Part 13
Though my uncle writes many letters home to his mother, others like Flavilla his sister, is receiving only the fourth letter written to her. Over four months since his last letter. His mother receives letters he presumes will be shared with the family.
No judgment is given by my words. It would suggest that the men of the war were more concerned to keep their parents, wife, our girlfriend informed of their lives on the battlefields of this cruel war. Of course, as with my family the information in those letters are likely shared with other family members and friends.
Letter to Charles Sister, Flavilla
Somewhere in Germany
December 3, 1944
Dear Sister and All,
Just a few lines to let you know I'm still in good health. Some time ago I did have a mean head cold which makes a fellow feel pretty low due to the bad weather conditions. I came back from rest camp a couple days ago. I'll tell you it sure seemed good to be away from the sound of guns, also to be able to walk in town, to see people, women and children. To me it seemed like a little taste of freedom.
We had about a week and one half of snow, during which time a quite a bit of snow fell, then it turned to rain. It has been raining ever since. You may be sure by now we have plenty of mud. In fact - and I'm not stretching the truth much - I've been in mud almost to my neck today. I'm looking for more snow as it tried snowing a couple of times today.
I want to thank the children for the nice Christmas cards they sent. The cards were the first things for Christmas I received. Answer me this question. Who's that fellow around the house that calls himself Bill? (youngest boy, John his nephew, nickname he gave himself)Ha, ha! Wait until I get home and we'll have a little fight. You know what I heard? He calls himself Bill because he's rough. I wonder if David will help me if I can't whip Bill alone? Does Beverly think that Uncle Charlie's rough enough to do the job alone? No doubt little Harriett hasn't a word to say, but Ralph can make up his mind that it's going to be a rough day. Watch out, Bill. I growl and show my teeth like a bear.
Well, Sister, I hear from Mother that you and Ralph have a new home. She wrote how pleased you both are and you both have the right to be. I sure wish you the best of luck. It will be nice where you have the children. I'm still mixed up which house it is. Ha! Ha! I should know my way around over in that part of the country. After I found out you had your new home I realized what a big job it would be moving, so I haven't looked for any mail, but when you get settled please write me all about things. Gee, Sister, you should be thankful. I am sending this letter to your old address, so I hope it reaches you. Everyone knows Ralph, so I feel it will work out okay in the end.
I see by your letters that the children are having their troubles such as measles, whooping cough, and etc. but those things must be expected and better now than later. Once they have them, it's over with.
No, Sis, I haven't received your box, but it will come in time. Uncle Sam only had thirty million packages to send over seas this Christmas compared with three million last year.
So Magna (another former girlfriend of my uncle) has a friend in Boston. Good for her. I intended writing her a few lines to wish her Merry Christmas, or as merry as possible, seeing she has a brother in the South Pacific.
Guess there's not much more left to write so will sign off. I try to write Mother often as possible and know you would gain quite a bit from some of her letters. Whenever I write to different people it seems so hard because all I do is write the same thing over and over as there is so little you can say. Remember me to Ralph and tell the children to be good as Uncle Charlie will be sailing home soon. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to All.
Love
Charles
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A simple letter many may say but for me it says a lot. It gives me the possible feelings, thoughts, and hopes of the soldier on a foreign battlefield. These letters are sent to either my grandmother or, as in this case, to one of my aunts so I also am gaining some knowledge of my relatives' lives I never knew before. It also brings back memories of my years as a child and a young adult with these family members.
In the first paragraph I hear a soldier sharing his everyday experiences of hearing the tormenting sounds of war and not feeling free as he had felt before going to war. We have always known war deals with death, blood and family separation but there is so much more. The sounds around him constantly reminds him of the danger he is in and the world is not the carefree life he had been used to before crossing the ocean to foreign lands. His life is not his own. He feels very little control over it in fact. Even seeing, hearing, and smelling the normal sights, sounds, and aromas during his rest time reminds him of life working on the farm and going into town at his own pace and timing. These have vanished as if they have been robbed from him and he wonders if the thief will ever be caught and if he will get back what was stolen. Even then, he grows in the knowledge his innocence has been lost forever.
As my uncle speaks to his sister in the letter, it brings back memories of her and other family members to my mind. Many of them are no longer with us. My grandparents, parents, aunts and uncles are no longer with me. Even some of my cousins have died.
