War in Europe – Page 5 – World War 2 History Short Stories

Last Flight of a B-17 Named “Combined Operations”: And Emily Harper Rea

3674323665 — During WWII an American aircraft ground maintenance crew salvaged the front of a badly damaged B-17, the tail end of another damaged B-17, and “built” the B-17 Flying Fortress pictured above that was named “Combined Operations.” The aircraft was attached to the 306th Bombardment Group, 367th Bomb Squadron, based in Thurleigh, England, and flew more than 80 combat missions over Europe.

On April 14, 1945, “Combined Operations” was on a flight from Thurleigh, England, to Belfast, Ireland. The end of the war in Europe was in sight. That particular day the B-17 was on a training flight and “whiskey run” to purchase supplies for a party to be held at Thurleigh. In bad weather and fog, it crashed in a field on the southern coast of the Isle of Man which is located in the Irish Sea between England and Ireland. All aboard the B-17, ten men and one woman, were killed.

After a two day weather delay, a B-17 from the 367^th Bomb Squadron at Thurleigh flew to the Isle of Man to gather crash information and to identify the bodies. The plane was flown by the 367th Bomb Squadron Commander, Major Earl Kesling. The three man military accident investigation team consisted of Major Kesling, the 367^th Flight Surgeon, Captain Arthur Weihe, and the Lead Enlisted Medical Technician Staff Sergeant William Houlihan. Personnel from the Royal Air Force (RAF) Aerodrome based at Jurby, Isle of Man, had already collected the remains at the crash site. The bodies were in eleven wooden coffins lined up in the RAF base gymnasium when the Americans arrived. Major Kesling, Captain Weihe, and Staff Sergeant Houlihan personally knew many of the crash victims.

1843685360 — **The lady on the flight. Emily Harper Rea of the American Red Cross.**

Emily Rea had been posted to the American Officers Red Cross Club at Bedford, England, near Thurleigh, in 1943. Her thoughtful and caring nature had endeared her to both American military personnel and the British community. She had been chosen to pin Major’s oak leaves on the newly promoted American big band leader Glenn Miller in the summer of 1944. In appreciation, Major Miller gave Emily his Captain’s bars.

Later in 1944 Emily was posted to the American Red Cross Club in Paris. She had returned to Bedford in 1945 to visit her many friends. Scheduled to be on the April 14, 1945, flight was Sergeant George Kellogg who packed parachutes for the 367^th Bomb Squadron. Emily was chosen to take his place on the flight.

The bodies of those killed in the crash of “Combined Operations” were flown back to England and buried in the WWII temporary cemetery at Madingley near Thurleigh.

walking-into-madingly1 — **A formation of American military marching to the graveside service at Madingley Cemetery.**

graveside1 — **The graveside memorial service for the eleven people killed in the crash. The flag-draped coffins are lined up on the left of the photograph.**

The temporary cemetery at Madingley is now known as the Cambridge American Cemetery and Memorial. It was dedicated in 1956 and is the only permanent American WWII cemetery in the British Isles.

Emily Harper Rea and a number of the others killed in the plane crash on April 14, 1945, are still buried there.

Postscript to this October 27, 2016, story. Giselle Williams of Yaxley, England, contacted me regarding her October 22, 2020, visit to the WWII Cambridge American Cemetery and Memorial northwest of Cambridge, England. Walking through the cemetery her attention was drawn to a headstone with roses and a small American flag placed on the grave. It was the grave of Emily Harper Rea.

Grave of Emily Harper Rea October 22, 2020, at the Cambridge American Cemetery and Memorial. *Photograph courtesy of Giselle Williams.*

A photograph in the above story taken at the 1945 funeral for Emily and those killed in the crash of the B-17 “Combined Operations” shows many flowers placed by her coffin. A much admired member of the American Red Cross in WWII, the memory of Emily Harper Rea lives on 75 years later.

A special thank you to William “Bill” Houlihan for sharing his remembrances of the crash of “Combined Operations.” His photographs of the graveside memorial service are used with his permission.

