WW2 Era Letter Written by U.S. Soldier in France. He writes about seeing dead cows, German Prisoners of War, The smell of death, Bombings and more.

[Heartfeltzero]

This letter was written by a Lt. Henry Milton James. He was born on December 18th 1916 in San Francisco. During the war he served in the 61st Engineer Combat Battalion, 4th Army. The letter reads:

“ July 3rd, 1944

Dearest, darling Honey-babe:

How is my darling wife today? I haven’t received any mail from you for several days, the reason is because we have moved again. Whenever we move, it usually takes from two to four days to catch up with us, add this to the normal ten or twelve days it takes to get to Europe. That makes a total of 16 days before I get a letter. Sure makes the going tough when there isn’t any mail from you. I look forward to each mail call so eagerly and hope that I receive at least one letter from you. Does my mail take that long to reach you? Please give me an idea of the average time that elapses between the time a letter is written and you receive it.

The section I am located in now is sure beat up. Everything is bombed to the ground and there is a sickening odor of dead cows, and bodies all over the place. It sure is a horrible stench. The bodies are on top of the ground and have not been buried yet. When we moved in we had to bury a couple of cows that had been killed by concussion. They are not fit to eat because the blood has not been drained from them immediately and they stink from being dead so long. I have seen hundreds of these dead cows. The farmers sure suffered a terrible loss. About the human casualties I will have to wait until I get home. I have seen thousands of German prisoners and they all looked real glad to be in captivity. For them the war is over. They will be better fed and housed than they were before.

My darling, I reiterate my love for you and miss you terribly. In every letter I keep repeating and repeating my love because to me it is such a sacred and important thing in my life that I can’t help but tell you who are so directly concerned with it. You are, and always will be, my only love and that love multiplies itself daily until there is nothing in this world that can compare with it. I wrote you a letter dated Aug. 2, 1944 and asked you to take it to Han and Han and they could help you with it. They will probably understand what I was driving at. it is all very simple and understandable, and I know that everything will come out all right. Write to me as soon as its meaning is clear in your mind.

Please give my love to mom and dad. To you my dear I send my undying love and devotion. Take good care of yourself, you belong to me and I love you. How is your sun tan coming on? Do you still go to rockaway? Watch out for those beach “romers”. I leave you with all my love and oceans and oceans of kisses.“

Henry would survive the war and would pass away on May 4th 2016 at the age of 99. Interestingly, there was a video interview conducted with Henry regarding his service back in 2011. If you wish to watch it, the link is here : Henry Milton James Collection | Library of Congress

[Danmark]

I wonder why he post dated the letter he wrote her ( August 2nd ) when this is dated July 3rd?

[Willmore]

Hi JB.

Another fantastic letter that gives us a small glimpse into the past.

Kind regards,

Will.

[Heartfeltzero]

Yeah I noticed that as well. My best guess is that there was such a delay that it didn’t get there until august.