Louis Albrecht Letter to the Buslees
Almost four months since the B-17’s of the Buslee and Brodie crews of the 384th Bomb Group collided over Magdeburg, Germany, the father of David Franklin Albrecht, co-pilot of the Buslee crew, wrote a letter to Jay Buslee’s (the pilot’s) parents. The boys were still considered Missing in Action.
January 22, 1945
(Letter incorrectly dated December 22, 1945)
Congregational Church
Scribner, Nebr.
Louis M. Albrecht, PastorMr. John Buslee
Park Ridge, Illinois.Dear Friends: We appreciate your letters and interest and wish to thank you. I am enclosing a copy of a circular letter which we sent to a number of our friends. There is very little to add. We are anxiously waiting every day for more news.
Pat [David Albrect’s wife Patricia] has had her baby girl now. She is getting along real well. Since her folks are working that leaves her with the house work and she seems to be very busy. She plans to come out to be with us soon.
Our second boy had a very narrow escape. A machine gun was turned onto his buddy and himself. His buddy was killed. Junior received some scalp wounds. The last letter was written Jan. 8. He doesn’t expect to get to the front line till spring. We hope and pray that the war may be over before he has to get into action.
We have also been writing to different members of the families of our boys crew. The news and response was similar to that which you received. We also hope with you for more and better news.
Sincerely yours,
Louis M. Albrecht
Mr. Albrecht included the circular letter,
Undated
(Enclosed Circular Letter)
Congregational Church
Scribner, Nebr.
Louis M. Albrecht, PastorDear Friends: As you can see by the heading we are now located at Scribner. Several factors entered to make moving advisable. This is a large town, a bigger field, and has more desirable school facilities. It seemed to be an advicable step from every viewpoint.
The people here are just wonderful, but that is nothing unusual, as we have always found excellent people wherever we were. We have had extremes of joys and sorrows during the past few months and found that friends from everywhere prayed for and sympathized with us. During the last three months we received in the neighborhood of three hundred lovely cards and messages of sympathy and good will. It is almost impossible to write a personal letter to all but we want you to know that we appreciate your kindnesses and thoughtfulness. We would enjoy a visit from you.
Our older son, David, has been missing since Sept 28 1944. We have not received any other information. He had been commended for meritorious service and had attained the rank of First Lieut. The younger boy, Louis Jr. through a series of bad breaks caused mostly by political bungling, was finally reverted to the infantry and went into active service in Holland and Germany. He was wounded while in action at the front in Germany on Dec. 1 and is now recuperating in England. He is probably back at the front by this time. He has been awarded the purple heart. Last letter written Dec. 26.
The rest of us are here; the girls in school and Mrs. A. and I are trying to do the pastoral work for this parish. This is a town of about one thousand, mixed nationalities but a majority of German descent. It is a beautiful town located on the Elkhorn River. The church and parsonage are side by side and the city park is just across the street to the east. The church had been re-decorated during the past year. New chancel and pews. We have a nice pipe organ and gas heat throughout. No coal to carry nor ashes to clean out. Just keep warm and pay the bills at the end of every month.
There have been quite a number of deaths this fall. Mostly older people. This town was hit by a terrific flood last June 11. It has almost fully recovered. The people set to work with a will and have re-built better than ever. The railroad to Dodge and beyond is almost ready for use.
We hope that this circular letter will partly compensate for the nice messages and cards we have received. May God’s blessings be with you and protect you and yours is our prayer.
Mr. and Mrs. Louis K. Albrecht and Girls.
The 1st Congregational Church of Scribner, Nebraska is today known as United Church of Christ. It is located at 614 Howard Street.
Thank you to John Dale Kielhofer, John Oliver (Jay) Buslee’s nephew, for sharing this family letter with me.
© Cindy Farrar Bryan and The Arrowhead Club, 2020
WWII Timeline – Fall 1945
I’m continuing my WWII Timeline series with a look at October – December 1945 in this post.
