Posted 6 months ago
Watchsearc…
(88 items)
I’ve been scrapbooking the WWII papers, photograph and other item that had belonged to an uncle I never knew.
Presented in this post are the telegraphs and a letter my grandparents received in January 1945.
It must have been my uncle’s life-long dream to fly planes: among his papers, I found a newspaper article listing him as the First Place Winner of “rubber powered” planes in a contest sponsored by the Rome Model Flying Club. The article is undated but he must have been a child since his plane was powered by a rubber band.
He proudly joined the US Army Air Force in 1943 and trained to fly B17 planes.
He was part of the 95th Bomber Group, 412th Bomb Squadron.
He was on his 31st bombing mission over Germany when this plane was shot down on January 10, 1945.
He was just 22 years old. He had achieved the rank of Second Lieutenant and was co-pilot of that plane.
In the photo shown here, he’s the crew member without a hat, kneeling.
My grandparents received the 2 telegrams regarding him being MIA and then, confirmed dead…..but the terrible news was not delivered in person by a representative of the military.
Seven months after his death, a letter arrived to explain and apologize for the parents not receiving a personal visit.
For me, putting the box of his papers and pictures in chronological order in a scrapbook dedicated to him has been a sad and sobering task. After reading many letters he wrote to his family, I feel like I know him…..I just wish I really had.
Vynil33rpm, thank you for the instant love!
Watchsearcher, Thank you so much for posting these treasures from your family archives.
It was only latterly that I remembered instances from old movies when a telegram notifying a deceased member's next of kin is delivered.
Famously, Mickey Rooney is the town telegram office messenger boy in 1943's "The Human Comedy":
Telegram from the War Department (The Human Comedy)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2PKTEgsvBQ
Later in the film, Rooney's character is in the office when a telegram message comes through about his own brother. :-(
I was deeply moved by this post. Hug
Watchsearcher, In reading back, it is indeed quite poignant. :-(
All of my relatives who served in WWII came home alive, although the one who had been a POW had both physical and mental/emotional difficulties as a result.
I can only imagine what this poor family must have felt when reading these telegrams of the loss of their son.
My uncle flew 25 missions over Europe as a tail gunner in a B17 and died an old man. It was really just "luck of the draw" if someone made it home, or not. Not sure he was sent back for a second 25 after rotating home....
Thank you, Keramikos. I watched the Mickey Rooney segment…I know the WU delivery boys saw way too much heartbreak during the war years.
My father (Army) and another uncle (Marines) lived thru combat and came home in one piece.
I’m sorry your uncle who was a POW suffered and was so deeply wounded. Men like him were heroes .
kivatinitz, thank you very much….I appreciate the hug and the love.
jscotto363, thank you for the love and the response. I’ve heard that my grandmother always was hopeful that the military was mistaken and he would come home someday.
kwqd, Thank God for your uncles safety….he was on of the lucky ones.
I read that over 12,000 B17s were built and over 4000 of them were lost in combat. They each carried a 10 man crew.
Thank you for the love and the comment.
So sorry for you and your family's tragic loss. A few men in my family served in WW2 & fortunately made it back, getting those telegrams must have been beyond painful, to lose a son so young
Watchsearcher, Thank you, but my uncle was no more heroic than yours, or indeed anybody else who served.
His physical damages were that he was emaciated and his hair had gone kinky blond from starvation. He recovered from that, but the mental/emotional damages of being a prisoner who understood what his German captors were saying, and trying to keep them from realizing that lasted longer. Probably a lifetime.
Your poor grandmother. Parents don't usually expect to outlive their children, and she lost one whose life should have been just starting.
Keramikos, thank you for your kindness. I know every family’s able bodied men and women served their country. So many were lost or wounded physically and mentally and emotionally….tragic, every one.
I just read your response regarding opening old envelopes….im going to try that. Several of the WWII correspondence and newspaper clippings were glued to other papers….could be construction paper or scrapbook paper….whatever it is, the yellow/beige color of that paper has leached onto the papers I’m trying to preserve.
I’m going to try that freezer method. Thank you!!!
A heartfelt Thank You to the 17 members who gave this post a Love. I appreciate you all.
This post reminds me of why we collect and finding this treasure trove nicely packed away in some antique trunk at one time which you now would have also, you must be the historian in your family. I especially love finding photos and letters. With this treasure I find it one of my faves as I love the time period where I found treasures also from the 1940's and you may have found old fountain pens and stamps there also, Congratulations of this find which is really not just items but memories that you can walk around with all your life. Your putting together all this memorabilia in a special scrapbook, almost a diary, will benefit more and more treasures of information for your family to treasure in the next few decades and hope they can read your exploits in a similar scrapbook since you know how and what to treaure !~
Phil, I appreciate your response and agree with all you said.....I do feel like a family historian, along with my sister who posts pictures and documents on Ancestry.com. And you are so right about me scrapbooking my own life story for my descendants to read about....I hope they appreciate their old ancestor and are inspired and maybe they will even offer up a prayer for me someday.
Thanks to all 18 members who have given this post a LOVE!