Donald E. Drake Second World War correspondence

This collection contains correspondence from Cpl. Donald Drake, USAAF to his uncle Wayne Jackson, and family, of Buffalo, New York during the Second World War. Cpl. Drake wrote three V-Mails and one Christmas card, sent with a black and white photograph of himself in front of a plane, as well as one typed letter while in Germany with the Army of Occupation. Also included in the collection is a short obituary clipping for Cpl. Drake.

The V-Mails do not say much because of the censors, only sharing that he is first writing on a ship in the Atlantic, and later somewhere in England, though specifically not London.

The letter was written August 13, 1945 from Gablingen, Germany about seven miles from Augsburg, at the Messerschmitt aircraft factory. This letter, written after the war in Europe was over, describes his flight to Germany in a B-17 bomber as navigator, only one thousand feet off the ground giving him a great view of the destruction which he describes. He also discusses the poverty of the German people, denying being part of the Nazi party, and a lingering hatred for German people, even women whom he claims are "so crazy to land with an American that they do anything and everything under the sun to get one for company."

Also discussed in this letter are souvenirs picked up from the air base at which they landed, mostly from dead Germans and destroyed planes, traveling to Augsburg for fun and drinking beer at the "Werzhall." This leads to an explanation that Americans don't have to pay for things if they do not wish to, but sometimes do just to be nice or get better treatment in the future. He claims that "usually we just drink the beer and don't bother to pay for it. Because the Americans let the Germans consider it an honor to serve us."