Letter #23 from Henri C Romieux 3 July 1944

USS John Land  joined TG 52.15 (attack group) during a brief provisioning stop at Eniwetok on 9-10 June, but was then transferred to TG 52.9 (demonstration group) while en route to Saipan. Arriving off Saipan early on 15 June, the transport helped conduct a feint landing off Garapan that day before sending her boats to assist Calvert (AP-65) and Fuller (AP-14) unload their assault troops. At 1621 that afternoon, six John Land LCMs carried her first passengers ashore, a weapons company of the 24th Marines. Her guns then helped fend off an evening raid by Japanese aircraft. As the main landing progressed, the ship continued operations in the transport area, assisting other ships and unloading troops as called for on 16-17 June. Late on the 17th the transports retired northeast of Saipan as a Japanese carrier task force closed to contest the landings, ultimately fighting and losing a two-day battle against American forces in the Philippine Sea on 18-19 June. John Land returned to the now safe transport area to unload cargo on 23 June, a task completed three days later. During the latter stages off the island the transport received 93 casualties from the beach, many directed to her as hospital ships Relief (AH-1) and Samaritan (AH-10) were full of wounded and had turned away boats.

After retiring from the island on the evening of the 26th, John Land arrived at Eniwetok on 30 June.

The crew helped transfer wounded to hospitals there before mooring alongside Hector (AR-7) for two weeks of boiler repairs. 
This excerpt above regarding the activity of the USS John Land is from the DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER, dictionary of American Fighting Naval Ships


H. Romieux, SK1c,USNR
USS John Land
c/o FPO San Francisco

Mary Garner, SK2c USNR
U.S. Naval Air Station
Minneapolis, Minn. (6)
Disbursing Office

July 3,1944

Dear Mary,
Received several of your letters the past couple days also the snaps. Thanks, I always look forward to your newsy letters- keep up the good work. It really helps my morale or something.
Too bad you are having trouble with the University again hope by now it has cleared up and all is working smoothly. Yes I too miss our conversations about everything and once in a while business!

Is your land lady still trying to convert you? Well Mary, there really isn't much to write about except I do miss you a lot. If ever I do get a leave I sure intend to make tracks for MNPLS-because I kind of like that place and hope to see you still there.

The sooner this damn war is over and I can get back to the good old days will make me very happy.
Is Edwards still out there, say hello to her if she is. I have not received that letter from her yet.
take good care of yourself and drop me a line often.

Love Henri

Letter #22 from Wilbur C Garner June 29, 1944

 The following text in blue, is found in the XIX Corps Publication " Normandy to the Elbe,"  a copy of which, is in my archives. An excerpt of the content is reproduced here to provide the blog reader a sense of what was taking place in the XIX Corps up to the time the "Letter to Mary" in this blog entry was written.

Day by day the Corps units came in, got their assignments and dug into their jobs. The Corps Artillery began its work, and its effectiveness was apparent at once. Many of us carried on our jobs shuttling between the Command Post and the Front, learning by hard experience which roads were under fire, how a burp-gun and an 88 sounded, and what the fighting was like down where efficiency or inefficiency in our jobs meant lives.

Almost at once however there was the supply problem. Artillery ammunition was rationed, and when the terrific four-day storm blew in we sat with our fingers crossed, only a few rounds to a gun, and hoped nothing would happen. The slow tempo of peasant life in Normandy seemed little affected by our presence. A double row of men and officers crouched in some ditch down near Airel or St. Clair would look up in surprise as a peasant wandered unconcernedly down the road under the fire of German mortars, going after his cows. But in Isigny we found the individuals who had waited for us as Liberators, the FFI of the area. And they were glad to see us, even in the powdered ruins of their homes.

When the French Major with Civil Affairs came into Isigny he had the first French uniform they had seen for all that time, and they crowded around him, with all the news at once. And soon every town you went to had the office of XIX Corps "Affaires Civiles", and a captain and a couple of sergeants in the mayor's office, with an interpreter; and the patient farmers sat in the ante-room waiting to go in and see the officer and ask their questions. There was that creamery Civil Affairs fixed up at St. Marguerite where the refugees were taken and fed, and sat around gossiping, waiting for a chance to go back to their homes. Text: Captain Fredric E. Pamp Jr (Public Relations Officer XIX Corps 1945) 

S/Sergeant Wilbur C. Garner 33377578
G-1 Section, Hq XIX Corps
APO 270, c/o Postmaster, N.Y.


Mary W. Garner, SK2c
Disbursing Office
U.S. Naval Air Station
Minneapolis, Minnesota (6) 

29 June 1944
"Somewhere in France"

Dear Sis, 

I received your letter of the 10th of June today. It seems to have taken considerably longer for it to reach it's destination. I guess this thing will soon begin to run smoothly once more and it will be regular.

