ww2letterproject

 

1940

 

Abe quit his job in Alexandria, Pennsylvania, and returned to Eaton, to live with his family in the house by the creek.

“I stayed until my senior year and returned to Eaton.”

–Abe

In August Abe turned 18. On September 16, 1940, FDR signed into law a conscription act, creating the first US wartime draft. On October 19, 1940, Abe left home again. This time he traveled to Ft. Thomas, Kentucky, where he enlisted in the US army.

After World War I, the US Army strength for most of the period from 1919 to 1939, was about 125,000 men, the smallest by far of all the Great Powers. After Nazi Germany successfully invaded France in May 1940, however, the US government reinstituted conscription, which resulted in rapid growth to a force of 1,640,000 within a about a year.

Abe joined the 10th infantry regiment of the 5th division. He did his basic training at Ft. Thomas, Kentucky. Basic pay was about $35 per month.

“When the draft started they moved us to tents that were set up on the parade ground.”

–Abe

The 10th regiment left Fort Thomas and moved to Fort Custer in Michigan but,

“[I stayed] in Ft. Thomas to write service records for the men being drafted into the service.”

–Abe

 

1941

 

Near the end of the year on December 7, 1941, millions of Americans were listening to the radio when their favorite Sunday programs were interrupted with news bulletins. The Japanese had attacked Pearl Harbor.

Eight US battleships were damaged and five had been sunk. Three light cruisers, three destroyers and three smaller vessels were lost along with 188 aircraft. US casualties included 2,335 servicemen and 68 civilians killed, and 1,178 wounded.
The next day thousands of young volunteers stood in lines at U.S. Armed Forces recruiting offices.

Abe’s then seven-year-old brother, Sam, recalled that his father called him into the house that Monday afternoon as the family gathered near the radio listening to President Roosevelt’s familiar voice in the live broadcast of this speech to Congress. FDR began:

“Mr. Vice President, and Mr. Speaker, and Members of the Senate and House of Representatives:
Yesterday, December 7, 1941 — a date which will live in infamy — the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan…
… There is no blinking at the fact that our people, our territory, and our interests are in grave danger.
With confidence in our armed forces- with the unbounding determination of our people- we will gain the inevitable triumph- so help us God.
I ask that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on Sunday, December 7, 1941, a state of war has existed between the United States and the Japanese Empire. “

For the US it marked the beginning of a long and bloody war that would last years.

In England where the British had been at war with the Germans for nearly two years, Winston Churchill observed:

“Now at this very moment I knew that the United States was in the war, up to the neck and in to the death. So we had won after all! … How long the war would last or in what fashion it would end no man could tell …… Hitler’s fate was sealed. Mussolini’s fate was sealed. As for the Japanese, they would be ground to a powder. All the rest was merely the proper application of overwhelming force.”

Abe and the US Army had suddenly become a key in that “overwhelming force.”

A few weeks after Pearl Harbor came Christmas.

Abe’s older brother Bill was in a CCC camp in Utah. Abe and Bill had not seen each other for nearly two years, but they did their best to remain close. They had been through a lot of rough times together. The only practical line of communication was letter writing but, as might be expected, letter writing between brothers was rare. However, that Christmas, Abe sent his brother Bill a card.

Abe was currently dating a girl named Frances Lowe.

On the back of the Christmas card Abe wrote:

Dear Bill,

Frances said that she would like to write to you. There is nothing like a person from the west to her. That is why she would like to meet you. Just don’t take her away from me that is all I have to say. Please write to her.

Love
Abe

 

1942

 

In May, the US and Japanese navies fought to a stalemate in the Battle of the Coral Sea. It was the first significant failure of a Japanese strategic operation in the Pacific Theatre. In early June, the US Navy scored a major victory in the Battle of Midway. The USS Yorktown sank four Japanese carriers and one cruiser.

Abe had entered the Army 14 months earlier at a time when many considered the war to be just another European conflict and believed that the US should remain a neutral nation. After December 7, 1941, those basic training drills that taught men how to kill would need to be applied against foreigners in countries far away or maybe even at home.

In 1942, the 19-year-old Abe ended his relationship with Frances Lowe and began dating a 17-year-old girl named Velma (Judy) Hall.

Later that summer, Abe was transferred to Camp Atterbury, about 30 miles south of Indianapolis, Indiana. There he joined Company G of the 329th Infantry Regiment of the 83rd Infantry division which had been activated in August of 1942.

On September 1, 1942, Albert Leroy Banis and Velma Marie Hall were married at the bride’s home. She was 18 and a single parent to Everett (Billie) born June 3, 1942. Abe was 20.

