Dec. 2, 1944 "The Rocket Race Begins" (Post #83)

Part 12

Somewhere in Germany

December 2, 1944

Dear Mother,

     It sure seems funny why you haven't heard from me in so long a time. I would try sending a telegram but afraid it might feel too much of a shock as I realize a dozen things would enter your head before you found out what it was all about. Guess I'll just hope and pray some mail will reach you soon.

     This letter leaves me in good health after just returning from a couple days of rest camp. Gee, it sure did feel good to be free with no one to say a word to, and do as you like, go to a show in camp, walk to town, no guard to pull, no K.P., away from the bang and rumble of guns, the flash of flares, the sight of tracers in the sky at night, the hum of planes overhead and the pounding of the buzz bomb as it clears the tree tops - free - free. You know it just made me think how wonderful it will be when this thing is over with.

     Received half a dozen letters from home in the last few days. One was dated November 15 and the others were October. It sure seemed good to have a few letters once more. No packages have arrived yet, but they'll soon come. You may be sure I have my mouth all set for those two fruit cakes. ha ha.

     I had special service wrap up a package for me in which was a present for myself (kind of a joke) the other two things are for you. I plan on sending another box in a couple days, soon as I find some paper.

     I just can't seem to place the location of the house Ralph bought. You see Helen L wrote and I think she made a mistake by saying it was on the right going down from her home.

     I can't believe it, you don't say, have they really moved the little house?

     The snow may cover up the yard where they moved the little house but watch your step next spring or you may bog down and Dad sure would look funny trying to pull you out. Instead of Rogers moving a house, he'd have to bring his wrecker up to lift you out. I bet he'd have to get more on a big job like that ha ha.

     Well, Mother, I did manage to get a hold of a very few Christmas cards so will do my best sending them out. Gee, what a fortune you have to pay for them!

     Oh yes, I have seen the German's new weapon the V-2 or rocket which travels fifty miles into the air before coming down, then it penetrates forty feet into the ground before exploding. Guess I should have said I've seen it in the air.

     It is still raining here or at times we get a heavy fog. I am looking for plenty of snow before long. To tell the truth I'd sooner have snow and a little colder weather then quite so much rain.

     This seems to be about all for now but will drop you a line in a couple days. Say hi to Dad and Gene.

                      Love

                          Charles

The German V-2 Research into military use of long range rockets began when the studies of graduate student Wernher von Braun attracted the attention of the German Army. The German V-2 was the world's first long-range guided ballistic missile. The missile, powered by a liquid-propellant rocket engine, was a "vengeance weapon", to attack Allied cities as retaliation for the Allied bombings against German cities. Research has shown the attacks from the V-2 resulted in the deaths of an estimated 9,000 civilians and military personnel, and a further 12,000 forced laborers and concentration camp prisoners died as a result of their forced participation in the production of the weapons. As Germany collapsed, teams from the Allied forces—the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union—raced to capture key German manufacturing sites and technology. The US also captured enough V-2 hardware to build approximately 80 of the missiles. The Soviets gained possession of the V-2 manufacturing facilities.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V-2_rocket

Real V-2 Film Clip

Wernher Magnus Maximilian Freiherr von Braun (March 23, 1912 – June 16, 1977) was a German (and, later, American) aerospace engineer and space architect. He was the leading figure in the development of rocket technology in Germany and the father of rocket technology and space science in the United States. He worked in Nazi Germany's rocket development program. He helped design and develop the V-2 rocket. Following the war, he was secretly moved to the United States, along with about 1,600 other German scientists, engineers, and technicians. He worked for the United States Army on an intermediate-range ballistic missile program and he developed the rockets that launched the United States' first space satellite Explorer 1. His group was assimilated into NASA, where he served as director of the newly formed Marshall Space Flight Center and as the chief architect of the Saturn V super heavy-lift launch vehicle that propelled the Apollo spacecraft to the Moon.     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wernher_von_Braun

Saturn V and V-2 Rockets