Norbert G. Schmitz Second World War correspondence

This collection contains five correspondence of Cpl. Norbert G. Schmitz, USA during the Second World War. Also included are three postcards from Cpl. Schmitz dated between 1917-1946. All letters are written by Cpl. Schmitz with the exception of one written to Cpl. Schmitz from his uncle, Frank. Three letters are to his parents and one is to his younger brother. Two postcards were sent to his mother and the other was sent to Mr. Frank Hager.

The postcards are the earliest dated in the collection. In 1917, Cpl. Schmitz writes to Frank Hager about a picture of the 6th regiment he had sent earlier to Hager. On Oct. 25, 1943 Cpl. Schmitz writes to his mother about leaving Illinois and was heading to California. The last postcard written Oct. 26, 1943 was to his mother written in Arizona, a stop on the way to California.

He writes a letter to his younger brother, Lamar, on Oct. 13, 1944 asking about his football team and writing about gifts he had sent his brother. He was on his way to New York, “anxious as the devil to get overseas”. He writes how there is not much to do in Paris, TX except spend money. He ends the letter with saying he would write his mother soon.

On May 5th 1945, Cpl. Schmitz writes his parents about the German surrender. “The other day we passed through a town where 21,000 allied troops had been freed shortly before,” he writes while in Germany. He expresses how he cannot wait to come home where he will marry his fiancé, Helen.

September 20, 1945, Cpl. Schmitz visited one of the concentration camps with some of his fellow troops. His friend Sully was transferred, and he has new living arrangements with three new roommates. He asks about other friends and family, especially his brother LaMar, who Cpl. Schmitz has reservations about joining the army.

January 18, 1946 Cpl. Schmitz writes to his parents again after not writing for several weeks. He has not been cleared to go home yet, but some of his friends have. He had given an oil painting of himself as a Christmas gift to his family. He is the manager for a new club for his battery, and he met a photographer for the Third Army Headquarters who is covering the executions of war criminals. The photographer also covered prisoners of the camp that his battalion is guarding that holds “some of the biggest Nazies in all Germany… There is about 5000 people interned in the camp.” He is expecting to head home around the end of March.

September 8, 1946 Cpl. Schmitz recieved a letter from his Uncle Frank where he sent him well wishes. This was sent after Cpl. Schmitz was sent home from the war (where the correspondence was sent to his hometown in Ohio).