Letter from Melvin Thielbar to Guy and Della Thielbar, June 1, 1945

Gee I guess it is time for me to try and drop you a few lines today as there isn't a heck of a lot else to do. It surely is a dreary old day as it is raining out. It started raining about 6 o'clock and rained all night and it is still at it. Oh well I don't care as we can sit in the inside and look out at it as I said I always wanted to do. We have the radio going and the furnace is going so that the steam heat will work so you see that we aren't suffering a bit. Ha.

Well mom if there is ever anything that you want to ask me from now on just go ahead and ask and I will try and answer it as our mail isn't censored any more. I know that you asked me a lot of questions before this but I can't remember what they were to answer them now. Just think now I can write a letter and seal it up myself. That is the first time since leaving the states almost two years ago. Gee two years is a long time to be in a country where you can't understand a word the people are talking about. The first stop we made after getting overseas was Casablanca. I guess I told you that before but doubt if you got the letter or not. After leaving Casablanca we rode in boxcars to Oran, Africa. We wasn't there long before we moved to Bizerte. Here is where I stayed until leaving for Sicily where I joined the 45th division. I joined the division on the ninth of August. After leaving Sicily we hit the beaches of Salerno which you already know all about. Actually Salerno is where I got my first real battle experience as when I came to the outfit in Sicily they had the Germans pretty well on the run. From Salerno all the way up to Venafro and Rome it was really quite a fight as we had to fight for every bit of it Finally they pulled us off the lines and moved us down to what we thought was going to be a real rest and just ten days after that we loaded up on LST ships and started for that dreaded place called Anzio. I believe that was the hottest spot in the world and would even run a close run with Hell. We were in a pocket just ten miles square and the Krauts were all around us. We sat right here from February until the breakthrough in May taking everything that they could throw at us. The Germans were sure to come over every night and do some bombing so we always expected them. We had some good caves dug there though so we were ready for them. We were very lucky here and with God's help very few of my outfit was wounded or killed. Well when it was all over with here at Anzio we were   actually pulled off for that long waited for rest. They took us back down to the coast of Salerno. It all wasn't as rosy as we thought it was going to be, though as they started a training program so that we didn't have too much time to ourselves. All the time we were here they knew what was in line for us and so did we but we didn't know for sure how long it would be and that was the invasion of Southern France. Well as you know it finally happened and of course we were in on it. The landing at France was a picnic though to what the rest of them had been. Everything went like clockwork as far as our division was concerned and the next day we started to move for the interior of the country. The Germans were taken so much by surprise that many of them were cut off by this drive we made as you know by reading the papers. We took the same road through France that napoleon took in his victorious drive. The fighting through the Voges mountains was plenty rough. Well After this we went into Alsace-Lorraine and from there into Germany through the Sieggfried line, Across the Rhine, across the Danube and into Munich where we were at when the war ended. Well mom that is about the whold story. Of course I will tell you all about it when I get home. We learned by the paper that we wouldn't have to go to the Pacific but would probably stay as Occupational troops for awhile.

Gee this letter probably sounds like a history book to you but I have been wanting to tell you all this for some time and just had to tell you. Now you know that it is all over with I can tell that I was in it all. It was an experience that will never be forgotten. Well how are all of you by this time Fine and dandy I hope. I am getting along fine except this typewriter isn't working so good this mornigg. I take it all back it is just me. Ha. Say Mom I need some shoe polish. I would rather have the paste type if you can get it.

Well I guess I will close down for this time. I will write more later when I can think of something to write about. I got A roll of funny papers from you last night but no letter. I guess it will come today.