Sepia Saturday 821. Eighth in a series about 1943 letters from my dad’s brother Frederic Mason Charboneau during his second year of WWII US Army service.
On May 13, 1943, WWII battles ended in North Africa, and censorship was lifted for U.S. service members stationed there.
In an undated letter, written around that time, Uncle Fred was at last able to describe some of his previously embargoed experiences.
The first installment appeared in the last post. This is the second, describing their camp in the Algerian port city of Arzew.
“Living conditions were exceptionally good and we lived in small bungalows right on the beach. Some of the fellows went swimming when the weather permitted,” Fred wrote.
How did the local population feel about having armies from the global north occupying parts of their homeland? Uncle Fred doesn’t address this. But reading between the lines, it appears they made the most of a less than ideal situation.
“We purchased eggs from the Arabs which cost about $1.00 per dozen to us, but to the civilians they paid less than half the amount,” Fred wrote. “We had some small kerosene stoves in our bungalows and cooked the eggs at night. There was plenty of wine available close by, which cost 12 [cents] a quart until we came, and then it went up to 40 cents.”
The Algerian population had long been disenfranchised and economically held back by French colonial power. Is it any wonder they would seize an opportunity to get ahead financially? Or organize, at the end of WWII, to take back their homeland in the Algerian War of Independence (1954-1962)?
Yet Uncle Fred and his fellow soldiers — caught up in their own wartime duties — were likely unaware of the potential for uprising brewing around them, judging by his summary of their activities in Askew.
“We received a day pass about once every two weeks into Oran, which was about 35 miles away,” he wrote. “We also had free movies given by one of our special service outfits in a local theater in Arzew. After spending about four months in this wonderful place, we left in a truck convoy for the front.”
The U.S. Army was headed into the WWII Tunisia Campaign. More on the march to the front in the next post.
Up next, “Part 3: Where Uncle Fred served during 1942-43.” Meanwhile, please visit the other intrepid bloggers over at Sepia Saturday.
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