Volume 11 , Issue 28

Looking Back ... WWII & Uncle Bob McGill

What did our ancestors do during the World War II (WWII) years? What did your parents, grandparents and G-Grandparents do? Where were they stationed? How did it affect their lives and that of your family?

I have a little woven, wooden basket that Uncle Bob McGill brought back from overseas during his tenure overseas in WWII. This little woven basket is where I used to keep Uncle Bob's WWII items, such as dog tags, v-mail and other items together. NOW ... I keep them in a cedar chest.

Reading thru my Uncle Bob's letters, V-mail, etc. concerning WWII has shed some light into an uncle I barely knew. As I have said earlier, "I was only about five years old when Uncle Bob died February 21, 1954 at the age 38 of lung cancer."

We have come along way from Air-mail - V-mail - Snail-mail - E-mail. What else will there be? Here is just a few of those V-mails and info on the 193rd Tank Bn. that we have run across.

193rd Tank Bn.

V-Mail Oct 1942

V-Mail May 1945

Friends have helped me as I scoured the web online looking for military information concerning my father's younger brother's, Robt. L. McGill, outfit in WWII.

From some V-mails dating back to Oct. 21, 1942 we know that Robert was a Lt. with the 193 Tank Bn, APO 957, Hawaiian Islands for a short time. The 193 Tank Bn. was a light infantry unit at Ft. Benning, GA, in the 1st Tank Group of the Armored Force with General HQ at Fort Knox Kentucky. Uncle Bob's Timeline of WWII experience shows that on 19 May 1945, Maj. Robert L. McGill was with the 75 Div. HQ, APO 451, stationed in Germany. Bob writes back home, "I'm as happy as you must be that the war is all over. Maybe living will be a little more pleasant for lots of people now. I can certainly admit that it was a great surprise to me when it did end. Although I knew it was only a matter of months because I'm certainly convinced by now that nothing can stop the American army, air corps, navy or marines."

In a 14 August 1945 V-mail Robt. L. McGill is in Paris, France.

There are still a lot of unanswered questions, but from bits and pieces of my Grandmother's letters, Bob's letters to his wife and others -- It seems to me that by 1945 he was homesick for his mother's cooking and his new bride that he left on the USA shores and in his mother's home.

This next letter is from Uncle Bob's WWII Time Line, dated 9 Sept. 1945 and listed as Maj. R. L. McGill, 75 Div HQ APO 451 in Chalon, France. He was ready to come home. Wanting his mother to stock up that "Larder" (food storage) because he would be calling her soon. He had been in school over in France and graduated from a French class (or school) with a "B." Bob says, "...I hardly know anything but the army and I've learned all I want to of that. Harold Vinson can certainly have my share. I'll bet he's sick of it himself."

It seems to this NW Okie that Uncle Bob was really wanting to settled down at home in the USA and have a family like his older brother (Gene, my Dad). Of course, he never lived long enough to have any children in all his 38 years of life. I'm not sure when he was diagnosed with lung cancer. If it was before he and his first wife (Helen Soper) got divorced June, 1948 or after. There are lots of unanswered questions and missing pieces of the Uncle Bob puzzle.

Helen and Bob were both young in 1944 when they got married just before he went overseas to war. Bob was shipped all over the USA for military training from '40-'44 before he went overseas in late 1944.

He was married to his second wife (Felicia Monfort) from 1950 to 1954 when he died 21 February 1954. Felicia was just beginning her intern as a Doctor when they got married 21st June 1950.

WRFRTU(PR) G-116-26 and G-116-28 Grand Liaison Officers -- These are a couple of photos of Uncle Robert McGill with some other Ground Liaison Officers. If anyone in these photos seem familar ... or if anyone knows what "WRFRTU (PR)" stands for, feel free to FWD this portion to others who might know. I'm always looking for answers to unidentifiable pics and unanswerable questions.

Here is another WWII letter dated 13 June 1945 to his mother when he was a Maj. stationed in Chalon and Marne, France.

28 April 1940 We find Uncle Bob was still in school at Kentucky Univ. and living in the SAE Fraternity. The excerpt from a letter postmarked 8 April 1940, from Constance McGill, 817 Maple, Alva, OK addressed to Bob Lee McGill, S.A.E, Lexington, KY. tells us, ">Sunday P.M. ... How about this war. Looks bad. The old boy had something when he said we would be in it. You must be studying hard ... When is school out? What are your plans for summer, a trip to Europe?" This is Page-2.
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