Guest Post by Mark LaPointe as part of my Stories of the Greatest Generation series.
My grandfather was William Gerard Aubut. He was born and raised in Tewksbury, Massachusetts. He was a Sergeant with the 119th Infantry Regiment of the 30th Infantry Division, known as Old Hickory . He set foot in England in September, 1944 and made his way to Germany from there, fighting his way through places such as Aachen, Wurselen, Stumont, Malmedy, the Ardennes forest during The Battle of the Bulge and finally, to Selgersdorf, Germany, where he was killed in action during Operation Grenade after having crossed the Roer River under intense enemy fire during the early morning hours of February 23rd, 1945.
He left behind his wife Doris and his three year old daughter, Donna. Donna Aubut LaPointe is my mother.
He also left behind all of the letters that he had written home during his 6 months overseas.
In 1950, when my mother was 8 years old, my grandmother re-married. Her new husband would move her and his new step-daughter into a modest home here in Amesbury. Once settled in their new home, he repeatedly insisted that all of my grandfather’s things be thrown away, including the letters that he had written. He did not want to “compete with a ghost”, as he would put it. There was also never to be any mention of my grandfather in that home, except for my grandmother telling my mother that her father had been killed by a German in World War Two. That is all my mother would grow up knowing about her father.
One day, when her new husband returned home from work, my grandmother told him that she had done what he had asked and thrown away all of William’s things.
That was not entirely true. Unable to part with the letters, she hid them in a small box beneath a floorboard in the attic of that home on Haverhill Road, where they remained her secret for more than 30 years.
My grandmother passed away in that home in March of 1981. Before she died, she disclosed her well-guarded secret to my mother and instructed her as to where the letters could be found.
My mother would spend the final days of my grandmother’s life reading each of those the letters to her. This would also provide my mother with the opportunity to get to know her father for the first time. My grandfather would write to his wife and his daughter a total of 120 times from the European Theater of Operations, the last of which was written and sent off on the day before he would be killed in action.
February 22nd , 1945
“My darling beloved Wife,
I am very happy to say that I received five letters from you last nite and I was so very happy to hear from you. I feel so bad dear that you are not receiving my mail. I sure hope you have received some by now. I’ll bet Donna sure is happy with all the snow. She can have some fun with her sled.
Well dear there isn’t much I can do in my spare time. I usually write letters when I have any spare time. I don’t need anything right now dear. I hope you and my darling daughter are okay. I love you both and miss you so very much.
I sure hope this all ends soon. I will be so glad when I can come home to you. Gee dear, won’t it be swell when we can live a normal life again?
Please, try not to worry about getting any telegrams”.
My grandmother would receive two telegrams. The first would arrive on March 6th, 1945 stating that her husband was Missing in Action. The second would arrive eight days later on March 14th informing her that he had in fact been Killed in Action on February 23rd, 1945 He was 27 years old.
My grandfather, Sgt William Aubut is laid to rest in the American Military Cemetery in Margraten, the Netherlands. He can be found in Plot D, Row 7, Grave 8 , surrounded by 8,300 brothers in arms, each of whom have a story of their own.
Every one of those 8,301 graves has been adopted by a Dutch citizen or family, and there is a waiting list to ensure that there is never a gap in this perpetuation of gratitude. My grandfather’s grave has remained in the care of the Van den Broek family since 1945, beginning with Mr Johanne Van den Brock. These Dutch citizens like William’s current adopter, Johanne’s daughter Jacquelene, faithfully pay tribute to their adopted soldier, visiting on special occasions such as a birthday, wedding anniversary, and holidays including Christmas, Easter and our Memorial Day, leaving flowers at the grave. In this way, these American boys who gave their lives for the freedom of the people of the Netherlands will never be forgotten. In 1952, Mr and Mrs Van den Brock had a son. They named him William. In honor of my grandfather.
While I never had the chance to know my grandfather, It is important for me to keep his memory alive. Unexplainably, I have felt this way, even as a young boy. Why is it important for us to remember men like my grandfather ? It is because these “ordinary” men sacrificed everything so that others may be free. We owe them,… and the families that they left behind, that much.
It has been said that a man can never die so long as someone speaks his name. That we are only truly gone when we disappear from the memories of our family. That is why I continue to tell his story.
Guest Author Information
Mark LaPointe is a singer-songwriter, artist and World War II living historian. He was born and raised in Amesbury, Massachusetts. As a songwriter, he has performed throughout the United States and internationally, including the Netherlands where his grandfather is laid to rest. He currently resides in Exeter, NH.
Connect with Mark through the Facebook Group Somewhere in Germany. Learn more about Mark’s book, Somewhere in Germany, and pick up a copy today!
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