Frank L. Swede, Jr. Second World War correspondence

This collection contains 104 correspondence written by Pvt. Frank L. Swede, Jr., USA to his family during the Second World War. The second half of the correspondence was written on V-Mail and contained in a scrapbook, which has been dismantled and the pages/boards kept intact. Also included are two Western Union telegrams notifying his family of his missing status and eventually of his confirmed death.

His correspondence begins as he is being onboarded into the Army at Camp Upton, Long Island in December 1942, though the letters say 1941 (confirmed he did not join until 1942). He trained at Camp Kilmer, New Jersey and worked in a hospital ward with very little to do. This also added to him getting sick and falling behind in training until he began working with an auto mechanics unit. He spends some time going home since his camp is so close and eventually moves to a base 1800 miles away, though he does not say where, to lay pipelines with a new company training to bring gas to the frontlines. During one stint of his service, he goes to Fort Crook in Nebraska for welding training, but the dates are inconclusive.

Also mentioned during training and service are two separate mumps outbreaks that cause quarantines on his base, possibly once at Camp Kilmer. He also serves at Camp Claiborne in Louisiana and continues to say he is in basic training even over a year into his service which further conflates the problem of his years being off on the dates he writes in the corner. He mentions a friend, Jack Moore, and speaks poorly of the officers in his unit because they have been in the Army less time than he has.

In April 1944, the beginning of the V-Mail correspondence, he confirms that he is in North Africa, using Francs for money, and discusses the local Arabs as "beggars," as well as a Coca-Cola plant. He also asks about some relatives that were in the service, including Johnny Heubner, Bobby [Dozman?], Rudy (Young) [parentheses added by Swede], Alfred, or "Freddy May's boy." Later, he moved to southern France and requested a transfer out of the petroleum distribution company and awaited orders in a safe place, though the French children "beg like Arabs." He also drew some Christmas art on one of the V-Mails and explains that he has been at his current location longer than usual, no longer in southern France. In his last letter dated December 19, 1944, the last he sent, he expected to be with a new unit soon and had just moved out to the woods, camping out and seemingly enjoying it. The next correspondence is a Western Union telegram telling the family that he has gone Missing in Action as of January 1, 1945 and another dated December 20 confirming he was killed on that date.

Also included in the collection is one copied photograph of Pvt. Swede's headstone at Long Island National Cemetery.