France Mar. 4.

Dear Mother & all,
         The month of March is
already here and it is just about
the same as it -----  is in
Michigan. We are haveing cooler
weather now than we had in
Feb. We have had a lot of windy
days already. Tonight it is trying
to rain and a good rain wouldn't
do any harm over here either.
      Our mail has been very
slim in comeing through this
past week. Very little mail of
any description.
       I was in Paris one day last
but going there is getting stale
just as going to London did. Over
here in France a G.I isn't
suppose to eat in a civilian

restaurant. I would like to try
some of this French cooking some
time but food does seems a
little scarce. We can go into the
Red Cross and get coffee and donuts
or coke. I had some last week
it seemed good to get some coke
again.
    I haven't been writing very many
letters so don't be alarmed if you
don't hear from me very often.
Everything is ok. I guess the war
news makes things seem a little
brighter all over the world now.
They are on German soil now
and can cut loose as much as
they wish. While in France they
tried not to destroy too much.
     Tonight we had a stage show
here at the field. It was very good

and most of the cast could speak
a little English. Of course I have
been away from home so long
maybe I am getting use to this
broken English.
      Last week I did received three
letters one day. Yours Maries
and Lenores, all of Feb. 20. I guess
Lenore's brother sure is haveing
a stretch of bad luck lately.
I think the pictures you sent
me of Fred looks very much
like him. My buddy Glen Pyle
is from Iowa and I said I guess
we could grow corn in Mich
also. In your letter you said
Harley hadn't been hearing from me
lately. I write every week, but
there mail gets held up while
they are moveing up so fast.

   Those pictures I sent to Luella is
a town close by. I will send
some to you soon that shows
the town before it was bombed.
One would hardly know it was
the same place. There are worse
places over here than that. St Lo
was in some of the photos I sent
home. I don't know who I sent
them to.
        Well this is about all for
tonight. Hope to hear from all of
you soon.
                          Love Ralph.


The next letter will be posted on March 8th.

Background Information (and comments):

• Ralph remained good friends with Glen Pyle. They attended army reunions together and when I was about 10, we visited him and his family in Iowa.

• I had a collection of photos my dad sent with his letters (or brought home). They were separated from the letters and very few had captions. I kept his letters, but just before moving to Florida in 2013 and starting the blog in 2014, I donated most of his memorabilia to the Blissfield (MI) Historical Society. I am not sure if they have gone through it, displayed it, etc. If it's possible to retrieve some of the photos, I may check into it so that they can be shared in this blog. The photo at the end of this post is of St. Lo, but not any of the ones Ralph took.

• Here is some of the "good" war news: (cut & pasted from a website)
• 28 Feb 1945 Germany

• US Ninth Army achieved breakthrough near Erkelenz, Germany. ww2dbase [Main Article | TH]
• Soviet 2nd Byelorussian Front captured Neustettin, Germany (now Szczecinek, Poland). ww2dbase [Main Article | TH]
• 2 Mar 1945
• Elements of US Ninth Army reached the Rhine River at Neuss, Germany. To the north US Third Army captures Trier, Germany. ww2dbase [Main Article | TH]
• The RAF conducted its last major raid on Köln (Cologne), Germany with 858 aircraft; also on this date, one USAAF B-17 bomber attacked Köln as a target of opportunity. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]
• Colonel General Walter Weiß reported that his forces in the Danzig-Westpreußen region of Germany (occupied Danzig and Poland) were surrounded by Soviet troops. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

• St. Lo (July 1944)