Ruth Fish Second World War correspondence

This collection contains six original correspondence from various authors written to Ruth Fish during the Second World War. Also included is one photocopied Civil War letter from James H. Lord to his father in 1861. The correspondence from James Lord of the 19th Regiment of the Massachusetts Volunteers, Company A, discusses driving the enemy into Leesburg, Virginia despite being outnumbered two to one, 5,000 to 2,500 soldiers. He discusses casualties and says that he will write again "if I am not shot which I did not come here for..."

The correspondence to Ruth was written by several different authors, including: [Leong S. Wer?], Chaplain Clarence L. Gloss aboard the USAT Jane Addams, Corporal William Harry Devine of Company B, 145 Engineers, C Battalion, Gunners Mate Third Class Gordo Carpenter, 6th Division, USS Tennessee, and Lieutenant Paulpatrick Judge, 1st Radio Squadron in the Pacific.

It can be inferred from the letters that these men all know Ruth and may have been her students as she is a teacher in San Francisco. [Wer?] discusses bivouac and not wanting a leadership role. He also mentions a chow line a mile and a half long to spread out in case of bombings and calls the army a "traveling college." Chaplain Gloss mentions receiving Ruth's Christmas package, though it was all damaged, and his commanding officer, a Lieutenant Colonel and a Disciple from Chicago that helped with baptisms aboard the ship.

Cpl. Devine vaguely describes the Battle of the Bulge, trudging through mud in France, Belgium and Luxembourg and tells a short tale about a twelve year old French girl crying when her clothes were trampled in the mud. She and her mother had to hide for the "five weeks the Germans were back in here," to which he says, "c'est la guerre." He also says he was a part of the D-Day landings in Normandy.

GM3/c Carpenter wrote a short note asking about San Francisco and some friends, and Lt. Judge was in the Pacific and says that he has known Ruth for at least seven years, telling her not to work so hard and take a vacation. He also sent a Christmas card from Tokyo with an image of a Japanese town in the snow.