Author’s note: In from mid-September to mid-October the Germans were retreating so quickly that the Allied forces were straining their supply lines just to keep up. Fighting was only sporadic for John’s unit. In his written history of the unit, Col. Ronald Martin describes the daily marches as fairly uneventful, except for “[T]he cheering Frenchmen, who dared to bestow all types of favors, including wine and kisses, on the American soldiers.” From September 19 to October 2nd, the unit was attached to the 30th Division and dug in near Aachen, Germany in the Rhineland. The attack on the Siegfried Line began on October 2nd, to seal off Aachen, and in the course of the battle over several days there were 25,000 rounds fired and 30 casualties. The unit had another break until the next assault which began on November 7th.
10/9/44-10/19/44: Churchill and Stalin meet in the “Fourth Moscow Conference” where they secretly agree to partition Europe after the war. No Americans are present for this agreement. See: https://ww2db.com/battle_spec.php?battle_id=141
10/12/44 Germany
From John Shaw to Nena Shaw
Hi Honey
I received two letters from you yesterday—one air mail from the 22nd and a V-mail the 26th. The V-mail comes faster but they are all so short you only get started when they end. I ask for that sweater and scarf in a letter before. Suppose you have not received it yet. How about sending some of that Jelly I always got for nose colds. It is Harts or something or other, if you don’t remember ask Ollie, he should know.
So Chuck [Charles Sharrard] is all signed up for the Air Corps. That is much better for if he likes that branch and is lucky enough to get in now he will have a better deal when his time is up to go in and most are going in the infantry that come in now. I think most of it will be over before he gets through training but it should be good for him to have that much anyway, and remind him he is going to have to work like hell if he makes it in that branch and he won’t have time to be going around with a girl on his mind. If he wants to make a go of it, one has to wait. That depends on how he wants it. I personally think he would be better off to let the love life wait till he gets through with the army, but everyone has a right to their own opinion to do as he likes.
So you feel pretty good that you came in first with 109. Well I don’t blame you. You should. I will help you celebrate that too if you buy the bottle and keep it till I get there. It is no news to me. I always knew you could do it if you made up your mind to do it. And it must agree with you if you are getting as fat as you say. Keep it up for you know that is the way I love you and I will be there to take charge in a short time.
Well there is no news, so will quit for now. All my love and a couple kisses till later. Yours, John
10/14/44: German General Irwin Rommel commits suicide by poisoning to avoid a trial for his participation in the July assassination attempt on Hitler.
10/16/44 Italy*
Honey:
Maybe I’m crazy, but here’s the story.
Yesterday I spent half a day buying tile and putting same in my tent for a floor, thinking as I did that, such permanent arrangement would probably result in a move.
When I returned to the office, I found the boss in a dither. Rear headquarters had requested me for assistant operational engineering officer. He said I could have my choice. This morning I talked to Lt. Col. Davis, my new boss. I was originally offered a job in both his section and the commun[ications] section. Here is the story as I see it.
Communications
Boss is screwball and will probably never do anything for me, although he likes me a lot.
There is no position vacancy in this place, and I am rapidly getting disgusted.
I live in a god damn tent.
Ops-engrg [Operations Engineering]
Boss is probably going home in a few weeks leaving me boss.
If “a” occurs, I hold a Colonel’s vacancy with a Col. as an assistant.
I would live in a hotel with hot tub baths.
From a job standpoint, communications involves:
Damn little engineering.
A lot of juggling of how many channels to use for how many words of traffic per day, etc.
Organization of Signal Corps units.
Ops Engineering controls:
All modifications of existing airplanes.
All new equipment related to aircraft
All recommendations for changes in aircraft (like work Baldy and I used to do)
So, I think you can see why I have accepted the changed status. Damn it, I have lost part of six months by not doing it in the first place, but I have gained some valuable experience here. Among other things, I believe my position is stronger having been practically demanded as Davis’ replacement by the AF A-3.
Well, the grass always looks greener on the other side of the fence. But I don’t believe I have hurt my position any, and I stand a fair chance of bettering it. Honey, I’m lonesome for airplanes and their engineering problems. Maybe this time I’ve found my niche.
That’s about it for now. Last evening I had a glass of wine in this university town with a well-to-do family and they complimented me on my perfect Italian accent. As this place is equivalent in Italian to the Castilian Spanish, I shall have to give Vulcanos credit for doing a good job.
