Letters 1945 - I'MA COMING!

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I'MA COMING! I'MA COMING!

The 1944-45 letters go back and forth between Belgium, France and Germany.  Goodin's letters speak of "diving into trenches," learning to "jump into foxholes and under tombs, dogfights and mines to worry about, shelling and mosquitoes."  By September 1944, he is "Somewhere in Belgium."  He says the "Luftwaffe are dropping things all over the place."  He speaks of carnage and disturbing images.  By November 1944, he is back in France and writes "the war will be over by Christmas." 
A letter to Anne Carter dated January 18, 1945, states "things didn't go too well for my lads on Christmas Eve and we had more fireworks than I've ever had before on a Holiday season!"  In February 1945, Goodin tells his mother "there are no birds, no rabbits, no animals - nothing left but waste and destruction - and armored vehicles and grim men who ride in them."
In August 1945, he tells his mother to "get the fatted calf ready because he is coming home!"  Goodin is quoting his mother in an earlier letter she wrote to him in May 1937, when she was planning to visit him at college in Virginia, when she told him "I'ma coming!"  
The 3rd Armored Spearhead Division, whose motto was "Victory or Death" had 231 days of combat in World War II, with a total of 2,540 killed, 7,331 wounded, 95 missing, and 139 captured.  Total battle and non-battle casualties came to 16,122.  The 3rd Armored Division lost more tanks in combat than any other U. S. division.  (military.wikia.org)

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Transcriptions of Select Letters from the John Goodin Papers (1945)

Letters 1945 - I'MA COMING!