Yes, Mary, it's very interesting to compare the news you are receiving with the actual stuff. Of course, I cannot mention it so you derive no benefit form it.

I received two letters from Mother one from Gwen and one from Jane today. Jane verified the suspicion that you and Mother have had and said they expect it about 1st of January.

You asked what you could send me. Well now you've got me because I don't know what you can get. If you can get hold of any soup or canned or bottled meat spreads (or are they rationed?) you can send me some of those.

I'm sorry to hear about Souil not feeling so well. I surely hope he can get home for the 4th. Maybe that will help him some. Well Sis, I guess I'll close for now and hope to hear from you real soon again. Take it easy and don't study too long on those exams.Lots of luck, Sis

Lots of Love
Bill
P.S. That hard candy is really good. You can send some more if you find some. Thanks to you.

Letter #21 from Wilbur C Garner June 24, 1944

The following text in blue, is taken from the Corps Publication " Normandy to the Elbe,"  a copy of which is in my archives and is reproduced here to provide the reader a sense of what was happening at the time the letter  in this blog entry was written.

On the 14th of June, XIX Corps became operational, taking over the 29th Division, which despite the agonizing punishment it had sustained on landing, was fighting its way forward into the first of the hedgerows. The 30th Division came across the beach, and moved in on the right of the 29th. Our job was to get as far as we could and then hold, while First Army threw all the strength it could muster into cutting off and reducing Cherbourg. To test the German defense, an attack was ordered for the next day, and inched forward for three days through the terrain and defense that was to try American fighting qualities for more than a month. Finally the attack rested on the line of the Vire River and the Vire and Taute Canal. The Command Post moved to Castilly, little more than a chateau and a church at a crossroad.

You came by the church as you rounded the corner on the road from the beach, and there was a long lane of trees that met overhead, and if it was Sunday the French would be walking to or from church in their stiff black clothes, and not even looking curiously at Jeeps any more. The Command Post tents clung to the hedgerows, back to back in three fields, and down at the far corner of the field was the War Tent, a big British hospital tent, and close beside it the G-2 and G-3 tents. There was usually a liaison officer or two from one of the outfits sleeping on the grass if the sun was out, because he knew he was due for a hard night, and Colonel West and the G-3 Officers would go in and out. Down to the right at the far end was the General's caravan, and when he came up to the War Tent most everyone left. This got to be almost home after a while, and you came back to it with relief if you'd been up front, and maybe there would be a drink of Calvados around somewhere, and you'd wonder if they'd bomb the place that night. They certainly must know we were here by this time. But maybe we weren't important enough. There was the time that those two Jerries came in fast to begin a strafing run from over the schoolhouse, but it just happened that there were two P-47's loafing around behind a cloud on the other side; who jumped them before they could start, and shot one down over to the west. But every night there was plenty of fireworks over the beaches, and we slept in our slit trenches most nights. The 12th AA Group set up in business, and began the shooting.
Text: Captain Fredric E. Pamp Jr  (Public Relations Officer XIX Corps 1945) 

Text below in black is excerpted from the XIX Corps Newspaper  (from my archives)

LE TOMAHAWK 

Volume 2         Western Front Germany, October 1944        Number 6

Major General Charles H. Corlett, then in command of XIX Corps, called for an attack by his two divisions the morning following his assumption of operational command on June 15. The attack was merely a "limited objective" attack, designed to put the Corps in good defensive position until such time as enough power could be built up in the First U.S. Army to enable it to break through the hard crust of the German defense. The advance proved more difficult than was expected and was halted after three days, since by then most of the Corps line, though unduly long for an attack by two divisions, was along the natural defense line of the Vire River and the Vire-et-Taute Canal. 

 

G-I Section, Hq XIX Corps
APO 270, c/o Postmaster, N.Y.

Mary W. Garner, SK2c
Disbursing Office
U.S. Naval Air Station
Minneapolis, Minnesota (6) 


"Somewhere in France"     24 June 1944

Dear Mary,
Well it has been quite a while since I wrote you last. I received two letters and one package from you yesterday. I thank you for the hard candy. I also received three letters from Gwen and one from Souil. Boy that was some haul.
Of course you can see my location has been changed a little. I'm sorry I haven't been able to write sooner but I guess you can understand. I'm glad you have finally received the letter Gwen wrote you. I have given her the low-down on you don't worry. Well it wasn't that bad so don't worry about it. I think she has written several letters since then.

Well this is funny country and peculiar people, at least in this area. Of course, I guess we could expect that at the present time. The weather is a little better and right now it seems like summer time but it will change shortly. I'm still wearing O.P's and also a heavy woolen undershirt and am not too warm believe it or not. 

