A SCOTTISH MAN DISCUSSES AIR RAIDS DURING WORLD WAR II – “SO FAR SCOTLAND HAS REALLY BEEN LUCKY IN THIS RESPECT”

(WORLD WAR II IN SCOTLAND).  ALS. 6pgs. October 5, 1940. Drummakill, Alexandria, Dunbartonshire. An autograph letter signed “Hector” and written during World War Two. The author discusses hosting evacuated children and the fact that Scotland has so far been lucky in avoiding air raids. “…Our first lot of 3 boys are no longer with us. One of them the nicest lad died last Xmas from appendicitis – the other two took themselves off to a farm, as they objected to being kept in order! But lately I hear they returned home to Clydebank. Whether we get others depends on the severity of air raids! So far Scotland has really been lucky in this respect. Of course there are some here & there. We hear the hum sometimes usually at night, and have heard bombs exploding, but quite a bit away! But you never can tell when it might not be a bigger affair!! It is wonderful how England is standing up to her ordeal, & the amazing cheerfulness of people with it all. I have a cousin & her husband in London & she writes now & then saying that life is noisy in London! But she manages to do a lot of war work often taking it to their air raid shelter. But I believe people get used even to the sound of many guns!…”.  Clydebank, where the two remaining boys had returned home, would suffer a deadly blitz the following year. In fine condition and including the original mailing envelope, sent to Chevy Chase, Maryland.

(WORLD WAR II IN THE PHILIPPINES).  ALS. 3pg. 6” x 10 ½”. June 6, 1945. Philippine Islands.  An autograph letter signed “Claude”, an American GI stationed in the Philippines.  He wrote on “United States Army” stationery to his friend John about fighting the Japanese: “Dear John, Was sure glad to hear from you again Thanks for writing. A lot has happened since I last wrote - but I won't bore you with very much of them - Have seen quite a bit of action. Mostly fighting n razor back mountains either covered with grass or off on another part of the island covered with jungle - It seemed we moved from one land to another - such a change in terrain - I mean like thick jungles vines & dampness at one place, & the other so open, one could see for miles and miles - even watch the japs digging in miles away with our binoculars. We’ve had casualties, but one has to expect some especially when fighting an offensive war - The japs being dug in so well it was almost a superhumanjob to clear out them - Rough going - guess I'm a lucky guy to be in the 60MM Mortar and light Machine Gun platoon - although we were hit some too. Lucky though just wounded were the boys. Well my Platoon Sgt. Went home with a bad ear - got infected someway or other and it really made life miserable for him - so now I'm acting in his compacity - I don't care much for the job but guess I'll have to string along until the end is over which I hope soon. Guess old Nick here was lucky - Had a few close one's too close for comfort. just hope my luck holds on.  Guess as far as the point system goes - I'll be in the Army quite awhile yet. Only can figure out 69 points - Quite a jump to dig up 16 more And I've been in this Army 38 months already - Seems like half my life - When I get home I won't know how to act like a civilian - ha - I know one thing I'll have to learn to control my Army slang or else -??? I'm writing this in our rest area - although we aren't resting as yet - A lot of hard work to build it up & get it in shape first - Haven’t been her long - but it's a nice area - About like Fort Lewis. Pine trees - cold at night (need three blankets) still my pups get cold) and now that the rainy season has set in it reminds me of Fort Lewis more so, as we had so much rain there. Have one camp on a golf course - Been quite some time since I played golf - last tie in the Hawaiian Is. on the isle of Moloka! - More or less pasture. I'd send you a v-mail, but as far as I know yet, they go straight home with out being photographed and I don't think you'd want that kind. So am using the borderless airmail variety - No two cent overprints have showed up in this area as but if they do I'll remember you - Some of my other friends were asking about them, too. Mr. Weltack has been sending me a first day cover now and then and I really appreciate it - as I have no way or time to bother with them. Hope I can continue after the war as I really get a kick out of FD. 's F.Fs F.AM's & all the other better covers. I belonged to the AAMS at one time and have been thinking about joining the MACC in the future.  Its been a long time since I saw a good game of baseball- Was in 1939 I guess - In Chicago at the Cub park - The Cubs were playing the Giants at the time. My dad & cousin are great Cub fans but me I like to see a good game - The best men win - I used to play a little, too. You know how young guys are - getting up a team & trying to lick the neighboring town teams a log of good clean fun. Well John write when you have time. I enjoy hearing from you. Best of Wishes Sincerely, Claude”.  The letter is in fine condition.

