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165 WWII Letters Lot HQ Sq 381 Philippines Invasion Shanghai Atomic Bomb + B6597
$ 80.52
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Description
An original lot of 165 World War Two letters including most of the covers, and a 5000 Yuan Bank Note paper money from China. They were written between 1942- 1946. The correspondence is between Lt. Herbert H Lewin and his wife. Most of the letters were written by Lt. Herbert while he was overseas. When he got shipped overseas, he did not keep any letters from his wife as they were too hard to send home.Below the excerpts is some information on the soldier in this estate of letters. He wrote many long letters and many interesting facts and history of WW2. He received a Bronze star for participating in the Anti Submarine campaign, was in India and there for the takeover of Shanghai, and many other places.....This is a great group of letters that you will not want to miss out on having in your collection, hours upon hours of history and reading.
I did not read all of these letters before having to list them so as I was scanning through them, I pulled some to list some excerpts below:
Excerpts from the letters:
....I’m sure, or almost sure, that this Atomic bomb will very definitely have a great effect in securing an acceptance of our ultimatum… Ya know honey this Atomic bomb actually frightens me. Imagine how much havoc can be wrought thru its use and then imagine what will occur in future wars. ..we have actually created a Frankenstein and nothing yet devised is capable of stopping it. Imagine this thing isn’t based merely on powder or TNT but on the whole chemical make up of the universe. By the time you get this you will have heard numerous reports on its make up and character. I hate to think of what would happen should Germany or Japan learn the formulas used. Wars would no longer be confined to one continent or ocean. It would mean the using of the entire world as a battlefield. That's an awful lot of territory and that's what frightens me….
...Well Honey I’ve seen Shanghai and it is quite the city you read about. Very modern buildings and hotels, wonderful shops and more riches than you can imagine. There are people here from any place you can mention- including about 50,000 white Russians, Poles and J*ws who had to leave their own country for many and varied reasons….
...I had more experiences than you can imagine. First I was made consolidated mess officer. Well I was walking and walking looking for a place to set up a mess and also trying to find equipment to set it up with- you recall this place belonged to the J*ps a few days ago and some of them are still on the field. At any rate one of them had a 1938 Dodge sedan with the back converted into a pickup truck. As I was saying I was walking and this J*p was riding - now circumstances are reversed- It wasn’t much trouble- I stopped him, told him to get out and merely backed up my statement with the help of a little old 45 pointed at his head. Also today I acquired a Samurai Sword…
...don’t underestimate the tenacity of the J*ps, they are unpredictable and you can’t tell from one minute to the next what they have in mind….
...Your letter expresses some doubt as to the J*ps intentions- undoubtedly by the time this gets to you the surrender will be signed and Japan well on its way to becoming completely occupied. I just hope that they aren’t having an opportunity to send a lot or are of their war making lords underground. This may all be supposition on my part but it doesn’t seem to Kosher and I am feeling as you are quite pessimistic about the whole set up. The news just came in saying that MacArthur will have the journal surrender signed as scheduled and that landings and occupation will go on despite the typhoons….
...Well the news of the Philippine invasion came to us last nite and it sure was swell to hear of the progress that MacArthur is making. I also know that you must have had some worry about the invasion….
...I did not write last night because I just couldn’t. Something happened yesterday that took the wind right of my sails and I was worthless for the entire day. Never before in my Army career has anything like this happened and I was so stunned by it that I wanted to cry….I received a letter that required a reply by indorsement here on…. The letter was from Colonel Starkey, the base commander berating me for inefficiency, lack of initiative and inability to cope with my assignment, in addition it was stated that I did not realize the responsibility of my position….I felt that I had done an excellent job, for certain I have worked harder on this job than any other that I was ever assigned and yet this came thru…..I have one of two courses, to request a transfer and if this is not granted then I will ask that a reclassification board be held on me and if they prove that I am inefficient I can resign my commission….I have never been so muddled in my life…
….I ran off to Shanghai and got me a job. It seems that at least one person in this Army sees some potential ability in me and today Capt Katz is requisitioned thru Gen. Weis that I be transferred to the Shanghai Base Section Army Exchange. I sat in Kalisz office last night discussing the job. It seems he wants me for contact work with concessionaires….
… Today we learned that our mission here will not be completed when we had expected- instead, upon completion of removal of troops the 381 will combine with the 14th Air Depot Group to train Chinese air service personnel….By the way did I tell you that all 381 personnel are restricted to the … except department heads on business, indefinitely. .. It seems that 160 cases of 10 in rations were stolen from the warehouse and Starkey is raising one hell of a stink. He even called in the CID to investigate and so we are restricted until culprit is found….
Below are some interesting facts that I got from this estate:
Lt Lewin started his military career of in
Orlando FL, signal AW Battalion, Air Defense Dept.,
Sheppard Field US AC Wichita Falls TX,
372nd School sq Scott Field IL, 451st Sqdn Hendricks Field FL,
381st Service Group Hq and Base Serv. Sq, Robins Field Warner Robins GA
Bronze Star recipient for Anti Submarine Campaign
Overseas he was in:
Shanghai China
India
Luoyang China
Assam, India
Liushew China
Some wear with age, please use the scans to help judge content and condition.
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