May 2, 1945 - Germany

Sgt. Stanley W Safford 39539976

5^th Auxiliary Surgical Group

APO 339

c/o Post Master

New York  New York

 

Germany

May 2, 1945

Again this morning I will write you a few lines to let you know how things are on this side of the Atlantic with me.

Have here your letter of April 16, Nov 13 which I received two days ago.  Received a letter from Joe and wrote one to him the day before.  That always happens.  I hear from him at the same time I write him.

I have the package mentioned previously, all packed and ready to mail this afternoon (German) and the jackets.  Muriel can have one of them, Dad another and you one if you wish.  They are quite warm and perhaps of a little souvenir value.  The other or remaining ones you can put away for me.  You can make a scarf for Muriel and yourself if you wish but do not let Muriel have wholesale usage of it. Ryan told his sister he was going to send her enough silk for a handkerchief or two, and he sent the whole parachute, case and all.  Won’t she be surprised when she opens that.

I am enclosing there snapshots, two of scenes on the recent convoy and 3 of myself.  The one of the tower was taken in Reckinghausen and the other one across one of the rivers.  The three of myself are fair.  The one on the generator is the better one.  Will send Muriel a couple of them later when I have more prints.  I really have a surprise for you in some forthcoming portraits, some of which are not bad.  I have had no real goo pictures taken overseas tho.

The cannas annoyed me while at home and you remember me digging out quite a few.  The cacti needed repotting long ago.  A grape arbor over the driveway between house and garage would be rather nice, with an added driveway gate at corner of the house.  There is already part of the grape vine near there.  What are you going to do about the water in the garage?  I always have ideas for yards etc tho that may be impractical.

Richard and Myrtle owe me a letter but it does not make much difference as I am not overly fond of hearing from them anyway.  Too many others of more interest.

I am not surprised to hear of gophers again appearing.  Is the rear lot again being used for gardening?  Blairs never did take care of their yard.  It will be a good thing when she gets out of work again and stays at home I guess.

Received also your 5 air-mail stamps.

I expect soon to again be recalled to headquarters as have done nothing and no one else is either.  Very little use for us I guess anywhere.  Some teams have already been recalled.  And I have the thought of going back.  Well we may of course get a chance for a pass and get the chance to see something again.  I have really seen none of the places very well.  That all started when we arrived at New York.  It has been a rush ever since.  I went aboard the boat on an advance party, the only enlisted men among about fifty officers.  My job as Sergeant Major required that I be aboard over a day early.  We left camp by police escort, sirens and all.  I went thru the tunnel and over the skyline bridge and the chauffeur carried my baggage.  I was quite in style.  Nothing less than a stateroom alone for me after a complaint of poor quarters.  I quit a long time ago going thru a lot of misery from people in the army.  If you do not look out for yourself no one else will.  The channel crossing was on one of Belgium’s pre-war largest boats. And a regular hag pen it was too.  Well enough of this for now and on to other subjects.

Enclosed you will find some German stamps which were sent me by Olson in headquarters.  Quite a few of them knowing I collect them, save them for me from time to time.  71 of them are enclosed.

Received a letter from Muriel the other day also.  She is getting much better about writing for some reason.

The weather has been cold and damp and a jacket is still required for warmth.

We now have a French surgical team here.  Something new.

Thanks a lot and until I write again, all my Love.

Your son,

Stanley

April 20, 1945 - Germany

Sgt. Stanley W Safford 39539976

5^th Auxiliary Surgical Group

APO 339

c/o Post Master

New York  New York

5    (7 pictures enclosed)

Germany

April 20, 1945

Dearest Mother:

Well after a long silence since my last letter. I will again endeavor to write a few lines.  A lot has happened since then and I have seen a lot of country.  I have moved twice since then and one trip was over three hundred miles. The latter one of smaller dimensions.

We were quite happy at our station in the pocket but one night we started to pack about twelve and were gone the next afternoon on our way on a convoy of over 300 miles length, and believe me I hope I never again have another such trip.  We saw more backwoods country which included dusty dirty roads with all the bums and ruts possible.

At our destination we were greeted by a nice big job.  The job of rehabilitation of displaced persons[1], which included Russians, Poles, French, Belgians and Dutch.  They had been starved practically to nothing but skin and bones.  It was a sight never to be forgotten.  Anyway they decided they had no use for surgical teams, so we were transferred to an Evacuation hospital, which is our present station. With the field hospitals going out of business such as the last one we perhaps shall be at them less often.

The other day they sent us our theater ribbons with two bronze stars for the campaigns of Northern France and Germany. I am enclosing the certificates on them in this letter for safe keeping.  The way my baggage is mauled I sometimes wonder how I happen to have anything left.

I picked up some very nice lined jackets at my last station and I will send a couple home some day. Dad would like one for warmth while on his way to the desert.  I have a white and a black one here which are really nice.

This evening while out in the street I saw a head of sheep being led home and soon after a flock of young geese.  And I am in a town where I never expected to be such. The surrounding country is very beautiful. I am quite impressed with the plains before Berlin.  They are very fertile and they grow everything here from A-Z.

