A.S.H. 42025054
Pvt. E. Cowley
1st BN. HG. CO. 301 INF
A.P.O. 94 c/o P.M. NY, NY
The Cowleys
35 Woodside Ave.
Buffalo 20 N.Y.
War & Navy Departments
V-Mail Services
Official Business
Nov. 1, 1944
Dear folks,
Haven’t written in a couple days so I thought I’d drop you a v-mail to let you know that I’m feeling well. Not too much activity lately so haven’t much to say. Edmund hinted in his letter that he was going to marry that girl from way down south. Bet everyone at home would sure be surprised if I turned up with a little French gal, don’t worry thou as I don’t even know any. Going on my 4th month over here now, seems like 4th year to me. (wish it was) the weather isn’t too bad, not as cold as So. Buffalo, thank God! Thank Fr. Affleck for remembering me in his mass each day & tell him I’m looking forward to meeting him upon my return. Hows P.L. doing? Haven’t heard from her yet. Is Bette McCarrow still waiting for me? Moustache is nearly ¼ “ long & only 8 weeks old, great isn’t it! Hope everyone is well. See where N.D. beat all. Another victory for Dad! Say hello to the family for me & keep praying so this goofy war will be over soon as possible. Love to all, Eddie
Pvt. E. Cowley 42025054
1st Bn Hg Co 301 Inf
A.P.O. 94 c/o P.M. NY, NY
The Cowleys
35 Woodside Ave.
Buffalo 20 N.Y.
Oct 21, 1944
In France
Dear family,
Today is the 1st in 3 days that I’ve had time to write. Have been very busy working on my (French ink) little foxhole. Our lines are pretty stagnant & it looks like we might be where we are indefinitely so I’m making my self as comfortable as possible. The hole is 6’ by 4’ by 3 ½ , all 5’ underground with nice dry wood ceiling, floor & walls insulated with 6” of straw. Its good & dry & as cosy as any hole could be. Have added the artistic touch by putting building a box on the wall & having a light in it. Keeps my envelopes smokes etc from getting damp & looks pretty classy. Am getting so I know all the Ls of living under the ground so I’ll be able to build a real home in our back yard, if I come in late sometime. Incidentally got all my lumber by tearing down an German barracks.
Well my moustache is nearly visible from 4’ on a bright day, which there isn’t any of except in the U.S. Can understand why everyone migrated to the states when they had the chance. The card games have discontinued for the month as no one has any money but we will play “Fan Tan” for smokes & I won more than a carton in 2 days so I have to quit as I haven’t room for any more.
Did I tell you I wrote to Mary Criswell a few days ago. Am looking for a girl as close to home as possible & Miss McDade is too old for me, thank God!
Am going to write Eileen & Tom as soon as I finish this letter.
So Miss Nagel remembers me, know she would as I nearly drove her crazy. She’s the teacher who marked me wrong on an exam because I wrote something about some Cathedral being at the end of some French st. & she said it was at the beginning. We argued very foolishly for 15 minutes & I really had her stumped. Asked her how she could tell which end was which & maintained that it all depended on where you were standing on the street & where you were going. She didn’t know if the street had numbers or not or how they ran & I think she finished by marking my answer correct pretty silly the whole thing.
Don’t worry about me returning as I was when I left, I’ll probably be a lot improved. Haven’t had any French wine or anything in over a month as the novelty has worn off. There’s a lot of Cognac over here (very cheap however) but everyone seems to get sick on it so I haven’t even bothered to taste it. The only thing I really enjoy is beer, good American beer. Guess the last thing I did in Buffalo was get sick on the stuff but I think my nerves were upset from late hour & hating to leave home & go back to this. Very, very seldom did beer ever make me sick. Think we’l stay here when the wars over & occupy German cities which will be a 100% better than going to Japan. Think the time will go a lot faster then & I’ll be home before you know it. Incidentally heard something about a peace rumor yest. But guess that’s all it was was Well, take good care of yourselves & remember me in your prayers. Your devoted son, Eddie
Pvt. E. Cowley 42025054
1st BN HG CO 301 Inf
APO 94 c/o PM NY, NY
The Cowleys
35 Woodside Ave.
Buffalo 20, N.Y.
