. The GI’s fought their way into Dachau against fanatical SS troops and witnessed rooms filled almost ceiling high with tangled human bodies adjoining cremation furnaces. BOTTORF says, “You can never imagine this ‘hellish’ place unless you have actually seen it.” He sent us an article on the findings in this “most notorious concentration camp.” BOTTORF is now in Austria.
BACK
Pfc. Albert BRAWAND, after 7 months overseas. 1st Lt. Paul MACK, after overseas duty. Pfc. John KINLEY, after 32 months overseas. S/Sgt. John Young, Renovo, after being a POW.
PROMOTED
Anthony COLACCINO to 1st Lt. Erma LORD to Capt., at Halloran General Hospital. John McGINNESS to T/5. Frank WINSLOW, Jr. to T/6. Anna Michele to Y3/c. John WHITMAN, Renovo, to 1st Lt. LaMont LAUBSCHER, to Sgt.
DECORATED
Pfc. Charles MILLER, Purple Heart with Oak Leaf Cluster. T/Sgt. Robert BURKETT, Air Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster.
DISCHARGED
S/Sgt. Richard CRITES, Mill Hall, with 127 points. T/Sgt. Robert CAREY. Pfc. Stanley WETZEL, Mackeyville, medical, for wounds received in Germany. S/Sgt. Maurice ZETTLE. Tech. Harry CHAPMAN. Tech Stewart GOODMAN. Pfc. Kermit ALLISON, Renovo. Pfc. JOHN KINLEY. Pfc. Malcolm PACKER, Blanchard.
WED
Sgt. Merwin GLOSSNER to Florence HAYDEN, Orrville, O., July 5. F/O James FARWELL to Betty JACKSON, Flemington, July 9. T/Sgt. Owen MAXWELL to Mary Frances Rhodes, July 7. Cpl. Harold SPOTTS, Renovo, to Mary LEATHERS, Point Breeze.
BORN
Daughter to S/Sgt. and Mrs. Clarence KRYDER; daddy is stationed in Colorado. Daughter to S/Sgt. and Mrs. Thomas BODLEY, Renovo.
MEET
Lt. Joseph HAMILTON and Mrs. Margaret MOUGEY, the former Margaret Anne THOMAS, in Calcutta.
SHORT TAKES
Local Red Cross Surgical Dressing Unit disbands after making more than a half million of dressings. Boy Scouts plan heavy Summer schedule including trips to Camp Kline, Pine Creek. Susquehanna Transit Co. acquired badly needed bus for heavy travel between Lock Haven and Mill Hall; took more than a year to get it. Tightening of rail transportation will take off sleepers on four trains through here. County Commissioner Hamilton PROCTOR named chairman of county division of Susquehanna flood control group that seeks state-federal action. Kathryn DRAUCKER named to teach in Avis, succeeding Dent BOWSER, who moves to Newberry. When his lawnmower broke and he was unable to obtain another, Jerome LEIGHTEL, Beech Creek, brought a lamb to keep his lawn “mowed.”
Renovo moves to establish an airport. Russell Walizer, 22, Tylersville, killed as head strikes girder as he rides on truck near paper mill. 100 out in strike at Jersey Shore Steel plant. Lt. Gene Schultz, back after service with AAF and time in German prison camp, gives $150 to Red Cross — “Not in repayment but in appreciation” Balloon drifts through sky at 30,000 feet over city, causing a lot of talk among the citizenry but none among the Army men contacted; in trying to get the dope went from Lock Haven to Middletown and was told to call Mitchell Friend, N.Y.; we did not know the next trip would be Washington (and wait, wait, wait); some people said it was a Jap bomb balloon, others a weather observatory bubble that got away but the guy who won the marbles was the one who said it was red, white and blue (he should know at 30,000 feet).
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