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spacetoaster
Feb 10, 2014

A long time ago I bought a box from an estate sale. Today, while cleaning out the shed, I found it. Looking through this person's belongings I found a hand written letter and a few old photos. The date at the top of the letter is July 1st 1945, and the location is Burma.

I have not read this letter yet. I just ran it through the scanner and am posting it for all of us to enjoy. Maybe it's an interesting look into the past, maybe it's just boring. If you find anything particularly interesting in the letter post about it in the thread.












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spacetoaster
Feb 10, 2014

Here's a photo that was with the letter:

gary oldmans diary
Sep 26, 2005
part 1
pre:
Dearest mona
   Hello sweet hart how are you
for my self I am doing fine
I am going to atempt to tell you
some of the things I have
done and some of the places I
have ben
   one of my buddis is leaving
for the states tomorrow so he
said he would mail this when
he got to the states. so I ????
write a few things that I thought
????????
   you dont have to worry about
me I am well over 400 miles
behind the Jap lines I have
ben less than 15 but that
wasnt but for a few hours

spacetoaster
Feb 10, 2014

gary oldmans diary posted:

part 1
pre:
Dearest mona
   Hello sweet hart how are you
for my self I am doing fine
I am going to atempt to tell you
some of the things I have
done and some of the places I
have ben
   one of my buddis is leaving
for the states tomorrow so he
said he would mail this when
he got to the states. so I ????
write a few things that I shouldn't
otherwise.
   you dont have to worry about
me I am well over 400 miles
behind the Jap lines I have
ben less than 15 but that
wasnt but for a few hours

I bolded the part I added.

I imagine there were censors who would go through your letter and wouldn't let you write about anything that they thought would give too much information away. This guy found a way around it by just having a buddy take the letter back to the US.

i am kiss u now
Dec 26, 2005


College Slice
Here's up until page 5.

pre:
                  Burma
                  Sun Jul 1 45
Dearest nora
   Hello sweet hart how are you
for my self I am doing fine
I am going to [atempt] to tell you
some of the things I have
done and some of the places I
have been
   one of my buddies is leaving
for the states tomorrow so he
said he would mail this when
he got to the states. so I can
write a few things that I couldnt
otherwise
   You dont have to worry about
me I am well over 400 miles
behind the Jap lines I have
been [liss] than 15 but that
wasnt but for a few hours

sometimes I have to fly to a ???
strip to do some of my work that
is what I tried to tell you once 
about the [kite?]
  I had to go close to the front
lines to change a wingtip so I 
had to leave early in the morning
and we had a big plane load
of canned tomatoes about 6000lbs
of them and ??? and 
all the stuff that we would
need
  Before we left they told us the
[rong] place so pilot landed 
with the load but the plane [were] 
to work on wasnt there 
so they had to call back to find 
out where it was.
  Then when the message 
got back to us we had to go about 
100 miles closer to the front lines
when we started to take [of] again
one of the motors failed with
that heavy load I was standing
behind the pilot and [his] said
go back and get the load ready
to throw [of] by the time I reached
the cargo door I had all the
[roaps] cut and we had some
of the tomatoes stacked in the 
door.
  But the pilot landed it back on
the strip and we tested it out and
took [of] and landed at the other
strip but I was so scared I
couldnt hardly speak some of
them [ask] me if I was
scared and you can guess what
I told them but I have had to go
on several other trips but not
close to the front lines
  now I will try to tell you about
some of out trips we left long 
beach cal the 25 of July and was
on the us General Butner for 31
days we [stoped] at melbourne aus
for a couple of days but
couldnt get [of]
  Then we come on to
Bombay India then we had a
6 day trip by train to the Burma
??? river there we cought a
river boar for 2 days then a
train for 3 more days to [normea?]
India that was 6 29. we stayed
there [untill] the 26 of [dece?]

i am kiss u now fucked around with this message at 17:56 on Jun 1, 2020

gary oldmans diary
Sep 26, 2005
doing gods work
also i forgot a "but" on the 3rd to last line of part 1

Alkabob
May 31, 2011
I would like to speak to the manager about the socialists, please
Yo dude your grand dad starts spelling out some funny sex poo poo he missed with your grandma in this letter!

