August 5, 1944

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

Italy

Sat., Aug. 5, 1944

Dear Mother:-

I just received my mail for today and I got the letter & clippings that Mamie sent me on July 27 also letters from Dora and finally a letter from Freddie. I sure was surprised to hear from him.

I went up to see the Red Cross field director to see if he could tell me just where Fred's outfit is located. He didn't know but told me to go to my Division and they could tell me. I'll do that in the morning. I'm pretty sure I know just about where he is but I want to make sure. I also went to see my Captain about getting a pass but he wasn't in so I'll have to go back later. He told me he was at the 8th Replacement Depot 18th Bn. 403 Co. 3rd Plat. APO 398. He still goes by his old address of APO 15241. He said he heard I was near Leghorn which is right and he wasn't very far away from there. He said he didn't get to go to Rome as he came up by boat. Well I'm sure I know where he got off of the boat and that he is located close by. I can get there in several hours and I wouldn't have any trouble getting a ride as there are a lot of trucks & jeeps running back & forth. He said he has a hard time getting away. He got to go to Piombino once.

I really don't know much more to tell you as I just mailed you a letter this morning and told you all I knew.

If I get a pass to go see Fred and I'm pretty sure I will I'll write you a few lines when I get there. They usually give a person 5 to 7 days but I may not get that many if its so close. It soon will be a year since I've seen him as I didn't get to see him when I was home in Jan.

Well I'll close now and write you more later. Hope you are all well and not working too hard. I'm OK and feeling fine. So long.

Love
Gus

Dad dated this letter August 5, 1944. The envelope is postmarked August 8, 1944. My grandmother wrote on the front that it was received August 16, 1944. She also wrote "Aug. 5" on the envelope and circled it. The inspection stamp on the from of the envelope is signed by Lt. M. I. Guest.

June 23, 1944

Pvt. August Haferkamp 366847575

Hq. Co. 3rd Bn 135th Inf.

APO 34 c/o P.M. New York, N.Y.

Italy

June 23, 1944

Dear Mother & Everyone,

I received 2 letters from Mamie today. One was a airmail of May 25th and a V-mail of June 9th. Sometimes the V-mail beats the airmail letters but most of the time they don't. Your V-mail letters are O.K. and I'm glad to hear mine are also. I often wondered about them as I write them all in pencil. I also got the clippings out of the paper that she sent. I was glad to get them as I don't get so much news from home. So far since I've been here in Italy I've only got 3 papers. I guess one of these days I'll get a whole bundle of them.

So Freddie is here in Italy. I sure would like to see him. As soon as he get put in a division and gets a new address send it to me. The way it is now his address doesn't mean much to me as I couldn't begin to find him with that. You usually can tell what division a person is in by there APO number. You see I'm in the 34th. Collie Kasubke is in the 45th and the Martini boy who's address you sent me is in the 3rd. Dora's brothers Bill & Jackie got to see each other over in England thru the Red Cross. Each one had to go to the Red Cross and have them make the arrangements. They got to spend about 8 hours together.

You asked if I got to Rome. Yes I did as I told you in a letter I wrote last week. I marched thru there and I got to go in on a pass on June 14th.

So Bill doesn't think he will keep his new job. Too bad he spends so much time on the road. Does he drive his car back & forth or does he go by street car?

My name was turned in for a bronze star about a week ago. It is a medal and is for things I done in a battle before we got to Rome. If and when I'll get it I don't know. It probably be 8 or 10 month before I hear from it. They say they are real pretty. If I should ever get it I will send it home.

I guess Bill did have a lot of work to do if he put 475 sweet potato plants and 300 tomato plants besides others all out in a week's time. Hope you have a rain now and then so you h ave good luck with everything this year. How is the crab apple tree? I'll bet it's just loaded with apples.

I'll try to write the Martini boy a few lines yet tonight while I have time for maybe soon I'll be too busy to write to anyone for a while. I don't know if I remember him or not. I believe he use to deliver papers. I know where his folks live. Next door to Press Eller.

I wrote to Henry last week. I hope he got the letter and showed it to you all for I wrote him things I saw in Rome that I didn't write you.

