I spent a hot afternoon in air-conditioned comfort over the weekend at the Lucas County Historical Society Museum dealing with a time-consuming task that had been postponed --- sorting into order by date and then by year four years' worth of World War II correspondence. For the most part these letters were written home to his mother, Mary, 1942-45 by the late Lester "Bud" Ambelang, 1919-2014.
These were added to the collection some time ago, along with insignia that probably were removed from the uniform Pvt. Ambelang wore home after his honorable discharge from the U.S. Army during late September 1945. There are more than 200 letters in the collection --- and we're grateful to the donor for making sure the archive survived and found a safe home. Mr. Ambelang and his wife, Twyla Colene (Reid) Ambelang, left no children to carry the stories of their lives forward.
No, I didn't read more than a few of the letters --- just enough to allow me to track Pvt. Ambelang's path from Fort Des Moines, where he reported for duty on Jan. 6, 1942, through training assignments in Texas and Florida to Langley Field in Virgina; then during Novermber of 1942 to North Africa, then to Italy and finally home during August of 1945. The service bars once attached to his uniform, five of them, each represents six months overseas.
The round patch identifies his unit, the U.S. Army Air Corps' 15th Air Force; the triangle with golden gear shows that he was assigned to an engineering unit --- the 55th Service Squadron to be exact. And the hat pin indicates his service with a unit that included glider-borne combat units.
Pvt. Ambelang's specialty was somewhat obscure in the grand history of warfare, but vital to the effort. He was a parachute rigger, a specialized field that involved servicing, repairing and repacking the parachutes of the units he was detached to. This was not the sort of assignment that led to medals, but it was a job that saved thousands of lives.
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The letters also provide a modest history lesson in the nature of World War II correspondence and V-Mail (or Victory Mail), a strategy developed by the military to condense letters to and from home into the most compact form possible in order to free cargo space for other vital materials.
Most of the letters written during 1942, when Lester still was stateside, are packaged in conventional envelopes. Once in North Africa (he served in Tunisia and Morocco), then Italy, V-Mail is most prevalent. V-Mail forms were provided to troops, who wrote messages on them as instructed that then were sealed and mailed.
Depending upon circumstances, some of these sealed forms made it home to the United States. But most upon arrival at collection points abroad were opened and microfilmed. The microfilm then was transported to collection points in the United States where small images were exposed onto photographic paper and placed in special V-Mail envelopes for the remainder of the trip home.
All correspondence from the field was supposed to pass before the eyes of a military censor to ensure that no sensitive information related to the war effort was shared inadvertently or otherwise.
But one of Lester's letters home, apparently transported outside the military mail system, broke those rules so that he could reassure his mother. We have no idea exactly how it got home to Iowa, but here's the text:
Bastia, Corsica
May 12, 1944
Dear Mother,
I have a chance to send you a letter telling you a few things I couldn't say in my other letters. It's just a way of telling you how I am really getting along over here. I guess you know I am still working in the parachute department. Our work is easy as well as very clean; We usually get a building so we can keep things as clean as possible.
We do not jump in parachutes. Just repack them once a month and repair them if needed. A lot of our chutes have been used and have always worked fine. We do not have an officer in charge of us. Just the five of us. We are quite a bit our own boss, which we like fine. Out of the nineteen months we have been over, we have been with our outfit six months; in other words we have been on detached service a lot which is very nice for we get out of a lot of work being away from the squadron and our officers.
At present we are set up in town close to the Red Cross where we get ice cream, coffee, and sandwiches. We are also close to several of the movies in town. I think I have a pretty nice job anyway. I don't know of one I would like better even if I am a private and only draw $60 a month.
I guess you worry all the time about me. Well this isn't necessary for we are always a long way from the fighting. We have to be to operate successfully. Our only danger is air raids, which don't usually amount to much. I have been in several; the longest one lasted an hour; this was at Bizerte (Tunisia). They only dropped a few bombs.
Some days we don't do anything a lot of the time --- We have about half a day's work so you see we aren't working too hard.
We stay in bed until they call us to breakfast; when we go back to the outfit we won't be so lucky through.
I don't have any idea when I will ever get home; when one does get there he stands a good chance of going to the Pacific which is one thing I sure don't want for I am sure we have it better over here. So I'm not complaining too much although it would be nice to get back for a while.
You might not get this for a long while, but guess it won't hurt just so you get it. Well this is about all I have to say for myself now, so take care of yourself and I will do the same.
Your loving son, Lester.
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