700th DUIT/5 Helmer Marcussen45th Infantry Division Patch

Helmer Marcussen

June 24. 1918 - April 21, 1980

LEFT: Distinctive Unit Insignia of the Company C, 700th Brigade Support Battalion (BSB), Successor Unit of the WWII 700th Ordnance Light Maintenance Company

700th Ordnance Light Maintenance Company

October 2, 1941 to 27 Sep 27, 1945

1940
October 16: Registers for draft Click on image for larger format
Draft Registration
                Card


1943


Helmer Marcussen on the June 24, 1943 passenger list of the attack cargo ship USS Arcturus (AKA 1) from Mers El Kébir, Algeria for the July 10, 1943 landings in Sicily.

1945
Images of May 7 and 8 Letter Describing
Dachau Concentration Camp


Click on images for larger format
Letter
Letter
Letter
Letter
PDF of images and text of May 7 and 8 Letter
Describing Dachau Concentratio
n Camp

Text of May 7 and 8 Letter Describing Dachau Concentration Camp

Germany


May 7, 1945


Dear all,

    Well, according to the latest news report, this is the day we have all been waiting for, the end of the war with Germany, although I haven’t heard anything official on it yet.  If only it was the end of the whole war instead of just this part of it.  I haven’t any idea, yet, what we are going to do, but think we will probably be troops of occupation, but that’s strictly a guess. Don’t see how I could stand a chance of getting discharged, so will consider myself lucky if I get assigned to policing duty, with maybe a discharge next fall.


    My mail has started coming again, at last.  I have three air mails from Val, April 4th, 17th & 23rd. Have one air mail from Esther dated April 24th & one v-mail dated April 17th and the air mail arrived two days before the v-mail, even if it was mailed a week later.  Have one air mail from Herdis dated Apr. 17th & one from Kermit on April 26th.


    Esther, you asked me if I have ever seen any evidence of the murders & things the Germans were supposed to have committed. Yes, I certainly have, went...

[page 2]

...thru a concentration camp at Dachau, Germany and, although I don’t know how it rated compared to others in Germany, it certainly lived up to anything I had ever read about concentration camps.  It’s something that has to be seen to be believed.  Imagine, if you can, a room about fifty feet square, piled ten feet deep with human bodies, people who had all been beaten & starved to death.  Well, I saw three rooms like that and in front of the rooms were the furnaces where they were to be cremated.  The chimneys were still smoking when I saw them so know they had been used.  Also, there were about 30,000 prisoners still there, whose turn would, no doubt, have come up if we hadn’t come when we did.  They were certainly a sight to see, most of them more dead than alive.  On a railroad siding stood about fifty box cars, also piled full of bodies.  Looked as if they had been loaded on alive at some other place & when they arrived here nearly all were dead.  All these people were political prisoners, Jews and such, don’t think there was any prisoners of war.  Seeing all this made a person feel like going out & shooting every German he saw and...

[page 3]

...think the infantry boys who took that place, started doing just that before they got them under control.  Saw some S.S. troops that the prisoners had gotten hold of & they weren’t a pretty sight, either.

    Yes, I finally got my old rating back, but to go into details on how the army gives out ratings is far too complicated to explain here, Esther, so will save that for something to talk about when I get home.  Suppose, by now, you have my letter asking for the addresses.  Don’t know what my chances will be getting to Denmark, but am sure going to try.  By the way, talked to the first Danes I’ve ever seen over here the other day, or rather I talk to them nearly every day as they are working for us in our kitchen.  They wash dishes, peel spuds & things like that in exchange for food & clothing.  They were in the concentration camp I mentioned, had been caught doing sabotage work.  I was surprised at how good I could talk to them.  I can understand every word they say & they don’t seem to have any trouble understanding me.

    
May 8

    Got tired of writing last night, so will try....

[page 4]

...and finish my letter tonite.  We really are having an easy time of it now.  We are living in a German army post, much like any army post back in the states.  Have good barracks to live in, complete with showers & all and, also, a good mess hall.  We are right on the outskirts of Munich, not much left of it, as our bombers really worked it over.
    Well, this will be all for tonite.  We are having a movie tonite, so will go & see it.

Love,

Helmer


1980

Helmut passed away on April 21, 1980

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Headstone


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All items not in the public domain c 2021Terry Marcussen and
The 45th Infantry Division in World War II: An Unofficial Guide to Resources

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Last Major Update:
Corrections or Minor Revisions: January 9, 2022
Last Reviewed:
Posted: April 15, 2021



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