In remembrance of those killed in the crash on April 14, 1945 …

The Crew of “Combined Operations”

First Lieutenant Robert Vieille, Pilot, 23

Second Lieutenant Collins Liersch, Co-Pilot, 22

Flight Officer Howard LeCompte, Jr., Navigator, 24

Technical Sergeant Earnest Gallion, Engineer, 21

Staff Sergeant Chester Smalczewski, Radio Operator, 21

The Passengers

Captain Wilber Butterfield, 24

Captain George Cubberly, 32

Second Lieutenant Austin Parrish, 28

Master Sergeant Derrell Jones, 35

Technical Sergeant William Starbuck, 27

Emily Harper Rea, American Red Cross, 33

The Fathers Who Never Came Home: And the American WWII Orphans Network

2-lt-john-c-eisenhauer — **John Charles Eisenhauer, WWII US Army 9th Infantry Division, 60th Infantry Regiment, K Company.**

Some men came home from WWII and had children. Some men went to war already having children and never came back.

John Charles Eisenhauer was born in New York City, New York, on March 23, 1917. He was a New York Giants baseball fan, collected stamps, was interested in photography, listened to Jack Benny and Bob Hope on the radio, and enjoyed western movies starring Gene Autry and The Lone Ranger. He and his friends sailed model sailboats on Jackson Pond in Richmond Hill, New York. John had a Flying Cloud model sailboat he named “Comet.”

John and his cousin were sanding a chair for their grandmother in January 1941 when he heard his draft number called on the radio. He was inducted into the United States (US) Army 9^th Infantry Division (ID), 60^th Infantry Regiment, K Company, and was assigned to Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

In the late 1930s John had met Dorothy Krumm, a New York City Flower 5th Avenue Hospital nursing student, on a blind date. On February 7, 1942, Dorothy and John were married in Dillon, South Carolina.

October 23, 1942, John sailed with the 9th ID from Virginia on the United States Ship Susan B. Anthony. They landed at Port Lyautey, French Morocco, as part of the WWII North African Campaign Operation Torch which began on November 8, 1942.

November 9, 1942, John’s daughter, Gail, was born.

In May 1943 the 9^th ID moved from French Algeria and French Morocco to Tunisia and then to Sicily in July 1943. John and his unit sailed to England in November 1943 and prepared for the upcoming invasion of Europe. June 10, 1944, D-Day plus 4, the 9^th ID landed on Utah Beach in Normandy, France.

John received a battlefield commission to Second Lieutenant in late June 1944.

The Allied push continued through France, Belgium, and into Germany.

The Battle of Hurtgen Forest (Schlacht im Hurtgenwald in German) was fought from September 1944 to February 1945. The Hurtgen Forest is approximately 50 square miles in size and east of the Belgium-German border. The densely wooded area made Allied artillery and air support problematic. It was also heavily fortified by the Germans. It was the longest battle of WWII fought on German soil.

During the Battle of Hurtgen Forest, Second Lieutenant John Eisenhauer was mortally wounded on September 27, 1944, when he and his company attempted to capture a German pillbox.

John never met and held his daughter. His body was not found until 1948. He is buried at the Ardennes American Cemetery in Belgium.

Gail Eisenhauer first visited her father’s grave in 1981. She has returned several times since then. Her regret …”I wish I had had the privilege of knowing him. And I wish he had lived long enough to get to know me.” Gail inherited and treasures “Comet,” her father’s sailboat.

HPIM0045 — Gail Eisenhauer with Marie, a young Belgian girl, at a Memorial Day ceremony in 2015 at the Ardennes American Cemetery in Belgium. Citizens in Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg have “adopted” WWII American graves at American cemeteries in their country.

The American WWII Orphans Network (AWON) was founded in 1991 by Ann Bennett Mix who is herself a WWII orphan. The government defines “war orphan” as a child who has lost one or both parents in war. It is estimated that 183,000 American children were left fatherless as a result of WWII. The organization has assisted the orphaned children and family members by providing support and in locating information about those fathers killed in action or missing in action in WWII.

Story and photographs are published with the permission of Gail Eisenhauer and the Achten family.

For more information about AWON visit http://www.awon.org/awmain.shtml.

Yuri Beckers, a 38 year old Dutch man, has created a WWII website with in-depth information about the US Army 9th ID and the Battle of Hurtgen Forest. See https://www.9thinfantrydivision.net.

The Medics: Those Who Took Care of the Wounded and the Dying in WWII

24thTentSetup-Relaxing — US Army 24th Evacuation Hospital nurses resting after a tent hospital set up. *Photograph courtesy of Josephine Pescatore Reaves.*

WWII medical support units provided a literal lifeline to the casualties of the war. This story is in recognition of all the medics who experienced their own kind of war taking care of the sick, the injured, the wounded, and the dying.

