Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Use Restrictions

See the University of Virginia Library’s use policy.

Preferred Citation

Dr. Charles Fox Papers, 1943-1945, Accession #11073, Special Collections Dept., University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Va.

Acquisition Information

These letters were purchased by the Library from Charles Apfelbaum, Valley Stream, New York, on January 4, 1993.

Scope and Content Information

This collection consists of ca. 160 items, 1943-1945, chiefly the letters from Captain Charles G. Fox, Jr., originally of Shawyer's Mill, Virginia, to his wife Claudyne [Worley ?] Fox, while serving in the Medical Corps in the United States, Great Britain, France, Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands. Charles Fox, Jr., took his final medical exams at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, during September 1943 and looked forward to his own medical practice at the end of the war. These deeply personal letters illustrate clearly how much World War II affected the personal lives of many American families, especially the "war marriages" that occurred during those uncertain years. Charles G. Fox, Jr. ([1915 ?] - ?) and Claudyne [Worley ?] were married on October 27, 1942, and Fox requested not to be called to active duty prior to August 15, 1943, because they were expecting their first child, Charlyne, at the end of July. Their second child, Gary, was born on March 5, 1945, while Charles Fox was serving in the 320th Medical Battalion in Europe. Many of his letters mention his pain at being separated from his growing family and new wife at the beginning of their life together. Others discuss all the everyday difficulties with communication, money, repairs, business matters, payments, etc. that occurred because families were separated during wartime.

Other correspondents include: Lt. George M. Pride to Claudyne Fox (1944 May 21 & 1945 Apr 13); Claudyne's sister-in-law, Madge Worley, Queensland, Australia, to Claudyne, about her marriage to Wilbert Worley and her desire to meet the other sisters, Virginia and Lucille (1944 Sep 10); Wilbert P. Worley, 91st Repl. Battalion, to his sister Virginia, about his new wife (1944 Nov 9); a friend, Janice O. Evans, to Claudyne (1944 Nov 16); cousin Mamie Gibson to Claudyne (1945 Feb 4); a Christmas card, 1944, from Mr. & Mrs. T.J. Higginbotham to Claudyne; Charlie Fox to his sister-in-law, Virginia, about the birth of his son (1945 Mar 16); and a telegram from Virginia to Charlie notifying him about his wife's ruptured disk (1945 Sep 25).

The letters from Charlie to Claudyne began in July 1944 when he left for his post with Company "C" 320th Medical Battalion, Indiantown Gap, Military Reservation, Pennsylvania, on July 22, 1944, and Claudyne and her daughter Charlyne, returned to Richmond, Virginia. Fox left the Boston harbor on August 6, 1944, on the Mariposa, a former luxury liner, reached the coast of Scotland on the twelfth, and stopped at Liverpool. He then traveled across England to Winchester by train.

LETTERS OF 1944

Topics of discussion in Charlie Fox's 1944 letters include: his departure for active duty (Jul 22); the uncertainty of their lives and his inability to make plans during the war (Aug 2); life on board the ship crossing to England (Aug 6-12); in England, a discussion about communication, a woman's role as mother, officers frequently breaking censorship rules (Aug 16); an English pub (Aug 17); the movie Gone With the Wind (Aug 22); the prevalence of veneral disease in the armed forces and marital cheating (Aug 25); and the absence of coca-cola in England and pubs crowded with soldiers drinking warm beer (Aug 27).

Additional subjects include: the types of English cars (Sep 1); a tour of London, visit to officer's club, English trains and taxis (Sep 4); the thefts of valuable items from the officer's shipping box (Sep 5); in France (Sep 9); complaints that the French pick up most of the souvenirs of the war, mentioning a French boy with a complete American uniform driving cows out of the pasture to prevent soldiers from milking them, a description of his bath out of a heated helmet full of water interrupted by the appearance of two French women, his discomfort at standing around with soap all over his body in his overcoat until they left the area, and general difficulties with cleanliness and baths (Sep 15); French locals asking him for minor medical treatment (Sep 19); finding bed springs which Fox liberated from an abandoned German camp and brought back to the dispensary (Sep 20-21); and dinner at a French officer's home, trouble communicating with the French and medical practice on the French (Sep 26).

