January 12, 2025 • 16 mins
T/Sgt Thomas Edward Snowden was from Giddings TX and served in the US Army Air Corp in the 57th Fighter Group, 65th Fighter Squadron "The Pyramiders"
In this podcast I mention two webistes
57thfightergroup.org
soldiersangels.org
During WW2 women were deployed throughout Europe and the Pacific and their only means to communicate home was through letters, handwritten notes to assure those at home they were alright and waiting for letters from their loved ones to provide semblance of support and normalcy. Over the years I have collected letters with the intention of returning to family - but first I’d like to share who these men were, where were they from and the context of where the soldiers were and what role they played in the War.
Please sit back and get to know these members of the greatest generation. Please visit me on Facebook, or email me at warandfamily@outlook.com and help me get the letters home
Thank you for listening!
In this podcast I mention two webistes
57thfightergroup.org
soldiersangels.org
During WW2 women were deployed throughout Europe and the Pacific and their only means to communicate home was through letters, handwritten notes to assure those at home they were alright and waiting for letters from their loved ones to provide semblance of support and normalcy. Over the years I have collected letters with the intention of returning to family - but first I’d like to share who these men were, where were they from and the context of where the soldiers were and what role they played in the War.
Please sit back and get to know these members of the greatest generation. Please visit me on Facebook, or email me at warandfamily@outlook.com and help me get the letters home
Thank you for listening!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
Welcome and thank you for joining me again at Warren
Family Letters Home. I'm your podcast host Lauren Muse. This
podcast we talk about letters written home by US servicemen
and women in World War Two. I found today's letter
at auction, and it's an interesting one because the letter
(00:44):
writer was stationed in Palestine when he wrote it. Join
me for this story and hear his letter home. My
mission is to return World War II history to families,
one letter and one story at a time. And it's
my hope that someone will hear this podcast, recognize family connections,
(01:04):
and contact me. These letters a belong home. Our letter
for this week's podcast was written by Tech Sergeant Thomas
Edward Snowden, US Army Air Corps. Thomas Edward Snowden, or
(01:33):
Eddie as he was known, was born March second, nineteen fourteen,
in Giddings, Texas. He was one of six children born
to John and Nancy Snowden. On the nineteen twenty census,
John is listed with an occupation of farmer. It appears
the family did separate, and on the nineteen thirty census,
(01:55):
Eddie and his sister Flora Belle are living with their
dad in Austin. Tech where he is now working as
an insurance agent Flora Ballas twenty two and working as
a saleslady at a clothing store, and Eddie was still
a student. In nineteen forty, Eddie voluntarily enlisted in the
(02:16):
US Army at Fort Crockett in Galveston, Texas. His enlistment
record tells us that he was six feet tall, one
hundred and forty six pounds, brown hair, gray eyes, and
he had a ruddy complexion, and his civil occupation was
in production of beverages, and he was assigned to the
(02:36):
Army Air Corps. The nineteen forty census record shows us
that he is now at Langley Field in Elizabeth City, Virginia,
and his occupation is listed as airplane mechanic for the
US Army. On August eleventh, nineteen forty, the Newport News,
Virginia Daily Press reported that forty eight lang Field men
(03:01):
to study at school in Newark. Group will begin course
on airplane and engine mechanics at Civilian Institute tomorrow. The
article continues that forty eight Langley Field enlisted men, making
up one of the largest contingents of Air Corps soldiers
ever to be detailed to a civilian mechanics school from
(03:23):
a single Air Force base left last week to begin
study at the Casey Jones School of Aeronautics at Newark,
New Jersey. They will report to the Officer in charge
of the Air Corps Training detachment at the school to
study the Airplane and Engine Mechanics course. The article then
(03:43):
goes on to list all of the men and we
find Thomas Edward Snowden attached to the thirty sixth Pursuit
Squadron Fighter. On December twenty sixth, nineteen forty, ed Snowden
married Pearl Eleanor Hunt in Oklahoma, and in nineteen forty
(04:04):
two the couple welcome their first daughter. Some time between
completion of the Airplane Mechanics course and early nineteen forty two,
Tech Sergeant Snowden was reassigned to the fifty seventh fifty
seventh Fighter Group sixty fifth Fighter Squadron nicknamed the Pyramiters.
