Maxwell's Letters Home

EDITOR’S NOTE: The two letters below dated Dec. 23, 1943 were the first letters written and sent home by Winfred from England; one to the Folks and one to his sister Margaret. Based on the date, Winfred’s crew would have been one of the first crews in the 453rd Bomb Group to have made it to England, Station #144 – Old Buckenham. (The last crew made it there Feb. 5, 1944.) Dec. 23, 1943 (2)          1010          WM          ENGLAND This letter was written by Winfred to his sister Margaret was the first after arriving in England. (He is still using paper with a March Field letterhead.) Winfred greets Margaret letting her know he is O.K.; has been travelling a lot; is in a swell climate; would like to be home for Xmas; is having a tough time with the strange money; hasn’t heard from home in a few weeks; and closes.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Winfred, his crew, and the entire 453rd Bomb Group are now on their way to the E. T. O. ( European Theater of Operations). While there is a pause in the letters, three informational articles will be provided. ARTICLE 3 – How the U.S. Air Forces were Organized. For those without a military background, it may be difficult to understand often used terms such as bomb squadron, bomb group, bomb wing, air division, etc. Below is a diagram and explanation of the organizational levels of the 8th Army Air Force. A link is provided to a video ‘US WWII Aircraft Markings – What Do They Mean? (Eighth Air Force)’ which explains the organizational levels and how individual aircraft could be identified by their markings. Imagine how hard it must have been to know ‘who was who’ with hundreds of planes in the air at the same time.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Winfred, his crew, and the entire 453rd Bomb Group are now on their way to the E. T. O. ( European Theater of Operations). While there is a pause in the letters,  three informational articles are being provided. ARTICLE 2 – The Southern Route to the E.T.O. Below is a map of the Southern Route used to get from the United States to England (October – December, 1943) by a different Bomb Group – the 392nd.  Included is a link to an interesting story ‘Flying the Southern Route’ written by one of that group’s pilots – Burrell Ellison.  It is Burrell’s personal account detailing their crew’s trip across.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Winfred, his crew, and the entire 453rd Bomb Group are now on their way to the E. T. O. ( European Theater of Operations). While there is a pause in the letters, three informational articles are being provided. ARTICLE 1 – How the 453rd Bomb Group Got to the E. T. O. The article below explains how the 453rd got to England. A link is provided to The Liberator Men of “Old Buc” which has much more information on the 453rd Bomb Group’s history.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Below is the last letter Winfred sent home to his sister Margaret before ‘going across’. Dec. 12, 1943          0990          WM          % POSTMASTER NEW YORK CITY, N.Y. Winfred writes Margaret; he is plenty busy; asks about St. Louis; can only wish he would be home for Xmas; feels he deserves a furlough after a year of training; has not heard from anyone; can’t think of much that would be okay to say; and ends by teasing his cousin Erma.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This was the last letter Winfred sent home to his sister Margaret from March Field, CA. Dec. 3, 1943          0960          WM          March Field, CA Winfred heard from Margaret but definitely will not have time to write again for a while. He went to Hollywood again last night and had a swell time. Winfred and a buddy met a girl with a ’41 Chevy and a friend; never seen such a soldier’s town before. Must close; lots to do; came in at 7:00 am went right to work; am plenty tired; sound wild? – making hay while the sun shines. PS He will be making over $300 per month when he goes overseas but will have no place to spend it – GRRR!