A LONDON MAN THANKS AN AMERICAN COUPLE FOR OFFERING TO HOST HIS FAMILY DURING WORLD WAR II: “SO THAT YOU WILL KNOW HOW TRULY GRATEFUL I AM TO YOU & TO MRS CHERRY FOR THE GREAT KINDNESS YOU HAVE SHOWN TO ME AT A TIME WHEN EVERYTHING LOOKED SO BLACK”

(WORLD WAR II). ALS. 4pgs. July 2, 1940. Southgate, London. An autograph letter signed “Frank J Clarke”. Clarke wrote to a Mr. & Mrs. Burrell of Little Falls, New York, thanking them for offering to let Clarke’s wife and baby live with them in the United States while Britain was being bombed during World War II: “Dear Mr. & Mrs. Burrell I cannot thank you enough for your very kind cable urging me to send Mrs Clarks & the baby over to you, it is something I shall always remember for in recent times I have been terribly worried over the welfare of Fay & Mary-Jane for I am afraid that there is no safe place from air attack in our small island. A short while ago Mrs. Cherry very kindly wrote & said that Fay & the baby could go over to her & about a week prior to receiving your cable things looked so black that I wrote Mrs Cherry asking whether I could send them to her if arrangements could be made to leave the country. Mr Rodgers cabeled me on his arrival in N.Y. & that was as you know after it was obvious that France would surrender & I asked him to get in tough with Mrs Cherry as I had spoken to him re this before he left. I then heard from Mr Rodgers that Mrs Cherry would gladly take my wife & baby & this cable reached me on the same day as yours. I am telling you all this so that you will know how truly grateful I am to you & to Mrs Cherry for the great kindness you have shown to me at a time when everything looked so black. It is very hard for Fay to make up her mind to leave, there are so many home ties but I must say for the sake of our baby, I hope she will, in any case we are obtaining passports etc. in readiness. I do hope that if Fay decides to leave that she will have the opportunity of thanking you in person, for I know how much she would look forward to meeting you again also Miss Betty Burrell & Miss Grimm. I feel we shall have a very bad time here in the next few months & there are as you know daily air-raids we of course retaliate but this is no consolation when one considers the suffering of the injured & the killing of helpless women and children. There is every confidence that we shall ultimately win this battle but we do realize that we must expect some very bad times before victory is ours. Fay joins with me in sending you both our most sincere thanks & really I am quite unable to express to you the gratitude I feel. With very best wishes to you & yours, Very sincerely Frank J Clarke”. In very good condition and including the original mailing envelope.

