37234941 Cpl. John F.
Jambrosic
Hopital de la Pitie
Boulevard de hospital
Paris, France
August
26, 1944
My
Darling Mark
Hello Sweetheart!
How
is everything in K.C.? I’m still in a Gay Paree hospital – but no more a
prisoner of the Jerries. The Yanks are in now. There’s some pretty cute French
nurses around here & I can’t speak French! We’ve been having champagne
since the Jerries left. They couldn’t evacuate all of us and I was lucky enough
to be left behind.
I
can get around now with crutches or a chair!
The
French people are really treating us royally. They can’t seem to do enough for
us. They’re really grateful.
I
wrote the folks a letter – I got to write two letters this time. I guess it
won’t be long before we’ll be able to write regularly!
How
is your Mother & Sisters & Dee Dee? Tell them all I said hello!
How
are you honey? Well I hope.
I
miss you like hell honey & still love you more every day!! Maybe it
won’t be too long before we’re together again honey! Then we can make up for
what we’ve missed. Looks as if I’ll have to close for now. Write Soon.
All
my Love Always, Johnny
Hope you can read this!!
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In a way, Johnny was very lucky. First, that he wasn't killed and that he was taken to Paris for medical treatment after he was injured; and second, that he was there only 4-5 weeks before Paris was liberated; and third, that his injuries were just severe enough that the Germans couldn't take him with them when they fled Paris to escape the Allies. If things had been any different, I would not be here today!
Sometimes at family get-togethers (and after a few drinks), Johnny
would tell the story of when he was liberated from the Germans at the hospital
in Paris.
While he was a prisoner of the Germans, the cute French
nurse he referred to in the letter would make a bee-line straight to his bunk,
walking right past all the other soldiers till she got to him.
He claimed he never noticed until one of the
other soldiers said “Just look! She’s
gonna go right back to Jambrosic!” And
she sure did! She apparently had a crush
on the handsome American soldier.
When the Allies were liberating Paris, the
French nurse was going to take Johnny home with her, if he could walk. He said if he could have walked and gone
home with her, he probably would have stayed in France
(despite his declarations of undying love for Mark in the letters). When his
tank was hit, his left thigh was split wide open, and even with crutches there
was no way he could walk across the hospital, let alone walk to the nurse’s
home. So, she had to leave him
there. In the end, it turned out to be a
good thing, because the Germans didn’t take him either. He was rescued by the Allies and shipped back
to England.
Otherwise, I’d be writing this in French!
Non?
I found this article on the internet. The liberation of Paris took place on August 25, the day before Johnny wrote this jubilant letter!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
25 August 1944
On Aug. 25, 1944, Allied and French Resistance forces entered Paris and
drove out the last significant Nazi opposition, liberating the city
after four years of Nazi occupation. “On all sides the liberating French
and Americans were greeted by hungry Parisians, mad with joy, who had
fought alone against the German oppressors since they were called to
arms last Saturday,” reported The Associated Press in an
article printed in The New York Times.
Read the full article here:
