Bill Chapin tells of losing his right foot, but reassured his wife in this letter home.
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Letter from Bill Chapin

May 15, 1945
16th Fd. Hos.
U.S. Army
Linz, Austria

My Darling,

I hope, and feel almost sure, that I shall get home before this letter does, but thought I'd better write anyway in case of any delay.

Right now there are a few of us here in a hospital waiting for hospital airplanes to evacuate us to England. Probably right now you are worried about my condition after reading about the atrocities in Stalags. You may rest assured that I am not suffering from malnutrition, and don't look like the pictures you've seen. We had them too, but they were not Americans.

I don't know if any of my letters from prison reached you. After I was wounded the Germans amputated my right foot. Again I assure you that it was necessary, because it was practically off anyway. After you get over the initial shock you will come to realize that it is of very little consequence with the artificial limbs they give you now. There are plenty of us like that, (four in our little group) and our morale is very very high, I assure you. We baffle the doctors and they have a difficult time keeping us from crutching all over town here. I read, here, of a P.38 pilot, (P.W.) now playing major league baseball with a wooden leg, so judge for yourself. I shall have to have another operation on the leg when I get home, but that is normal.

Naturally I have enough to tell you to fill a book, and want to be with you when I do it, so I'll only give you the barest details here. In short, it was dammed rough, but as you can see by the way they treated there political prisoners & civilian prisoners it could have been a thousand times worse. I expect it's been just as bad for you, what with worrying, but it's all over now.

I was shot down in lower Yugoslavia over a disgustingly easy target. (I volunteered for the mission, in fact argued to get on it, it was no easy!). Then I took part in the German evacuation from Greece through Yugoslavia, considerably harassed by partisans, our fighters and bombers. Finally arrived at a P.O.W. camp at Krems, Austria, on the Danube, about 70 kilometers from Vienna. Most of the Americans there were 8th A.F. enlisted men, some with 2 years PW service. We were liberated by the Red Army after the capitulation, on May 10th. The Jerries didn't lay down their weapons. One of my greatest moments was waking up one morning and watching Soviet artillery roll up to the camp. The Jerries had withdrawn under fire the night before. I think we were the last Americans to be liberated in Europe, about 140 of us. A greater moment will be when I see you again, my darling, and it won't be long. So cheer up and don't worry about me. I'm alive and very much kicking.

Love,
Bill

Letter and Photo Credit: Bill Chapin