The following letter was submitted by George Albrecht. It was written in 1945 by Private W.S. Preslar (father of Jerome Preslar of Port O’Connor) to George’s father, Sidney Albrecht. The blurred ink on thin, old paper was a little difficult to transcribe, but we believe we have reproduced the letter almost word for word. We found of special interest the reference to “invasion money”. That makes one think of how different our lives might be now were it not for the strength of our nation and its leaders at the time and the resolve and sacrifice of our soldiers.
We print this letter as a tribute to all those who have left home and family to defend our country and to preserve the freedom we all enjoy.

Luzon Philippines
April 20, 1945

Dear Sid & family,

How is everything in Port O’Connor? I sure would like to be there and go fishing with you. Gen wrote me that you and Clarence went and caught a big one. She didn’t say what kind it was, though. Is fishing very good there now? I suppose it is a little early yet, isn’t it?

I was on Leyte for a while, then I went from Leyte to New Guinea. The climate on Leyte is about the same as it is here. It is pretty warm during the day, but at night it is pretty cool. It doesn’t rain much here, not yet, anyway. In New Guinea it was something special to see the sun. When it did shine, it was really hot.

There was a Japanese cemetery close to our camp in New Guinea. They had to put a fence around it to keep the soldiers out of it. We were real close to one of the most famous battlefields of this war (in New Guinea). The natives there were friendly but they did not look very friendly though. The natives cannot speak English very well. A person can make out what they want. Some of the boys said that some of them were pretty educated. The ones that lived around the mission were the ones that could speak English the best. Some of them did not wear any clothes. Some wore a little more than the rest. I don’t think they liked the idea of wearing them. Some of the natives lived out in the open. I guess they lived off coconuts and whatever they found growing. Some of them would come by camp with some fish. I don’t know how they caught them, unless they used spears.

I went to town the other day and bought some ice cream. It was pretty good, and it also had a pretty good price attached to it. It was a peso and a half (seventy-five cents in American money) – about the same amount we get in the states for a nickel. The picture show is pretty cheap. I think it costs one peso. I haven’t been yet. I went down to the show the other night, but there was a line about a block long waiting to go in, so I decided that I would go back to camp and see a G.I. picture show. A person would have to have a small fortune to eat in the café.

I have seen a lot of interesting things since I left the states. I would like to tell you about them but I am afraid I can’t do at the present time. A person doesn’t know what he can write about.

Sid, I am sending you some Japanese invasion money. I have seen some money the Japanese were going to use when they invaded the U.S. I haven’t been able to get any yet. If I can get any I will send you some.

Gen wrote me that you had written, but I never have received your letter. I guess it will catch up with me some day.

Sid, I guess you are getting tired of trying to make out what I have written, so I will give your eyes a rest and I will try to write a little more interesting letter next time.

As ever,

Bill

Japanese “invasion” money from the Philippines