Alkabob
May 31, 2011
I would like to speak to the manager about the socialists, please

quote:


[Page 6]
But the people is coming back to rebuild their homes
we dug up a piece of a big shell where we were digging the drain ditches around our tent
when when we were at [location] there was still some dead japs in the ditches close to the road
and lots of bones and stuff they had left behind
I haven’t seen but one live jap since I have been over here

I have just shook hands with a boy that I know he was in a plane about 3 nights ago that
Went down with a load of gass all the men hit the silk and was picked up in the jungles and got back
Today I believe. (Hit the silk means they all parachuted to safety. AA was a big problem in Burma.)

[Page 7]

The pilot was hurt some he stayed with the plane until it was 500 feet of the ground. (Explains why everyone was able to get out, by controlling the plane he kept it up long enough for everyone to jump out.)
I have seen two planes crash since I have been over here one was at warsup and the other one was here Monday but all was saved.(Some lucky pilots and crew) The one here was loaded with aluminum(?)
We have lost about 13 planes and their crews since I have been over here we have lost about 15 planes in all.
One of our planes was on a drap mission (low flying recon) and they had to go over the enemy base and a mortar shell hit the wing and blew. (Well that sucks)

[Page 8]
The Plane up and killed the crew. We have had several come in full of bullet holes.
Sunset I will put in a full meal tickets that I got at some of the places I ate in India and a snap shot that we made at warssup we were at the river taking a bath
Honey it may be a good while before you get this if I have forgotten anything I will tell you when I come home and I hope that won’t be to long.
If I was there I would go over you so fast you wouldn’t know what happened there. (HOT drat)
I would take you to the chair and show you what I learned (More than a few GIs found the Karma Sutra Book when in India :P)


[Page 9] (Hopefully less spooge)
Have you forgotten about that. (Okay lol you grandparents were into some freaky poo poo)
Sweet you know that it has been that it has been over a year since I saw anything like that lust (WOW)
I will wait until I home back to the one that I love and give it all to her

Some of the boys told me that we could write the name of this place but I don’t believe much of that for it is a big supply dump to be sent over the hump.(The hump was the Himalayas and apparently your grandparents favorite hobby)
Sweet I would do lots better writing to you if someone else did read them (They did look to censor information that was consider sensitive to the mission)
There would be lots of little things I wanted to tell you if it wasn’t for that.


So bunch of sex poo poo after some of the highlights of Japanese air defense in Burma.

spacetoaster
Feb 10, 2014

Scooter_McCabe posted:

Yo dude your grand dad starts spelling out some funny sex poo poo he missed with your grandma in this letter!

I have no idea who this dude is, or where he's from.

*edit* Holy poo poo, I thought you were joking about the sex stuff, lol!

Alkabob
May 31, 2011
I would like to speak to the manager about the socialists, please

quote:

[Page 10]
You are the last thing I think of before I got to sleep and the first that I thnk of when I wake up every morning (And his CO wonders why his sheets are so starchy!)
Sweet in one of your letters you said that you would have to renew the insurance on the car
I wonder if you forgot the other one the one I had fixed before I left home
I wish you would keep both of them
Sweet the folks back will never know what we have to go through over here it is so wet and hot.(Yes, yes it is)
[Page 11]
And the dam mud and bugs you cant hardly get out at night but some times we have to
Sweet I don’t know much more to write about I may have let something slip my mind for the present but if I have it will have to wait til I come home.
But remember I still love you and would like to be home where I could bight (bite) you where I always did when I was giving you a good work out.
So good night for this time with love and kisses
Your husband [name]
PS Over
The Bronze Stars we got for the battle of Burma

clammy
Nov 25, 2004

it's funny how he doesn't get super thirsty until the later letters, like it's just been building up the whole time lmfao

spacetoaster
Feb 10, 2014

You guys are awesome.

What on Earth should I do with this letter? I can store it properly before I put it back in the shed, but that's about it.

I'll post some of the other photos later.

clammy
Nov 25, 2004

spacetoaster posted:

You guys are awesome.

What on Earth should I do with this letter? I can store it properly before I put it back in the shed, but that's about it.

I'll post some of the other photos later.

i mean do you know the family of the letter writer?

spacetoaster
Feb 10, 2014

clammy posted:

i mean do you know the family of the letter writer?