One of the many medical support units in WWII was the United States (US) Army 24th Evacuation Hospital which was activated on June 15, 1942, at Fort Custer, Battle Creek, Michigan. On January 21, 1944, after extensive preparation for overseas movement, the unit sailed on the Queen Mary from New York City, New York, and arrived in Glasgow, Scotland, on January 29, 1944. The evacuation hospital complement was then stationed at Cheddar in Somerset, England, awaiting the invasion of Europe.

The 24th Evacuation Hospital landed on Omaha Beach in Normandy, France, on June 12, 1944, six days after D-Day. The unit followed US military operations through France and then in Leopoldsburg, Belgium, and in Uden and Nijmegen, Holland, it provided medical support for Operation Market Garden in the fall of 1944.

In an oral history interview for the National Museum of the Pacific War in Fredericksburg, Texas, in September 2011, 24th Evacuation Hospital nurse Lieutenant Josephine Pescatore Reaves tells the story of two patients in the hospital in Nijmegen, Holland, who were seriously wounded. The two patients, members of the US Army 101st Airborne Division, were John Kubinski from Ohio and Nick Patino from New York. This is the story.

Josephine’s story is representative of the medical units in WWII that were responsible for saving many lives. They also had to deal with the deaths of many young men. During her interview Josephine shared with me, “I shed quite a few tears … when the boys didn’t see me.” If the families of those lost in WWII had known that their loved ones did not die alone but were in the hands of caring people, it may have offered them some solace in their grief.

There are two other stories on this website about the US Army 24th Evacuation Hospital and Lieutenant Josephine Pescatore. The posts are “WWII Camp Shanks, New York: And a Visit by Archbishop Spellman,” story link https://www.ww2history.org/war-in-europe/wwii-camp-shanks-new-york-and-a-visit-by-archbishop-spellman/ and “An Afternoon in Paris after Liberation: And a Letter from a Parisian Lady” link https://www.ww2history.org/war-in-europe/an-afternoon-in-paris-after-liberation-and-a-letter-from-a-parisian-lady/.

The photograph in this story is used with the permission of Josephine Pescatore Reaves. The oral history video is used with the permission of the National Museum of the Pacific War in Fredericksburg, Texas.

A valuable website with extensive information on many of the US medical support units in WWII is the WW2 US Medical Research Centre at https://www.med-dept.com/unit-histories/.

WWII Displaced Persons in Europe: And the German Town of Haren

Polish_servicewoman_Haren_German_1945_A158895-v6 — **A Polish servicewoman wearing a German uniform with Polish insignia is checking the identity card of Canadian soldier William Massey near Haren, Germany, in 1945.**

Displaced Persons (DP) were defined as people outside the border of their home country when WWII ended. The majority of these people were slave laborers in Germany, had been held in prisoner of war or concentration camps, or had fled their country in fear of prosecution or retribution as post war borders and governments changed after the war. There were an estimated 11 million to 20 million displaced persons when the war ended.

DP camps were intended to be temporary facilities to house, care for, and eventually resettle or repatriate the inhabitants. This was a monumental challenge as many of the DPs were ill, exhausted, and psychologically traumatized by their wartime experiences.

By the end of 1945 DP camps numbered in the hundreds and were located primarily in Germany, Italy, and Austria. Due to the great need for DP camps, one was even established in Guanajuato, Mexico.

Among the different nationalities classified as DPs were over 3,000,000 Polish citizens. In May of 1945 the German town of Haren in Lower Saxony was chosen by the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force as an enclave for some 4,000 Poles. It was located in the British Sector under the administration of the Polish 1^st Armoured Division of the Polish I Corps. German residents of the town were moved to surrounding communities.

The Poles renamed the town Lwow after a city in Poland that was an important cultural center in that country. The Soviets objected to the name. Lwow was in Soviet-occupied Poland at the end of the war. Under pressure, the Poles then named the city Maczkow after Polish General Stanislaw Maczkow.

Maczkow became a working Polish community with a Polish mayor, school, daily newspapers, a theater and cultural center, fire brigade, and a rectory. Streets were given Polish names. Four hundred and seventy-six Polish babies were born there and have birth certificates registering Maczkow as their place of birth.

In 1946 the Poles of Maczkow began to emigrate to other countries or return to Poland. Those Poles returning to Poland, especially those who had participated in the Warsaw Uprising of 1944 or had been in the Polish Home Army or Polish Resistance, feared possible repression, prosecution, or arrest by the new Polish Soviet-influenced government. Those fears were realized by some of the Poles returning to their home country.

