August 4, 1944

Pvt. August Haferkamp 36684775
Hq. Co. 3rd Bn. 135th Inf.
APO 34 c/o PM, New York, N.Y.

Italy

Aug. 4, 1944

Dear Mother:-

I received your V mail letter today that you wrote me on July 21st and I was glad to hear from you. I've been wanting to write you the last few days but I put it off thinking I would hear from you soon. I also got a letter from Dora today and she sent me some clippings and I'll send them on to you.

So Henry Lee got the letter I sent him. I bet he was surprised to get it wasn't he? I wonder what is keeping Fred from writting. Surely if he is real busy he could find time once in a while even if it was only a V mail. I wrote him 2 or 3 weeks ago and as yet I haven't received any answer. If he would write and let me know where he was located or at least give me a hint I could go and visit him as I'm sure I could get away for 5 days. But the way it is they move those replacement depots so much and they have many of them. I wouldn't know where to start looking for him. So the Martini boy wrote his Mother and told her I wrote to him. I finally answered his letter a few days ago. He may have been close to me at one time but I don't think he is now. I heard his outfit was back taking a special training. So was Collie's and I expect to hear soon that they have made another landing somewheres.

 I wrote to Collie and answered his letter a long time ago but never did hear anymore of him. I know his outfit hasn't been on the lines fighting for some time now.

To bad about the accident at No. 7 mine. Seems like every few months something like that has to happen. I bet they were a mess. I think I know all 3 of the fellows. Dora sent me a clipping out of a St. Louis paper about it.

So the grass fires are starting at home again. I guess there will be a lot of them as dry as it was. You must of had a rain & storm a while back as I saw in our "Stars and Stripes" paper where the bridge at Chester fell in the river and was caused by lightning. Bill had the right day off if he was home the day of the 2 fires. I had a letter from Harry Kuehnen several days ago and I wrote him a long letter back giving him a line. I think I wrote him 7 or 8 pages. He & I usually write each other V mails but I was in a writting mood so I wrote him a long one. He is pretty good about writting even if he doesn't say much.

The other day we were all issued 4 - 12 oz. cans of beer. It was Schaefers beer brewed in New York. It was the first American beer I had since I left the States. We had some several times that was made over here in Naples. Wasn't much good.

I got paid a few days ago for the month of July. That made 2 pay days in several days. I sent Dora $25.00 from my first pay and kept the second in case I should go on a pass one of these days.  We didn't get our $10.00 increase yet but will next pay with back pay. They are paying those in combat back pay to last January. I won't get so much as I didn't go into combat until after the middle of April.

This coming Sunday my Regiment is having a parade and citation and are going to award the medals to the fellows who have them coming. That's when I'll be getting my "Bronze Star" medal that I have coming. With this medal we also get a ribbon to wear on the pocket of our blouse but of course we have no blouse. We can wear that when the war is over and we head home. I have several campaign ribbons coming now also. This parade will be lead by the 34th Division band and all ranking officers will be there.

Dora said in her letter yesterday that she had a letter from you and you sent her Freddie's address. She was going to make a package of 8 cigars and send them to him. She sends them to me that way and I don't have to request them. She sends them 1st class mail for 12 cents postage.

I think I told you about the meal we had last Sunday. Well Monday we had a better one yet. We had roast turkey with dressing, corn, tomatoes, gravy; breach & butter; apricots; chocolate cake, and lemonade. We had all we could eat and there was turkey left. They are really feeding us good while we are here in this rest area. We have one cook that makes wonderful cakes & pie.

Every night there is a movie and several nights a week they have a U.S.O. stage show or band music before the movies. The other night at the U.S.O. show there was two American girls in it who sang many songs. It was great to see an American girl again as they were clean and dressed neat and that's more than you can say for most of these Italian girls. The most of them look like they haven't seen any water for months. Even if they haven't the clothes they could at least wash and keep clean.

I went for a shower bath this afternoon and thought I would get a clean O.D. shirt and pants but I never. They never had my size. Looks like they don't keep men size clothes as I've always got trouble getting size 36-33 pants. I did get new sock and also new underwear. We get these every time we take a shower.

I quit writting for about an hour and went down to hear a dance band that they had here for us. There was some swell music and singing. They say there is a good movie on tonight so I may go for a change. I've only been to one once and then didn't stay until it was over. You know I never did care much for shows.