No, not at all.

There was no envelope or anything. Just the letter and some photos with it.

Sjs00
Jun 29, 2013

Yeah Baby Yeah !
do you guys think mona was hot

clammy
Nov 25, 2004

spacetoaster posted:

No, not at all.

There was no envelope or anything. Just the letter and some photos with it.

yeah but do you remember the name of the deceased in the estate sale? or can you find it? maybe the family would like to have it

Alkabob
May 31, 2011
I would like to speak to the manager about the socialists, please

clammy posted:

it's funny how he doesn't get super thirsty until the later letters, like it's just been building up the whole time lmfao

That's all one letter.

Pick
Jul 19, 2009
Nap Ghost
please tell us how grandpa hosed and where he liked to bight grandma (rear end)

spacetoaster
Feb 10, 2014

clammy posted:

yeah but do you remember the name of the deceased in the estate sale? or can you find it? maybe the family would like to have it

No, it was consolidated military stuff from several different ones.

Alkabob
May 31, 2011
I would like to speak to the manager about the socialists, please
I wish you would keep these two cards for me you have to see what they are

That was at the bottom of the PS section almost missed it. That would likely be a reference to Kama Sutra Cards. Pretty popular with the GIs:

clammy
Nov 25, 2004

spacetoaster posted:

No, it was consolidated military stuff from several different ones.

ah, well that's too bad. i guess we're all destined to be forgotten, eventually. it's pretty cool though that this guy's thoughts can live on here for a minute

spacetoaster
Feb 10, 2014

clammy posted:

ah, well that's too bad. i guess we're all destined to be forgotten, eventually. it's pretty cool though that this guy's thoughts can live on here for a minute

Yeah. That story about the plane losing an engine and them all having to get ready to throw 600 pounds of canned tomatoes off the plane must have been a pretty hairy situation.

spacetoaster
Feb 10, 2014

Here's a few of the photos that were with the letter:



The name: Hall, is written on the back of the top left photo.

Alkabob
May 31, 2011
I would like to speak to the manager about the socialists, please

clammy posted:

ah, well that's too bad. i guess we're all destined to be forgotten, eventually. it's pretty cool though that this guy's thoughts can live on here for a minute

Well those pictures have names. Sgt Robert P Dawson stood out. So we know they were in Burma. I know by the uniforms those guys were US Army and not British. Since they dealt in planes a lot they were probably apart of the US Army Air Force:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_Burma_India_Theater

So now it's just narrowing down the unit.

spacetoaster
Feb 10, 2014

Scooter_McCabe posted:

Well those pictures have names. Sgt Robert P Dawson stood out. So we know they were in Burma. I know by the uniforms those guys were US Army and not British. Since they dealt in planes a lot they were probably apart of the US Army Air Force:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_Burma_India_Theater

So now it's just narrowing down the unit.

Good idea. I'll scan the rest of the photos. If anyone can see a unit patch, or hell, just some kind of designation that'd help.

Alkabob
May 31, 2011
I would like to speak to the manager about the socialists, please

spacetoaster posted:

Good idea. I'll scan the rest of the photos. If anyone can see a unit patch, or hell, just some kind of designation that'd help.

So far based off Robert P Dawson National Archives kicked back these:

https://aad.archives.gov/aad/display-partial-records.jsp?f=3475&mtch=4&q=Robert+P+Dawson&cat=all&dt=893&tf=F

clammy
Nov 25, 2004

Scooter_McCabe posted:

Well those pictures have names. Sgt Robert P Dawson stood out. So we know they were in Burma. I know by the uniforms those guys were US Army and not British. Since they dealt in planes a lot they were probably apart of the US Army Air Force:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_Burma_India_Theater

So now it's just narrowing down the unit.

that's pretty loving rad dude

spacetoaster
Feb 10, 2014



spacetoaster
Feb 10, 2014

Here's the original batch of photos with the backs scanned.








Alkabob
May 31, 2011
I would like to speak to the manager about the socialists, please
Here is the ship he came in on:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_General_H._W._Butner_(AP-113)

Ports of call match up with his letter as well.