AN INDIAN MAN DETAILS HIS FAMILY’S DRAMATIC FLIGHT FROM BURMA TO MADRAS DURING A 1941 JAPANESE INVASION

(WORLD WAR II IN INDIA).  AL. 4pgs. N.d. [1941-2] N.p.  An unsigned, handwritten letter to Mrs. Pollard in America, from an Indian servant who survived a 1941 Japanese attack in Burma during World War II. He details his family’s flight from Burma back to their native Madras, India. “Most Respected Madam Having thanked you for your kind letter and asked me to describe about my tedious & dangerous journey from Burma to my native place Madras after cursed Japs. Horrible Bombardment in Rangoon & other places in Burma. The first Bombardment which took placed on 23rd December 1941 at 10:30 A.M. at mail time…I did not leave the Bungalow like other servants did they gave some false excuses dishonest to master & cared their lifes more than master’s. Thank God he who encouraged me & strengthened me to be honest & faithful to my master till my death…merciful master paid my wages in addition to any pay master paid Rs 100 hundred for my way expenses & ordered me to go to Calcutta by walk…We had none there to comfort us & encourage us & give help to us but God alone was with us…The place was in a Horrible state any people too missing cursed my worst life cried loudly & bitterly & searching my wife & the child. Thank God I found them after a great & unbearable troubles search although …successful in my undertakings after seeing my poor people & was rejoiced & thanked God for his unfailing mercy…I entrusted my family to the hands of God Almighty we walked & crossed jungles & mountains all rocky paths sharp stones our feet became sore & swollen all jungle very thick forest wild beast one side & other side robbers & thieves…we reached the city of Calcutta may God bless these two kind nations with long lifes & prosperity we never dreamt even that we arrive Calcutta with life our sorrows & calamities is inexpressible…”. A dramatic and harrowing story. The letter is in good condition and written in blue ink.

AN AMERICAN WORLD WAR II SOLDIER WRITES ABOUT MILITARY TRAINING AND THE ONGOING WAR: “IT IS NOT THE COMPULSORY MILITARY TRAINING THAT CAUSES WAR IN EUROPE.  ALL THE COUNTRIES THERE HAD MILITARY TRAINING.  THE FORCES THAT CREATE WAR ARE NOT PREPAREDNESS, BUT ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL.  GERMANY WENT TO WAR, BUT WAS NOT READY TO ATTACK RUSSIA IMMEDIATELY…WE BELIEVE IN DEMOCRACY, OTHER NATIONS BELIEVE IN A STATE CONTROLLED GOVERNMENT, OTHERS IN A BENEVOLENT DICTATORSHIP, AND STILL OTHERS BELIEVE IN THEIR POCKETBOOK”

(WORLD WAR II LETTER).  TLS. 2pg.  8 ½” x 11”. July 7, 1945. No place [likely the Philippines].  A typed letter signed by Boris Clarke during the closing days of World War II.  He wrote to his uncle Alfred Lane of Cambridge, Massachusetts, who was a Harvard professor.  Clarke wrote “I have neglected my letter writing for the last few days because there have been a number of things to be done.  One of these was a trip to Manila.  I went there on the second and returned on the 4^th.  It takes from 7 to 8 hours a day to get there.  The time I make on the highway, which is cement covered most of the way, depends on the traffic and the M.P.s.  Today Col Patrick sent me up your last letter.  I am quite interested in your stand about universal military training.  I do not know whether because of my origin from a country with compulsory military training or from the anxiety we all lived thru in the beginning of this war when our inductees had to train in some camps with wooden guns and other field materiel, however I have always believed that universal training is not a threat to peace.  It is not the compulsory military training that causes war in Europe.  All the countries there had military training.  The forces that create war are not preparedness, but economic and political.  Germany went to war, but was not ready to attack Russia immediately, she needed some boosting of moral [sic], some victories to present to her people before she attacked a country that had a standing army, even if not so well equipped at that time.  Although it takes England and the United States a short period of time before they can throw in a powerful and trained army, the weight of a trained and ready army is always a sobering factor to those that decide that this is the time to strike.  I believe in military training, as a discipline.  The comradeship, physical training and toughening, discipline, the training to take orders and to give orders, on the whole an experience quite different from the normal civilian experience, will strengthen the youth of our country.  Many of the boys over here and in Europe could not live thru the shock that army life imposed on them.  The change was too great for some.  When they returned to civilian life the greatest percentage of them recovered.  But in the army they were not able to render the service which I believe most of them sincerely wanted to give.  Training of this sort when the emotional strain not so great because of the certain imminence of combat, as is the case now, will contribute to the strengthening of what we called some years ago character, and now call emotional stability, and adjustment.  An argument like the above is not complete, unless you believe enough in it to take part.  I myself most likely will not be called for universal training but I will be wholeheartedly in favor if such an opportunity is afforded my son…The war is still going on, even if there are no guns going off.  Spheres of influence, the juggling of phrases as ‘government chosen by the people’, the question of bringing relief to the countries that need it, by whom and what pressure that would have in deciding the type of government that nation wants, are the weapons.  We believe in democracy, other nations believe in a state controlled government, others in a benevolent dictatorship, and still others believe in their pocketbook.  Although generally I have been in favor of Russia’s influence in Bulgaria, I disprove of some of her methods.  I agree with you that USA civilian affairs units would have been of great value in the immediate emergency.  The U.S. army C.A. aims to get the people on their feet, but it cost in the long run less.  Here in the Philippines, C.A. has rebuild many rice mills, saw mills, has brought in seeds for vegetable gardens, and has provided the Commonwealth government with new trucks, to help in the organizing of transportation.  These services are costly, but they are lasting.  They have laid the foundation from which these services can grow.  It is not just meeting the immediate emergency, it is the starting point for rehabilitation.  Thru Patrick you have already received the news that I am on my way home…McArthur has declared the Philippines secure.  The Commonwealth Govt is taking over the civil affairs…At first contact with the people here we are too apt to judge them by our own standards, and think that they are lazy.  That is not the case.  They have adopted their life to the environment, if we were to go on the way we do in the States, we would burn out very fast.  The older (in residence) and wiser of the white people here have adopted the afternoon siesta…it tends to make my nights sleepless…”.  The letter has mailing folds and the original envelope and is in fine condition.

