A Guide to the Charles Engelbrecht Letters, 1943-1946
A Collection in
Special Collections
The University of Virginia Library
Accession Number 12077
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Administrative Information
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See the University of Virginia Library’s use policy.
Preferred Citation
Charles Engelbrecht Letters, Accession #12077, Special Collections, University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Va.
Acquisition Information
This collection was purchased from Gene Van Winkle, 205 N. Washington, McLeansboro, IL. 62859 by Library on October 10, 2001.
Biographical/Historical Information
Charles Engelbrecht (nicknamed Chut) lived in the Bronx, New York when he joined the service and became a sailor at the Naval Air Station in Norfolk, Virginia. He worked as a clerk in a clothing and supply store for the Navy Small Stores. He writes of his desire to be shipped into action but the Waves (his officers) at the store are successful in keeping him out of any action for the entire two and a half years of his duty. It is not clear if the Waves were trying to protect him or if they could not spare him due to the quality of his work. Whenever orders came for him to be moved out, they fought for him to stay. He continued to work at the store, moving cartons of supplies and requisitioning orders while his friends and other soldiers in the barracks are shipped overseas.
The other letters are written by Margie Kratzer's maternal uncles: Ernie [Emil] Egerter, Willie Egerter, Henry Egerter and Fred Egerter who were in the service. After the end of the war Margie's Uncle Emil who served in the Philippines dies.
The letters reveal that Charles has a good relationship with Margie's family and one letter suggests that Margie's mother may suffer from alcoholism. Margie's father and grandmother are mentioned in the letters but only in vague references. The letters reveal that the family lived in a bad neighborhood in Harlem where there were sometimes acts of violence, even murder.
Scope and Content
This collection of 3 hollinger boxes, 1.5 linear feet, and 531 items contains the correspondence (1943-1946) of a young sailor from World War II, Charles Engelbrecht to his girlfriend, Margie Kratzer, of New York while he is posted at the Naval Air Station in Norfolk, Virginia. There are also letters (1935-1942; 1945-1946) from the uncles of Margie Kratzer: Ernie (Emil) Egerter, William (Willie) Egerter, Henry Egerter and Fred Egerter who are also in the service during the war. There are also letters from another young man in the service, James S. Connolly who claims to be in love with Margie.
The correspondence describes the loneliness and displacement of a nineteen year old American boy from the Bronx and the impact of the war on his relationship with his girlfriend. The letters also describe political events, war news and American views on the war. There is also some racial bias expressed in the letters, particularly from the uncles of Margie Kratzer.
Some of the war references in the letters mention military ships and aircraft carriers such as the U.S.S. Boxer, the cruiser U.S.S. Philadelphia, and the aircraft carriers U.S.S. Block Island and U.S.S. Franklin. There are also references to the Sea Bees.
There is also a pornographic story titled "My Trip to the Country."
There is a collection of photographs and negatives of Margie Kratzer, Charles Englebrecht and their friends.
There is printed material from the Navy which is enclosed with the letters and is titled NAS Dope Sheet . There is also a booklet from the Naval Training Center and miscellaneous poems and postcards and a war memorandum about the Manhattan Engineer District Project.
Arrangement
The correspondence is arranged chronologically with most of the printed materials and photographs at the end of the collection. The NAS Dope Sheet newsletters and some photographs are enclosed with the letters, particularly if they are mentioned in the letters.
Contents List
Uncle Henry, Uncle Ernie Egerter (nicknamed Unk Tayboo or Emil), Private William Zachman (Willy), and mostly from Charles Engelbrecht (Chut).
Includes NAS Dope Sheet September 20, 1943.
Includes a Thanksgiving menu November 25, 1943.
Includes a typed Christmas message on an invoice from the Waves to Charles Engelbrecht and his coworker [McVickee].
March 6, 1944 Charles Engelbrecht writes that he heard on the radio that "we lost 68 bombers over Germany." Includes NAS Dope Sheet March 21, 1944 and March 28, 1944.
Includes NAS Dope Sheet April 11, 1944, and April 16, 1944.
On May 22, 1944 Charles Engelbrecht writes, "The reason I don't like the Coast Guard, Margie, is because I found out that guys that join the 'Jewish Navy' (that's what they're called) only join because they know that they'll go up & down the coast & never go out!" He also writes, "I can't see why you don't like the Merchant Marine, because those guys have got guts."
On May 23, 1944 he mentions the racial tensions among the service men when he writes, "That's about the 3rd fight between a black & a white in about the last week & a half."
On June 3, 1944 Charles Engelbrecht writes, "There are some stories going on around the barrack here that the allied troops have landed in France."
