WWII Letters of William Wellington Taylor Jr.

My father, Pfc. William Wellington Taylor, Jr., was a member of the 100th. Infantry Division, 399th. Regiment, Co A. His unit spent 175 consecutive days on the battle lines in France and Germany. Prior to shipping to England aboard the Queen Mary he spent his basic at Camp Abbot, Oregon training to be a combat engineer as a member of the A.S.T.P program. When the A.S.T.P program was scrapped he was sent to Radio School at Camp Crowder, Missouri. Ultimately, the army put an M-I Garand in his hand and he became an infantryman. Following the German surrender, he became a member of the occupation forces in Stuttgart and served as a driver for "Stars and Stripes".

During his war service my father wrote home over 300 letters describing his experiences. I have started a blog to share his letters. They can be viewed at The World War II Letters of William Wellington Taylor, Jr.

Regards,
Greg Taylor
Los Angeles, California

 

Welcome to the forum mate.

 

Welcome to this great forum and thank you for posting the link to your blog, when I have time I will browse through the letters, they certainly sound interesting!

 

Howdy and welcome to the forum. I also will take a looksie at those letters. Thanks.

 

Thanks for the welcome. The letters can be viewed at The World War II Letters of William Wellington Taylor, Jr. Please visit the site and leave a comment or two. I am particularly interested in hearing from anyone who was at Camp Abbot, Oregon or in Co A. 399th. Regiment, 100th. Infantry Division.
Regards,
Greg Taylor

 

Welcome!
Thanks for sharing the letters! I look forward to reading them!!

 

Thanks for joining the forum, Greg! And thanks for the link to your blog with your Dad's letters too.

I started to read the first letter and got curious about Camp Abbott. Apparently sold in the 1960's, the only remaining Army building is the 0ld Officers Club:

 

I'm glad to be aboard. The site of Camp Abbot is now the Sun River Resort, one of the most popular vacation spots in the Pacific Northwest. I will post a vintage photo of the Officer's Club if I can figure out how to post an image from my computer . The photo you posted is the Resort Headquarters not the Great Hall (formerly the Officer's Club). I have many photos of the Great Hall I took when there, but they are huge files. I will post another contemporary photo of the building when I find one and learn how to use this site.
Greg

PS- I have posted a vintage photo of the Officer's Club (circa 1944) on my blog at http://taylorletters.blogspot.com Just scroll to the bottom of the page to see it.--Greg

 

No, the Officer's Club at Camp Abbot (now the Great Hall at Sun River Resort) was built from the ground-up by the engineers in training at Camp Abbot. It is a magnificent structure. That's why it is still standing after 65 years.