World War II Documents

A couple months ago my step-dad acquired a bunch of stuff from an estate sale. There were lots of postcards, some hand painted from Italy and others more "recent" like this one from 1972 Iowa. There were also quite a few antique photos from the early 1900s, most of which are creepy! But what really caught my eye was a bunch of WWII era documents.

Unfortunately, I don't have any context for these things but I thought they were pretty cool and wanted to share them. It's one thing to read about history but I enjoy reading and handling things like old newspaper clippings which are physical parts of history.

You can click on images to see them bigger and/or browse them on Flickr.

The majority (and possibly even all) of these items are from 1945. The below letter was sent by Pvt. Charles Rochette who was assigned to the 38th Armored Infantry Battalion (AIB). Taunton is my home town.

It's just a soldier writing home to his wife and recently born daughter. The last part is what really paints a picture for me where he talks about being out on patrol, gathering fire wood and then making some coffee to have with a fruit cake.

I wasn't sure if the remaining items were tied to Pvt. Rochette because they're from the 7th Armored Division ("Lucky Seventh") and he's in the 38th AIB. (I  have no idea how military hierarchy works!) But I did learn me something after some Wiki exploration!
The 38th Armored Infantry Battalion was part of the 7th Armored Division, a-ha!

Here's a flyer from a salon in Aywaille Belgium.
Shave and a haircut, 27 cents!

The 7th Armored participated in the Battle of St. Vith which was part of the Battle of the Bulge. These are all cut out from newspapers at the time. Not much of interest on the backs.

Here's a typewritten account of troop movements. Unsure if it was written by Rochette.

Lastly, here's the equivalent of the company newsletter for the 7th. One side is world news, the other specifically about what's going on with the 7th.