Letters from a soldier in the 879th Airborne Engineers

When I came across these letters it was a great addition to the limited available information on the 879th Airborne Engineers who were born at Westover Field, Mass.

The letters are simple letters from a soldier to his uncle back home who served in an earlier war. He writes of nothing in particular, but gives us clues as to what it was like to be there while he was thinking mostly of getting home to his family and his girl.

The 879th recieved training in Lauinburg Maxton Army Air Base in Maxton, North Carolina, then shipped overseas and service in the CBI (China Burma India) , the Pacific theatre of the war. These men spent time in Egypt, India, Burma and dealt with malaria, monsoons, and mud. Their mission to build air strips.

I have also found some other letters, postcards, photos from others in his extended family, dating from the late 1800's which will be displayed here.

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

From Westover Field Sept 11, 1943

Written September 11, 1943 at Westover Field.
As the 881st Engineers formed a battalion and prepares to go to California.  "Did you hear about that flyer that was lost up here after his plane crashed.  When he jumped, he lost a leg from the plane hitting him.  That was 2 or 3 weeks ago.  They found him yesterday, sitting beside a tree. To think that he lived all that time & died before they could find him.  He climbed out of his chute, put his gooves over his stump of a leg & sat beside the tree waiting for help."





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