Neapolitans have a strong accent, but they don’t seem to have left me with any of it.
So you think Pupa is a sweater girl! No foolin’, she’s flat chested for this part of the world. You’re just a little girl by south Italy standards—incidentally about as nice a little girl as I’ve seen.
I wonder if Mary H. [Huntoon] ever got her ring—or if some light-fingered lad snatched the package. I’ve never head a word from her since about August.
It scares me when I think how big Chuck is. I really haven’t been around him since he was 8 years old, and that was a long time ago.
You are very sweet, very beautiful, and I hope understanding all of the things I do.
Maybe this is our first break in two years. All my love, Cy
P.S. Orders are not yet out, but hope they will be in a couple of days.
*Author’s note: I believe the HQ for the 12th Air Force where Cy would have been stationed in early October was in Foggia, Italy.
10/18/44, I think. Note no “(ADV)” on address now.
Hi Toots:
This will be short as it is about 1130 and I am tired. I have been driving most of the day, and talking to various people. The transfer to operational-engineering section is all set and will be cut in a couple of days. I had a long talk with my new boss today, and I think I shall be pretty well satisfied. He is an engineer, and has done the same sort of work Baldy and I have since he got in. He was Keg’s room-mate in the flying school! Small world. His ideas on maintenance and similar subjects are solid, and it looks like I may be about to get a good job, for a change.
Johny and I had a long talk this evening, and he seems to be even better satisfied with the change than I. When you get down to brass tacks, the only engineering in the Army AF is done via Wright Field. The communications officers are in general a bunch of beat-up old pilots who can’t do much of anything else. These are harsh words, but pretty much true. There are exceptions. I can do more actual engineering in communications in the ops-engrg set-up than I can in the signal section. I was gradually getting into a point-to-point channel business, with nothing to do with aircraft radio. My new work will be strictly with airplanes, radio, armament, engine etc. all included.
The two signal corps majors with whom I worked, have been stabbing me in the back at regular and frequent intervals, but I have never given them the satisfaction of letting them know I could feel it.
One of the lads had a countess to dinner tonight. Sorry, not much impressed. Needs a hairdo (any kind would be an improvement), facial, and a good dress-maker. Also had a giggle that needed amputation.
Bottom already. I love hell out of you, mutt. Cross your fingers, Cy
Photograph of General Douglas MacArthur wading ashore during the initial landings in Leyte, Philippine Islands. Dated 1944. (Photo by Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images)
PART VII: BACK IN ENGINEERING
10/20/44: CY starts new position as Operations Engineer for the 12TH Air Force.
10/22/44
Hi Honey:
Don’t be surprised at anything that happens, for this is an Italian machine and has a keyboard which is far from standard; The punctuation marks are all over hell, and the numbers are upper-case instead of lower. Then there are such letters as e, e, c, and a [with accents] all of which are part of the Italian alphabet;
I’ll bet the WACS hate this damn thing;
I just got a letter from you, and shall try to answer it. Cookies sound good; Norm will probably enjoy his more than any kid I can think of. He is pretty swell people; Hankies are under control as they can be bought at the PX for less than nothing. You might send me some more T-shirts if you get a chance. They were very nice; Yesterday, I took inventory and found that I was down to two winter uniforms plus my blouse and pinks. I went out to PX and bought 3 pr. of pants and 2 shirts—and am I broke now;
I am back in a perfectly grand hotel, and having lots of fun taking baths, eating off table cloths, etc; I don’t know how long it will last, but it looks like I’m fixed for the winter.
If things work out, I shall take the boss’s job in the very near future as he is going home. So far, I haven’t done much of anything, but I’ve done more in the two days I’ve been here than I did in six months in the last job. I heard last night that my former boss thought I was fooling when I told him I was going to accept this job; Well, he’s out of luck now. I hope I didn’t make him angry, for I truly like him. But he just wasn’t up to what I want for a boss. The present one seems to be well versed in both his Army and his engineering.
My sister has done writ me a letter. This makes the fourth one in twenty-eight years. I shall spend the next week trying to translate it, and then sit down and write an answer.
I bought some size 44 pants to use as material for one of these flying mess boy jackets people are wearing now. If I can find a tailor who can make one, I shall send you a picture. I should look like the doorman at Macy’s basement. The latest gag are these gold bars on the sleeve, one for each six months overseas. Maybe I should buy the little gold bullet I’m authorized to wear as a 1st class gunner in FA (ROTC), and a few other odds and ends;
As you have probably noticed, the semi-colon is where the period is supposed to be. I have trouble remembering it.