Other topics are: his request for a 6 volt auto radio or headphones for a crystal radio (Oct 4); food sent to soldiers from home often wasted (Oct 6); the improvised operating light, the unfaithfulness of some of the soldiers on the battlefield in his battalion, and the hunger of the men for letters from home (Oct 20); his work as a military censor (Oct 24); his memories of their wedding two years ago (Oct 27); a list of places he has visited in France, and comments about French women and culture [1944 Oct ?]; mention of the presidential election and belief that Franklin D. Roosevelt will win again (Nov 7); new living quarters in a small Catholic hospital taken over by the U.S. Army (Nov 10); a mention that he was with "Blood and Guts" Patton in the U.S. Third Army during the Battle of Metz, Germany (Nov 16); a discussion of the various places he has lived during the war, the numerous casualties from Metz, and his photographs taken on captured German film (Nov 27); listening to a German radio station with his crystal set and a mention of General George S. Patton's (1885-1945) ivory-handled 45 caliber pistols (Dec 11); crossing the Saar River, the casualties, mentally affected soldiers, laundry done for the first time in two months, dressing up like a pirate and assembling musical instruments for an impromptu concert to help keep up the morale of the men (Dec 15); Patton's Christmas card to all of the soldiers in the Third Army, continuous artillery shelling (Dec 24); and a reference to the Battle of the Bulge and the detrimental effect of the German counter-offensive on his morale (Dec 26).

LETTERS OF 1945

Subjects in these letters include: helping themselves to the coal in the basements of the buildings because all the civilians have left the town they are in (Jan 8); return to France for a rest, the halting of the German offensive and the mention of the Soviets on the Eastern Front (Jan 12); movies and a description of a U.S.O. show (Jan 16); the rapid advance of the Soviets against the Germans (Jan 21); Fox now in Belgium, the Soviets now only 95 miles from Berlin (Jan 31); Fox was with the 95th [Infantry ?] Battalion when it took Metz and Saarlantern (Feb 3); mentions windmills while in Holland (Feb 18); and complains about the amount of junk shipped to soldiers from home which takes up room for supplies and ammunition (Feb 22).

Other subjects include: the radio report of the crossing of the Rhine by the 1st Army in force (Mar 9); the birth of his son Gary and mention that he was with the 9th Army, 95th Infantry Division, in the final phase of the Rhineland Battle, driving with the Second Armored Division to the Rhine River in the Duisberg area (Mar 14); his transfer to "A" Company (Mar 16); a description of a concert by Lilly Pons (1904- 1976) with her husband Andre Kostelanetz (1901-1980) (Mar 18); a three day pass to Brussells and his stay at a hotel made into a leave center for American officers, and the prices of wine and women in Brussells (Mar 24); unable to write because he was with the 9th Army which cut off 150,000 German troops from the Ruhr Valley (Apr 4); the massive surrender by Germans, many marching to the rear lines unguarded, mention of liberated Jews used by the Germans as slave labor and their fear of a German return to the city (Apr 5); his work on a light plant that could be towed on a trailer behind an ambulance or jeep (Apr 11); the 9th Army only seventy miles from Berlin (Apr 12); a ride for 200 miles to check on about a dozen captured German hospitals staffed by German doctors as prisoners kept to take of the German wounded (Apr 18); and the rumor that the British controlled Bremen except for the dock area, improvement in the time it takes for him to receive mail, and the worn-out condition of his clothing after two years (Apr 26).

Other items mentioned include: the seeming reluctance of the French prisoners to leave their German captivity, a reference to the deaths of F.D. Roosevelt and Benito Mussolini, and rumors about the death of Adolph Hitler (May 1); his joy at the news of V-E Day beginning on May 8th and disappointment that he could not celebrate with his wife in the United States, and his appropriation of a German house in Werl, Germany for his quarters (May 7-8); warning to his wife not to expect a rapid return home as it will take some time to ship 5 or 6 million men overseas (May 9); an explanation of the point system to determine who goes home first, and a visit to the [Berlin ?] Zoo (May 10); busy day doing physical examinations on American soldiers to see if any deserved a medical discharge, and his concern over the fraternization of American soldiers with German women (May 12); his itinerary when he left the Boston harbor for Europe (May 13); presently in Recklehausen near Essen, close to the Rhine; at Easter he was at the Wesel River and participated in the movement to seal off the Ruhr pocket (May 16); the general uncertainty about whether his battalion will stay to occupy Germany, go home or go on to fight the Japanese, mentioned in each letter written since Germany's surrender (May 19); observations of three court-martials for fraternizations with German women which all resulted in acquittals, complaints about people who try to produce various ailments so they can go home and avoid the Japanese theater (May 20); his German souvenirs (May 22); according to The Stars and Stripes, his battalion will be coming home in June and his remaining letters speak mainly of his longing to be home with his family (May 24-June 12); on the coast of France waiting for a ship to sail for the United States (Jun 17); last letter from France (Jun 19); and in Mississippi after a leave at home, hopes the Japanese will surrender soon after the atomic bomb attacks (Aug 10).

Miscellaneous material includes: Fox's request not to be called to active duty until the birth of his first child (1943); his authorization for the purchase of war savings bonds (Aug 1943); special order #53 granting leave for three days effective on June 25, 1944, Headquarters 320th Medical Battalion; and Army Service Forces, Third Service Command, Fort George C. Meade, Maryland, Special Orders # 214 (1945 Aug 2).