I got 2 letters from Dora today. One was from May 20 and the other from June 12th. Our mail sure does come in funny. Two days ago I got a letter (air mail) from her written June 13th. She sent me two pretty colored pictures of herself that the lady she works for took of her. I'll have to keep them out of the light as much as I can or they'll fade away.

We had a rain during the night I was out sleeping on the ground with another fellow. We had a shelter half under us plus 2 blankets and a shelter half over us. We didn't get wet but the edges of our blankets got wet a little. Today it is real hot again.

Well I told you all I know for the present time so I'll have to close. I'll write more in a few days when I have time. As you can see I've written this letter in a hurry. Trying to get it done before supper.

Until later So long.

Love,
Gus


This letter was postmarked June 29, 1944. Written on the back, probably by my grandmother, was a note that it had been "Received July 6" and a second note said it was "Answered July 11."

V-mail, which Dad has mentioned in earlier letters, was a very interesting concept. According to the Smithsonian National Postal Museum website, "Victory Mail, more commonly known as V-Mail, operated during World War II to expedite mail service for American armed forces overseas. Moving the rapidly expanding volume of wartime mail posed hefty problems for the Post Office, War, and Navy Departments. Officials sought to reduce the bulk and weight of letters, and found a model in the British Airgraph Service started in 1941 that microfilmed messages for dispatch.

V-Mail used standardized stationery and microfilm processing to produce lighter, smaller cargo. Space was made available for other war supplies and more letters could reach military personnel faster around the globe." (http://postalmuseum.si.edu/victorymail/)

Dad's brother Freddie finally ended up in Italy, and it is obvious that Dad hopes they can get together at some point. It was interesting to learn that Mom's brothers Bill and Jack got to meet up in England. Though Mom had told me that Uncle Jack had been stationed in England during the war, I hadn't known that Uncle  Bill was there, too. It was nice to hear that the Red Cross worked to enable family members to see each other during the war.

Amazing to read how much Uncle Bill planted in the backyard. There truly must not have been any part of the yard left unplanted. The crab apple tree Dad mentions stood in the backyard for many years, bearing fruit into the 1980s. It was finally chopped down in 1990.

Dad writes about "the Martini boy," obviously another soldier from Staunton. He says he knows his parents lived next door to Press Eller. In the 1940 Staunton City Directory, Preston & Cora Eller lived at 912 E. North. Louis, a miner at the No. 7 mine, & Gerarda Martini lived at 916 E. North.

Dad told his mother that he hoped his brother Henry would be sharing with her the letter he'd written telling all about what he'd seen in Rome. Unfortunately, as far as I know, that letter no longer exists.

April 9, 1944

Pvt. August Haferkamp 36684775
APO 15164  c/o Postmaster
New York, N.Y.

Somewhere in Italy

Easter, April 9, 1944

Dear Mother:-

I'll try to write you a few lines even if I don't know much news to write about.

It has just started raining to make it a bad Easter day. I sure hope it don't rain now for 7 more Sundays.

I went to the Easter Services here this morning. Surprised? First time I've been to church since I've been in the Army.

I just wrote a letter to Dora; Uncle Henry and Jack. I guess in time I'll get around to everybody. So far I haven't received any of the Staunton papers but it takes a lot of time.

I'm putting 2¢ of our new paper money in with this letter. I hope you get it. Let me know if you do. The dollars are twice this size.

I think I told you I had 2 lower jaw teeth pulled and the next day I had one filled. My gums are still pretty sore and are still bleeding but I feel a lot better with them out. They were infected.

I guess you folks were busy yesterday coloring Easter eggs for Henry Lee and Mary. I bet they are having a grand time today. I won't get to see any Easter eggs this year along with a lot of other things.

Have you heard from Freddie lately? Dora said that his papers are all marked "Over age." I hope that will mean something for him. Whenever he gets a new address send it to me. Oh yes, whenever you write to me it would be nice if you sent it V-mail or airmail and then I would get it several weeks sooner. Regular mail takes a long time to get here. 

Dora said they were having a lot of grass fires on these windy March days. I guess that kept Bill pretty busy. Is he still on the job or has he been laid off? I guess he is kept pretty busy around the house.