Snooks, the travel situation is pretty well fixed, and there isn’t a hell of a lot I can do about it; My policy of not being a BTO has worked out fairly well so far. Everyone else has spent all of their time trying to get to Cairo, France, etc., and yet I have been sent to all of these places without asking for it, and had a private airplane to do it in. (Maybe the trip home will come the same way. I’ve been on orders twice but it naturally fell through. I don’t get excited about anything any more.)
That’s all except, I love you. Cy
10/22/44
From Cy to his sister, Nena Shaw
Sis:
This is an Italian machine, and the keyboard is not standard, so don’t be surprised at anything that comes out.
What in hell is that horrible present you and Marty are so worried about my liking? Both of you are acting like I was going to blow up. I hope it isn’t a ring, for to wear something like that would drive me nuts. Well, I’ll put out a good story in any case.
Yep, it’s hard back there, admittedly. It is damned easy here, for I really haven’t been in combat but a few minutes since about last April. And I can probably say that the war is over for me. While I had my job in the comm section, it was most unsatisfactory, and I asked to be returned to combat twice. But now that I’m here in operational-engineering, things look a little brighter. But Sis, think about this. I know people here who haven’t been home for five and more years; people who have lived for months at Casino with Germans on one side and us on the other, families of five and six, all in different parts of the world and not even knowing whether or not the rest are alive. One thing that the average observant officer has learned here is that it is impossible in America for a situation to exist 1/10th as bad as the normal here. I’ve eaten cooked grass which we would serve to cows (and they would too, normally) and liked it; seen high class families with dirty faces because soap couldn’t be purchased even on the black market. I know an old man in Corsica who has studied law in all of the big schools of the world, and owns all sorts of property—reduced to having to stay home because he only owned one pair of pants. I picked up a woman with a master’s degree from Columbia—walking barefoot down the street to town, saving her shoes until she got to town where it meant something. I know you can’t even conceive of these things, for I couldn’t either before I saw them, but even the lowest American has not to stand these things which are commonplace here;
Well, it sounds pretty ghastly, but these people are making the best of it and laughing just like before the war. Most Americans think them irresponsible, but I know them well and it hurts them like it would us—but they have the will-power not to let it throw them for a loss.
Don’t let the wooden shoes fool you. All shoes in this part of the world are wood, for the army has gotten all the leather for years.
Pat my little gal on the fanny once in a while—she used to slap me for it, but liked it. Don’t worry about John—as the fighting now is nothing to what it was in this part of the world. I don’t mean to make light of the splendid work they are doing, but fighting with adequate supplies, hospitalization, etc. is a big improvement over our situation in Africa a couple of years back. And the ability to go to sleep at night and know no one is going to drop anything on you is a help.*
When I moved up here, I had a hell of a time not spitting on the floor, throwing hunks of gristle and radish leaves on the floor, etc. I didn’t realize how primitive I had gotten in the past couple of years; I still have trouble unpacking and putting my things away, for I have lived out of a bag for just over three years now.
I give Marty a lot of things to do, but I feel that that is better than not ever asking her to bother with things. At least she can feel that she has a part in what little I’m doing over here. Altho it seems like I am doing very little, I guess if you added up all the little bull sessions in which my past experience helps someone to make a decision, I probably contribute a little bit. Then I am doing my usual amount of studying, so that I am gradually learning more and more about less and less. The definition of a good army officer is one who learns less and less about more and more until he knows nothing about everything. That is true, as war has become so complicated, it is impossible for one man to know more than a smattering of the many tools available to a combat commander. I am gradually getting back into the specialized engineering end of it, and I believe I shall do all right in it. But it is a hell of a lot easier to lead troops in combat than it is to sit behind a damned desk and do the really binding planning that goes before an operation. I think I am in a position now to say which is hardest, for I have done both.
That is about all for now. Don’t worry, I shall try to be pleased with the fantastic flumdunny** which is being sent here. Who knows, I might even like it! I’m not much on Christmas myself. I prefer to just buy things as I see them and send them to whoever I think would like them. Prices around here are out of this world, and I am not worried, for I know now that I shall never be content to live in America. I shall get back here and make my purchases when the war has gone away.
