WW2 Era Letter Typed by U.S. Paratrooper Shortly After Leaving Camp Toccoa. He would later be dropped by C-47 during the Southern Invasion of France.

[Heartfeltzero]

This letter was written by a Richard Spencer. I received this letter from Richard’s Daughter.

Richard was born on January 28th 1921. During the war, he would go to parachute jump training school in Camp Toccoa, Georgia (same place easy company of the 101st airborne Division would train ,depicted in the Band Of Brothers Series). Richard and his unit would also run up Currahee mountain.

Richard would be assigned to the 517th Parachute Infantry Regiment/Regimental combat team. Throughout the war, they would be attached to various divisions including the 17th Airborne Division, 82nd Airborne Division, and the 13th Airborne Division.

The letter was typed by Richard shortly after leaving Camp Toccoa. It reads:

“ Aug. 2, 1943

Dearest Folks;

Started one letter to you today, but my typewriter was still lost so it would be kind of out of date now. We moved out of Toccoa last Wednesday at daybreak with a truck convoy, and had one of the trucks break down just this side of Atlanta. We got into Ft. McPherson, and they left me in charge of the truck, responsible to see that it got back to Alabama. It worked out all right… we had a few hours in Atlanta… & when I got down to Alabam, they had misplaced my barracks bag with my typewriter, and I just found it today. I was worried sick about that. I didn’t care about all the G-I stuff that was in it, but Im pretty fond of my little Typetrap. It’s all O.K. now, complete with the new ribbon that wifey gave me for a wedding present.

This is a terrible pace for a man to have to keep up, and I may sound a little punchy in spots, because I am dead tired. I am the Officer of the Guard now, so won't get much sleep tonight either. I will be relieved at 5:30 tomorrow afternoon.

We have completed most of our processing now. We got quite a few real good men, and a lot of them aren't so good. Over a hundred decided they didn't want to be paratroopers after watching them jump out of the planes here every day; and especially being with the 517 and plagued by the thoughts of four weeks of confinement. We will be working straight through ... day and night, seven days a week, for the next 4 weeks starting a week from tomorrow ... ,and we worked straight through this Sunday like any other day already. We have a LOT of Mexican boys, and several Iowa boys in our outfit.

Jo and I got to be together a little bit up in Toccoa ... mostly sneaking home nights with Capt. Frank .. . and I got to see her a few hours last night when Mrs. Frank brought her over to the Alabama Area. We are so very happy just being Mr. and Mrs ..... and all the little uncertainties that you feel while you are on the verge of matrimony just seem to disappear; and give way to the most wonderful feeling of certainty and security in the world. Any doubts about tough sledding that we both may have had are gone now, and more than ever we both know that time is the only element now that separates us. We are so happy with the few hurried moments we have to squeeze in when and where we may, that it's hard to fathom just how perfect it will be when everything clears up. When you're on a bumpy road for so long, you forget just how nice a smoothe highway really is.

Another thing I'd like to mention again mom.…and that is to tell you once more how much I appreciated your coming down for the wedding. I somehow hated to hint to strongly about your coming down....a trip like that is a lot to ask anyone to make with travel conditions the way they are now. Maybe the trip wouldn't have seemed quite so bad if you could fully realize just how much it meant to have you here. When things get pretty rough here...and they do, OFTEN... I can just half close my eyes and see us all out there at Toccoa Falls. Those few hours of complete relaxation were like a short trip to heaven for me.

After all this work to get things set up here to go to work with our men, we find we are moving out this Wednesday. Over to the Frying Pan Area on the main post in Georgia. We will be there just seven weeks, jumping the last three. We are all confined the first four weeks.

Capt. Haires wife is taking Jo on a trip to her home in Texas for three weeks. Jo really made a hit with these Officers wives ... they think the world of her, and she does them all a lot of good. They will be back just about a week or so before we get off of our restriction. Mrs. Haire is so lonesome for her husband that she can't stay this close without being able to see him, so she is taking Jo along with her just for the company and cheery line of chatter. She has 1500 miles worth of gasoline, I guess, and that will be quite a trip for them.

And Mom, I shouldn't even tell you this, but it tickles me so much and makes me so proud that it's too good to keep. At least a dozen different wives and officers have made it a special point to tell me how "swell" they thought my Mom was. Mrs. Frank and the Captain, especially. I think they are a pretty swell army couple, too, and they seemed to have found the secret of keying this army life down to the tone they like it. So much of it is fast and furious, and they just step back and let it go past them. Jo and Mrs. Frank are pretty chummy, and we always have a little confab about our "Mom" whenever we get together.

Well, I have to go out in the rain and check my guard now, so I'll have to wind this up. I'm pretty much open for some letters now, so write me when you can. 3rd Battalion, 517th Prcht Inf, Ft. Benning, Georgia.

Bye, and lots of love ....
Dick “

Richard’s unit would sail for Italy in May 1944 and was committed to action north of the bomb-battered port of Civitavecchi. The 517th was bloodied in a decisive battle before being pulled from the lines, reassembled, and air-dropped from C-47s at night into south France. Its mission was to block German reinforcements from reaching the Allied beachhead on the southern coast at St-Tropez. In this campaign, Dick’s outfit saw 94 days of combat that pitted the 517th against an enemy entrenched in pillboxes and other fortifications snaking down from the Maritime Alps.

There was a period of rest after the campaign in southern France before the unit was moved north by rail to Soissons. Soon after, the Battle of the bulge would begin. The 517th action in the battle was significant. Richard’s battalion was assigned the objective of taking the Belgian village of Manhay, a cluster of houses at an important crossroads held by the 2nd SS Panzer, the Nazi unit responsible for the atrocities at Malmedy.

On December 27, 1944, supported by a barrage of 8,600 shells from 15 massed artillery battalions, Richard’s outfit attacked across the snowfields surrounding the village. The Germans counterattacked with their armor, including captured American Sherman tanks. The fighting that followed was a savage “hammer and tongs” battle, but by 0330 hours, the village crossroads had been secured. The 517th’s success at Manhay denied the Germans a route north via Liege to the vital port city of Antwerp.

The paratroopers of the 517th would soon be involved in two difficult river crossings, including the Roer in the vicinity of the Hurtgen Forest. The Roer was defended by one of Hitler’s crack parachute outfits that had been preparing fortifications for 6 weeks. Dick’s outfit continually attacked until the united captured its sector on the east bank of the river.

After Germany’s surrender, Richard would return home with the Bronze Star with two clusters and two Purple Hearts.

He would pass away on July 15th 1989.