The town of Maczkow was returned to the Germans in 1948 and renamed Haren.

The last DP camp was closed in the early 1960s.

Thank you to military historian Dr. George H. Kelling for his assistance in the writing of this story.

The WWII Schweinfurt Raids into Germany: And a Post War Reconciliation

BILD1856 — The WWII German American Memorial in Schweinfurt, Germany. Inscription: “Dedicated by some who witnessed the tragedy of war, now united in friendship and the hope for lasting peace among all people.”

Wars are not forgotten. But with time, the people involved may look at a former enemy in a different way. This is one of those stories.

June 14, 1943 – April 19, 1944

Operation Pointblank

Operation Pointblank was a Combined Bomber Offensive (CBO) strategic bombing plan of the United States Army Air Force (USAAF) and the Royal Air Force (RAF) with the objective to destroy or cripple the German Air Force (Luftwaffe) fighter strength and aircraft production prior to the Allied invasion of Europe in 1944. CBO targets included German aircraft factories, fuel depots, ball bearing plants, and other related industry.

1943

Tuesday, August 17

First Mission to Schweinfurt

The two targets of Mission 84 deep into Germany were the Messerschmitt Bf109 fighter plane factory in Regensburg and the Schweinfurt ball bearing plants.

USAAF “Flying Fortress” B-17s from the 4^th Bombardment Wing (BW) in England flying to Regensburg took off around 8 AM that day. The 1st BW B-17s were scheduled to take off next. Due to heavy fog at their bases in England, the 1^st BW began take off more than three hours later with their target being Schweinfurt. The delay seriously affected the mission plan. One objective of the mission was to overwhelm German air defenses as a large number of B-17s attacked at two different targets in rapid succession. Because of the delay, German fighter planes had time between the waves of B-17s to land, refuel, and rearm before again attacking B-17 formations.

Losses that day numbered 60 B-17s of the 376 B-17s assigned to the mission, and another 95 aircraft were seriously damaged. Three USAAF P-47 “Thunderbolt” fighter planes and two RAF Spitfire fighter planes were also lost. Air crew Killed in Action (KIA), Missing in Action (MIA), Wounded in Action (WIA), and Prisoner of War (POW) numbered over 550.

1943

Thursday, October 14

Second Mission to Schweinfurt

B-17s assigned to Mission 115 numbered 291. Aggressive Luftwaffe fighter planes and a heavily defended city led to more losses for the Allies. It is estimated that 1,100 German fighters were involved in the defense of Schweinfurt as well as numerous anti-aircraft Luftwaffe Fliegerabuchrkanone (Flak) batteries in and around the city.

Sixty B-17s were lost. Air crew KIA, MIA, WIA, and POW numbered over 625. This mission became known as “Black Thursday.”

Due to the large attrition of men and aircraft and the continuing bad weather, long range and unescorted missions in daylight deep into Germany were temporarily suspended after these first two missions. Missions resumed again in February 1944.

1973

The Second Schweinfurt Memorial Association (SSMA) was founded by USAAF Lieutenant Colonel Budd Peaslee who had been the Mission 115 “Black Thursday” Commander.

1993

Two WWII German Flak boys from Schweinfurt, Germany, attended the SSMA Reunion in New Orleans, Louisiana. Dr. Helmut Katzenberger and Volmar Wilckens were two of an estimated 2,500 German students who had been ordered to man Flak batteries as German military losses affected its fighting strength. German civilians, young and old, men and women, were recruited to support Flak units. They were called Luftwaffenhelfers (Flak helpers).

1996

Georg Schafer was another of the Schweinfurt Flak boys. He wrote a letter to then SSMA President Wilbur “Bud” Klint.

June 20, 1996

Dear Mr. Klint:

From a good friend of mine, Dr. Helmut Katzenberger of Bad Kissingen, I received a copy of the Briefing Letter 95-4, December 1995 of the Second Schweinfurt Memorial Association, Inc. I was quite excited when I read it.

May I introduce myself to you:

For over 40 years I have been active in the Management and on the Board of Directors of the FAG Kugelfischer Georg Schafer in Schweinfurt, a Company, with which you might have been somewhat familiar some 50 years ago! I am now retired from office, 68 years of age and have lived in Schweinfurt most of my life, also during your “visits” in 1943/44. From January 1944 through January 1945 I have served, together with my classmates, at some of the 8.8 cm Flakbatteries around my hometown, at the age of 16 years!