Well, how are things with you these days? say, don't you think you are something? for your 1st class rating already. Well, Sis good luck to you and I'll keep my fingers crossed for you.
I'm glad you were able to get that purse for Gwen. Thanks a lot. Do I owe you any more money? Please let me know.
Well, Sis there is really not much to say right now so I'll close for now and hope to hear from you real soon again.

Lots of Love,
Bill

Letter #20 from Wren. Gwendoline R Wilkins June 9 1944

The following text in blue, is taken from the XIX Corps Publication " Normandy to the Elbe,"  a copy of which is in my archives and is reproduced here to provide the reader a sense of what was happening at the time the letter was written in this blog entry.

Finally the morning of the sixth of June, found the air full of news. The Invasion was on! It was going well; it was going badly; the Germans said it was being swept off the beaches, the official news was mixed, but without the extremes. On our beach, Omaha, they were having a rough time. But the plans for XIX Corps would go as scheduled, and everyone got ready to move. Two days later, on the 8th, the headquarters left Knook in two motor convoys for Camp D4, one of the assembly areas near Dorchester. There we spent two days lined up under trees in the rain along what had been country lanes, making final checks of waterproofing and equipment, prepared to move to our ships. The news was good, and then bad. We drew our conclusions when a part of the Second Armored Division was hurriedly pushed through ahead of us and to their ships. 
The Corps Commander, the Chief of Staff, and a few of the Chiefs of Staff Sections went ahead in a motor torpedo boat to size up the situation on the ground and be ready with their plans when the headquarters came ashore. Text: Captain Fredric E. Pamp Jr  (Public Relations Officer XIX Corps 1945)

Text below in black is excerpted from the XIX Corps Newspaper  (from my archives)

LE TOMAHAWK 

Volume 2         Western Front Germany, October 1944        Number 6

The distinction of being the first of XIX Corps to touch down in Normandy is shared by Majors John J. Mikell and George F. Graybill. They accompanied an assault division ---the 29th---when it landed, as advance guards for XIX Corps. They both arrived near Vierville-sur-Mer on D+1, 7 June 1944. They were followed by two other officers the next day; and by General Corlett and certain of his staff on D+4.

Bill was a part of this advance group of staff landing D-Day +1. He recounted to me his first horrible experience of the war. As he was disembarking the boat in rough seas, loaded with gear, climbing down the ropes, to a smaller landing craft, the soldier next to him miss-stepped and the rising waves between the two boats caught him crushing his skull, a sound Bill never forgot. When Bill landed on the beach he recounted to me, the sight he saw of a young soldier sitting on the beach, hands held out in front of him as if holding a turret gun, but burned to death in place. Bill was then charged by his Commanding Officer with finding an appropriate burial location "over the hill." As G-1 personnel he began recording the names of the fallen soldiers and in the days following sending letters back home to their loved ones. The XIX Corps staff moved quickly cleaning up the beach in anticipation of the next group to land on Omaha beach. Bill said they had to move quickly to collect the deceased as the sight of such a tragedy would have presented a moral issue for the next group of troops that landed.
Click here for a link to the gravesite information and the military process of burial in battle.

(Regarding Gwen's "Letter to Mary," my guess is that Bill and Gwen had planned that Gwen would send this "Letter to Mary" when Bill left England so that Mary would know her dear brother had gone into action.)

From: Wren. G.R. Wilkins
8 Tyr-sarn Rd.
Rumney, Cardiff

Mary W. Garner, SK2c
Disbursing Office
U.S. Naval Air Station
Minneapolis, Minnesota
U.S.A. Bath 6. 9. 44

My Dear Mary,
I'm afraid this will only be a hastily scribbled note to enclose with these pictures promised Bill I would send on. I wrote to your Mother and Father last night, also to Bernard but didn't have time to write to you or Souil so I am taking a few minutes off from the office to do so now.

Monday I should have been transferred to Milford Haven, but an outbreak of chicken-pox there canceled my draft at the last minute. I was on Bath Station waiting for the train, and only had five minutes to wait, when the R.T.O.'s office called me over to the phone when second officer informed me to return to Bath for duty. So now I'm stuck here for another 3 weeks until the quarantine period ends. 

I was glad in a way because it meant I could see Bill once more at the A.R.C. Club dance in Warminister on Tuesday night, and we had a wonderful evening although we didn't dance very much, we're just happy to be with one another. 

I do hope it will not take too long before I can be with him in the dear old U.S.A.
Now I must close, hoping you're keeping fine. 
Kindest Regards,
Sincerely,
Gwen.