They are sending a lot of fellows into Rome on 5 day passes again. If they don't stop it soon again I may be up for my turn before long.There are about 4 in the wire section ahead of me now yet. That is why I wish Freddie would try to let me know where he was and I could hunt him up in those 5 days. Now that we are in a rest area we can nearly always get a 5 day pass if we have relatives over here that we want to visit. When we go back in combat I may not get a chance to go.

I ordered myself a new pair of shoes today as the pair I have are going bad. I hope I get combat shoes instead of regular shoes as that would do away with wearing leggings. These combat shoes are about 6 inches higher than regular shoes and this part has only two buckels. It's a lot better and saves time. Tomorrow we can turn one blanket in to get cleaned. I have 2.

Well I told you all I know so I'll have to close and I will write you more later. Write when you have time as I enjoy hearing from you all.  So long.

Love,
Gus

This letter was postmarked August 8, 1944, and on the front of the envelope my aunt wrote "received Aug. 16 -44." She also wrote and circled "Aug. 4." This is because on August 16 they received three letters from my father, one he had written on August 4 and the others written in the following days.

July 8, 1944

Pvt. August Haferkamp 36684775

Hq. Co. 3rd Bn, 135th Inf.

APO 34 c/o P.M. NewYork, N.Y.

Italy

July 8, 1944

Dear Mother:-

I received several letters from you lately but never had a chance to answer them. I wrote you a V-mail letter several days ago as that was the only kind of writing paper I could get. Since then we found this paper in some buildings and I may have to send this free instead of air mail as I have no stamps here. I also have gotten letters from Henry & Henry Lee, which I was glad to get. Last night I got a V-mail from Harry Kuehner. He is always pretty good about writing even if he don't say much.

I thought sure Freddie would have written to me by now but I guess he is kept busy where ever he is at. Hope I hear from him soon and I would like to get to see him but I don't think there is much chance. You can tell Clara that I wrote a few lines to Reno Martini. I don't think I know the kid. I'm not near him so I'm told. I think he is way down in the southern part of Italy taking training. I don't know this for sure but the fellows here say that division is down there getting more training. I'll let you know if I ever hear from him.

I guess you are kept busy canning things out of the garden. Hope you are getting a rain now and then so everything grows. You said the ground was so hard. You should see the ground over here. Its all clay and hard as a rock. I don't see how they raise anything but they seem to have pretty good luck. At times we get into there gardens and get onions, potatoes, tomatoes, and etc. Yesterday some of the boys killed some tame rabbits and fried them. I never ate any of it. We have been getting fresh eggs now and then off of the Italians. We usually have rations or cigarettes to trade with them.

I guess you got the letter where I told you I was in Rome. In fact I was there twice. The day we marched thru I stayed there for several hours. We were all tired and sleepy that day so most of us slept the whole time we were there. About a week after I got to go back there on a 1 day pass which I really enjoyed. Sure was a lot of pretty sights to see. I sent Dora some cards of Rome and I know she will show them to you the first chance she gets. While here in Italy I got to see a volcano. It was Mt. Vesuvius. It was worth seeing to as I read a lot about them in school.

I've been getting a lot of mail but so far I've only gotten 3 Staunton papers. Sure do miss getting them but guess someday they will catch up with me. I've gotten 2 packages from Dora so far and have several more on the way. The first package had nuts, candy, and a box of cigars, which she got from Fritz's Drug Store. Walter said he would let her have a box now and then. She has gotten me several boxes but her brother-in-law gets them for her in St. Louis. Maybe if Freddie asks for cigars you can see Walter Fritz and he may let you have some.

It gets awful darn hot here during the day and cool at night which  makes it good sleeping if it wasn't for the flies and mosquitoes. they are awful bad here.

I hope you are all well at home. I'm feeling fine only I would feel better if I was back home. What is Pop doing these days? Helping in the garden or getting the news up at the park?

Well I must close and I'll try to write more later. Write when you can. Do you ever see Jack or hear from him? I wrote him a letter soon after arriving in Italy but he never did answer it.

So long. Love to all.

Gus


On the front of the envelope is the stamped image that signifies the letter had been checked. Over that is handwritten, "censored by Lt. R. O. Foster." On the back of this envelope my aunt wrote "Received July 18" and "Answered July 18."

