1 April 1945 - Germany

Sgt. Stanley W Safford 39539976

5^th Auxiliary Surgical Group

APO 339

c/o Post Master

New York  New York

Germany

1 April 1945

Dearest Mother:

Have here your V-Mail (4) of March 13 and your letter No2. So far am missing your No3.  Will start out anew on my new series.

I finally got the box mailed off to you a couple days ago.  It included my civilian shoes and short sox and my anatomy book.  Also included were my Bavarian porcelain and the excess pictures I have been gathering along the way.

We have really been on the move recently.  I spent a couple days with Col. Mac Intyre’s hospital a few days ago and have been on the move ever since from one place to the other.  At present am in a cow pasture again.  I spent a little time in a former German slave labor camp and had the chance to observe and see quite a few things while there but there was too much filth there for  very long stay,  There were quite a few Russian, Polish, Italian and French people there.  The Russians interested me very much and very surprisingly they impressed me.  They were all quite happy and in the evenings would dance and sing their beautiful music and songs.  They always impressed me anyway.

At the Evacuation Hospital they had a very beautiful garden just full of interesting and beautiful things.  I took some pictures I hope turn out well.  They had espalier fruit trees in long harbors and beds full of bulbs which included daffodils, hyacinths and grape hyacinths.  A lot of fruit trees were in bloom and other trees coming into leaf.  Also was a nice collection of statuary of a religious nature.

I am looking forward to receiving some more mail today as I have received very little with all my moving around.

Enclosed you will find a money order for fifty dollars ($50) which you can deposit use or invest in more stock or something with whatever appears best to you.

Also you will find some more souvenir money for my collection. Some Russian and Polish which is something new and different.

I had a roll of film in my camera the other day which may have been some of the French film for it didn’t have numbers on the right side and just when I wanted to use it I was unable to, much to my disgust and I missed some good pictures.

I heard from Albert Chandler regarding Onas severe spell.  Very sorry for her.

 

Well about all for now as my time is short and I am rather tired.

All my Love,

Your son,

Stanley

1 Italian stamp

1-50 Zlotych Polish note

4 Russian rubles

1-3, 1-1,1-5,1-1 yepbehin (?) (10 rubles)

Note from the transcriber:

CODE : ACROSS

9 February 1945 - Holland

Sgt. Stanley W Safford 39539976

5^th Auxiliary Surgical Group

APO 339

c/o Post Master

New York  New York

Holland

9 February 1945

Dearest Mother:

Received your envelope of pictures yesterday and find some of them very good, others not so wonderful.

Mailed a box this morning containing a statue and some wooden shoes.  The large pair is for myself.  The three souvenir Belgian shoes are for you, Muriel and Nina and the two large ones are for the Chapin children.  Also you will find a wrist watchband sections which I would like to use in getting me a new one.  The sample is merely for width.

Heard from Muriel Oswald.  Very excited as usual.

Well about all for now as I have little time.

All my Love,

Your son,

Stanley

20 February 1945 - Holland

Sgt. Stanley W Safford 39539976

5^th Auxiliary Surgical Group

APO 339

c/o Post Master

New York  New York

2

Holland

20 February 1945

Dearest Mother:

Received today your most welcome letters of January 22 and February 2 and they answered a lot of my questions previously asked.  I am also quite relieved to hear of the $35 money order.  Now you have one more on the way which was mailed yesterday.

You mentioned nothing of the amounts involved etc. in the will I am rather curious although I have no reason to be so.

The weather outside here today is quite muddy since it has rained for the last two days and just the other day it looked like real Spring.  Anyway nature is getting ready as the buds are all swelling and will be ready when Spring does arrive.

Also received the Air Mail stamps which were enclosed in both letters.

Also very glad to hear of the allotment and Bonds finally getting all straightened out and in order.  Any of the money orders sent I want you to use them or deposit them to my account and use them for the purchase of stock or such things.  I am glad to hear of you thinking of buying more.  They are for me money better than the bank or War Bonds.