During 1954 to 1956 I had lived in Stratford, Ontario, Canada, where our Company was establishing a manufacturing plant for ball-bearings. During those years I have met several former US and Canadian Airforce men, who were over Schweinfurt during the war. We exchanged views about our feelings during those “visits” and quickly agreed, that it was a good thing that we missed each other at that time! It also strikingly made us realize how stupid wars are and that everything should be done to avoid for our children and grand-children the experiences our generation had to go through. My wife and I have four sons and four grand-children.

Also: During our last visit to Washington DC, in April of this year my wife and I re-visited Arlington-Cemetary [sic] and noticed how much the tree, your Association planted some 10 to 15 years ago, has grown. A couple of pictures may serve as “proof”. (encl.)

Further on that trip we stopped for a day at Savannah, GA, and tried to visit the Mighty Eighth Airforce Heritage Museum before our departure, name and location of which we found in a visitors’ guide booklet. Unfortunately the place was still under construction, and so was access-road. Only through Helmut Katzenberger’s notification I found out about your Association’s involvement in this exhibition. Maybe better luck some other time.

My wife and I are travelling to the US quite frequently once or twice a year, so on our next trip I shall give you a call, or maybe we can meet, if it is convenient to you. In the meantime perhaps you could send me some information about your Association, and also, if you or another member of your group should come to Germany, please give me a call and, if it is convenient, come and visit Schweinfurt – by Car this time! We’d love to meet with you and show you around our city.

Best personal regards,

Sincerely

Georg Schafer

Georg Schafer attended the SSMA Reunion in 1996 in Las Vegas, Nevada, and brought WWII artifacts with him that are now on exhibit at the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force in Pooler, Georgia.

It was at this reunion that the idea of a German American Memorial in Schweinfurt was first discussed.

1998

G.HubertNeidhardMemorialDesignerWalterHillgartnerGeorgSchaferGudrunGrieserJohnParkerBudKlintGeorgeGlass — Memorial dedication. Left to right: G. Hubert Neidhard (Memorial designer, Flak boy), Walter Hillgartner (Government of Lower Frankonia), Georg Schafer (Flak boy), Lord Mayor Mrs. Gudrun Grieser, Colonel John Parker (United States Army Chaplain), Wilber “Bud” Klint (SSMA), and George Glass (American Consul General, Munich).

On June 16, 1998, the German American Memorial was dedicated in Schweinfurt, Germany. Every year since then on October 14, “Black Thursday,” SSMA places flowers at the Memorial.

Georg Schafer’s family owned ball bearing plants in Schweinfurt during WWII. Interestingly, after the war ended, he and his company helped establish ball bearing plants in the United States and Canada.

Thank you to Sue Moyer, SSMA Education Director, for her invaluable assistance in the writing of this story. Those interested in further information about SSMA can view the Second Schweinfurt Memorial Association Facebook page or contact SSMA at ssma43@gmail.com.

An Afternoon in Paris after Liberation: And a Letter from a Parisian Lady

16 - Paris after Liberation 24th Evac Hosp members — US Army 24th Evacuation Hospital personnel near Notre Dame Cathedral in September 1944. Left to right: Major Paul Kundahl, Lieutenant Josephine Pescatore, Captain Walker Reaves, Captain Philip Morrison, Lieutenant Pearl Domma, Captain John Vieta, and Lieutenant Frances Harrell. *Photograph courtesy of Josephine Pescatore Reaves.*

After more than four years of German occupation the French 2^nd Armored Division and the United States (US) Army 4^th Infantry Division, working with the French Resistance (later in WWII called the French Forces of the Interior), liberated the city of Paris, France. The German garrison in the city surrendered to French General Philippe LeClerc on August 25, 1944.

Shortly after the Liberation of Paris, medical personnel of the US Army 24^th Evacuation Hospital had an opportunity to visit the city for an afternoon. A US Army truck drove them into Paris and let them off near Notre Dame Cathedral. Lieutenant Josephine Pescatore handed out chocolate and chewing gum to the children. The Americans and Parisians, in spite of the language difference, tried to share their thoughts about the war. After that celebratory afternoon, one of the Parisians they met, Henriette Bellavoine, wrote a letter to Lieutenant Pescatore.