(04:26):
The fifty seventh AMAZ has an amazing website, the fifty
seventh Fightergroup dot org, which documents the history of the
fifty seventh and all of its squadrons, and it includes
journal entries that were kept by men in the units.
I found one such journal kept by John J. O'Brien,
(04:47):
who was also in the sixty fifth Fighter Squadron, and
I'd like to use that to set the scene leading
up to the day that Tech Sergeant Snowden wrote his
letter home. Mister O'Brien wrote July fifteenth, nineteen forty two,
sent by New York City by train boarded ferryboat Louis
(05:10):
Pasteur July sixteenth. Set sail from peer fifty cuneid lines
five thirty p m depth charges dropped from B twenty
planes at submarine not four lengths from our ship. July
twenty fifth. Pulled into Freetown, Africa. August first, nineteen forty two.
(05:31):
Paid five dollars in wages. Attended movie see very rough.
August second, nineteen forty two. See very rough. Could hardly
walk in companionway. August third. Docked at Durban, South Africa.
August sixth, left Durban August seventh, Sea rough water reached
(05:55):
the top deck August thirteenth, land on port side, passed
into Red Sea at midnight. August sixteenth landed at Suez.
Dropped to Transit Camp Good to get off the ship.
August eighteenth, got up at three point thirty, got on train,
(06:18):
crossed and followed Suez Canal. Our locomotive was an old
US model God It's hot saw the Mediterranean Sea. August nineteenth,
entered Palestine during the night, good farms and land. Stopped
at Haifa, got off train and boarded buses for forty
(06:39):
miles to Micabellis. From August nineteenth to the thirty first,
the sixty fifth drilled, attended lectures and set up their base.
Researching for the Warren Family Letters Home podcast has taught
me so much about World War II. When I saw
this particular letter at auction and noticed the reference to Palestine,
(07:03):
I knew I needed to find out more. The first
thing I wondered was what was the US doing in Palestine?
So I found out a little history on that. In
World War One, Palestine was part of the Ottoman Empire
and fought on the side of Germany, Austria and Hungary.
(07:24):
At the fall of the Ottoman Empire and ending of
World War I, the Allies divided up the Empire. The
League of Nations directed France to govern Syria and Lebanon,
and Great Britain was assigned to Mandates one over Mesopotamia,
which is now Iraq and one for Palestine, which became
(07:46):
known as Mandatory Palestine. Britain was mandated to establish the
Society for a National Jewish Home, which would take into
account the needs of both Arabs and Jewish popuas. Britain
occupied Mandatory Palestine and worked to establish this mandate, but
(08:06):
there were many political conflicts and anger from the Arab people,
both of the British rule and the mandated establishment of
the Jewish nation. At the time of World War II,
the British were still occupying Palestine, and the US arrived
to join Britain for training and providing defense from the Germans.
(08:31):
On August twenty sixth, nineteen forty two, Tech Sergeant Snowden
wrote home to Assister Flora Belle in Texas dares Flow.
Received your letter a couple of days ago and was
sure glad to hear from you. The letter was postmarked
July seventeenth. I also received about ten letters from Judy
(08:54):
that same day. Also received an air mail letter from
Judy just yesterday one today. It sure was good to
hear from you and Judy and to know that she
is all straightened out about moving, etc. I had a
nice trip here from the States and am in the
best of health. Haven't been sick a day. Hope I
(09:16):
can keep it up. I suppose this war is harder
on you women back in the States than it is
with the men in the service. There's really nothing to
worry about much. The only thing that worries me is
when I get back home and try and sleep on
a soft bed, I'll probably have to put rocks on
my side of the bed so I'll sleep more comfortably.
(09:38):
Laying all bull aside, this is not a bad life.
If I could see Judy and Grace every once in
a while, everything would be about perfect flow. Write me
when you can is I'm always glad to hear from you.
Love Ed. I'd like to go back to mister O'Brien's journal,
(10:00):
which tells us what he and Tech Sergeant Snowden would
have been experiencing after the date of this letter. September
seventeenth and eighteen. Left Mikabelia by bus to depot at Janine.