Jaguars!
Jul 31, 2012


Some corrections:

Pg 2, top - fly to a forward strip
Pg 4 - he was on the Butner for 31 days out of Long beach. I think the last word is probably dec[ember], he has to be in that area from about sept '44 to jan 45. I think the river may be a mangling of Bhramaputra which would fit geographically.
Pg 7 - Probably aluminium planking used for temporary airfields
Pg 9 - you what I could do or have you forgotten about that


Here's pg 5 since no one actually transcribed that:

code:
 (5)
Our next move was to [Warsup]* 
burma that was 689 but it is on
the maps [Shadawsuja?]. We stayed
there for 6 months hauling stuff
for the boys at the front but now
there isn't much fighting here
in burma so we are hauling [gass]
over the hump to China.
We moved here to myitkyina
a week ago today but we had the
orders when I sent you my new
[apo] 218 we are right on the banks
of the Irrawadd[a] river I don't know
how long I will be here they say
we won't have to go to China but
I was there once for a couple of hours
This place isn't anything but
a bunch of [sheet/steel] [hales] there isn't
a building here with a roof on it.
* Possibly Warazup on the Ledo road, the main supply route into Central burma. This is today the area of Tingring, Myanmar


His journey is something like:
-Leaves Long Beach 25th July 1944
-Landfall 25 26 August - I think he's trying to say his total journey is 31 days because they didn't get off in Melbourne, but there may be a leg traveling Melbourne - Bombay.
- 31 August - Arrives in Calcutta area after 10 day rail journey
- 2 September - Goes up the river supply route along the Brahmaputra
- 5 September - Arrives somewhere in Assam, The NE extremity of India.
- Stays in Assam until 26 December
- Moves to a place in Northern Burma known as Warsup[or similar] but appearing under a different name on the maps, stays there 6 months January - June 1945
- 24th June - Moves to Myitkyina on the Irrawaddy river in Burma/Myanmar.

By this point the Japanese had pretty much been routed from Burma, Rangoon was captured in May and the rest of the Japanese army was in dispersed units being hunted down by British, Indian, Chinese and US armies.


The names on the Photos are
cpl James W Lake[s or r]
Sgt Robert P Dawson
PFC I. J. Murphy
cpl S.A. Hall

Also noted on the back is one Skoggs, there is one Joe Skoggs on the NARA archive so that is likely a positive match. Also Sgts Ross and Moor[e]

Jaguars! fucked around with this message at 11:17 on Jun 1, 2020

Alkabob
May 31, 2011
I would like to speak to the manager about the socialists, please
So found this article, it's about the Hump, it has some place names that might help with what's in the letter. Might be able to place units to locations. If these guys were dealing with the planes either were probably maintenance or supply clerks since they talk about all the crap these things were carrying.

[url] https://www.airforcemag.com/article/1009hump/[/url]

Alkabob
May 31, 2011
I would like to speak to the manager about the socialists, please
Okay good news, following the transport unit angle it yielded results for units that did transport. But better yet air base names.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India-China_Division,_Air_Transport_Command#Stations

hemale in pain
Jun 5, 2010




letter is cool. i hope with the magic of the internet that maybe family members could be tracked down and see how horny grandpa was

Rutibex
Sep 9, 2001

by Fluffdaddy
drat i hate handwritting. you are giving me flashbacks to my history thesis OP

Worf
Sep 12, 2017

If only Seth would love me like I love him!

I'm impressed he waited a few pages to sext her

Was probably the 3rd draft

Bold Robot
Jan 6, 2009

Be brave.



This is ultra cool, thanks for posting. I like how the guys are hitting sick poses with their guns even though they're hundreds of miles from the enemy.

spacetoaster
Feb 10, 2014

Bold Robot posted:

This is ultra cool, thanks for posting. I like how the guys are hitting sick poses with their guns even though they're hundreds of miles from the enemy.

From reading the internet about Burma, and the surrounding areas, have a lot of wild game. They might have been hunting.

But yeah, they were probably posing lol

neato burrito
Aug 25, 2002

bitch better have my chex mix

The Skoggs would be a great name for a band.

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baby picture
Aug 7, 2004

I wish I could press a button and a rope would instantly tie around my ankle and I would be hung out of the highest window of the highest skyscraper in the world

spacetoaster posted:

Here's a photo that was with the letter:



I think the first name is Cpl. James W Coker.

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