Two days later on September 3, Abe’s youngest brother, Pat was born. Abe’s mother was 42, and it was a difficult birth. Abe’s younger sister, Ruth recalled, “We got a phone call in the middle of the night and were told that Mom was having a difficult labor and was in peril.” Ruth and her sisters Eva and May immediately drove to Eaton, arriving less than an hour later. By then the danger had passed, and now the Banis family numbered 13.

Abe was now an officer at Camp Atterbury.

“We trained men in combat warfare.”

-Abe

Abe’s mother and his sisters, Eva and Ruth wrote frequently to Abe however, it was often difficult for Abe to respond.

Abe sent a postcard to his younger sister Ruth with the following message:

Camp Attebury, IN – Nov 12, 1942

Hi Sis;

See what I mean. Read the other side of this. Have wrote to many letters and hands get tired.

Love
Abe

Abe’s older brother Bill left the CCC in the spring of 1942. He worked out west for several months and returned to Eaton in the fall. He was inducted into the US Army in November, and the next month began basic training at Camp Van Dorn in Mississippi.

There were now two Banis boys in the US Army.

As the year came to an end, things looked brighter for the Allies: Rommel and his German forces were trapped in Tunisia; the Germans were encircled at Stalingrad; and the Japanese appeared ready to abandon Guadalcanal.

 

1943

 

In mid-June Abe and the 83rd left Camp Atterbury and went on maneuvers in Tennessee.

A few days later, June 25, 1943, Velma gave birth to her second son, Benjamin.

-The following is taken from a website By Frank Burns , Cumberland University-

“…in Middle Tennessee. Large-scale war games had been conducted (by) …General George S. Patton (where he)…perfected the armored tactics that were to bring him fame and his divisions victory in Europe. Between the wars Erwin Rommel, as a young military attache, had visited Nashville and Middle Tennessee to study and follow the cavalry campaigns of Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest to help him develop a pattern for the use of tank units as cavalry. The army, perceiving in the Cumberland River and the hilly country to the south and north a similarity to the Rhine and Western Europe, decided to send divisions into the state for their last preparation before actual combat. Between September 1942 and March 1944 nearly one million soldiers passed through the Tennessee Maneuvers area.”

Velma and her sons travelled to Tennessee to see Abe. They were accompanied by Abe’s sister May and her friend.

“Our second son was born and I didn’t get to see him until going on maneuvers.”

In September after maneuvers,

“We returned to Fort Breckenridge, Kentucky when I then asked for a transfer to airborne training at Fort Benning, Georgia.”

-Abe

In November of 1943, Abe’s sisters, Eva and May, enlisted in the recently formed WAC. There were now four members of the Banis family in the US Armed forces.

That same month Abe was transferred from the 83rd to the US Army 30th division.
Near the end of the year Abe was granted a transfer to the United States Army Airborne School — widely known as Jump School — beginning basic paratrooper training. In 1940 the War Department approved the formation of an Airborne Infantry. Training included jumping from free towers 250 feet high and from the backs of moving trucks to allow the trainees to experience the shock of landing.

As the year neared an end, Abe was stationed at Ft. Benning but on leave. He wrote to his younger sister Ruth.

New Madison, Ohio – Dec. 27, 1943

Dear Ruthie:

Hello kiddo, you said something about coming up next weekend, well Judy said she had something very nice to show you and wants you to come. What we have here she said not to tell you but wait till you and Freida come up then you could see it for yourself. It is a very expensive object, and you would enjoy seeing it for yourself. I wish mom could see it to, and before I have to go back as I would like to see their faces when they take the first peek.
There isn’t anything to do here but sleep all day and think of going back Thursday. Things aren’t going to be as easy to leave this time and when I do get back for good well Oh sister. I am going to tell you what this thing cost around $260 is what it cost us to get so just figure what it is if you can.
Well kiddo if you had a way of getting up here Wednesday night you could be here to spend a few hours and then I could here what you think of something just to see what people have to say makes me feel good, & if Bill’s girl friend comes out she can stay up here for a while. She’d be very welcome.

Love, & Good Luck

Your Bro.
Abe.
P.S. Sure wish you could get up Wednesday night.

During training at jump school, Abe became injured and was released from school. He did not earn his wings.

“After jump school I went to Fort Meade, Maryland and waited for my unit to go to Camp Miles Standish, Massachusetts.”

-Abe

Camp Miles Standish was a major disembarkation point for US troops going to Europe.