France Oct. 29.

Dear Mother & all,
         Another week has gone by and time for
a letter home again. We have been very busy
this last week and are getting our camp looking
more like a place to live now. We are getting
out of the mud slowly and will be able to
take baths in a few days. Our meals are
improving and we are getting more rations.
I haven't been in town yet on a pass but
hope to go sometime soon after payday. I might
be able to send some money home from over
here.
      Gee Mother, I sure miss haveing my
laundry done for me. I tried to do some and
I believe it is dirtier than it was before I
did it. I was able to get some straw today
and stuff my mattress cover. So I guess I will
have a little softer bed to sleep on tonight.
      We had a very hard frost a few nights
ago. I hope I will be able to keep war [sic]
this winter. We have our camp in a woods

so we will have a wind break and also will
have plenty of fuel. There is just one catch to it.
We have to cut our own fuel.
      I have received quite a few letters the past
week. Marie told me about your visit over there
and what a grand meal you had for dinner. I
don't like to read about all those good meals and
not be able to have any of it. Today for dinner
we had fried chicken.
      Lenore told me about Harold working at the
cement plant again. Complaining about his long hours.
He can be lucky he is still at home. There are
so many over here that have families back home.
I guess I am not the only one to be breaking up.
There seems to be quite a few married fellows
that are haveing trouble along the same lines.
I think I am the best off myself. After all I really
don't know how long this war will last yet. I
know there will be a big change in myself to.
I don't even think very much of it anymore. I
guess as you say there will always be others.

I suppose you folks were to church again today.
I hardly ever receive any letters from anyone but
you folks and the rest of our family. Our church
services are held in a tent now. As I sat in
church today I could look out through the tent
flaps and you would never know it was a
Sunday. Cranes, bulldozers and trucks and
men all working. You would think that it was
just another day and it was a rushed job.
    Well this is about all for this letter. Hope I
will receive some mail soon. No letters for a
couple of days now. Goodbye for now. Please
write often.
                                            Love Ralph.
P.S. Please send me a package. If you can
get a small can fill it with popcorn and send it
to me. I will fix up something to pop it over
here.


The next letter will be posted on November 3rd.

Background Information (and comments):

• For this letter, Ralph used tablet paper measuring 8.5" x 10". His other letters have been written on paper measuring 5" x 8".
• Harold was Ralph's oldest brother. He was 34 years old when this was written (7/13/1910). He had been married to Lenore for 14 years (7/12/1930). They had 2 children, Harold James (Jim) Brown who was 13 (3/14/1931) and Marilyn Louise who was 7 (8/3/1937).

France. Sunday Oct. 22.

Dear Mother & all,
         Another Sunday has rolled
around again and time for me to
write to you again. I received four
letters today. One from Marie, Harley
and two from Freeman.
      Marie told me about haveing
you over for a Sunday dinner.
Gosh how I would love to set
down to a meal like that. Our
food is well prepared, but could
stand a little more of it.
      It has rained every day I
have been in France except today.
I have never seen so much mud
in my life before.
      Well now we have to do
our own laundry work. I have

some clothes on the stove, boiling
now. I am afraid they will
have a tattle tale gray look
to them, but will smell clean
anyway. I hope.
      I have finally moved off of
the ground into a tent with a
wooden floor. The flooring we
obtained by tearing down some
German buildings here. They
really lived nice here. Some of
the things I will be able to tell
you after the war, you probably
will think them fairy tales, but
I was even surprised myself.
    I haven't had a letter from you
for a long time now. I know the
mail is being held up somewhere.
I hope I will get some mail soon.
I want to get some of my papers so

I will have something to read.
     Well I can't think of much more
to write about tonight. I guess
this will be about all for this
letter. Tell Audrey I will try
to get a letter written to her and
Glenn soon. It is rather hard
to do but I will try to manage
a little time.
                           Love Ralph.


The next letter will be posted on October 29th.

Background Information (and comments):

• Harley, Freeman, and Glenn (Audrey) were 3 of Ralph's brothers. Marie was married to another brother, Cliff. The only siblings not mentioned in this letter were his oldest brother Harold (Lenore) and his sister Luella (Myrl).

France Oct. 15, 1944

Dear Mother & all,
         Well I will write to you
again and let you know I am
ok. I haven't time just yet
or things arranged so I can write
to everyone. They will have to
read your letters for awhile.
       We are living in tents and
aren't settled yet. It is really
mixed up here yet. No lights only
what we can provide ourself. At
present we are burning a chunk
of wood to give us some light.
It has rained everyday I have
been in France. We even had
to to dig a hole in the center
of the tent
and then bail out of the hole.
      I haven't caught any cold as
yet. We do have a good fire
to dry out by every night.
      I have seen France from the

air. It really isn't torn up
much in the country but some of
the towns are really gone. Just
a mass of brick and plaster.
    After I get home Harley and I
will have a lot to tell you about
France. I had a letter from Harley
yesterday. Hope I will be able to
find him. But I suppose he will
move before I can find him.
     Well tell the others I will
write when I possibly can.
Goodnight for now. I will try to
write later on.
                             Love Bill.