A Timeline of WWII, Fall 1945
October 24, 1945
The United Nations was “born,” formally coming into existence on this day when its charter was ratified by its five permanent members: the United States, Great Britain, France, China, and the Soviet Union.
Otto Frank received word that his daughters Anne and Margot died at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. Hermine “Miep” Gies, one of the Dutch citizens who hid the Frank family and four other Dutch Jews from the Nazis, gave him the diary written by Anne that she found in the annex after the family was arrested.
November 13, 1945
Free French leader General Charles de Gaulle was elected head of the provisional French government.
November 20, 1945
The best-known of the Nuremberg trials, the Trial of Major War Criminals, was held from November 20, 1945 to October 1, 1946. The former leaders of Hitler’s Third Reich on trial in Nuremberg, Germany included,
- Hermann Göring
- Rudolf Hess
- Joachim von Ribbentrop
- Wilhelm Keitel
- Ernst Kaltenbrunner
- Alfred Rosenberg
- Hans Frank
- Wilhelm Frick
- Julius Streicher
- Walther Funk
- Hjalmar Schacht
- Karl Dönitz
- Erich Raeder
- Baldur von Schirach
- Fritz Sauckel
- Alfred Jodl
- Franz von Papen
- Arthur Seyss-Inquart
- Albert Speer
- Konstantin von Neurath
- Hans Fritzsche
The trial was conducted by a joint United States-British-French-Soviet military tribunal, with each nation supplying two judges.
The four counts in the indictment were:
- Count 1 – Conspiracy to commit crimes alleged in the next three counts
- Count 2 – Crimes Against Peace, including planning, preparing, starting, or waging aggressive war
- Count 3 – War Crimes, including violations of laws or customs of war
- Count 4 – Crimes Against Humanity, including murder, extermination, enslavement, persecution on political or racial grounds, involuntary deportment, and inhumane acts against civilian populations
The History Place reports that,
The majority of the defendants claimed they were unknowing pawns of Adolf Hitler or were simply following orders. Evidence used against the defendants included Nazi propaganda films and extensive Nazi paperwork documenting mass murder and other crimes. Also shown were films taken by the Allies after the liberation of extermination camps.
For more detail about the trial, follow the link below in Sources.
December 9, 1945
General George S. Patton broke his neck in a car accident near Mannheim, Germany. The accident left him paralyzed from the neck down.
December 21, 1945
General Patton died in a hospital in Luxemburg from injuries he sustained in the December 9 car crash.
December 22, 1945
Britain and the U.S. formally recognized the new government of Josip Broz Tito’s Yugoslavia.
U.S. President Harry S. Truman issued an executive order known as the “Truman Directive,” which gave preference to displaced persons for immigrant visas under existing U.S. immigration quota restrictions. Overall immigration into the United States did not increase but more displaced persons were admitted than before. About 22,950 displaced persons, of whom two-thirds were Jewish, entered the United States between December 22, 1945 and 1947 under provisions of the Truman Directive.
Sources:
This series of posts is based on a compilation of timelines from:
The History Place:
The National WWII Museum Interactive Timeline
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
World War II Chronicle by the Editors of Publications International, Ltd.
The History Place: Nuremberg War Crimes Trial
Most recent post from the series:
© Cindy Farrar Bryan and The Arrowhead Club, 2020
David Franklin Albrecht
David Franklin Albrecht, co-pilot of the Buslee crew, 384th Bomb Group
David Franklink Albrecht was born March 1, 1922 in Litchfield, Sherman County, Nebraska. His parents were Louis Michael Albrecht (1896 – 1969) and Minnie Jane Corder Albrecht (1895 – 1983). Louis’s heritage was German, Russian, and Polish. Louis’s father immigrated to America in 1873 as a child. Minnie’s family immigrated at some point prior to that as her parents were both born in the United States. Louis and Minnie were both born in Iowa.