We were playing cards here at the house with the people the other evening.  We had a very enjoyable time topped off with some very good wine with cherries etc in it.  The wine was currant.  You remember how I liked the currant wine Clarence[1] brought down with him a few years ago.

We are going to work tonight and without a doubt will be up all night as we are First Call.  Last night we were Third Call, so slept.

We have been issued new sleeping bags and they are rather nice if a person can prevent himself from being entangled in it as it has a habit of becoming trusted around the sleeper.  We have just laid our sleeping bags on the matters which is on the bed in our room.  So we are quite comfortable.

Dad taking the fruit trees etc to the desert is a very good idea.  They should do alright if they are not eaten up, and have a mild winter the first year.  Were they not rather expensive?  Did you get any kind of a discount?

In looking over Gertrude’s last letter she tells me he was in England and expecting to be sent over here.  Did you know he was here?

I met a nurse here who knows Gaylord Hess[2] in Chicago.  She says he has a special incubator that they were using at St Luke’s where she worked.

Yes, I remember the Camillia “Franciscus.  Very beautiful.  Also very expensive variety.

Well can think of not much more tonight so will close for now.

I heard from Susanna Ingram.  Their three are really doing well.  Funny about those kids.

Well good bye for now.  Take care of yourself and the same for the rest of the family.

All my Love,

Stanley

PS:

Yes, I think you are right about the desert trip you should be the one to take a vacation once in a while.  Very hard for me to understand why she should care so much about going up there is more than I know.

Very amusing about the chick from Florence.  You are perhaps right about it.

Enclosed find four notes

 – 3 Luxembourg

-          1 – 10 francs

-          1-20 francs

-          1-50 francs

- 1 German

-          1-100 marks 1908

Signing off.

Note from the Transcriber:

CODE: SITTARD

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[1] Clarence WILDE

[2] Gaylord HESS, son of Charles Hess and Bertha Safford, b Mar 1890, Newton Co. IN.  Bertha Safford was Stanley’s paternal GreatAunt, making Gaylord and Stanley 1^st cousins once removed.

4 February 1945 - Holland

Sgt. Stanley W Safford 39539976

5^th Auxiliary Surgical Group

APO 339

c/o Post Master

New York  New York

Holland

4 February 1945

Dearest Mother:

Have here before me your most welcome letters of Dec 14, 30 and January 9, so you have an idea the way the mail had been arriving here recently.  Altho the other day we really had an abundance of mail for the month of December.  So far all that has arrived here recently has been Air and a couple V-Mail.

Yes I can well imagine the trouble which Jay is giving you now and of all the trouble in the future.  I very promptly answered him for the candied fruit and have sent him one of my recent pictures.

In Muriel’s letter which I received today she mentions George Ohashi as being in Los Angeles on business.  I was very much surprised to hear that.

I am certainly beginning to wonder just where the increased allotment has gone to for three months.  I am going to have to investigate a little.

You should never worry about the expense etc which I may go on gifts etc, as I enjoy doing it and I never go out my way to get things.  As a rule things are quite high and of no value so I choose to not bother.  I am in hopes of going to Brussels soon and you may get something from there.

In regards to your lace doilies mentioned in your letter of Dec 27.  They as well as the wooden shoes and little vases were all purchased in Bastogne, the little Belgian city so recently in the news.  The little soap shoes are some of my work, done in spare time.

I surely hope your glasses do you some good as evidently you are in need of something and I hope they are the answer to your problem.

Grace Safford, Jan 1945

All of your gifts sound very nice.

The lace handkerchief is not quite as nice as it could be.  The lace is just very poorly sewn on and would stand no wear at all.

Nelson owes me a letter as I wrote him last.  I am quite behind in all my mail as quite a bit of old mail has arrived recently.

I received your letter of Jan 1 with the 2 pictures and the 4 air mail stamps.  I really like the picture of you and appreciate your sending it.  I think the picture of Muriel and her friends is nice and Howard Kiel is a very nice looking fellow and I am looking forward to hearing from him.

