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The
Letter Home
We’ve all see it in the
movies where an Officer writes a gut
wrenching letter home. Here is what really
happens 99% of the time after a soldier is
killed in action.
On March 24, 1945
Private First Class Remine E. Sizemore is
killed shortly after
landing near Wesel,
Germany. A letter home was written April
10, 1945. The commanding officer Colonel
Raff signature appears at the end of the
letter. What is written in the letter is
true with this type of detail but a
Parachute Regiment commander wouldn’t have
time for that most of the time.
The letter home isn’t
sent to the family (in this case a brother)
until February 9, 1946. In the letter it
talks of what happened to him. The odds
that the Colonel Raff wrote this letter was
slim. Most likely Raff’s staff will reach
out to an officer or non-com if they had
gotten information about the death of a 507th
soldier.
In this case there were an officer and a
non-com who jumped right behind Private
First Class Remine E. Sizemore and saw what
happened on the jump. Was it completely
correct? They would never write home to a
family or friend saying that a soldier died
a horrific death.
The officer and non-com
were 1st Lt William B. Kerrick
and First Sergeant John L. Walenga in
Service Company. They would have written it
up and sent it ahead to Raff’s staff. It
was then typed up and his ASN and name with
a few detains in the letter and the
signature from the commanding officer.
Mostly true? Yes and
it would help a family process what had
happened the day he was killed.
Hope this gives a
little more insight into what happens when a
soldier is killed in combat.
Brian N. Siddall
March 2, 2025 |