JUST AFTER THE OFFICIAL END OF WORLD WAR II, AN ALLIED SOLDIER WRITES HOME FROM JAPAN: “AOMORI WAS BOMBED AND IT SURE WAS SMASHED AND BURNED. WELL WE HAVE A FEW JAPS WORKING IN THIS CAMP, AND I THINK AS A WHOLE THEY WILL LIKE BETTER FROM NOW ON THAT EVER BEFORE. THERE CLOTHES ARE ALL PATCHES”

(WORLD WAR II IN JAPAN).  ALS. 2pgs. October 1, 1945. Hirosaki, Japan. An autograph letter signed “Dale” [Christensen], written home by an Allied serviceman stationed in Japan shortly after the official end of World War II. “Well I haven’t had a chance to write for some time. We made it up here O.K. but the ship sure was loaded. We landed at Aomori and this place is inland about 30 miles. We have had no trouble at all. We spent the first night at an airport and then moved to another Army camp the next day, then the third bn came up and took over here. I was in on the big thing at this camp, I came up with the first gen jeeps and saw the Jap General sign the camp over to us, then to top it all off I was picked to take the Jap General to his home. He talked to me all the way but I didn’t know a thing he said. When he got out he saluted me. He seemed happy about the whole thing. The climate here is good and cool. We have a big mt right afore us and it looks just like Mt Fugiama [sic]. They say it sure gets cold here in the winter. The rice is just headed out and it is very pretty here but I hope I can soon come home…We are cleaning this camp up now it sure needed it. I don’t see how the Japs lived in it. Bugs and dirt all over. We sure are making a change in the looks of it. They say they might give each one of us a Jap Rifle and bayonet to take home, I don’t think there is any thing to it. I sure would like to have one. They sure can grow the fruit and garden stuff here but they sure are way behind in the way to live. I think even behind the Philippines…The papulation [sic] of this place in 97,000 and Aomori – 57,000. Aomori was bombed and it sure was smashed and burned. Well we have a few Japs working in this camp, and I think as a whole they will like better from now on that ever before. There clothes are all patches but they look healthy and happy. Well I will write more later. I hope we soon get a mail call. Tell Ann and the rest Hello. Everything is fine here. Write soon. Dale.”  The letter is in fine condition.