Dad continues in this letter to say that though he has written to his brother Freddie he has yet to hear from him. He also asks about his brother Jack and says he'd written him a letter but hasn't yet heard from him. Though Dad seemed to enjoy writing letters, and wrote letters to friends and family several times a week even when not at war, I know that his brothers were not good letter writers.

January 16, 1944

Pvt. Aug. Haferkamp
Co. A 225th Bn. 69th Regt.
Camp Blanding, Florida

Sun., Jan. 16, 1944

Dear Mother:-

I've been getting your letters and the clippings out of the paper that you have been sending me but  I've been just too busy to answer so I'll try to write you a few lines this morning.

Well we came in from our 2 weeks bivouac yesterday morning about 9:30. We were all sure glad to get back. I'm also glad I'm not out there in the words this morning as it turned pretty cool over night. Those 2 weeks that we spent in the woods wouldn't have been bad if we wouldn't have had so much rain. It rained the day we left and every time we moved to a new location and also yesterday when we came in it rained fairly hard all the way. We got up at 4 o'clock and at 5:30 we started for camp. It was just a little over 10 miles back in. After the first week out we kept coming in closer. I guess at first we were out 25 or 30 miles. We slept in our tents. Two fellows to a tent. The ground was always wet and cold. We laid our rain coats down and then 4 blankets and then covered up with 2 blankets. In the 2 weeks we were out I never had my shirt off and only took my pants off once to put on a pair of heavy underwear. We slept with our clothes on all the time even our shoes and leggings and overcoat. We had fairly good meals while we were out and ate canned rations a few times.

Dora sent me Harold Regenhold's address. He is down here in Camp Blanding in the 215th Company. I started out last night to find him but it started raining so I came back. I'll try to look him up today or before I leave here. I guess he will be surprised to see someone else is here from Staunton.

So Freddie is out on a camping trip to. Have you ever heard how he got shot and how he is getting along.. He should be over his basic training soon to. It would be nice if we both got a furlough at the same time but I guess there's not much hopes for that. It would be nice if the Army gave him a discharge after his basic is over. I guess John Lee would sure like to have him back.

Well next week this time I hope I'm all packed up and ready to head for Staunton. I'll be riding a troop train as far as St. Louis. I guess I won't be able to find out when it leaves or when I'm due in St. Louis as they are pretty careful about giving out information about troop trains. The way our Sergeant talked yesterday that we would have to take a barracks bag full of clothes home with us. I sure hope not. We are to have our names and number printed on our bags today. Yesterday when I got back I had all my clothing replaced that was lost in the laundry some time ago. I came out ahead as I got all new things and they were out of face towels so I got bath towels instead. Tomorrow we have to lay out all of our clothes for a inspection and if any needs replacing they are going to replace it before we leave.

So Skipper still comes up to see you quite often. I just wonder if he would remember me if he saw me. I bet he would.

Have you ever heard from Uncle Henry lately? I wonder if he got the letter I wrote to him. I also sent Lillian a folder of this camp about the same time. I got a card while I was in the woods from Kuehnen. He told me they had a good time New Years day.

Well I told you all I know so I'll close as I have a lot of things I want to do today and if I don't get started I won't get them done. Well I hope to see you all in about a week and a half from now. If I hear when I'm to leave I'll try and let you know.

Gus


It was interesting to read in this letter that Uncle Freddie had been shot. I had never heard that. When reading Aunt Clara's letter about visiting him in the hospital down in Alabama, I just assumed that he was sick. Apparently this would be a training accident.

Funny to read about Skipper going to my grandparent's house from across town. Mom used to tell stories of how he would go looking for my dad, and my impression was always that he continued that most of the time that Dad was away.

December 5, 1943

Sunday, Dec. 5, 1943

Dear Mother:-

I received your letter some time during the week and I was glad to hear from you. I have K.P. today but I have several hours off so I'll write you a few lines. I got a card from Lilly yesterday and also a Xmas card the first part of the week from Mr. & Mrs. Ed Roberts also a Xmas card from Harry Kuehner. I sure was surprised to hear from the Roberts.

I went and got my pictures last night but they aren't so good. I only got 3 of them and I sent them to Dora and told her to bring you one. I couldn't get a folder for them so you will have to find one for it. Dora sent me our camera and I took pictures with 1 roll of film yesterday. I will get the pictures Tuesday night and I hope they are good. I'll send them home when I get them so you can see them.