According to the 1930 Federal census, Louis and Minnie Albrecht and their children lived in Newark Township, Kearney County, Nebraska. Louis, at 33 years old, was a high school teacher. Minnie, at 34, did not work outside the home. Their children were listed as son David F. (born in 1922, 8 years old), son Louis J. (born in 1924, 5 years old), and daughter Minnie M. (born in 1928, 2 years old). All of the children were born in Nebraska.
According to the 1940 Federal census, the Albrecht family lived in Hackberry Precinct, Polk County, Nebraska. The family’s last name was transcribed from the census record as Albracht rather than Albrecht, but the family members were the same, with everyone reported ten years older, but with the addition of another daughter, Lillian Lavon (5 years old and perhaps known as Bunny according to a newspaper article), also born in Nebraska. A middle name of Marie was recorded for daughter Minnie. Louis Sr. was a public school teacher. The 1940 census also noted that the family lived in the same home in 1935.
Although David’s father, Louis Albrecht, was listed in census records as a school teacher, he was identified as Reverend Louis M. Albrecht in the crew’s next-of-kin list and as Pastor of the Congregational Church of Scribner, Nebraska in the letterhead of the letter he sent to my grandmother in June 1945.
David Albrecht enlisted in the Army Air Corps on June 22, 1942. His Army serial number was initially assigned as 15125471, but once he completed pilot training and became an officer, his number changed to O-767423. His enlistment record also noted that his residence county/state was Gage County, Nebraska and he enlisted in Columbus, Ohio.
Although he enlisted on June 22, 1942, he received a deferred date of June 1943, one year from his enlistment. His nativity (the state in which he was born) was noted as Nebraska and the year of his birth as 1922. He had had three years of college as of his enlistment date.
On June 30, 1942, David registered for the draft in Marion, Marion County, Ohio. He listed his place of residence as Courtland, Gage County, Nebraska. He noted he was born on March 1, 1922 in Litchfield, Nebraska. The person he listed as the “person who will always know your address” was Rev. Louis M. Albrecht, Courtland, Nebraska. He listed his employer’s name as F. & Y. Construction Co. at RFD, Marion, Marion County, Ohio.
He listed his height as 5′ 8 1/2″, weight as 146 pounds, with blue eyes, blonde hair, and a light complexion.
David Franklin Albrecht married Patricia Hendrix of Chico, California on December 24, 1943 in Stockton, San Joaquin County, California at the First Congregational Church. She was born on September 20, 1926.
Patricia Hendrix Ross
David Albrecht was assigned to the John Oliver Buslee crew of the 544th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy) of the 384th Bombardment Group stationed in Grafton Underwood, England, per Army Air Forces Station 106 Special Orders #144 dated 22 July 1944. He flew his first of eighteen missions on August 4, 1944.
On September 28, 1944, David Franklin Albrecht was co-pilot aboard 43-37822 with the Buslee crew when it was involved in a mid-air collision coming off the target at Magdeburg. He was killed in the collision and is buried at the Netherlands American Cemetery and Memorial at Margraten in the Netherlands in Plot C, Row 2, Grave 11.
On December 8, 1944, Patricia Albrecht gave birth to her and David’s baby girl, still not knowing if her husband was dead or alive. She would not learn of his death until after the first of the next year.
Patricia remarried on April 7, 1947 to Albert Louis Ross in Chico, California and divorced him in March 1968. She died on December 10, 1991 at the age of 65 and is buried in Chico Cemetery, Chico, Butte County, California.
© Cindy Farrar Bryan and The Arrowhead Club, 2020
WWII Timeline – Summer 1945
I’m continuing my WWII Timeline series with a look at July – September 1945 in this post.
A Timeline of WWII, Summer 1945
July 1, 1945
American, British, and French troops moved into Berlin.
July 5, 1945
Liberation of the Philippines from Japanese rule was announced by General Douglas MacArthur.
July 10, 1945
One thousand bomber raids against Japan began.