Well if the weather has been good at home I guess Pop has all the garden in by now. Ha Ha. Or does he still go up to the park? Are you going to put a garden over in the lot this year again? Dora said that Bill had his hot bed done and a lot of the plants were up.

I guess since Easter is now past Mamie has caught up with her sewing and has started to clean house.

I guess Dora has given you all one of the pictures that we had taken while I was home. She said they were real good and has sent me a small one but so far I haven't received it. Hope it comes soon. She said that you all took a lot of pictures while Freddie was home. Hope there were good.

Well I think I told you all I know for the present time so I'll close and hope to hear from you soon. Take good care of yourself and hope you had a joyous Easter.

Love,

Gus

This is the photograph that Dad has mentioned in previous letters and again in this letter. It was taken of him and my mother when he was home in Staunton in February, 1944.

In this letter Dad wrote about the pictures that had been taken when his brother Freddie was home. This photograph of Uncle Freddie with his parents Mary and Clemens Haferkamp was taken in the family's backyard at 621 N. Laurel St. in Staunton, Illinois. 

Some family background: My grandfather, Clemens Haferkamp, was born in Germany and came to the United States as an adult in the late 1880s. In 1892 he married my grandmother Mary Brackhane, a daughter of German immigrants who had been born in Staunton and lived there all her life. Dad's two oldest siblings, his sister Mamie (the oldest of the seven children and the only girl) and his brother Bill, never married and lived in the family home until their deaths in the mid-1980s. The family moved into the house on Laurel in 1916 when my dad was about four years old. Before that they had lived in a house on Olive and before that on Main Street. His brother Jack lived with his wife and daughter in Mt. Olive, Illinois. His brothers Henry and Freddie lived in Staunton.

December 21, 1943--a letter written by my mother in Florida to her mother-in-law

The following letter was written by my mother to her mother-in-law back  home in Staunton after she had arrived at Fort Blanding to visit her husband.

Dec. 21st, 1943

1:30 P.M.

Dear Mom & all--

I arrived in Jacksonville Sat. afternoon at 4 P.M. Gus didn't get in until nine o'clock so I sat in the station and waited for him. He is fine but a lot thinner than I expected him to be. It was his clothes that made him look big in his pictures. They are a lot too big for him.

We got here in Camp about two Sunday afternoon. After I unpacked we went down to the lake and took some pictures. We got back and had our supper about 8 P.M. He had to leave about 10:15 to get back to his hut. Last night he came over about 7 P.M. He was to have waited on tables but he paid another kid to do it for him. He didn't eat supper so we went to the service club and ate. Tonight he has class so I guess it will be 9 o'clock or later before he gets here.

I still don't know where I'm going to stay after I leave here tomorrow. It is very nice here at the guest house. I wish I could stay but that is out. Gus is trying to talk me into staying over New Year's but I hate to take a chance on losing my job. But if he still wants me to I guess I will if I can find a place to stay. He's afraid he will not get his furlough or he wouldn't mind so much if I left after Xmas.

Gus has never gotten my Xmas package. Maybe it was in that train wreck. He got yours.

How did you get along with Skipper? Did he want to follow me?

I just came as far as Tenn. by bus. I came the rest of the way by train. I'll tell you all about it when I get home.

Take care of yourself and I hope you all have a nice Xmas. Thanks again for the Xmas presents as they were grand. This letter is from Gus too in case he doesn't get a chance to write. He said to tell you all hello & to write. He got Mamie's letter yesterday & one from Louie. Also about six Xmas cards & the paper. I sure hope he gets my Xmas box before Xmas.

Write when you can.

Love,
Dora & Gus

These pictures were taken of Mom and Dad during Mom's visit with Dad in Florida.

Mom asks about Skipper, their beloved rat terrier. Heard so many stories about him growing up, including that while Dad was away during the war Skipper would walk across town from my mother's mother's home on Hibbard to Dad's parents' home looking for Dad. He would walk into the house, wander through the house looking for Dad, they'd give him a treat, and he would go back home.

Mamie, whose letter Dad had just received, is his sister and oldest sibling. She, like his oldest brother, never married and the two of them ended up living together in the family home all their lives. I don't have any idea who "Louie" is. As far as I know, it isn't a family member.

