World War II Letters from "Chuck" Pressentin

September 17, 1945
The envelope was a pre-stamped, 6-cent airmail envelope dated Sept. 27, 1945

Solana. Nueva Vizcaya, Luzon, P.I.

Dear Pongee and Family,

Well, I’ve moved again but my APO will remain the same. I’m now in the interior of Luzon, and my job is to disarm, process and intern approx. 16,000 Japs that are still in this area. My boys are really getting a workout.

We’ve also got a Filipino guerilla army attached to us and between the flips and the Japs we’ve got our hands full. Christ I’ve been on the go day and night since I arrived here. In the past four days we’ve handled nearly 5,000 Japs through our area. We have to strip them, take their name, rank and serial number, what outfit they’re from and etc.—then we tag them and ship them on down the line to other stockades closer to the railroads and ports.

We push some of these Jap Generals around just like they should be treated, if you get what I mean. All in all it’s really a messy job. These guys have been living on themselves, rats and what else they could find in the mountains. They’ve had it pretty rough for the last four months. They all are mighty happy to get down here and get our canned rations. Food is the first thing they ask for.

After we clean out this area, I’m hoping we’ll be considered for shipment home. There's a rumor we might but I’ll not build up any hopes until I see the old golden gate with my own eyes. One thing—I’m mighty glad I didn’t have to go to Japan.

I could pick up bushels of Jap souvenirs but all I think I’ll keep for myself is a beautiful Jap saber. The rest of the stuff is just so much junk to me. Here’s a couple of real Jap yen for Barbs and Noel. I took it away from a Captain today.

Love to all, Chuck

Enclosed with the letter were five pieces of Japanese currency:
Two Ten Yen Japanese bills
Two One Peso bills, with “The Japanese Government” written across the front of the bill.
One “Japanese Government” one centavo bill—about 1 ½” x 3 ½”

September 27, 1945
Postmark on the "air mail" 6-cent pre-stamped envelope is dated Sept. 28, 1945

Solano, Luzon

Dear Pongee, and Family,

Just a few lines before I roll in for the night. Just came in from a date with a little Filipino 1st Lt. Nurse. She's attached to a Filipino hospital that's set up down the road from us. She's the head nurse. She's quite a gal too. She can really give out the orders when there's work to be done around her sick bay. She rattles off a mouthful in her native tongue and everyone jumps.

Well the 475th finally made the front page. Guess I wrote and told you about us being stuck with the job of cleaning out all the Japs on northern Luzon. The paper says 11,485 but to date we've handled over 23,000 Jap prisoners. Christ, I'm tired of looking at them. Today we had to bury 5 of one bunch on the way down out of the mountains. The stragglers that are coming now are all next to dead. In fact I believe they were left to die by the others that came in voluntarily from this one particular spot. Most of this bunch was all civilians (Jap of course) and have been pretty much neglected by the Jap Army. They've been living on grass, rats, roots and maybe even themselves. Yeh! They're a mess.

Lordy! How I'd like to be home for Xmas. Maybe I'll make it. It all depends on the transportation facilities. I've only got 63 points but that's still way above the average.

Saw Poly [Elwin Dameron, husband of Charles' sister, Mildred. Poly saw service in Europe, and then was transferred to the Pacific.] two weeks ago and may visit him again this weekend. He's at San Fernando and that's 190 miles south of me. It's quite a trip 'cause the roads are still in bad shape.

Love to all, Chuck

California