I have here all your letters up to and inclusive of ten (10) and I am in hopes of getting more soon as it has been some time since my last mail.  Since we are so far ahead of our headquarters it makes it difficult for delivery.

At our last station which was near Recklinghausen[2] which was right near a huge industrial center and I got some good pictures taken in a garden with some smoke stacks in the distance.  It made a very interesting picture.  Enclosed you will find some pictures which you may like. Some of them were taken in a monastery garden which you have heard me mention previously.

Sgt Ryan is now on an X-Ray team and is here for the time being.  He was transferred from his shock team last month.  He is about like myself on the topic of teams.

I hope you will like the Buick.  Are they easy to drive?  I can find out when I get home. That subject was one of my peeves recently.

Your mention of the recent picture regarding horses reminds me of the many head which recently I saw at one place which they had evacuated in a hurry and had killed what they could not take with them.

In regards to the war pictures, we are not supposed to take a good many and we cannot send any of such pictures home.  But I could take them and keep them.  The time I had the difficulty with the film was the day our truck brought us across the Rhine.  The engineers had a beautiful pontoon bridge across which was a master piece.  The river appeared just after we had (gone) up an incline and started on the gradual slant incline down.  The current was really rapid and the entire river impressed me.  Up to this time the Mississippi had impressed me more.

I want you to take money from my account to buy yourself a hat, dress, purse or whatever you wish for a Mother’s Day present.  And I want you to tell me what you get.  I wish I could do more but conditions prevent it.  I really want you to do this.

Well about all for now and you all take care of yourselves (7 pictures enclosed)

All my love,   Stanley

NOTE from the transcriber:

I found these two letters on Ebay while doing some background research and was disappointed that they were no longer available.  They give a very important explanation to Stanley;s previous remarks that some liberated Russian prisoners were playing music and singing and how he thought they sounded so good.  How he could have written so little about what he saw that day is difficult for me to fully grasp but maybe he could not tell his mother of the horrors he was witnessing or maybe to keep his own sanity he had managed to detach himself from his gruesome surroundings.  This is one of those times when I wish I could have a letter he wrote to someone else besides his mother.

Captain Claugus' two letters have certainly been key to further my understanding of this incident.  The letters were sold by someone in Waterloo, Canada and went, the first one for $62 and the second for $83.99.  

Letter Descriptions as found on Ebay

This first letter was written by Captain Claugus to his wife on the 21st of April, 1945. Captain Claugus was shocked by the condition of his patients, and he felt that the Germans should be severely punished for what they had done, that no matter how many Germans were killed, it wouldn't be too many:

"I have been pretty busy the past few days. Words can't describe my patients - the words skin and bones have taken on a new meaning for me. All I can say, we can't kill too many Germans."

One of the men had found a German violin, and he was playing it while Claugus wrote this letter. The man was playing waltzes, and Claugus explains that the music was reviving pleasant memories of time that he and his wife had spent together:

"One of the boys in this outfit liberated a German violin and he is playing waltzes for me while I write this letter. It certainly brings back sweet memories of our loving together. The only happy thing about our anniversary this year is that it could be worse, but I am thinking of you all the time." 

“The second letter was written by Captain Claugus to his wife on the 22nd of April, 1945. Captain Claugus had established a ward with 107 patients, whom he explains were suffering from starvation and other ailments. He was short staffed, and was employing some of his patients as room orderlies. He states that he wished he had a camera and sound equipment so that he could record the things that were taking place in his ward. He states that it was all very tragic, although some of the minor incidents were not without humor. He adds that: "I will have quite a story when I return."

(*** When he wrote this letter Captain Claugus had been treating patients from the Bergen-Belsen train for several days.)

"Another day is finished and I don't have much to show for my work, but in reality a lot has been accomplished. I have a little concentration camp on my ward, which consists of 107 patients (all with diarrhea in addition to starvation), 1 doctor, 1 nurse, 4 enlisted men, and 2 dumb non English speaking (nor German either). You can see what a job 5 feedings a day would make.

For a ward boss I have a patient who speaks a little English and under him I have a room and bedpan boss and server for each room."

Claugus goes on to state that he wished he had a camera and sound equipment, with which he could record the tragic, and humorous, occurrences in his ward.

An extraordinary original letter, written by a frontline U.S. army surgeon who was in the process of treating survivors of the Nazi concentration camp at Bergen-Belsen.   

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&_trksid=p4340.l2557&item=170749910011&nma=true&rt=nc&si=iSbadUhLRq0AoBYDg5yD54jmPHI%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc

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[1] In mid-April 1945 a detachment from the 5th Auxiliary Surgical Group was assigned to assist in the treatment of survivors of the Nazi concentration camp at Bergen-Belsen. The Germans had been attempting to transport inmates of the camp by rail from Bergen-Belsen to Theresienstadt. On April 13th one of three trains carrying inmates of the camp was captured by American troops at Farsleben. The captured train was carrying an estimated 2,500 inmates, all of whom were in need of medical treatment. Medical personnel of the 5th Auxiliary Surgical Group, including Captain Claugus (see additional material following the transcription), participated in the treatment of the liberated prisoners.

[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recklinghausen  

Timeline: http://www.worldwar-2.net/timelines/war-in-europe/western-europe/western-europe-index-1945.htm