Well yesterday we moved to a different hut again. I hope this is the last time. The reason we moved was to make room for a new company which is to start soon. I just got thru doing a a little wire work in our hut. I hooked up a extention cord to my bed. I also fixed the lights so I can turn them on or off while I'm in bed. That beats walking barefooted over the cold floor in the morning feeling for the light string. Our new hut is closer to the latrine and mess hall.

Have you heard from Freddie this last week? I never did get a answer to my letter: I guess the Army life is pretty hard on him. Well we never did have to sleep out at nights yet but we were told the last 2 weeks of our training we would be out in the woods camping those 2 weeks. I have 7 more weeks of basic training here and I hope I can get a furlough then so I can get home, but I may get shipped to another camp first.

You asked me what I had for Thanksgiving. Well to save time writing I'll just send you the menu as it also has my name in it. You can keep this if you want it.

Glad to hear that Pop's leg is alright again. I bet he is afraid of dogs now. Who paid for the doctor bill those people who owned the dog? Did they h ave to kill the dog?

Well 2 weeks from today Dora should be here at this Camp. I hope it is nice like it has been for the last week. It is real nice and war. I hope she can find a room to stay after her 3 days are up here as she wants to stay until after New Years. I also hope I can get week end passes while she is here. I should as I never did have one since I've been here.

I started addressing Xmas cards last night. I got about half done. I wasn't going to send any this year but Dora sent me 34 of them to send out. I got 3 so far. 1 a piece from Roberts & Kuehnen and 1 from Primo Alberini who is in Alaska.

Well I think I told you all I know so I'll close and I will write to you again when I have time. I have so many letters to write I hardly know where to start. They piled up on me and I never get a chance to answer them. Maybe I will soon. Write when you can.

Gus

Tell Bill that Randolph died from indigestion and not heart trouble.


Unfortunately, the menu that Dad mentions enclosing with this letter must have been removed, because it was not among the packet of letters when I received them. I wonder if perhaps she gave it to my mother, since Dad's name was on it.
Harry Kuenher, who sent Dad a Christmas card, was the chief of the Staunton Fire Dept.
Primo Alberini was a friend from Staunton. When Dad and Mom moved back to Staunton in 1975, Primo became a frequent visitor to their home.
Dad's closing message to Bill, his oldest brother, is puzzling to me. I have no idea who "Randolph" is or what the story is behind his message.

November 21, 1943

Sunday, November 21, 1943

Dear Mother:-

Here it is Sunday morning and nothing to do so I'll start writting a few letters. Sunday is about the only time we get to do much letter writting. I got Mamie's letter a few days ago and yesterday I got one from Henry with some money he sent. I was glad to hear from both of them. I also got a post card from Harry Kuehner I believe it was Friday morning telling me that Bill got the job as fireman. How does he like it? I guess a lot of people at home will be talking because there are two out of one family holding city jobs.

We were kept real busy all this last week as we had classes several nights. It is getting to be more interesting every day. We are learning all about telephones and switchboards. We must be able to know all the parts and what they are called and be able to trace the circuits. That's not all either but we must be able to draw it showing all the circuits. It's not so hard if you just study it out. The charts they have to show has all the different circuits in different colors such as the primary is in red; secondary in blue and so on. I never did ever learn the morse code and we haven't had any of that for several days now. We have to learn all of our equiptment by letters and numbers as one type telephone we use is EE-8-A. They don't say bring up up a telephone but they call it EE-8-A and you are to know what it is. Every thing we have in our wire work is done that way.

We were all issued our field rations this week. We got 3 small cans which has coffee; biscuits and sugar all in one can. In the other 3 cans we got one has is meat and vegetable stew; the other is meat and beans and the other one is meat and vegetable hash. I don't know when we will use them. I guess some time we will go in the woods and camp for several days or at least that is what everyone says. We are to do a lot of that the last 2 weeks we are here. Time sure does fly. I sure don't seem like I've been here 8 weeks and that is just about half of my basic training.

I moved into a different hut last Thursday and I guess in a week or so we will move to another one as they started moving more huts into our area yesterday. They have negroes with tractors and trailers hauling them from one area to another. I don't know what the idea is but I guess to give some one a little work.

