thedrifter
05-31-07, 06:55 AM
Keeping a father’s war record alive ...
Posted: Wednesday, May 30th, 2007
BY: John Kubal
For soldiers, sailors, Marines, and airmen serving overseas during World War II, mail was a paper lifeline connecting them to their left behind world of family and friends. For family and friends left behind, mail coming home was their way of knowing – when the censor had not blacked it out – the good, the bad, and the ugly of the war in which they had a personal stake.
Joel Houglum, assistant dean of the South Dakota State University College of Pharmacy, has such letters that his father sent from Europe. From Sept. 5, 1944, until May 4, 1945, Edgar Houglum served with the 324th Regiment of the United States Army's 44th Infantry Division fighting for the liberation of Europe and the defeat of Nazi Germany.
He was promoted via a battlefield commission to second lieutenant in February 1945, at a period when the Army's junior officers were being wounded or killed at an alarming rate.
Of his father, Joel Houglum said, "He said he was being shot at as much as they were, so he might as well get paid a little extra."
In April 1945, Edgar was wounded in action. On May 4, 1945, a few days before V-E Day, he was hit again — the last casualty in his platoon. This time his wound was life-threatening.
Joel explained, "He was shot in the leg (above the knee), and it hit an artery. And he said he would have died instantly there, except for the medic happening to be the person right behind him.
"He put a tourniquet on him right away. They were going to amputate his leg, but he said he didn't want them to do that."
Houglum explained, "That took a couple of years for recovery; in fact, technically, he really never did recover, because he still limped from that wound.
"From May 1945 until Sept. 17 1947, he was in and out of hospitals."
A tiny treasure trove
Beyond the story of his wounds and recovering, Joel didn't know a lot about the day-to-day details of his father's military service until after his father's death in August 2006; that's when he came upon a treasure trove in miniature: several "V-mail" letters (with the "V" standing for Victory).
Each piece of V-mail was a marvel of then modern technology, by which a specially designed letter sheet could be microfilmed and sent both to and from overseas. The Smithsonian National Postal Museum notes that "V-mail ensured that thousands of tons of shipping space
Ellie
Posted: Wednesday, May 30th, 2007
BY: John Kubal
For soldiers, sailors, Marines, and airmen serving overseas during World War II, mail was a paper lifeline connecting them to their left behind world of family and friends. For family and friends left behind, mail coming home was their way of knowing – when the censor had not blacked it out – the good, the bad, and the ugly of the war in which they had a personal stake.
Joel Houglum, assistant dean of the South Dakota State University College of Pharmacy, has such letters that his father sent from Europe. From Sept. 5, 1944, until May 4, 1945, Edgar Houglum served with the 324th Regiment of the United States Army's 44th Infantry Division fighting for the liberation of Europe and the defeat of Nazi Germany.
He was promoted via a battlefield commission to second lieutenant in February 1945, at a period when the Army's junior officers were being wounded or killed at an alarming rate.
Of his father, Joel Houglum said, "He said he was being shot at as much as they were, so he might as well get paid a little extra."
In April 1945, Edgar was wounded in action. On May 4, 1945, a few days before V-E Day, he was hit again — the last casualty in his platoon. This time his wound was life-threatening.
Joel explained, "He was shot in the leg (above the knee), and it hit an artery. And he said he would have died instantly there, except for the medic happening to be the person right behind him.
"He put a tourniquet on him right away. They were going to amputate his leg, but he said he didn't want them to do that."
Houglum explained, "That took a couple of years for recovery; in fact, technically, he really never did recover, because he still limped from that wound.
"From May 1945 until Sept. 17 1947, he was in and out of hospitals."
A tiny treasure trove
Beyond the story of his wounds and recovering, Joel didn't know a lot about the day-to-day details of his father's military service until after his father's death in August 2006; that's when he came upon a treasure trove in miniature: several "V-mail" letters (with the "V" standing for Victory).
Each piece of V-mail was a marvel of then modern technology, by which a specially designed letter sheet could be microfilmed and sent both to and from overseas. The Smithsonian National Postal Museum notes that "V-mail ensured that thousands of tons of shipping space
Ellie