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WORLD WAR II SOLDIER'S LETTER

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Militaria Start Price:50.00 USD Estimated At:100.00 - 150.00 USD
WORLD WAR II SOLDIER'S LETTER
Interesting A.L.S. of one Capt. Harrel P. Hesterly of Company E, 28th Infty., May 20, 1945, to his cousins in Prescott, AR, in part: "...Today is Sunday...It is a bit cool here for I am probably 30 miles from the Baltic Sea. I am sixteen miles from Schwerin, Germany...For the last week or so I have had a camp for Displaced Persons, persons who feared war and especially the Russians. Many of them have been gone from their homes for many months. When our division made its drive up here we came in from the rear of this German Army so they were forced to surrender to either us or the Russian, so the Americans were chosen. For 72 hours two columns were bumper to bumper on all roads trying to give up to the Americans. For hours at a time columns of three of troops would march by to surrender to the Americans. Of course we took them all in, but with such a mass of troops we had a mass of problems. They had to be fed, and all supply lines were filled with traffic. They had to have water and a place to live. All of the German P.W.s were put in a field together, and the civilians were sent out to different companies. I was sent about 1800 persons from a concentration camp. I found a lot of tents, so I hauled them up here for the 'homes'. I fed them 1000 lbs of potatoes and two horses per day. They liked the food at first, but now they are not so hungry. There is an ammunition depot in my area that contains several thousand bombs and a lot of V-1's (buz bombs). At a distance the buz-bombs look like airplanes. There are also a lot of German planes there. I wish that we could use this German equipment against the Japs....". With original envelope and a vintage war-era bust portrait of Hesterly. Very good.