I went to the main P.X. (post exchange) last Wednesday and had my picture taken. I went yesterday after noon to see the proofs. I don't think it looked so good but I hope the pictures are better. I only had 3 of them made. They are the 3x5 size and I'll get the 3 for $2.25. I'll send them to Dora when I get them which will be next Saturday and she can give you one of them.

Henry said that Uncle Henry was going to come down and pay you all a visit. He better hurry up or he will get snow bound. Maybe he wants to get to a warmer place as I bet his house is plenty cold.

Well I think I told you all I know so I'll close and I will write you more later. Hope to hear from you all soon again.

Gus


Dad commented in this letter about his brother Bill getting the paid fireman's job that Dad had referred in some of his earlier letters. He also refers to the gossip that will probably occur "because there are two out of one family holding city jobs." I believe he is referring to his brother Fred who was an alderman when he was called to be drafted. While he was alderman he recommended his brother Henry for the superintendent of the water company, a job he held until he retired over twenty years later.

"Uncle Henry," who was going to come down and visit Dad's parents, was Henry Brackhane, the younger brother of Mary Haferkamp, Dad's mother. He lived in Athens, Illinois, near the state capital of Springfield.

November 7, 1943

Sun. Nov. 7, 1943

Hello Mother & Everyone:-

I got your letter several days ago and I was glad to hear from you. I would have wrote sooner but just didn't have time. We are kept real busy most of the time. I also got a card from Henry while he was up at Springfield. I got it yesterday.You asked if I ever hear from Freddie. Well no I haven't. I wrote to him several weeks ago and also sent him a folder of this camp. I don't know if he never got it or just hasn't time to write. I also wrote to Jack the same day I wrote to Freddie as he told me to let him know where I was.

I got a letter from Chief Riley from down at Weldon Springs and he said that Ass't Chief Randolph had died. He wrote this letter on Oct. 28 and he had died the Sunday before. He should have gotten suddenly ill on his way home from work and was taken right to a hospital. That was on Friday and he died 12:30 A.M. on Sunday. He was buried the following Wednesday. Randy was a pretty nice fellow to work for. I guess the boys will miss him a lot. Riley also said that Bob Simon was at Camp Pontchartrian, New Orleans, La.

I got the Staunton paper yesterday and I looked for the council notes but I see where they won't be published until next week. I looked to see if they put on a fireman or what they thought about it. I got a letter from Harry Kuehnen and he thought Bill would get the job starting this week. He said he thought he would get about $150.00 a month.

Has Clara gotten back from her trip yet? I guess she will have a lot to tell when she does get back. Have they made any head ways with getting Freddie out of the service? I hope so. Dora I think is coming down here to see me around Christmas time. I hope she lets me know soon so I can try to get a room for her at the service club as the rooms are nearly all spoken for for around Christmas. She is allowed to stay here in camp for 3 days. They charge 75 cents a day for the room. Two of the fellows in my hut has their wives down here. They are living in a town close by called Starke and are looking for a job. If they find one they are going to stay down here.

I got paid last Monday. I got $26.07 and once before I got $5.00. So that makes $31.07 I had coming for the 2 months of service. That is after laundry; insurance and the allotment was held off. I guess I was lucky as some fellows didn't draw a cent but owed the government money yet.

Last Sunday I was on guard detail again. I had to walk my post from 9 until 11 and from 3 to 4. So I didn't get a whole lot of sleep as they got everyone up at 4:30 to go to the rifle range. Yesterday I was on K.P. The only good thing about K.P. is that you can get a lot to eat. I sure was tired last night after working in that kitchen all day and the day before we got up at 4:30 A.M. and had to walk to the rifle range which is 4 1/2 miles from here. We also had to walk back.We carried full field packs and our rifle. Boy! they sure get heavy.

Well, I have 6 weeks of my basic training in now and starting this week our technical training begins. I believe the hardest part to learn will be there codes. Every message sent is in code. I was issued a pair of pliers and a knife both in a leather case Thursday. That is called a TE-33. Every thing is called by numbers and letters. I guess it will be hard to keep them all straight. But I guess if the rest of the fellows can learn that I can also.