At the same time I think about the house my Aunt Flavilla and her husband, Uncle Ralph, has just bought at the time this letter was written. I remember it was a good size house. All of our families would meet together every year on Christmas Eve to eat and enjoy each other's company at their home. My grandmother, aunts, uncles, cousins and those they had married and their very young children filling the house with laughter and chatter. However, we all became quiet when the phone rang because we knew it was Aunt Helen calling from Florida where she and her husband, Uncle Joe along with finally six boys now lived all year except for the few months in the summer. They would come to Maine and live in a house right beside the family homestead where my grandmother and Uncle Charlie lived out their lives.
I could say a great deal more. I trust, however, you are learning how letters, heirlooms, items of the past need to be cherished because they both teach us of our relative's lives and give us opportunities to reminiscence about them and our own past and memories.
Well, Sister, I hear from Mother that you and Ralph have a new home. She wrote how pleased you both are and you both have the right to be. I sure wish you the best of luck. It will be nice where you have the children. I'm still mixed up which house it is. Ha! Ha! I should know my way around over in that part of the country. After I found out you had your new home I realized what a big job it would be moving, so I haven't looked for any mail, but when you get settled please write me all about things. Gee, Sister, you should be thankful. I am sending this letter to your old address, so I hope it reaches you. Everyone knows Ralph, so I feel it will work out okay in the end.
I see by your letters that the children are having their troubles such as measles, whooping cough, and etc. but those things must be expected and better now than later. Once they have them, it's over with.
No, Sis, I haven't received your box, but it will come in time. Uncle Sam only had thirty million packages to send over seas this Christmas compared with three million last year.
So Magna (another former girlfriend of my uncle) has a friend in Boston. Good for her. I intended writing her a few lines to wish her Merry Christmas, or as merry as possible, seeing she has a brother in the South Pacific.
Guess there's not much more left to write so will sign off. I try to write Mother often as possible and know you would gain quite a bit from some of her letters. Whenever I write to different people it seems so hard because all I do is write the same thing over and over as there is so little you can say. Remember me to Ralph and tell the children to be good as Uncle Charlie will be sailing home soon. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to All.
Love
Charles
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A simple letter many may say but for me it says a lot. It gives me the possible feelings, thoughts, and hopes of the soldier on a foreign battlefield. These letters are sent to either my grandmother or, as in this case, to one of my aunts so I also am gaining some knowledge of my relatives' lives I never knew before. It also brings back memories of my years as a child and a young adult with these family members.
In the first paragraph I hear a soldier sharing his everyday experiences of hearing the tormenting sounds of war and not feeling free as he had felt before going to war. We have always known war deals with death, blood and family separation but there is so much more. The sounds around him constantly reminds him of the danger he is in and the world is not the carefree life he had been used to before crossing the ocean to foreign lands. His life is not his own. He feels very little control over it in fact. Even seeing, hearing, and smelling the normal sights, sounds, and aromas during his rest time reminds him of life working on the farm and going into town at his own pace and timing. These have vanished as if they have been robbed from him and he wonders if the thief will ever be caught and if he will get back what was stolen. Even then, he grows in the knowledge his innocence has been lost forever.
As my uncle speaks to his sister in the letter, it brings back memories of her and other family members to my mind. Many of them are no longer with us. My grandparents, parents, aunts and uncles are no longer with me. Even some of my cousins have died.
At the same time I think about the house my Aunt Flavilla and her husband, Uncle Ralph, has just bought at the time this letter was written. I remember it was a good size house. All of our families would meet together every year on Christmas Eve to eat and enjoy each other's company at their home. My grandmother, aunts, uncles, cousins and those they had married and their very young children filling the house with laughter and chatter. However, we all became quiet when the phone rang because we knew it was Aunt Helen calling from Florida where she and her husband, Uncle Joe along with finally six boys now lived all year except for the few months in the summer. They would come to Maine and live in a house right beside the family homestead where my grandmother and Uncle Charlie lived out their lives.
I could say a great deal more. I trust, however, you are learning how letters, heirlooms, items of the past need to be cherished because they both teach us of our relative's lives and give us opportunities to reminiscence about them and our own past and memories.
The Five Knight Children
The
Diary of Staff Sgt. Hanford Maurice Rice
U.S. 9th
Infantry Regiment
First
Battalion
Charlie Company
December
1, 1944 (Friday) “Our new command post
is swell. I got a stove set up in it.”
December
2, 1944 (Saturday) “I am on advanced
detail to a new area. We relieve G (George) Company of the 23rd
(regiment). They had picture show and 9 barrels of beer. Radio plays
good.
December
3, 1944 (Sunday) “Raining and getting
the place ready for (Charlie) Company. Had another (picture) show.”
December
4, 1944 (Monday) “Had a letter from
Vicky. (Charlie) Company got here in the evening. Everyone is happy
to be relieved.”
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