In regards to the celebration you mentioned. We had a small one and that was about all.  I will tell you more later when my other news runs out.

We have done a little more moving here again and I am in a small room again which I enjoy very much as I have the privacy to write and have a restful mind.  We had to move after New Years and now again makes it two times so far this year in the same building.

I am now up to your letter of Jan 8 and will answer that one.

You have no reason to feel ashamed of not writing as I am quite tardy also with mine.

You have not yet acknowledged the receipt of my last two money orders.  I hope you have gotten them.

In answer to your question about me receiving all of your packages.  I have received all five of them and found them all in good order.  I have certainly enjoyed all of your nice long letters this season and enjoy going back over them before writing you today.

Christmas 1944: Earl Fickle, Muriel Safford, Carl Davis, Howard Kiel

Your mention of meeting people with war brings to my mind the thought that there are quite a few I would never have missed.  And there are a few of them I certainly will not miss if we were to part tomorrow.

Mrs. Miner mentioned Donald as being in bed but did not mention the cause.

One of the boys here knows just where the Lyons lodge is.  He says it is beautiful there.  His home is not far from Cour de Lain[1], Idaho.

No we do not have a chaplain and I feel as tho we are getting along without one.  I have seen some awful examples of chaplains over here.  Yes, we have the Engineers here.  They build all the bridges and other construction jobs.  Some of the 4^th Auxiliary boys were flown into Bastogne.  They received the Bronze Star.  One of the Majors of theirs is the brother of one of my Service School friends from Boston. He had a third III on the end of his name etc.  quite surprised to hear of his brother over here flying around.

I heard from Barbara Olmstead moving back East, didn’t help her much.

Well about all for now and more at a later time.

As always, all my love

Your son

Stanley

From the transcriber:

CODE: BOMBED(?)

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[1] Coeur d'Alene

10 January 1945 - Holland

Sgt. Stanley W Safford 39539976

5^th Auxiliary Surgical Group

APO 339

c/o Post Master

New York  New York

Holland

10 January 1945

Dearest Mother:

After a few days of running around all over the country and seeing all of the shows within a radius of several miles I will sit down and write you a few lines.

Sgt Ryan returned from the provinces, as we call them, with a mental breakdown and very much in need of a rest so we decided to see a lot of the sights.

First of all I want to tell you of a very nice picture we saw in our travels entitled “Rhapsody in Blue”[1], the life of George Gershwin.  They held the world premiere here and it was attended by full houses at all showings and the audience really enjoyed the picture.  A general attended the night I went. We have seen quite a few other shows and find that most of them are about the same old type.

A couple days ago I received a full handful of mail, the first in some time and will now have to answer all of them.  Received also a box from the Matsons and Miss Mosher, each including film.  Miss Mosher also sent a book and stationary and a very nice Christmas card.  The Matsons box also included some “Yardley’s English Lavender” soap.

Received a card and note from Cousin Gertrude telling me of her going to Florida again.  One from Joe, Aunt Dell, Muriel and Whitney.

Yes I remember when Ruth Wilde[2] was at our house on their return from Arizona.  Have they sold their sand business?

I found your Christmas card a very beautiful and entirely different one and I really think it very nice.

Yes it will be quite funny to see you in glasses but if you need them that is all there is to it.  Joe has mentioned this doctor several times.

Your day at the races certainly sounded quite interesting.  We shall have to go upon our return home.

Your telling of the delivery boy playing the piano sounds quite interesting.  A person would really be surprised at the number of boys who can play something of that type.  I am going to take something up on my return.

I really appreciate your Birthday message in your letter of December 5 and hope I can live up to it.

I am looking forward to seeing the points of the pictures and you perhaps will like some of them also.  You have prints made of the ones you wish at my expense.

The weather here has been quite cold with snow and ice.  They are skiing nearby and ice skates are being used quite a bit.

You may have some pictures (Studio) of me coming up soon if they turn out well.