July 13, 1945
Italy (formerly an Axis power) declared war on Japan.
July 14, 1945
The first U.S. Naval bombardment of the Japanese home islands began when US Navy warships attacked the Japanese cities of Kamaishi and Muroran.
July 16, 1945
The first atomic bomb was successfully tested in the U.S. when the first-ever nuclear bomb was detonated in New Mexico at the Alamogordo Test Range. The bomb, nicknamed “Gadget,” created a crater nearly 1,000 feet wide. The test, code-named the “Trinity” nuclear test, began the Atomic Age.
July 17 – August 2, 1945
The Potsdam Conference, the last of the WWII meetings held by the “Big Three” heads of state (American President Harry S. Truman, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and his successor, Clement Attlee, and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin) was held near Berlin. The conference established a Council of Foreign Ministers and a central Allied Control Council for administration of Germany. Talks primarily centered on the future of postwar Europe, but the “Big Three” also issued a declaration demanding “unconditional surrender” from Japan.
July 26, 1945
Clement Atlee of the Labour Party was elected British Prime Minister to succeed Conservative Winston Churchill.
The USS Indianapolis delivered components of the atomic bomb “Little Boy” at Tinian Island in the South Pacific.
July 28, 1945
A B-25 Mitchell bomber pilot became disoriented in heavy fog and crashed his aircraft into the Empire State Building in New York City. Although the accident did not compromise the building’s structural integrity, it caused fourteen deaths, three crewmen and eleven people in the building.
July 30, 1945
A Japanese submarine sank the Cruiser USS Indianapolis resulting in the loss of 881 crewmen. The ship sank before a radio message could be sent out leaving survivors adrift for two days. Only 316 onboard survived.
August 6, 1945
The United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan from a B-29 flown by Col. Paul Tibbets, killing as many as 140,000 people.
August 8, 1945
The Soviet Union declared war on Japan and invaded Manchuria.
August 9, 1945
The United States dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan from a B-29 flown by Maj. Charles Sweeney, killing as many as 80,000 people. Emperor Hirohito and Japanese Prime Minister Suzuki sought an immediate peace with the Allies.
August 14, 1945
Japan agreed to unconditional surrender. Some consider this date (August 15 in the UK because of time differences) as V-J (Victory over Japan) Day, but others consider September 2, when the surrender document was signed, to be V-J Day.
General Douglas MacArthur was appointed to head the occupation forces in Japan.
August 15, 1945
Some of the first child Holocaust survivors arrived in England from Europe.
August 16, 1945
General Jonathan M. Wainwright, a prisoner of war since May 6, 1942, was released from a POW camp in Manchuria.
Winston Churchill delivered an address in the British House of Commons stating,
…it is not impossible that tragedy on a prodigious scale is unfolding itself behind the iron curtain which at the moment divides Europe in twain.
August 27, 1945
B-29’s dropped supplies to Allied POWs in China.
August 29, 1945
The Soviets shot down a B-29 dropping supplies to POWs in Korea,
U.S. Troops landed near Tokyo to begin the occupation of Japan.
August 30, 1945
The British reoccupied Hong Kong.
September 2, 1945
President Harry S. Truman declared V-J (Victory over Japan) Day as Japan formally surrendered and signed a surrender agreement during a ceremony aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay, as one thousand aircraft carrier-based planes flew overhead, officially ending WWII.
September 3, 1945
General Tomoyuki Yamashita of the Imperial Japanese Army, commander in the Philippines, surrendered to General Jonathan Wainwright at Baguio.
September 4, 1945
Japanese troops on Wake Island surrendered.
September 5, 1945
The British landed in Singapore.
September 8, 1945
General Douglas MacArthur entered Tokyo.
September 9, 1945
The Japanese in Korea surrendered.
September 13, 1945
The Japanese in Burma surrendered.
September 25, 1945
The Nazi party was declared illegal in Germany.