Paris, 10th of September 1944

Dear little American friend,

I should like very much to have you for my friend. I know that we live very far one from the other, but actually you are in France and I do hope that you will not leave old Europa without coming back to Paris for a longer stay than the first one. And then, I should be really happy to live a little bit with you! You are so sympathetic, so kind! All the American people are very sympathetic, but you are specially charming and lovely. I shall always remember you, young American girl, on the Paris Notre Dame, distributing cigarettes___chocolate and chewing-gum to children all around you___ smiles and kisses to everyone. And I want you to know that your kindness and your loveliness touched every one, as well as your sweets, for everybody all around you said: “How lovely she is!” I was sorry that you did not understand them, and I try to translate the general opinion for you.

28 - Parisians — Henriette Bellavoine (with glasses) and other Parisians near Notre Dame Cathedral. *Photograph courtesy of Josephine Pescatore Reaves.*

You certainly appeared to children like a young fairy bringing good things for them (quite a modern fairy, with a helmet on her curly hair!!).

But, I am a bit annoyed and afraid that all of you think that we are a people of beggars. Our sufferings and want during four years are our excuse, specially for children, but well bred people are not very proud.

Yes, we suffered a lot during four years. Morally, because we had never had such a defeat in our past (I hope that it will be a lesson)___ and phisically [sic] because Germans took most of our productions and we starved.

Germans have robbed everything in France and you now find a very poor country__you were kind enough to tell me that Paris is a nice city. Of course it has its past, its mind and its building, but you have seen a very sad and poor Paris! Our shops are empty (they were so beautiful!); there is nothing good to eat, only a little good to drink; there are not any distractions; there is no LIGHT!!

You have not seen the real Paris and I wish you to see it. I am fond of my city (I was born there and I know Paris rather well) and I want you to love it. This will be easy, I think, because you seem to be full of enthusiasm (you have an Italian ascendancy!).

If you like pictures, I shall take you to our best museums. If you like music I shall take you to the Opera. If you like old things I shall take you into the narrow streets of the old Paris.

Come and see me, dear little American friend. I should like to know your country. I should like to know better the American people and you quite specially because you look very charming and sweet and gay. I love your country for its youth, its pep, its strength; I love mine for its past and its mind. You should not leave Europa without spending a few days in Paris; it is worth while. And we could have a good time together and become good friends.

Will you write to me about your actual life. We do not know exactly, in France, what American women do in the U.S. Army and how they live. I should like to know that and to have it known around me.

And now, I want to tell you, once more, how thankful we are to you for your help. What would have become of France if you had not liberated us! When your first soldiers arrived in Paris, we shouted “Bravo” and “Thanks” with all our heart. We do love you because you are very good friends, because we have the same conception of life, the same ideal of freedom. And you are so gay! a so young people! I am sorry that I have no words to tell you how much we admire your strength and your pep. What General Eisenhower does is wonderful, thundering. You may be proud.

I am sorry not to be able to tell you exactly my thoughts about this; I speak English like a poor little child. My school time is far away!! I am much older than you (nearly fourty [sic] years old), but in spite of that difference of age, I think that we could be good friends. Don’t you think so? France and the United States are good friends and one is so much older than the other!!

I left you in a hurry, when I saw you in Paris. This is because I had escaped from my office (I belong to the Administration of the Ville de Paris). I had escaped from my office for a few minutes, to see American soldiers and live in the midst of them for a few minutes. I was so happy to chat with you that I forgot time and had to go back preciputately [sic]. Excuse me.

I hope to hear from you soon. I speak English very badly, but I read it almost fluently and I can read very long letters. You are quite sympathetic to me. I wish with all my heart to see you again, to receive you like a friend of mine, to have a good time with you and I send you my best kisses with my best wishes. Good luck to you.

Henriette Bellavoine
220 boulevard Voltaire
Paris XI cme

Story as told to me by Lieutenant Josephine Pescatore Reaves. The photographs and letter are used with her permission.

Lieutenant Pescatore and the US Army 24th Evacuation Hospital did not have the opportunity to return to Paris. The unit moved on and in September 1944 became part of Operation Market Garden in Holland.

The US Army 24th Evacuation Hospital and Lieutenant Pescatore are mentioned on this website in an earlier post, “WWII Camp Shanks, New York: And a Visit by Archbishop Spellman.” The story link is https://www.ww2history.org/war-in-europe/wwii-camp-shanks-new-york-and-a-visit-by-archbishop-spellman/.