June 1944 calendar

Letter #19 from Henri Romieux June 5, 1944

June 5, 1944, the postmark on this correspondence, was the day that D-Day in Europe had been planned to be executed with strikes on the beaches of France, but the storms off the French Coast prevented the strike until June 6, 1944. This postcard foldout Henri sent to Mary contains a dozen colorful images of Hawaii.  There was no letter included with this correspondence.

Letter #18 from Henri Romieux 30 May 1944

Assigned to Task Force 52 for Operation Forager, John Land got underway for the liberation of the Marianas on 29 May 1944.

H. Romieux, SK1c, USNR USS John Land
c/o Fleet P.O.
San Francisco, Calif.


Mary Garner, SK2c, USNR
U.S. Naval Air Station
Wold-Chamberlain Field
Minneapolis, Minn. U.S.A. 

30 May 1944

Dear Mary, 

Thanks a lot for the letters which I received mostly at once, also the snaps. The one of you and your brother is the best of you I believe. Send some more if you get any please.
Glad you had a nice leave at home. Yes, I should have made your reservation this term too.

Well I'll really have plenty to tell you when I get back to good old Mnpls. There fellows like Hammon, can have their shore duty, I still say I'll take this preference. Yes - plenty of work, but at least one feels he is at least a small cog in a large wheel in getting at this damn war. At the University as I told you before - I felt absolutely useless Gals like you can carry that part on and better than we could at that. 

Had some nice swimming at a famous beach a couple times- but liquor and gals were seen scarce.
Glad to hear you like your apartment- Yes I can just see you with that religious fanatic.
Well Mary- that's about all for today- Thanks a lot for your letters and really I appreciate them. Send them V-Mail and I think they will get to me a little faster- thanks- say hello to Edwards please. 

Love Henri

Letter #17 from WIlbur C Garner 25 May 1944

The following text in blue, is found in the XIX Corps Publication " Normandy to the Elbe,"  a copy of which, is in my archives. An excerpt of the content is reproduced here to provide the blog reader a sense of what was taking place in the XIX Corps up to the time the "Letter to Mary" in this blog entry was written.
 
XIX Corps began life as the III Armored Corps, activated at Camp Polk, Louisiana, on August 20, 1942 under Major General Willis D. Crittenberger. After training at Camp Polk and two maneuvers in Louisiana in 1943, the headquarters left for England on January 7, 1944. In England General Crittenberger left to head a Corps in Italy, and Major General Charles H. Corlett took over command. The headquarters settled at Knook Camp in Wiltshire, near Warminster, where active planning for the Corps' part in Operation Neptune, for the landing in France, got under way in the old Manor House of Boyton. While the divisions that were to operate under XIX Corps maneuvered and perfected their plans on the Salisbury Plain, the XIX Corps Staff drew up their plans for landing soon after D-Day, as the first of the build-up Corps, to take over the central sector and advance on St. Lo, the strategic communications center of that part of Normandy. It was not merely a question of one plan, but many alternate plans, to take advantage of as many eventualities as could be forseen.
 
The soft English April passed into May, and many of us were told the target date, and finally the date for D-Day. 
Text: Captain Fredric E. Pamp Jr  (Public Relations Officer XIX Corps 1945)

S/Sergeant Wilbur C. Garner, 33377578
G-1 Section, HQ XIX Corps
APO 270 c/o Postmaster, N.Y.

Mary W. Garner, SK2c
Disbursing Office
U.S. Naval Air Station
Minneapolis, Minnesota
U.S.A.

25 May, 1944

Dear Mary, 

Well Sis, I guess you spent a very nice furlough at home. It would have really been swell if we could have been home once again all together. Well maybe we will shortly.

I'm sitting in a meeting now and I'm merely a doorman. Spending my day just sitting around here. It's rather chilly sitting here so I guess I'll bring my jacket back this afternoon.
I was up to see Gwen again last night and she has some very good pictures for you. Say did you ever get those trinkets I sent you? I sent a bracelet and small pin the same time I mailed Mother's pendant. I guess it will be at your station when you get back. I hope so anyhow. 

How was everything at home? Is there anything I can do to help with anything? Please let me know if there is anything at all they need.
I got a letter from Souil the other day and he seems much more satisfied than he was at first. I'm glad to see that he finally convinced himself that he may as well make the best of things.
I also got a letter from Colin. He seems rather fed up with that course he is taking. You know Colin though he gets fed up rather easily.

Could you send me more nuts and gum? Say, Sis, that fruit was really good. Some of it I have saved for harder days which are certain to come. Anything that will keep, all of us sock away. It will really come in handy too. I'd like to have some of that dehydrated chicken noodle soup if you can find any around. If there is any little article you think I'd like to have just drop it in one of the larger packages and send it along.

Well there isn't much news now so I guess I'll close.
Lots of Luck and Love
Bill
P.S. I am going to send you some more money this week for the pocket book when you get it.