Nov 6, 1944
France,
Dear folks,
Received package #2 today, 5lbs or cookies in a wooden box. Will have a great time with it, thanx a lot! Yest. we were paid & I will enclose a money order for 35$ in this letter. Can’t understand why you haven’t heard from me (10 days you said) as I write at the least 2 or 3 times a week & usually more. Hope you will start getting my letters again soon as I surely don’t want you to be worrying. You keep asking if I’m at Auchan & well the answer is no (thank God!) I’m on a milder front & a very stagnant one at that.
(Two days later) Nov 8th Couldn’t finish your letter as I was very busy putting a little stove in my Foxhole. Have it all fixed for the winter now, warm as toast inside & plenty dry as I put in wooden floor & walls. Can heat my meals on the stove & heat water for washing so guess I’m all set. Just have to hope we don’t take up another position. Well, today is election day back home, wonder how it will turn out. Don’t imagine the results will be in for sometime as the soldier vote will probably delay the count. Looks like the majority of the boys over here are for F.D.R. but there is quite a number for Dewey. I’m beginning to wonder if it really makes much difference who’s in office, the war shall continue for 2 or 3 years regardless!
The Co. got 5 Christmas gifts for each platoon, 30 men. We drew to see who would get them & I didn’t. There was a beautiful French doll I would have liked to send home to Peggy, but someone else got it. The doll was dressed in the style of the old French court trimmed with gold & silver & about 3’ high, was really very nice. Should be for 22$. Will send some things home later on when I have a better opportunity. Guess everyone at home owes me a letter so I’m not going to do any more writing until I get some mail. Think the Christmas rush his delaying the letters quite a bit but then its quite a job shipping all those pkgs. over the oceans.
Hope you receive the money orders I sent (35 & 40$) free mail so I expect they will be quite late in arriving. The envelopes weren’t very good so I’ve been thinking they might have broke open. Still have the receipts however, don’t know whether that would do any good or not.
So Clancys are moving down south, don’t imagine they will like it but you never can tell. Did Tim get a better job down there or what. Bet the kids don’t want to move. Kinda thought they liked Can. Quite a bit.
I’ll certainly never forget my old parties up in the attic, we had a great time when we were kids, never really know how much fun you had until you cease to have any. That old gang of mine (Grammar Sch) sure has been broken up. A couple of the girls have married & the boys are fighting on every continent in the world. Just think if Jimmy Pichardt, Bob Humphries, Butch Shenk, Frankie Smith, John Hoesel (remember him, 45 Woodside, Danny Riordan, & myself could get together how many countries, states, oceans & battles we could discuss mutually. If we put all our travels to in one piece it would cover ¾ of the globe, seems fantastic & yet none of us are any older than 20 & many younger. That party where I had my sprained ankle was one of the last parties I went to with Bette Crowley. Remember we played “Beg your way to Boston” & I’d never let Bette go to Boston. Really had a monopoly on her that night, guess all the little wolves (Jimmy) were sympathetic with my ankle & let me alone. For a young kid I sure have a wealth of rich memories & truthfully I sometimes wonder how I would remain content without them. Guess that’s what comes from having a couple swell parents & a little sister who used to be a hell of a pest, ha, ha! With the old Woodside mob the Dragons & the gang at school I sure was lucky to have such swell kids to pal around with. Home someday we’l all come back & take up where we left off.
Sorry to hear Mrs Heller moved, she was an old pal of mine.
Was surprised to hear about Dad’s cold getting better as I never knew he had a cold but I sure hope he takes care of himself this winter & doesn’t go to any fires.
Got a invite card from State telling me to stop in on my next furlough, guess they don’t want me around much. Personally I don’t want any furloughs when I come back to the states, those old civilian clothes will suit me fine! Hope we get leaves over here when the war’s over, would like to visit Ireland, Scotland, Switz & Russia. Think all those places should be quite interesting & imagine you’d like to hear all about them. Well I’m running short of paper so I guess I will have to quit for now. When is Peggy going to start going to the show, football games should be over pretty soon shouldn’t they? Hear N.D. lost to Navy bet Dad prit near went crazy. Guess N.D. lost a lot of their best men on Naval transfers before the games. So long for now
Love to all,
Eddie
Pvt. E. Cowley 42025054
1st BN HG CO 301 Inf
APO 94 c/o PM NY, NY
The Cowleys
35 Woodside Ave.
Buffalo 20, N.Y.