Louise Ingles mentioned Bernard entering regular grade school.  News to me.

About all for now and I will write again soon.  Enclosed find a clipping and some more stamps.

All my Love,

Stanley

CODE: LIMBERG (=Limburg)

 

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[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhapsody_in_Blue_%28film%29

[2] Ruth Wilde was Stanley’s cousin. Their common ancestor was Isabella Griswold who married 3 times.  Ruth is also Clarences sister.  They were born to George Henry Wilde, grandson of Charles H Wilde who was the 2nd husband of Isabella, while Stanley was issued from her first marriage to James Hartwell through their daughter Cora. Isabella later married William Henry Matthews who survived her and with whom she had 2 sons: Ralph and Elmer Matthews.

10 November 1944

Sgt. Stanley W Safford 39539976

5^th Auxiliary Surgical Group

APO 339

c/o Post Master

New York  New York

10 November 1944

Dearest Mother:

Have before me her on the table you three letters of the 11, 14 and 17 of October which I received upon my arrival at headquarters where I am at present, and am quite pleased to be here for a short time since the weather was none too good where we were in the field.

I saw the first snowfall of the season the other day and indeed it made a beautiful change in the country.  Everything was all white and the falling flakes were quite large, about the size of a quarter.

Was quite surprised to hear in your V-mail of the 11^th that my mail has not been going thru. I am going to send this regular mail and see if there is any change in the delivery of this.

The reason for us being in Headquarters is that our hospital has finished in our last location and until assigned another we will be here in the warm building for a change.  We had quite a time of it the other evening with our tents.  About four in the morning a strong gale came up and I mean a strong one, of several miles an hour.  It blew our tent down and did we have a mess.  It was raining so the water came in and soaked several of the others beds etc.  The tent blew down on me so therefore saved me and things from the water. Anyway we got up and fixed it and returned to bed for the balance of our sleep.

Enjoyed very much your enclosures of jokes and stories in your letter of the 14 Oct.  I really enjoyed them and always look forward to them.

Very sorry to hear of Dad not being able to go hunting.  Hope he had better luck on second trip.

Regarding the films.  I can get them developed here but for better service I will send the negatives home to you for prints.  I have some here now which I will soon send to you.  Rolls of undeveloped films would not go thru at all.  I am allowed to take pictures almost any time when I have my camera, which I quite often leave at home, and then is of course when I want it the most.  Pictures of war damage will not pass the censor at all and they are not fond of you taking them and will prevent it if possible.  I have therefore taken none, and besides they do not interest me to any great extent.

Received a letter from Dorothy Kinsfather telling me of her college etc. She is taking Spanish and Chinese, can you imagine such a combination?  Also a letter from Mrs. Matson. I understand Dorothy is very interested in marriage, so I can not quite connect her pursuing languages and wanting to get married at the same time.  Quite a person.  Mrs. Matsons’ letter was quite interesting as always and she tells me they have sent a couple packages.  I wish you would discourage so much attention my way from so many people.  I feel obligated to them.

I am quite pleased to hear of the popcorn etc being on the way.  I surely appreciate it.  You can charge my request things to me.  You can forget the powdered milk since the chocolate can be made with water.  The tea I am quite sure will be satisfactory.  I am able to get all the necessary sugar.

Jay Elmont[1] in his letter received yesterday tells of being out to dinner so I guess he now owes you a dinner again.  That is getting to be a vicious circle, isn’t it?

In regards to your questions about our teams. We have had quite a set back recently. Col MacIntyre is having to return to Headquarters and we are going to get another surgeon.  We are all quite disappointed at the Colonel having to go.  Otherwise our team was a big success.  We done a lot of surgery and the Colonel has done some beautiful work.

We were not at Calais since that was practically British.  Some of our teams are at all the prominent places along the front.

Thanks a lot for the second copy of the poem.  I have the other copy here and will take your advice and carry this one in my wallet.

Anita Ringley mentioned Yvonne’s noninterest in “North Eastham House”.  Do not blame her.  Have you ever heard of Grandfather Matthews will as yet?

