Maxwell's Letters Home

EDITOR’S NOTE: The letter below includes Clifford’s personal record of his travels and time in combat. May 23, 1945          3210          CF          Hubbaw (near Wustrow), Germany Clifford types a V-Mail to the Folks; received three letters today, is getting along swell; weather is bad; provides a list of the places where he has been – Weymouth, Eng to La Harve, Fr to La Mire, Fr to Liege, Belgium to Heistern, Ger (through Aachen); was in combat to Cologne, then to southern Germany with the 7th Army and fought from Alsace Lorraine to the Rhine and Mannheim, Ger; then back to the 1st Army to clear up the Ruhr pocket; then north to the 9th Army and crossed the Elbe River; and a few days later the war was over – that’s all there was to it; now on west side of the Elbe; sounds impossible  in only 3 months but that’s the mobile Artillery; the prettiest part of Germany is along the Rhine valley – lots of big castles and vineyards (kept by slave labor); our outfit was lucky on casualties; well that’s all for one letter.

May 19, 1945          3180          CF          Hubbaw (near Wustrow), Germany Clifford hasn’t written the Folks in a few days and sends them a V-Mail; now that the war is over he is allowed to write more; is in a little town called Hubbaw near Wustram & Leptine; is taking part in the separation program (separates Czechs, Poles, French, Hollanders, etc.); can speak a little Dutch; don’t know how long he will be there or if he will see any more combat; is slowly teaching the Germans who is boss; tells all Hello.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the only time Clifford mentions visiting a German concentration camp. After the war, Eisenhower ordered that all the troops should see what they had been fighting against. May 12, 1945          3150          CF          Wustrow, Germany Clifford writes a few lines to the Folks in a V-Mail; is okay; peacetime in Germany is already getting on his nerves; attended Church on V-E Day after marching through a quaint town; visited a German concentration camp – was not a pretty sight but let us know what we were fighting against!; the new point system has come out and he can be discharged in about three more years overseas (if he is a good soldier) -what he expected; answer soon.

May 8, 1945          3140          CF          LÜbtheen, Germany Clifford writes a V-Mail home to the Folks on V-E Day; apologizes for not writing more has been busy; is well but wonders what’s next – the main gossip is do we stay here or get a 21 day furlough or go straight to CBI (China Burma Indochina) – it could be anything but a discharge; just received the swell watch they sent – took only 11 days; answer soon and use his new APO 339.