Nov 11, 1944
France,
Dear family,
Well, today is Armistice day 1918 style. Guess history didn’t repeat itself as it already is 3 o’clock in the afternoon & the artillery is still popping away as usual, perhaps it will end next , month or maybe Jan. Have just about given up trying to figure it out & I am resigned for almost any length of time. It must be just about 9 o’clock AM back home right now so I imagine they will be having church services in a couple hours. Will say a few prayers myself.
How is everyone & everything at “35”? Hope dad is over his cold & well again.
Yest. I bought a little gift for Peggy it isn’t much but its of a fine quality (they tell me) & a touch of France. Hope she likes it! Could have gotten a bracelet for Mother but I have already sent home most of my pay & thinking it over I decided I’d rather wait until I could buy something I could have a little choice about & it must be the best. Besides I still owe Dad a gift & it just wouldn’t be right. Haven’t seen a thing for a man as yet. Could send home a German Helmet, belt cap, insignia, gas mask & lots of other thrash but think it would just clutter up the house. Have been kinda keeping my eyes open for a Luger but haven’t been able to get one as yet. Would like to have one for a little practice after the war.
Have you received any war bonds as yet? Think I have 120$ in money orders on the way home now, & I want you to be sure & let me know just how many you’ve received & their denominations okay?
Glad to hear uncle Joe has been promoted should be a lot much better job.
Sorry to hear about James Faulkner, remember him well from my boy scout days.
Hear Roosevelt carried the election by quite some majority, now we can get back to winning the war for a while. The rumor over hear is that we were holding back our power waiting for the election. That makes me feel just fine, there is nothing I’d rather wait for than an election 3000 miles away. You know the more I see of this, the more I begin to wonder, we were talking the other day about all the air power we have & then someone brought up the fact that the Scoda & Krupp armament plants have never been bombed. That kinda makes a lot of things look silly why do they worry about ball bearings all the time when the ammunition is what does the damage? I’ll be darned if I can figure it out, how about you?
One thing I’ve noticed about being in combat in a foreign land is that it makes you awful homesick for awhile. Real danger just comes periodically & we have so much time with nothing to do to keep us occupied that you can’t help thinking about home a lot. Recently is the 1st time I think that I’ve felt lil homesick. Of course I wouldn’t come home while we still have a job to do but darn it you can’t help thinking about it. Back in the states with a daily training schedule & passes quite often we were always kept pretty busy I guess that’s why I’ve been doing so much writing & like to hear from everyone.
Have read a couple good books “Topper” by T. Smith, “My son, My son” by I forget & Ernie Pyle’s “This is your war” also others which weren’t good enough to even remember. Well so long for now & best of health to everyone.
Love to all,
Eddie
P.S. Mother I would like a package of cookies & maybe a little candy if you can get a hold of some!
Unknown pg 3
…bother recalling. Do all the cross word puzzles I can find (theres one in the paper you send me) but somehow or other I don’t do too well but have a lot of fun trying. Always read my mail over 3 or 4 times so I don’t miss a word you write. Also the G.I. newspaper & magazine, “Stars & Stripes” & “Yank” come in handy. So besides cleaning my guns every couple days & digging latrines that’s about all I have to do. – Also enjoy eating!
What did Dad think of my proposal of going up to Kleinheims with me when I return? Will buy him as many good beers as he can consume & I think the two of us should have pretty good time.
Had a qt. of Cognac couple days ago, me & another fella, took 2 or 3 swallows & decided it made much better lighter fluid so we filled a guys lighter with the stuff & it works swell.
Don’t imagine the Ballantines idea would be too good but would like a pt.s of good whiskey to keep me warm these chilly nights. If you can get a pt., sen pack it well & put cookies or fudge on top or something like that. Don’t insure the pk. & use a fictitious name & address but make good & sure mine is correct & plain, that way if by chance it were discovered no one could be blamed, see what I mean there is a postal law against sending alcoholic bev. & the beer would be too large but a pt. would pass & its been done many times before. If they ever said anything to me I didn’t know a thing I don’t even know the person that sent it. Could you do all? Also would like 1 hairpin to clean my ears with, just slip it in a regular letter okay? Will request a pk. On page two so you won’t have to take pg. 3 along. Will also fake ending! Your devoted son, Eddie
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