World War II veteran's letter home describes 'filthy' Nazis | History

Raymond and Clara Butchers' first child was born Dec. 14, 1916, in Homer. The boy was named Loyd, which was Clara's maiden name. Later in life, he earned the nickname "Butch."

Loyd attended school in Homer. Newspaper accounts reporting on school give us a first glimpse of his musical talent. In 1933, during the Homer junior-senior class banquet, he performed a violin solo and a saxophone duet with Margaret Vance. In March 1934, he participated in a multischool spring contest among Johnstown, Homer, Croton and Utica, where he performed a violin solo. In February 1935, he played saxophone with the six-piece Sons of Italy Orchestra for the Cosmopolitan Club of Denison University. Later that year, Loyd, 19, joined the U.S. Army and was assigned to the 15th Coastal Artillery Band in Hawaii. In April 1938, he was reassigned to the 52nd Coastal Artillery Band at Fort Hancock, New Jersey.

On Oct. 3, 1938, Loyd married Mary Campolo at the Blessed Sacrament Church in Newark. After a short honeymoon, Mary returned to Fort Hancock, New Jersey, with her husband. Exactly when he was discharged from the Army is unknown, but by the 1940 census, the couple lived in Utica with their 7-month-old daughter, Rose Ann. Loyd was listed as an employee with Owens Corning Fiberglass.

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On March 9, 1944, the 27-year-old husband and father was drafted into the Army. This time, he was serving as a military policeman with the 28th Infantry Division. Loyd arrived in the European Theater of the war on Sept. 3, 1944, and participated in the campaigns of Northern France, Ardennes, Rhineland and Central Europe.

On April 19, 1945, just weeks before Germany surrendered, the Newark Advocate printed a letter Loyd sent to his wife. The story, accompanied by a photo of Butcher, ran under the headline, "Newark Soldier Finds Nazis in Filthy Condition." It read: "Pfc. Loyd C. Butcher, 28, writes his wife at 318 Mt. Vernon Rd. of his experiences while fighting in Germany, before and after the breakthrough last Dec. 16. Excerpts of Butcher's letter follow: 'I am now back in Germany again for the sixth time and I don't think we are coming back out this time until the whole thing is over. I hope that it is soon, as this is the most desolate and dreary country I have been in since I have been over here. It is filthy and dirty, and the people aren't much better. I have seen living conditions here. I am speaking of the soldiers, but the civilians aren't much better. When we came in this time, they were living in [the] woods, as we are now, in dugouts built up with logs for protection against artillery. In one instance, they had butchered a horse and had dragged the carcass inside, where they could reach out from their bunk and cut a steak at random. They did not care how much the thing would stink.

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"I am different from most people, I guess. I believe the people back home should know what the boys are going through over here. Some of the things the boys have seen and done over here would be almost unbelievable to the folks back home, and consequently, there are not a few who say [expletive] that couldn't happen. Others would say you can always tell how much action that a man has seen by the amount he talks. I am going to start from the time we were in Vossenack, Kommerschied, and Schmitt and relate a few of my experiences through the breakthrough."

Doug Stout is the local history coordinator for the Licking County Library. You may contact him at 740-349-5571 or dstout@lickingcountylibrary.org . His book "Never Forgotten: The Stories of Licking County Veterans" is available for purchase at the library or online at bookbaby.com.

This article originally appeared on Newark Advocate: A Licking County WWII veteran's letter from Germany | History