WWII Letter of War

Normandy US Army Camp Regiment 65
6/20/1944

Dear Family,
Hey everyone, how are you all doing? I miss you all so much and can’t wait to see you all again. Well you probably have all heard that we broke through the Nazi front about twenty days ago. I am currently still on the beach in my camp and is waiting for reinforcements before my regiment moves on. There is much celebration and joy, but rations are low and times are hard. The weather has been okay not great but not horrible. Rain is so often in this part of the world. I am currently staying in a tent with all of my regiment. It is a bit cramped but I'll survive.

I remember little Joshe's question in your last letter about what war is like and I'm going to try my best to answer it. War isn't a game as I thought it was so many years ago. People really do die. I remember when our landing craft opened its door the two front row of men just fell down dead almost immediately. Getting to the shore was even harder. The water splashed into our faces over and over again blinding our vision. When you got to land you had to find cover quickly or you where a dead man, Nazi machine guns torn through rank after rank of men before my eyes. In about thirty minutes the beach was covered in bodies. The Nazis also used heavy and light artillery to keep any big help from reaching shore. It took a while but we finally pulled through. Thank god for the 13,000 paratroopers who had landed before us behind enemy lines to weaken the Nazis. Also the planes that dropped bomb after bomb to knock out the reinforcements and supplies were a large help. I don’t really think we would have won without them.

Some good news is the Allies have broken almost all the way to Paris now and the Nazis are retreating quickly. The soviets have them cornered and are pressing hard on them so I hope I will be home soon. Also many little bands of freedom fighters have starting to fight back as well. It’s a big help. We took over a concentration camp last week and the sight was just horrible. There were humans who did not even look to be living. It felt so good to help a fellow American out of that camp. I hope to be home soon and to tell you even more but for right now I love you and wish you the best of luck.

Love,
Jonathan

Picture cite:http://www.rjgeib.com/heroes/draper/german-point-of-view.html