As I looked at the envelope this letter came in I had to smile. Mom had put down the wrong house number, 623 North Laurel Street instead of 621 North Laurel Street, and yet there are no marks on the envelope indicating there was any problem delivering the letter. I don't even think that there is a house numbered 623 on North Laurel.

October 16, 1943

Sat. Oct. 16, 1943

Dear Mother & All:-

I received Mamie's letter this morning and Bill's a few days ago. I was glad to hear from both of them. I just stopped writting and went out to mail call. I got the Staunton paper so I read the news. Dora sent me all the back issues of the paper.

I had a busy week again and they say next week will be worse. Monday we go out to the rifle range and start shooting our rifles. We have to get up about 4:30 A.M. as we are to have chow at 5. We will go out there 5 days straight. I was on K.P. yesterday. Had to get up at 5 a.m. Wash, make my bunk and go eat breakfast before the other fellows got there. I started washing dishes at 6 a.m. and never had my hands out of the water until we finished the dishes at 9:30 A.M. Sure was a hot job and today the four fingers on my right hand are all full of blisters from the hot water and G.I. soap. That soap I believe is about 50% lye. The fellows ate in the field at noon so there wasn't many dishes then but they came in for supper. I kept myself away from washing dishes then. After they were all done we had to scrub the place. We got thru about 8:30 P.M. Sure hope my turn don't come so soon again.

Bill said he may get the job as fireman at nights for 4 months at home. Well, I hope he gets it as I know he is the best fitted fellow at home for the job and he sure put enough work in for them already and never got a cent out of it. I got a letter yesterday from Bob Ehmler and he said that they had another lay off in the fire dept down there. They now have 6 men on a shift and work 7 days and off 1 which makes 3 men on a shift and 7 shifts. They want to put them on 24 hrs on and 24 hrs off. He said the Chief has been mad ever since the lay off. Bob Simon is down in Baton Rouge, La. I guess that's were I would have been now if I wasn't the extra man when they left.

I'll try and write to Freddie yet tonight as I guess he likes to get mail to as I know I do. I don't see why he couldn't get out of the army if he went after it in the right way.

Dora said her brother Bill was home on a furlough again. I don't see how he gets so many. I won't be able to get one before my 17 weeks are up which will be about February 1st and then I'll get shipped to another camp and maybe won't get one then.

It has been real warm here the last few days but tonight's paper said it was going to be colder by tomorrow. They say it gets down to about 30 above here in the winter. Well that's not so bad.

I got my package which Dora sent me last night. Sure glad to get my pen also the handkerchiefs & towels. I took my field jacket to the tailors today to have the sleeves shortened. I'll get it again Tuesday. That is a real nice coat. Too good to wear in the fields.

One of the fellows in my hut came back today. He was in the hospital since last Sunday. He got sick from his shots & vaccination. I thought I would get a shot today but I never. Most of the fellows are getting there teeth pulled or fixed but so far I haven't been called. When they looked at mine they marked down 4 what ever that meant.

Well I think I told you all I know so I'll close hoping to hear from you all real soon. I'll write when ever I get time. I had a lot of letters to write and I should get caught up this week end.

Gus


What a picture Dad paints here of life in basic training. This is the first letter that he has written in ink. All the earlier ones were written with a pencil. The explanation is that my mother, in the package that she had sent him, included his pen. 

In this letter he mentions his sister Mamie and his oldest brother Bill. Bill, like his youngest brothers Freddie and my dad, had served in Staunton's volunteer fire department. Though I haven't found confirmation, I believe the fire department was trying to staff some positions as paid, filling gaps left by the men who had left for the military. Dad also writes of Bob Ehmler, who was married to Mom's older sister Virginia. They lived in the area of St. Charles, Missouri. I don't know who Bob Simon is. The context makes me think he was from Staunton. Though there is no Bob Simon in the 1940 Staunton City Directory, there are two Simon families.

Dad has mentioned in this letter and some earlier ones about his brother Freddie trying to get released from the Army. I remember hearing about this as a kid. He had been drafted in 1943 just before his 38th birthday. On November 11, 1942, Congress had approved lowering the draft age to 18 and raising the upper limit to 37. Dad seemed to think there was no reason that his brother wouldn't be able to gain a release from military duty. It didn't happen.