Letters and Diaries
I’m addicted to letters, particularly the letters my dad wrote from overseas to our mom (before any of us were born) during WWII. He wrote so many, well over 100, each with many pages. I transcribed and scanned them all a few years ago, and shared them with family too. I was so addicted I felt a deep loss when there were no more letters to read. In many ways no letters was a good thing, because he made it home safely in December 1945, as part of the surge with Operation Magic Carpet and Operation Santa Claus to return as many soldiers as possible by Christmas from overseas after the war ended. The slogan was:
HOME ALIVE BY ’45.
My mom saved all his letters, but once he returned home there were no more letters. He was home! However I was left with what felt like an immense hole, like reading a book where the last few pages were missing. The last communication he sent was a telegram (can you believe that it was among his letters?) from Nagoya (Japan) on Nov 13, 1945 saying “EXPECT TO BE HOME SOON DON’T WRITE FURTHER”. That was it. The end. No more letters. No more information.
Well, I was able to sleuth out one part of the ending using the good old internet, along with his military record and report of separation from the Army. I identified what seemed like the ship he returned on, the General W. G. Haan, as it sailed from Nagoya Japan to Seattle (turned out to be Tacoma) in late November 1945. Of course I couldn’t be positive that was it, but at least I had that to add to the story. This research was about four years ago.
Two weeks ago, and don’t ask me why, I did a few searches for my mom and dad on newspapers.com in the area they lived early on. Low and behold, I found an article with more information in the Atlantic City newspaper. His name was listed as one of the local veterans who was was honorably discharged at the Fort Dix Separation Center in New Jersey. The newspaper’s date was Christmas, December 25, 1945. WOW! I couldn’t believe it.
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Atlantic City paper 12/25/1945 |
Now I’m on a mission. I searched again on newspapers.com using the name of the ship I suspected he was on. I got a hit in a newspaper from Tacoma Washington. The General Haan had docked in Tacoma WA with over 3,000 Army passengers who boarded her at Nagoya, Japan on Nov 28. The ship docked Monday night, December 10th, 1945. That was the exact date on his Separation papers that he arrived back in the US. This article went on to say that “they would be processed at the North East Fort Lewis Staging Facility for redistribution to home separation centers throughout the country.” That was about 10 miles from Tacoma. (note- the first paragraph below refers to a local 33rd Army unit, not Dad’s)
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Tacoma WA paper 11/12/1945 |
I have learned that they would have most likely been put on trains to cross the country to get to the base where they would be officially discharged. All these dates show that it took about 2 weeks to get to Fort Dix NJ from Tacoma. There were so many soldiers for the system to handle, and trains were jam-packed with troops coming home, so it all didn’t happen quickly. In fact, many soldiers made it back to the US, but not actually back home for Christmas.
I imagine that there were phone calls back home as soon as Roscoe (our dad) landed in the states. And probably more phone calls along the way, then at Fort Dix. Whether my mom (Dot) drove the 60 miles to pick him up, or he and others heading to Atlantic City were transported by the Army, I will never know. But however it happened, the reunion must have been a sight to see. And it sounds like he made it home for Christmas. Amazing!
As a bonus, I also found two newspaper articles from a couple months after he returned home, saying that they took a 6 week road trip to visit family and friends. They went to Niagara Falls, then on to Cleveland Ohio to visit Roscoe’s brother Roy, and then to Canton Ohio to see Col. and Mrs. James P. Cooney. This particular stop really hit me, because my dad talked a lot about him in his letters. Col. Cooney was the executive officer of the Thomas M. England General Hospital in Atlantic City where both my mom and dad worked during the war. In fact, that is how they met. He was a pharmacist and she was a secretary to the colonel. In April 1945 Col. Cooney was transferred overseas to be in charge of the 76th General Hospital in Belgium. My dad was also stationed in Belgium then, and he had learned that Col Cooney was there. So they managed to connect a few times and even played a round of golf together. My dad really had a lot of respect for him. In his letters Dad even talked about hoping to visit him in Ohio after the war. So very cool that they were able to do that!
First article before trip Feb 1946 and second on return March 1946
Roscoe (I should maybe refer to him as Maj. Hinch) and Dot also went to a few other places, like New Orleans for Mardi Gras, and then to his parents’ home in Spring City Tennessee to see them. I know that his mom would have been so thrilled and relieved to get to hug him again. Our mom’s parents lived in Atlantic City, so they were lucky to be in on the homecoming.
So that ends the story I have pieced together of how my dad returned back to the states and to his wife in Atlantic City after the war ended and the letters stopped. I will never know all the details that my heart wants to know, but this will have to do, I guess. I was born in December 1946, so just one year almost to the day after he safely returned home. I sure do wish I had asked them about this time in their lives. But I am eternally grateful to my mom for keeping all of his letters. I hope they both would be happy that they have been preserved and shared with family. They were without a doubt the Greatest Generation!