Boarded train across Suez Canal. Good choo but hotter than hell.
(10:23):
Interesting trip through Egypt's cotton district and fruit area. Got
off train at eleven thirty that night. Left desert home
camp and went twenty miles by truck and started taking
a desert track for five miles to l O number
one seventy four. This is our destination. It had been bonded.
(10:44):
The night before October sixteenth, experienced our first sandstorm, lasted
ten hours. The fifty seventh bomber group continued moving west
and on December ninth camped outside of Bengasi, and in
April of nineteen forty three found themselves in Las Guira, Tunisia.
(11:06):
Along the way, mister O'Brien's journal talks about skirting mines
and German air threats, but I'd like to share his
entry of April twentieth, Dear Diary. I never was so
close to my maker as I was last night. Here's
the story. I didn't feel much like retiring, and after
all had turned in, I started looking at a book.
(11:29):
I heard a plane sounded like one of our night fighters,
but it kept circling, and I decided to take a look.
I saw Germans seven miles off. We all got up
and with helmets, fell on our bellies in a gully
near by. Only one guy had a foxhole. The Germans
had a circus throwing anti personnel and butterfly bombs all
(11:52):
around us within twenty feet. They buzzed the field and
dropped flares overhead and scared us almost to death. First
raid started at nine p m and ended at eleven forty.
Then we all dug fox holes and then went to bed,
but we were dive bond again at one a m.
We had another alert at one thirty. Went to bed again,
(12:15):
clothes and all. Boy. I hope I never have another
night much as I did last night. Slept until six
a m. When our ships were taking off. Today I
helped on hunt for dud bombs. In December of nineteen
forty four, Master Sergeant Snowden was now thirty one years old,
(12:39):
and I found a hospital admission record. It stated type
of injury was disease, but it's also marked that it
was in the line of duty. He stayed in the
hospital until March of nineteen forty five and was honorably
discharged in May of nineteen forty five in Patterson, New Jersey.
(13:01):
On the nineteen fifty census, we find that Ed and
Pearl are now living in Dallas, Texas, and they have
added another daughter to their family. Ed is working as
an auto mechanic at the airfield. On February fourth, nineteen
ninety seven, the fort Worth Star Telegram reported that Thomas E. Snowden,
(13:24):
a retired LTV inspector, died February second in Dallas. He
was born March second, nineteen fourteen, in Giddings. He was
a disabled World War II veteran. He was a member
of Saint Alban's Episcopal Church for over forty years, and
he's buried in the Moore Memorial Garden in Arlington, Texas.
(13:49):
Ed Snowden, being a Texan, may not have worried so
much about the heat while in the desert climes, but
I'm sure those sandstorms and enemy dive bombings certainly were
skared experiences, especially in an area that nothing was familiar.
We still have many servicemen and women stationed in the
Middle East. Perhaps to honor Master Sergeant Snowden and mister O'Brien,
(14:14):
you could look up an organization that sends care packages
to our troops overseas. One such organization that I know
of is Soldiers Angels, whose motto is may no Soldier
go unloved. You can look them up at Soldiers Angels
dot Org. To see how you can help. Thank you
(14:41):
for joining me to hear the story of Thomas Edward Snowden.
If you know of the Snowden family of Texas, please
share my podcast with them. The original letters written by
mister Snowden were obtained by me through an auction site
and interesting the cell was a World War II collector
(15:02):
in England. Warren Family Letters Home is self funded and
we will never ask a family for any compensation to
receive their Letters Home. If you would like to contribute
to my mission of returning history to families, please contact me.
