Soldier News continued, 1944

Pfc. Roland Pratt Wounded Second Time

Bainbridge News & Republican, September 14, 1944

Mrs. Edith Pratt, 47 Pearl street, Bainbridge [Chenango Co., NY], received a telegram Monday morning from the War Department stating that her husband, Pfc. Roland C. Pratt, was slightly wounded in France on Aug. 16.  Mrs. Pratt had already received a letter from her husband telling of his injuries before the arrival of the telegram.  He was wounded in the knee the second day after the invasion of Southern France.  Pfc. Pratt was awarded the Purple Heart for wounds received in Italy, and since his last injury he has been awarded the Bronze Oak Leaf Cluster while in the hospital.

 

Tech. Cpl. Henry Soules Takes Part in Army Experiment

Bainbridge News & Republican, September 14, 1944

 

Camp Carson, Colo.:  Tech./5 Henry W. Soules, Co. E 201st Inf., of North Main street, Bainbridge [Chenango Co., NY], son of Mr. and Mrs. E. Soules, has just recently returned to Camp Carson after participation in an experiment conducted by the Quartermaster Corps, Medical Department, and Ground Forces to determine how soldiers fare on an exclusive diet of emergency rations.   Six companies from the 201st Infantry Regiment, commanded by Col. James H. O'Reilly, have been in the Pike national forest for eight weeks undergoing the test.  One of the companies, a "control unit," lived on a field ration.  The others ate assorted emergency rations for various periods to see how they compared physically with those of the control unit.  The war department needed some idea of how men would get along on field rations for extended periods in view of conditions arising in this war where men may spend weeks in forward or isolated positions beyond the lines of normal supply.  All the men were in excellent physical condition when they started the experiment and finished the test in even better health.  Cpl. Soules attended Bainbridge Central High School.

 

Cpl. Louis Finch Arrives in Mediterranean Theater

Bainbridge News & Republican, September 14, 1944

 

15th AAF in Italy:  Cpl. Louis W. Finch, husband of Mrs. Doris S. Finch, of R.D.2, Bainbridge [Chenango Co., NY], waist gunner on a B-24 Liberator bomber, has arrived recently in the Mediterranean theater.  His veteran bomb group, commanded by Col. Robert E.L. Eaton, of 119 Charles street, Belleville, Ill. has participated in over 110 major attacks on such strategic targets as the Ploesti Oil Refineries, the Hermann Goering Tank Works and other important targets in Rumania, Austria, German, Italy and France. After graduation from Deposit Central High School, Cpl. Finch entered the Army on Jan. 29, 1943.  He received his training at the Buckley Field armorer school, Colo., and the Harlingen gunnery school, Texas.

 

Letter from Doris Stead

Bainbridge News & Republican, September 14, 1944

 

The following letter (written Aug. 24) was received by Mr. and Mrs. Lester Stead from their daughter, Doris I. Stead, American Red Cross, who is serving with a clubmobile unit in France:

 

Here we sit in mud inches thick in rain which keeps pelting down incessantly and in clothes which we haven't had a chance to wash for days (very little water; must boil all) and last but not least, in a field in France--in Beauce, they call it, for it is the wheat belt of France.  yes, we are attached to the (censored) and at this point we are with a rear guard. Today, in fact, an advance guard is moving forward to find us a spot to put down stakes for a day or two.

 

As you probably have already imagined, we are close to the front lines--we have actually seen no Germans, but all day yesterday as we traveled along, the French would tell us that only five days ago the Germans were there.  We have high hopes of seeing Paris--and before very long, too.

 

Oh, but there is so very  much to tell.  I just don't know where to start.  We have been traveling for three days--since arriving in France--in an attempt to catch up to the (censored) and this I can't say emphatically enough--the French are overjoyed, simply thrilled at our arrival.  We are the first American girls they have seen.  All along the way the roads are mobbed with little children, women and old men who wave frantically, smiling always and shouting at the top of their lungs; "Vive PAmerique--Vous eta nos liberateurs--Dieu vous benisse!  Nous vous amons parceque vous nous avez sauves--tout a'fait!"  In other words, translating:  "Long live America!  You are our liberators--May God bless you--for you have saved us and our children."  I assure you that it has been a thrill of a lifetime.  You can't imagine the shivers that went up and down our spines.  It makes us so proud of America and Americans!  (but wars is hell!).

 

I've been the happiest girl in the world.  You want to know why?  There are about 32 girls in our group and for the first time I've been thrilled that I majored in French in Cornell.  Some of them can speak a wee bit but I am having the time of my life acting as an interpreter--chatting with Frenchmen in this village and that city.  I had often wondered just how I would get along.  Middlebury really did the trick for me--all I need is to add a few words to my vocabulary.  If only I could live in a French family for a while.

 

Well folks, no cause for worry. We wouldn't be happy unless we were here, and as it is, we were the lucky ones to draw this assignment.  Driving along the rather well paved roads in convoy we've seen France in all its forms--everything from peasants working in the fields and old women riding bikes along the highways to pretty girls waving the French and American flags and women out scrubbing their laundry on stones beside the streams.  If only I could describe it satisfactorily.  France is a beautiful country, trees and foliage so verdant, gardens fairly overflowing with flowers, dahlias, gladioli, roses, sweetpeas, asters in profusion.  Of course being out in the middle of a muddy field does change our viewpoint a bit.

 

Yes, We've seen remains of battle, tanks overturned, ammunition used an dunused, vehicles of all types wrecked and burned, foxholes everywhere. 

 

Most chow time, so I'll be closing, hoping I can add more later.  Keep well, all of you.  Do write, and you may be sure that I am well and happy always.