My Mom, May Albertine Buelow Alm, served in the US Army (1st Lt.) during WWII in the 104th Evac Hospital which was attached to Patton's 3rd Army, European Theater. After spending some months near Liverpool, England, she landed on Omaha Beach on D-Day +35. (Their Chief Nurse made them wear skirts! over their long underwear!! even though they landed in a transport (LCI - Landing Craft Infantry) and had to climb over the side of the craft!) After the Battle of Normandy, they went around Paris, to Nancy, France, then to Luxembourg and the Battle of the Bulge. That was a horrific time - it all was but then especially so. They ended up moving through Germany, Nuremburg, to Bad Wiesee near Munich. When the poor prisoners were at last liberated from Dachau, some of them came through her hospital. At the end, the unit waited in Marseilles, France, for transport home. At last, she arrived in New York on a Liberty ship, the Heritage, in November, 1945, and arrived home in Chewelah, Wa., later in November. Before discharge, she was promoted to Captain.
While overseas, fairly frequent letter writing was a common activity for everyone. Mom corresponded with Maurice Alm (who would later become my Dad) and other friends and family. These letters are ones that she wrote to folks back home during this time. Some are long, others short. All offer a little insight as to how it must have been to really "be there."
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Unless otherwise noted, these letters are in Word format. When you click on the link, your Word program will be launched and the text will appear in it.
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Please remember this is copyrighted information. If you want to reproduce these in some format for wide distribution, say in a book, newspaper, magazine, website, etc., you must request permission at ww2@crystalsw.com. They must be kept in context and intact.
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