Author Archives: John
Life in the Blacked Out City
December 10, 16 and 18, 1943. A couple of letters to Dad from his brother Stanley who is stationed with the 401st Bomb Group in England taking the form of a couple of V-Mails and one regular letter. In terms of lag time, Stanley mentions on the 10th that he received Dad’s November 26 letter, so … Continue reading
On the Go
December 9, 10, 12, 17 and 20, 1943. Dad writes several letters home. For the most part they are fairly short. The first and last letters of the batch were written from Topeka Army Air Base while the others were written from locations throughout Nebraska as Dad and others were traveling on official duty. As … Continue reading
Not Even a Consolation Prize
December 2, 5, and 8, 1943. Dad writes several letters home to Albany from Topeka Army Air Base. Most of them are fairly short one page letters just to keep in touch. One of them runs a full four pages. All are handwritten. We get another little glimpse into his work, we learn how he … Continue reading
It Is Already Advent
December 2 and 6, 1943. A couple of letters to Dad from his sister Anna back home in Albany. Now that Thanksgiving has passed, the Advent season is being observed and preparations for Christmas are underway. Anna starts off expressing more relief that the letters from Stanley, who was just sent over to England, are starting … Continue reading
You Are Close to Us In Spirit
November 26 and 29, 1943. Two letters to the boys from the folks back home in Albany, NY. The last two posts have covered Stanley’s Thanksgiving in England and Dad’s in Topeka – now for Albany. It is getting a little warmer and about half of the thirteen inches of snow that fell on the … Continue reading
I Sure Made Up For All of You
November 20 and 25, 1943. Two letters home from Dad. He relays a story about one of the guys who had to ditch a girl in town who was taking advantage of him. He also writes a little about his work and gives a rundown on what was served on base for Thanksgiving. Finally, Dad … Continue reading
Time in the Army Sure Goes by Fast
November 19 and 25, 1943. Two V-Mails to Dad from his brother Stanley who is stationed “Somewhere in England”, actually at RAF Deenethorpe with the 401st Bomb Group (H). Stanley’s letters to Dad alternate between longer handwritten letters and shorter V-Mails. On the 19th Stanley is CQ and is passing the time “typing all night trying to … Continue reading
Congratulations Will Be In Order
November 17,1943. Stanley Miskiewicz writes a letter to Dad. Miskiewicz is stationed at Seymour Johnson Field in North Carolina. He notes that Dad “must be under the impression that I’m rather a lazy sort of fellow but I really am not. …I guess time drifts by before I can realize it. Guess I’m getting old.” … Continue reading
Pitch Black
November 12 and 15, 1943. Two handwritten letters to Dad from Stanley. Even though Stanley says that he still has a lot of work, it looks like he has settled into things at Deenethorpe enough to have time to write letters to Dad that are long enough that they exceed the limits of V-Mail forms. … Continue reading
Mama Just Isn’t the Same Now
November 9th and 12th 1943. Two letters from Anna. The word has hit home that Stanley has been shipped overseas, the baby finally gets the playpen that Eddie’s parents were hoping to buy for her, there is a new tenant in the house on Second Street and they took the baby with them to visit … Continue reading