The next letter will be posted on October 22nd.

Background Information (and comments):

• Ralph's given name was Ralph William. His mother always called him Ralph. To many others he went by Bill. This is one of the few letters that he signed as Bill.
• When I checked to see if there was any significant event on this date, I found this "weather report" on one website:
• The character of the war in north west Europe was now changing rapidly. The swift advances of the Allies had come to an end and both the British and the Americans found themselves engaged in bitter slogging matches against determined German defenders. The shorter, dark days and cold wet weather was to make for a miserable experience for all involved.

France Oct. 13, 1944

Dear Mother,
         Well here I am in France. I
did have quite a trip in traveling
over her. I have seen quite a few
places of interest here already, and a
lot of places you probably have read
and heard about on the radio. I
hope some day this war will soon
end I won't know where to begin
to tell you about the war.
      We have been sleeping in our
pup tents and tonight will be the
first night to undress and sleep
in a cot. Boy that is sure going to
be swell again.
     I received some mail tonight also.
Had a letter from Luella and two V
mail from Lenore and one from Jane
Battle. She is the one I met in
St. Louis. Remember when I went to

school there. Gosh I didn't think she
would remember me. She is married
now. I guess everyone is getting married
at home, I mean in the States. Irene
sent me the ring also. So goodbye to
her.
     No one can say France is sunny.
I think it rains more over here than
in England. But I think the French are
better than what I have seen so far
than the English. They have suffered a
lot though. I don't know just how
to make myself understood as yet over
here but I guess I will get around
ok.
     Well I must get some sleep for
now. Will try to write more later
on. Please don't worry about me.
                            Love Ralph.


The next letter will be posted on October 15th.

Background Information (and comments):

• Here's a photo and some information about pup tents:

The fundamental unit of shelter for the U.S. Army in the field -- since the Civil War -- is the two-man pup tent. Each pup tent is made up of two shelter half pieces that fasten together with a row of buttons (up to late World War II) or snaps along the ridge line and, with poles, ropes and stakes, make up one pup tent. The buttons are matched to a row of button holes. The snaps are two sided. With either system, any pair of shelter half pieces can be fastened together with a watertight closure along the top line. The shelter half is approximately 7' long by 5' wide.

The tent half with its stakes and poles weighs about 5 lbs. for each soldier, 10-11 pounds total. To erect the tent, two soldiers work together as shown in this section from FM 21-15 "Care and Use of Individual Clothing and Equipment" (15 Feb 1977). The rectangular part of the shelter half forms the pitched roof of the tent while the triangular end forms a back wall at one end and a flap door at the other. The early World War II tents had no front flap so the tent was open to the elements. Grommets along the base of the tent have loops of cord which attach to the tent stakes.

The unit of issue is this set of components:

• One shelter half (cotton duck material during World War II, cotton sateen fabric since the Vietnam War era).
• One folding tent pole or 3 pole sections to make one pole.
• Five stakes (wood during World War II, stamped aluminum today).
• Rope guy line, approx. 7 feet, loop on one end.

England. Oct. 3, 1944.

Dear Mother & all,
         Received your letter of Sept. 21 today and
was glad to hear from you. It is about my
first letter from you for almost three weeks.
I guess my mail comeing through to you
is slow also.
         I suppose you have received my little
gift from Ireland by now. I sent each one
a hankie from there.
       Well from all letters I received from Marie
and Luella I guess Harley got to the continent
ahead of me. I haven't heard from him as yet.
I sure wish I could be home to attend
the good old county fair again. It really is
going to be grand to get back there where
everything will seem like home again.
        Yes the home place will look lots better
all fixed up. You didn't quite have to porches
remodeled when I was home last. It soon will
be two years. Gosh what a long time.

I know it really seems longer to you and
me both.
        Gee you sure don't have all the children
around anymore at all. It would really seem
strange for me to walk in and just see
you and Dad sitting down to eat.
I guess from what you tell me about Harley's
living conditions is rather rough. It will be
hard for me to break away from my soft living
and start roughing it.
        Well mother I really can't figure Irene out
myself. I had a letter from her about three
weeks ago, I really don't know what to do. She
wrote me rather a strange letter and I am
still thinking just how to answer it. I am going
to wait awhile and see if I get another letter. She
wanted an answer at once.
       We are haveing rather good fall weather here
it gets rather cool at night but have sunshine
almost everyday. We have a fire in our stove
every morning when we get up. Does Harley

have a more complete address now? If so
please send me his complete address. I might
be able to hunt him up.
        Well this is about all for now. So long
and write when you can. I will try to write
as often as possible.
                                       Love Ralph.


The next letter will be posted on October 13th.

Background Information (and comments):

• A photo was still in the envelope with this letter. The quality is very poor. I've also included a recent photo of his home so you can see the 2 porches (front and left side).