June 22, 1944 – finally in France

22june44-ww2-letters-mary-anne-erickson

June 22, 1944 – finally in France

There must be a number of missing letters, as here we are at #14, but finally after all this time my father has landed on the shores of France. One of the things I notice is that he doesn’t give any detail about where he is – so I can only assume they were instructed not to include any geographical information in their letters.

To Mary
22 June 1944 V-Mail

Letter #14

Happy 5 1/2 year anniversary, Mary Darling. I don’t believe it myself, but here I am in France! You should have seen me struggling through the surf (keeping my trusty duffel bag high & dry) and up onto the beach. It wasn’t bad at all – the only uncomfortable part about it at all was that we had to leave our bags there and go on to the bivouac area – and our bags (with dry blankets & clothes) didn’t catch up to us until the next day. So that night we lay on the bare ground in wet clothes and shook. When it woke us up we got up and shadow boxed and shot the bull with the other guys – and eventually it got light enough so we could light up a cigarette and get out our fuel tablet and heat up a cup of coffee. K rations are the only thing on the menu. Bill and I bunk together, and have a very cozy little “home” now that our bags are here. This could be a very pleasant vacation camping trip if it weren’t for certain extenuating circumstances which we hope may soon be rectified so that we may terminate all this nonsense and get the hell home – where we belong. All my love to you, Mary dear – give Karen a big kiss for Daddy.

 

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