Be a good gal, and keep the old lip stiff. As we say over here, “Things are tough all over. Have the chaplain punch your tough-shitsky ticket.”
Love, Cy.
Will write John
*When Cy makes statements like this, it is difficult to tell if he is painting a rosy picture to put his sister at ease so she won’t worry about her husband being in danger, or does he believe that conditions are so much easier for the infantry in France?For example, here is a quote from “Stars & Stripes”, Oct. 21, 1944: “Aachen Captured By Isl Army Fall Of City Opens Road To Cologne SHAEF, Oct. 20—Aachen, the “Cassino” of the Siegfried Line, has fallen. Mud-caked troops of the American 1st Army, climaxing more than six weeks of bitter house-to-house fighting, wiped out late this afternoon the last vestige of enemy resistance within the city. • Occupation of the entire city was completed just ten days after an ultimatum was delivered to the Germans calling for unconditional surrender or a choice of total destruction.” This was information available to the general public as well as troops.
And when he talks about how Americans cannot imagine the hardships that the Europeans endure, surely he was aware, just a few years earlier, many Americans who had enjoyed comfortable lives were left penniless and homeless in the Great Depression.
**I’m pretty sure Cy invented this word.
10/22/44
Marfy:
Just a line before bed. The voltage here is low, and light is not too good.
The last three books (Pierce, Sokolnikoff, and Burrington) arrived this afternoon. Thanks. If I study everything I have here, I shall be a very smart engineer indeed.
I had a chance to attend a concert on a trip ended today, and am enclosing the program for the scrap book. It was not up to the best symphonies in America, but was good. The old maestro put on a show like a cheer-leader at a homecoming. You could see him pull each note out of the musicians. His work served to stress the altos and the percussion section.
The first selection is well known. The second selection’s first movement, “The Pines of Villa Borghese,” is a weird thing which really makes you see the massive pines of the Villa (they are beautiful). The other 3 movements are equally good, but not of the unconstrained type of the first.
The third selection is one of these prim, precise things which almost reminds me of puppets dancing. The chorus was excellent, and it was repeated after much clapping.
4 was mediocre. #5 was sung by the soloist, and was excellent. 6 is well known and was well done.
The new job is panning out damn well this far. As near as I can tell, all I have to do to stay in favor is fly 16 hours monthly. That, as you must realize, will be quite an effort—just like drinking beer. My new boss knows more about engineering than I do—and that is a wholely new & novel experience. I like it. This think is too good. Must be something wrong with it.
Good night, honey. Hard as it is, just realize we can be thankful I am definitely coming home someday, and in one piece. That should be a comforting thought.
Did I tell you I own a piccolo now? I’ll be able to whistle at you on it when I get home. Incidentally, my piccolo has “Le Grand Prix” stamped on it in gold!(?)
The following data is submitted for the personal edification of addressee and is to be construed as the official opinion of the undersigned.
The fuselage of addressee possesses the necessary streamlining for smooth performance and beauty, as well as required gun blisters* for utility. It is hoped a bomb-bay may be appended at a later date.
Addressee’s undercarriage, possessing a smooth action and grace of movement necessary for smooth landings, is fortunately free of all brakes when in a semi-retracted position with the one and only qualified pilot.
There is a degree of satisfaction in being permitted to suggest changes in coiffure, and particularly in tearing down same once constructed, far superior to scoring a bull’s-eye on any and all other models.
Ability of undersigned is admittedly a direction function of peace of mind afforded by above addressee. An even 50% of the spoils are promised as of this date.
Contrary to due process of law, the undersigned is fully qualified to state that addressee entered contract of marriage for first and only time on June 22, 1940. Any evidence to contrary is so phantastic as to be wholly irrelevant.
It is hoped by undersigned that the day may arrive when it is possible to pass something pretty for the one and only without unbuttoning the pocket and opening the billfold, but it is realized that so long as something beautiful is not owned by the most beautiful child in the world this can never be true. It is therefore requested that each such item be credited with one very passionate kiss to be delivered at a later date.
Tu eei la bellissima ragazza del mundo, la migliore moglie degli tutti moglie e madre a la piu passionate amore del’ universea. [You are the beautiful girl of the world, the best wife of all the wife and mother to the most passionate love of the universe]
Cyrus B. Stafford
Major, Air Corps
*Gun blisters are the “bubbles” on the side of the plane where the gunners are positioned.