Well all for now, and I will start writing more often and different ways.  The envelope is German.

All my Love,

Stanley

NOTE from the transcriber:

ARMY NINEH = probably Army Ninth…  That is where he was in actuality so that fits.

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[1] Found a passport picture f Jay Elmont on Ancestry.com and the 1930 US census lists his occupation as “Artist - Music and Radio Field”; and the directories have him listed as an act director, living at 421 W 8^th Street, Los Angeles in 1917- as a decorator,  h2139 Branden in 1918 – Manager Gillette Safety Razor Co, r815 O’Farrell in 1920 and 1921 h2139 Branden

The California Death Index shows he died on 12 Dec 1946, in Los Angeles.(he was b 1 Jan 1883 in Ohio).Passport lists a David Elmont as his father (b NY)

23 September 1944

Sgt. Stanley W Safford 39539976

5^th Auxiliary Surgical Group

APO 339

c/o Post Master

New York

New York

23 September 1944

Dear Mother:

Decided this morning, after coming off work, that I have waited long enough to write you.

We have been moved since my last station that is six of our teams here at this field hospital and our team has been on the night shift from 8-8, and I have been using the day hours for sleep.  During the last few night (two) I have been able to sleep some during the night.

The information that Mrs. Hall’s cats being of the Cheshire type.  We were stationed there for a while you know.

I am getting quite a collection of post cards in my travels which I am having to carry around with me as I am not able (to) mail them home as yet.  I acquired quite a few in our last station as it was the first chance I have had to really get around.  The French really have some very attractive cards.  Much nicer a lot of them than ours.

In one city we were in recently they were willing to pay 100 francs for a package of cigarettes.  As for myself I managed to do more by trading then for things I wanted.  The present exchange is 50 francs to our American dollar, so you can imagine what some things cost in American dollars.  Of course we are filthy rich to most of them.

Have the censors been doing much to my mail?  I never try and write anything which I tab(oo)  but often wonder if they find non passable things.

Just two months from leaving Fort Sam were we ready to start to work here.  That is rather quick, and much faster than most units.

I received your letter of the 31 Aug the night before leaving.  Have had no mail since then, of any kind.  But as time goes on I do not miss it as I used to because we have waited quite often since we left home.  That is one objection to us being Auxiliary.

I left so hurriedly from our last station that I did not have time to mail home some perfume which I bought.  So Sgt Kupfer said that he would wrap and send it for me to you.  There are two bottles, one is “Balloggia”[1] by Caron which is sky high in (the) states and the other was just put into the bargain.  I want you to divide the bottle of Ballloggia between Nina, Muriel and some for yourself as Xmas presents. You may keep the other bottle for yourself.

I wish I could get more for you but the condition seem against it.  I hope you have received the English silver by the time you receive this.

In answer to your question regarding the bicycle riding.  I usually borrowed one from the Major of someone else when I needed or wanted one to go somewhere.  Yes, I had to practically (learn) how to ride one before going very far, but I caught on quite soon and landed in a briar hedge one evening while going down a small hill which there are a lot of in England.  All of their roads are hedged and quite a few of them are plants with thorns, and a lot of them.

I hope that you will excuse this stationary as I am too lazy to go to my tent and get my other.

I understand Bob returned East still troubled.  From the money he has spent he should be free from such trouble by this time.

Well enough for now and I will try not wait so long the next time.

All my love,

Stanley

 

Separate sheet:

You are perhaps very right about o many of the relatives being so close to us there.  Perhaps we can move again to another place.  Of course Florence can well take care of her father for a while. Ha! Ha!

I am writing a letter to Muriel on the afore mentioned subject and let us hope it does some good.

PS: also mailed the perfume to you

Note from the transcriber:

coded word: BREST

These last few letters are not in chronological order but in the order they were received by Grace Safford, Stanley's mother.

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[1] "Bellodgia"  Perfume by Caron in Paris, France, was introduced in 1927 .