On June 17, 1944 Charles Engelbrecht writes, ">...some survivors off the aircraft carrier Block Island came up to get some gear, being they lost all of theirs when she was sunk."
Charles Engelbrecht writes about getting a letter with news of the war from his friend who used to work with him in the store, "he told me that he's in Itlay (sic), he also talked about the second invasion of France (Southern France) & he said that he added another start to his campaign ribbon, so I guess he was in on the no. 2 invasion."
Charles Engelbrecht writes to Margie that he received a letter from his friend, Tommy McDonnell, asking Chut to find out about the USS Boxer because Tommy is being transferred from the Ranger to this new ship. On October 7, 1944 Charles writes to Margie that the USS Boxer is being built in Norfolk. (The letter from Tommy McDonnell is enclosed.)
On November 1, 1944 Charles Engelbrecht writes to Margie, "I read in the paper today where Churchill expects Germany to last until June & Japan will last til 1946."
On November 8, 1944 Charles Engelbrecht writes to Margie, "...In the next election Roosevelt won't get in, as all the boys in my barracks here including myself (we'll be able to vote then) won't vote for him!!)"
On November 10, 1944 Charles Engelbrecht writes to Margie, "There was an American Aircraft Carrier & a British one, standing side by side, well Midge, what a difference there was in those two carriers as far as neatness & cleanliness goes-we've got it all over those limey's!! Don't think that I'm bragging about our Navy, because I imagine our Army has it all over theirs too.
On November 15, 1944 Charles Engelbrecht writes to Margie, "Ok, ok so Frankie (Roosevelt) is a good man but he's in there too damn long to suit me..."
On December 28, 1944 Charles Engelbrecht writes to Margie, "The news isn't too good over in Belgium but we'll pull out of it soon!!!"
On January 11, 1945 Charles Engelbrecht writes to Margie, "Things seem to be brightening up over in Europe again & I sure hope they keep going right on in to Berlin."
On January 13, 1945 Charles Engelbrecht writes to Margie, "Honey we might as well face the truth, Midge, when I do ship out, it will be the Pacific baby, as all the fighting in the Atlantic, is over." There is also a racial comment about Marge's friend dating a guy who is Jewish.
On April 24, 1945 Charles Engelbrecht writes to Margie, "Well honey, it sought [sic] of makes you feel good when you read the headlines, because maybe they will get Germany out of this war before the middle of May anyhow, & that will put 2 down (Italy & Germany) 1 to go ('the little bastards')"
On May 6, 1945 Charles Engelbrecht writes to Margie, "I wish they'd make up their minds on when V. E. Day is going to come, every day you hear something else."
On July 6, 1945 Henry Egerter writes to his niece Margie, "I am getting a little tired of these kraut people and their country." He also makes racial comments about Margie's neighborhood.
On August 8, 1945 Charles Engelbrecht writes to Margie, "As for other news, the Russians declaring war on Japan, was the most important news around here."
On August 13, 1945 Charles Engelbrecht writes to Margie, "Everyday that goes by it looks more & more, as if the Japs don't intend to accept our peace terms. If you ask me they're stalling for time, for some reason or other. I just don't trust those jap ... For some reason or other [sic] I just don't like this stalling process that they're pulling off- Maybe they've found an atomic bomb & are using this peace offer as a stall, in order to on it more..."
On August 16, 1945 Charles Engelbrecht writes to Margie, "A news bulletin just came over the radio that jap planes beat or I should say bombed the hell out of a task force of ours in the Pacific- just where is this peace that we're supposed to have u huh big joke!!! If you ask me darling & a few thousand of us guys, I'd just as soon see this war continue for another 2 years & really give thoes [sic] jap bastards a beating they'll never survive from."
On August 20, 1945 Willie Egerter writes to his niece Margie, "Now that it's all over they won't be sending any troops unless its just to occupy the Jap mainland & the Islands."
On September 8, 1945 Ernie [Emil] Egerter writes to his niece Margie, "All the important papers have been signed but there are a few of these slop headed Jap Generals in the jungles that can't believe that the great Sons of The Raising Sun have started something that they couldn't finish; but they will come out or starve to death and by God some of them are doing just that."
On October 17, 1945 Ernie [Emil] Egerter writes to his niece Margie about the strikes in New York, "I'm sorry to hear about all the strikes that you folks are having in New York."
On October 29, 1945 Charles Engelbrecht writes to Margie, "I don't know how true this is, hon, but I heard that Russia has given the U. S. just 30 days to withdraw our troops from Germany & Japan ...."
On October 31, 1945 James S. Connolly writes a letter to Margie with an enclosure of a photograph of a dead? Japanese soldier at Okinawa.