Today is Dora's birthday. She is 28 years old. If it wasn't so hard to get a telephone down here I was going to tell her to go up and see you today and I would call her on the telephone. But you just have to fight to get near one and then it takes 4 or 5 hours for the call to get thru and sometimes it never gets thru. She seems to like her job but I guess she gets awful tired working 8 hours and then spending several hours on the road going and coming from work.

I guess it is pretty cool up there now isn't it? It is warm here in the day time but gets real cool at night. Friday it was cloudy and foggy after 10 o'clock. Everything is green down here as the trees are all pine trees.

I just came back from the Orderly Room where my Lieutenant is interviewing his men. He asked the type of work I done. I gave him the letters of recommendations from Riley and Keuhner. He said he would give them to Captain Brice and he probably would call me in to talk to me. He said he thought I had a good thing for being in the wire section as that take technical training. Well it is a good thing but I still would like to be a fire fighter. I guess I never will hear any more about it.

Well I told you all I know so I'll close and write to you later. Write whenever you have time.

Love,
Gus

In the first paragraph of this letter Dad writes about writing letters to three of his brothers, Henry, Freddie (who was drafted about the same time as Dad and, like Dad, is in training), and Jack, the only one of his brothers who had moved from Staunton. Jack, his wife Tillie, and his daughter Wilma lived in Mount Olive, Illinois. Later in the letter Dad mentions Clara. She is Uncle Freddie's wife.

October 30, 1943

Sat. Oct. 30, 1943

Dear Mother & All:-

I received your letter several days ago and as you know I was glad to hear from you. I didn't have time then to write to you so I'll do it this evening. I wrote to Freddie it will be two weeks ago tomorrow. I also sent him a folder of this camp but so far I never did hear from him. I guess maybe he is too busy to write. I sent Henry & Leona a folder to. Did they ever get it? So John Lee wants to get Freddie back. I guess he finds out he can't along so good without him. He should have thought of that sooner. I guess Clara is back from her trip by now. How did she like it?

I got a letter from Dora and she tells me she went to work over at Western. She is a inspector and is to start out at 55 cents a hour. I guess nearly everyone in Staunton works over there. Has she been up to see you lately?

I done real well out on the rifle range when we were firing our M-1 rifles. I tied with another fellow for first place in my platoon which has 60 men. I was about 4th in my company. Out of a possible score of 210 I made a score of 186. The highest score made was 191. So I became an Expert. That wasn't so bad was it figuring I never did shoot a gun much before. Out of my Company which has about 180 men there was only 28 of us to be Experts. We are suppose to get some kind of a metal if the government still issues them. From the picture in the book the metals look real nice. Hope I get one. Monday we are going out to the range again to shoot another rifle for record. it is called a "Carbine Rifle." It is small and light. It weighs only 5 lbs. and is about a yard long. Its barrel is only 18 inches long. It isn't as accurate a gun as our M-1's as it has no windage or elevation adjustments. Hope I can do as well with it as I did with the other rifle.

Most of the fellows went away on week end passes. I never have left the camp yet. I couldn't very well anyhow this week if I would have wanted to as I have guard duty tomorrow evening. That will be my second time since I've been here. My hands got alright again. They didn't bother me so awful much. Next time I'll try and let some one else do all the dish washing.

I guess you have a lot of work cleaning up the yard and lot after the frost. We don't have any leaves to fall here as the trees are nearly all pine trees. It gets down to about 45 degrees here at nights. We put up our stoves several days ago and had a fire in it about 2 nights now. We haven't had any rain now for a while.

Well I have 5 weeks of my basic training in now with 12 more weeks to go. I should get a T/4 or T/5 rating when I'm thru as this is a special training course I'm taking. We are in the communication section and it is up to us fellows to wire up telephones so that messages can be sent. I got in this as I had some experience with wire work at the mine. As I told Freddie in the letter I wrote him before he left that the more you tell them about the experience you had the better chance you have of getting something a little better.

Well I told you all I know so I'll close and hope to hear from you real soon. I got a card from H. Kuehner Thursday.

Gus


Dad writes that "John Lee wants to get Freddie back." John Lee was a partner at Martin Lee Ice & Coal Co. Henry & Leona are Dad's brother Henry and his wife Leona, who lived in Staunton. Dad closes this letter by telling his mother about the card he received from Harry Kuehner, the Chief of the Staunton Volunteer Fire Department.