Sepia Saturday 735 and Wordless Wednesday. Twenty-second in a series about 1942 letters from my dad’s brother Frederic Mason Charboneau while he was in the US Army during WWII.
During the fall of 1942, thousands of US and UK troops were transported from the UK to North Africa as part of Operation Torch. Among them was my paternal uncle Frederic Mason Charboneau.
News of his transfer first reached home in a letter he wrote to his mother, Mary (Owen) Charboneau (excerpted below):
“Somewhere in North Africa, December 3, 1942, Dear Mom: Well it has been some time since I wrote you last. As you can see, I have moved from the last place, and I am now in Africa the land of sunshine. It is nice here during the day, although the first few days we were here we had the usual rain that we always seem to get wherever we move, but the nights are fine and cool...The trip down here was very peaceful, and the weather was grand all the way. Nothing sighted whatsoever except a few fish now and then.”
To accommodate the change in climate, arriving soldiers had their heads shaved, and Uncle Fred described the outcome:
“The boys [troops] around here look like the bald-headed row of a burlesque show. I mean the fellows in the outfit, a lot of them that is, are getting all their heads shaved completely bald. I haven’t had mine cut off as yet and don’t expect to either. I have had it cut real short, but that’s all.”
Jam sessions replace USO shows
Uncle Fred was part of a communications unit of an artillery headquarters. Gone were the fancy USO shows that entertained the troops while they were in the UK. In their place, he explained how he and the other soldiers passed the time when not on duty:
“Every night we have a jam session. We have a guitar and each night we get around and sing songs until the late hour of eight o’clock, and then we go to bed. There isn’t anything else to do. Last night I stayed up until about nine o’clock listening to the radio. The radio is the one we use for communications.”
Despite having thousands of troops camped in their homeland, Uncle Fred described the local population as “very friendly, and you can trade anything you have for oranges and wine. Money is almost useless as you can’t get anywhere to spend it.”
Thoughts of home at the holidays
With the holiday season approaching, Uncle Fred’s thoughts then turned to home and to concern about receiving mail and packages at his new location:
“How is everything at home? All well, I hope. I suppose you have had about two feet of snow now and temperatures going below zero at night. By the time you get this letter Christmas will probably have come and gone. If you have already sent any packages OK, but I wouldn’t advise you to send any more unless you insure them. I still have that other carton of cigarettes coming and also all other packages that have been sent. I’m not the only one, all of the fellows here have packages coming….P.S. Have you received the Christmas cards and also the other money order that I sent?“
In closing, Uncle Fred sent heartfelt greetings to his family:
“Remember me to everybody. I suppose by the time you get the letter you will have wondered what has become of me, but everything is OK and I am fine. Your loving son, Fred. “
Up next: Closing out Uncle Fred’s 1942 letters. Please stop back! Meanwhile, please visit the other intrepid bloggers over at Sepia Saturday and at the Wordless Wednesday blog hop.
© 2024 Molly Charboneau. All rights reserved.
So wonderful to have those letters ~ such love and history ~ thanks,
Wishing you good health, laughter and love in your days,
clm ~ A ShutterBug Explores,
aka ( A Creative Harbor)
Thanks so much. And yes, valuable insights into his and my paternal family’s history.
Those letters are such a treasure. My sister-in-law found dozens and dozens from WWII when my father-in-law was overseas and his were extremely loving and very personal. My niece organized them by date and scanned them. Our daughter Rebekah and her husband Zach read many of them to us when we all got together. Although they were very personal we are grateful to cherish them now that they are both gone. Thank you for sharing your Uncle Fred with us.
You are so fortunate to have those letters to share among your family members. I wish I had my father’s letters from when he was in the WWII Navy, but having these letters from his brother Fred still provide a once-removed family experience.
Those letters were most comforting. Such a treasure.
Thank you for joining the Wordless Wednesday Blog Hop.
Have a fabulous Wordless Wednesday. 🙂
They sure are! Thanks for stopping by.
Very positive outlook, and not wanting to worry the loved ones at home. A nightly jam session sounds like a fine way to keep spirits up!
Amazing how the troops found ways to have fun even in the midst of the war.
Uncle Fred always seems to have a positive outlook on things and making the best of what the situation brings. I think that kind of mindset has been lost on generations after him. I always enjoy reading his letters.
That he does. My dad’s side of the family had a great sense of humor and tended to look on the bright side, as illustrated by Uncle Fred in his letters.
I enjoyed reading the letter. My great-uncle was in Africa with the Army Air Forces.
Thanks, Lisa. Wonder if your great-uncle was stationed near Uncle Fred.
This was another fine letter to put into the context of the war. Since my dad served in the U S Army transportation corp, I’ve always been fascinated by the military logistics of both world wars. Fred’s assurance that the voyage from Britain to North Africa was uneventful was probably necessary to get past the censors. In fact there were hundreds of ships involved in several convoys which were crossing a part of the Atlantic notorious for German U-boat attacks. Troop transport ships were prime targets.
The soldiers’ hair cuts were required for hygiene as vermin were expected onboard such closely packed ships and in unsanitary areas of Africa. Disease was a terrible scourge for armies in the first world war. It was a lesson this generation of commanders didn’t want to repeat.
And thank you, Molly, for your kind comment on my story this weekend. What I’ve learned from our small Sepia Saturday club is that every photo and postcard has a story. You just have to look close to find the context. What intrigued me about Chief Yellow Horse was that it was very unlikely that his family ever had any letters or postcards to tell his story. Once I found his first newspaper photo, I felt inspired to do more research and write a broader story about his tribe’s history. I don’t find many postcards with a subject like that.
I also thought Uncle Fred’s coded comment about “nothing sighted” might have been a way to avoid the censors. Some ships did come under attack during that troop transfer, but apparently not his. Thanks for the info on the short haircuts, and also for your enlightening blog post about Chief Yellow Horse.
I enjoyed your post as I know very little about the African campaign in World War Two, though my own uncle was one of the UK troops fighting there, before moving onto Italy.
Glad these posts are helpful. It might be interesting for you to research your WWII uncle’s unit to see what role they played.
I’m always interested in learning about real families and soldiers from WW II. I’m currently reading a historical novel about spies in France during that war. The African war hasn’t been given much publicity, that I know of.
Thanks, Barb. I am also interested in learning about my own extended family through Uncle Fred’s letters.
I wonder why they all shaved their heads? And I hope all packages were eventually delivered!
Mike ably explains the head-shaving in his comment above, and I’m sure the troops received their mail/packages once the U.S. 6888 Central Postal Directory Battalion, an African American WAC unit, straightened out mail delivery.
I so enjoy following your posts about your Uncle Fred & his letters home. He sounds very much like someone with a positive frame of mind who could find a way to be happy in any situation which is a great way to be! 🙂
Thanks so much and I agree about his positivity. Part of his goal is to reassure his mother and those back home that he is OK, so he seems to emphasize the positive, with few complaints.