Received your letter of April 30
today. Had received one from Luella
on Tuesday with the sad news
of Susie's death. It must have
been a shock to everyone.
In all my letters I received
reports of peace and said they
wished it would be true by
time time I received the letters.
Well it is really here now. I
celebrated for two days myself.
We had two days off from
work and could stay out all
night.
In town they really cut loose
on celebrating. All cafes were
open all night long. During the
day they had big parades and
the people just milled in the streets.
Some people had dummies made
of Hitler and they had it tied on
a wagon dragging it all over town.
In the evening Pyle my buddy, and
I were in town. We were in a
cafe and found two A.T.S girls. These
are English girls in the service. We
had a very enjoyable evening. It did
seem good to speak and be understood.
They had a big celebration at this
cafe. They had a made a dummy
buzz bomb and were parading up
and down the street with it and a
band also. We told them were [sic] knew
what they were as were [sic] were in
buzz bomb alley in England. The
girls told them, there gun crew
had shot down several of them. So
we had to get in the celebration also.
They took it out into the street
and burnt it. They danced around
in a circle and sang every national
athem they knew. It was some
celebration. I never seen so many
happy people in my life before. They
had the celebration for about 3 days. During
the day and night there kept comeing
into town men that had been released
from prison and returning to their
home. Some of them were pitiful to
look at. They were so thin. But
happy to be home.
At midnight when the surrender
came into effect they sounded the
last all clear. It blew for fifteen
minutes. It really was a treat to
know it was the last all clear.
Many times I have been glad to
hear them blow but this was the
longest and I guess it is what made
it sound the best.
I suppose there was a lot of
celebrating and cheering done around
home also. Well there will be
more when the other half of the
war is finished. I hope that don't
take to long. Already there are rumors
of surrender. As for me getting home
early it won't be. Lots of work yet
here and no one knows for sure
if we even have a chance on getting
home or going to the Pacific.
Well I must write to Morgan tonight.
I know he must feel bad about the
news of his mother. Goodnight for
now. It really has been warm the
last few days. How is your weather?
Love Ralph.
The next letter will be posted on May 15th.
Background Information (and comments):
- Susie was Susie Brown Ford (sister to Ralph's father). She was born in 1885 and died on April 30, 1945. Morgan Ford was one of her sons and Ralph's first cousin. This is a photo of Morgan and his mother Susie.
- Here are 3 excerpts from articles about "buzz bombs" and buzz bomb alley:
During the war we were living in 'Bomb Alley', so called because it was on the direct route for enemy bombers on their way to London. It was also within a few miles of Biggin Hill airfield.
The V1 was one of Hitler’s secret weapons that he had told his generals that Nazi Germany possessed which would turn the way World War Two was going in 1944. The V1 was first launched against Britain in June 1944, just one week after D-Day. The V1 is difficult to classify as a weapon as it was not a true rocket in that it did not leave the atmosphere, but it was also clearly not a plane. Perhaps it could best be described as a winged but pilot-less fuel propelled flying bomb.
 |
The V1 was so-called because Hitler saw it as a reprisal weapon – a Vergeltungswaffen. Intelligence had already concluded that the Germans had developed something radical as early as late 1943 when spy reports and reconnaissance photos showed the existence of launch ramps that were clearly directed at London.
| (The buzz bomb or V-1 (Vengeance Weapon) was a small pilot less plane powered by a pulse jet. It was armed with a ton of explosives. It emitted a putting noise while in flight and was guided by a simple gyro mechanism which at a prearranged distance would cut off the fuel supply. The noise would stop and everyone waited breathlessly to hear how close it would it.) |
- Here is what the website "History" has to say about VE Day- Victory in Europe Day - May 8th:
On this day in 1945, both Great Britain and the United States celebrate Victory in Europe Day. Cities in both nations, as well as formerly occupied cities in Western Europe, put out flags and banners, rejoicing in the defeat of the Nazi war machine.
The eighth of May spelled the day when German troops throughout Europe finally laid down their arms: In Prague, Germans surrendered to their Soviet antagonists, after the latter had lost more than 8,000 soldiers, and the Germans considerably more; in Copenhagen and Oslo; at Karlshorst, near Berlin; in northern Latvia; on the Channel Island of Sark—the German surrender was realized in a final cease-fire. More surrender documents were signed in Berlin and in eastern Germany.
The main concern of many German soldiers was to elude the grasp of Soviet forces, to keep from being taken prisoner. About 1 million Germans attempted a mass exodus to the West when the fighting in Czechoslovakia ended, but were stopped by the Russians and taken captive. The Russians took approximately 2 million prisoners in the period just before and after the German surrender.
Meanwhile, more than 13,000 British POWs were released and sent back to Great Britain.
Pockets of German-Soviet confrontation would continue into the next day. On May 9, the Soviets would lose 600 more soldiers in Silesia before the Germans finally surrendered. Consequently, V-E Day was not celebrated until the ninth in Moscow, with a radio broadcast salute from Stalin himself: “The age-long struggle of the Slav nations… has ended in victory. Your courage has defeated the Nazis. The war is over.”
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