Sources:
This series of posts is based on a compilation of timelines from:
The History Place:
The National WWII Museum Interactive Timeline
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
World War II Chronicle by the Editors of Publications International, Ltd.
Fold3 Blog Post: The 75th Anniversary of the Sinking of the USS Indianapolis
Most recent post from the series:
© Cindy Farrar Bryan and The Arrowhead Club, 2020
Robert Osler “Ozzie” Couch
Standing, back row, L to R: Ed, Bob Hunt (Janet’s first husband), Janet, Ozzie Couch (family friend), Carroll Jr.
Standing, middle, L to R: Martha, Dorothy (Dot) holding her daughter Phyllis, Raleigh, Carroll Sr.
Kneeling front: Bob, Gene, Beverly, Hugh Cobb (Dot’s husband), Denny (Dot’s son)
A couple of years ago, I published the above photo and wrote about the Farrar family in 1941. My dad, George Edwin Farrar, is standing on the far left.
I asked for help in identifying family friend Ozzie Couch, but did not turn up any leads. Still curious about this man who was apparently important enough to the family to earn a place in their family photo, I kept searching.
I just recently found Ozzie, or at least who Ozzie was, because I found that he’s been gone since 1984.
My dad’s youngest sister, my Aunt Beverly, is the one who identified him by name and told me a few things about him. Among those, Ozzie and Carroll Jr. (the Farrar’s oldest son) both worked at Rich’s Department Store in Atlanta, Georgia. Beverly remembered that Ozzie brought many gifts to the family including a variety of plants, Beverly’s first Persian cat, and a retired circus horse named Danny Boy that lived for a time in the garage. Ozzie was from North or South Carolina and served in WWII.
Unsure of the spelling of Ozzie’s last name (I had never seen it in writing), and wondering what formal name “Ozzie” stood for, I searched mainly for the first name “Oswald” and as many spelling variations of the last name “Couch” as I could think of. Google had a habit of showing me pictures of sofas when I Googled his last name with the spelling “Couch.”
I finally settled on searching Ancestry.com using his nickname “Ozzie Couch” and a birth year of 1915, thinking he was probably close in age to his friend Carroll, Jr. (who was born in 1916). I don’t know how, but after many unsuccessful searches, Ancestry finally turned up an “Osier Couch” in the 1942 Atlanta City Directory. The database actually contained a typo as he was listed in the directory with the correct spelling of his name “Osler.” I guess “Osler” preferred the nickname “Ozzie.”
Surprised as I was to finally find him, the bigger surprise was that his residence address in 1942 was listed as 79 E Lake Ter SE (East Lake Terrace), the Farrar family home. Along with parents Carroll Sr. and Raleigh, living in the home in 1942 were also G Edwin (my dad) and Robt B (Bob). I assume the younger children weren’t listed because of their ages. Carroll Jr. was not living there at the time as he had enlisted in WWII in 1941. Ozzie’s occupation was listed as Assistant Warden.
Once I had found Ozzie on Ancestry, census and other records revealed more information about him. I found that Ozzie was the oldest of the seven children of Dudley Spiegal (1890 – 1960) and Leila Ellison (1890 – 1975) Couch. Ozzie had five brothers and one sister. His parents and all the children were born in South Carolina.
In 1920, the family lived on a farm on North A Street in Easley, Pickens County, South Carolina. Ozzie’s father’s occupation was butcher. In 1930, his father had turned to the dairy business and his occupation was listed as dairyman of his own dairy.
In 1940, Ozzie was no longer living at home in Easley. When Ozzie filled out his military draft card on October 16, 1940, he listed his residence as 1428 Peachtree Street, NE, Atlanta, Fulton County, Georgia. According to that record, he was 5′ 10 1/2″ tall, weighed 157 pounds, had blue eyes, blonde hair, and a light complexion. The record also noted he was 29 years old, born on December 28, 1910 in Easley, South Carolina. His employer was the U.S. Penitentiary in Atlanta, Fulton County, Georgia. He listed his father, D.S. Couch living on North A Street in Easley, Pickens County, South Carolina as the person who would always know his address.
Ozzie’s friend, Carroll Farrar Jr., enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps on August 13, 1941. Ozzie enlisted in the Army the next year, on February 26, 1942, at Fort McPherson in Atlanta, Georgia. Even though the Atlanta City Directory showed him living on East Lake Terrace in 1942, Ozzie listed his residence as Pickens County, South Carolina on his enlistment record. He listed his education as four years of college.
I found a photo of Ozzie on Ancestry identified as obtained from the Fold3 website, with the original source being the 1943 WWII Yearbook of the Ninth Academic Group of Gulfport Field, Mississippi.
Robert Osler “Ozzie” Couch
Image from 1943 WWII Yearbook of the Ninth Academic Group of Gulfport Field, Mississippi
In the Gulfport yearbook, he was identified as a Second Lieutenant, Assistant Post Classification Officer. The yearbook describes the school as a technical school or more formally as the Army Air Forces Eastern Technical Training Command at Gulfport Field, Mississippi. I have been unable to determine how Ozzie spent the entirety of his WWII service other than that he was in the US Army Air Forces.
Aside from the war years, several years of Atlanta City Directory searches, both before and after his WWII service, resulted in Ozzie being listed as a warden or working at the Atlanta prison, or as a clerk, location unknown, but perhaps the location was Rich’s department store in downtown Atlanta where Carroll Jr. worked for a time.
Various years of Atlanta City Directory searches produced results of:
- 1938 and 1939 Atlanta City Directories – no listing for Ozzie. I believe he was still living at home in Easley, South Carolina.
- 1940 Atlanta City Directory – Robt O. Couch was an Assistant Jr Warden, Federal Prison. Residence, 1440 Lakewood Ave, SE.
- 1941 Atlanta City Directory – Osler Couch was a Clerk. Residence, 1428 Peachtree NE, Apt. A-7. He had moved to Peachtree Street by at least October 1940 according to his draft registration card.
- 1942 Atlanta City Directory – Osler Couch was an Asst Warden, Residence 79 E Lake Ter SE (the address of the Farrar home).
- 1943, 1944, and 1945 Atlanta City Directories – no listing for Ozzie, probably due to his WWII service including training in the states and possible overseas service.
- 1946 – no Atlanta city directory on Ancestry.com.
- 1947 Atlanta City Directory – Robt O. Couch was an Emp [employee?], US Penitentiary, Residence 964 Piedmont Avenue NE.
- 1950 Atlanta City Directory – Robt O. Couch was a Clerk, Residence 964 Piedmont Avenue NE.
- 1951, 1953, and 1960 Atlanta City Directories – no listing for Ozzie; he likely moved from Atlanta around 1950.
I found Ozzie in a few more photos in the family photo collection, one with his friend, my uncle, Carroll Farrar, Jr.,
R to L: Carroll Farrar, Jr. and Robert Osler “Ozzie” Couch
And one in uniform,
Robert Osler “Ozzie” Couch in US Army Air Forces Uniform
Ozzie never married and died at 73 years old on August 7, 1984. His headstone notes (photo on Findagrave.com) that he was a Captain in the U.S. Air Force. His obituary noted,
Robert Osler Couch, 73, of 400 North A. St. [Easley, South Carolina], died Tuesday.
He was a retired warden with the Federal Penitentiary, Atlanta, Ga., and had served as chief of the Prison Parole Board in Tallahassee, Fla. He later served as personnel director for the Department of Social Services in Columbia [South Carolina].
Couch served in the U.S. Army during World War II and the Korean Conflict. He was a member of Smith Grove Baptist Church.
Robert Osler “Ozzie” Couch, friend of the Farrar family, is buried in the West View Cemetery in Easley, Pickens County, South Carolina.
© Cindy Farrar Bryan and The Arrowhead Club, 2020
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