(15:23):
You can find me on Facebook at Warren Family Letters Home,
and I can be reached by airmail airmail email at
warrenfamilyat outlook dot com. All details in this podcast were
discovered by research done by me using public military genealogy
(15:43):
and newspaper search sites. Please support our military, whether active
or veteran status. These men and women sacrifice to serve
this great country, whether it's war or peacetime. Until next week,
(16:04):
this is Lauren, Muse and Hugh have been listening to
Warren Family Letters Home
Welcome and thank you for joining me again at Warren
Family Letters Home. I'm your podcast host Lauren Muse. This
podcast we talk about letters written home by US servicemen
and women in World War Two. I found today's letter
at auction, and it's an interesting one because the letter
(00:44):
writer was stationed in Palestine when he wrote it. Join
me for this story and hear his letter home. My
mission is to return World War II history to families,
one letter and one story at a time. And it's
my hope that someone will hear this podcast, recognize family connections,
(01:04):
and contact me. These letters a belong home. Our letter
for this week's podcast was written by Tech Sergeant Thomas
Edward Snowden, US Army Air Corps. Thomas Edward Snowden, or
(01:33):
Eddie as he was known, was born March second, nineteen fourteen,
in Giddings, Texas. He was one of six children born
to John and Nancy Snowden. On the nineteen twenty census,
John is listed with an occupation of farmer. It appears
the family did separate, and on the nineteen thirty census,
(01:55):
Eddie and his sister Flora Belle are living with their
dad in Austin. Tech where he is now working as
an insurance agent Flora Ballas twenty two and working as
a saleslady at a clothing store, and Eddie was still
a student. In nineteen forty, Eddie voluntarily enlisted in the
(02:16):
US Army at Fort Crockett in Galveston, Texas. His enlistment
record tells us that he was six feet tall, one
hundred and forty six pounds, brown hair, gray eyes, and
he had a ruddy complexion, and his civil occupation was
in production of beverages, and he was assigned to the
(02:36):
Army Air Corps. The nineteen forty census record shows us
that he is now at Langley Field in Elizabeth City, Virginia,
and his occupation is listed as airplane mechanic for the
US Army. On August eleventh, nineteen forty, the Newport News,
Virginia Daily Press reported that forty eight lang Field men
(03:01):
to study at school in Newark. Group will begin course
on airplane and engine mechanics at Civilian Institute tomorrow. The
article continues that forty eight Langley Field enlisted men, making
up one of the largest contingents of Air Corps soldiers
ever to be detailed to a civilian mechanics school from
(03:23):
a single Air Force base left last week to begin
study at the Casey Jones School of Aeronautics at Newark,
New Jersey. They will report to the Officer in charge
of the Air Corps Training detachment at the school to
study the Airplane and Engine Mechanics course. The article then
(03:43):
goes on to list all of the men and we
find Thomas Edward Snowden attached to the thirty sixth Pursuit
Squadron Fighter. On December twenty sixth, nineteen forty, ed Snowden
married Pearl Eleanor Hunt in Oklahoma, and in nineteen forty
(04:04):
two the couple welcome their first daughter. Some time between
completion of the Airplane Mechanics course and early nineteen forty two,
Tech Sergeant Snowden was reassigned to the fifty seventh fifty
seventh Fighter Group sixty fifth Fighter Squadron nicknamed the Pyramiters.
(04:26):
The fifty seventh AMAZ has an amazing website, the fifty
seventh Fightergroup dot org, which documents the history of the
fifty seventh and all of its squadrons, and it includes
journal entries that were kept by men in the units.
I found one such journal kept by John J. O'Brien,
(04:47):
who was also in the sixty fifth Fighter Squadron, and
I'd like to use that to set the scene leading
up to the day that Tech Sergeant Snowden wrote his
letter home. Mister O'Brien wrote July fifteenth, nineteen forty two,
sent by New York City by train boarded ferryboat Louis
(05:10):
Pasteur July sixteenth. Set sail from peer fifty cuneid lines
five thirty p m depth charges dropped from B twenty
planes at submarine not four lengths from our ship. July
twenty fifth. Pulled into Freetown, Africa. August first, nineteen forty two.
(05:31):
Paid five dollars in wages. Attended movie see very rough.
August second, nineteen forty two. See very rough. Could hardly
walk in companionway. August third. Docked at Durban, South Africa.
August sixth, left Durban August seventh, Sea rough water reached
(05:55):
the top deck August thirteenth, land on port side, passed
into Red Sea at midnight. August sixteenth landed at Suez.
Dropped to Transit Camp Good to get off the ship.
August eighteenth, got up at three point thirty, got on train,
(06:18):
crossed and followed Suez Canal. Our locomotive was an old
US model God It's hot saw the Mediterranean Sea. August nineteenth,
entered Palestine during the night, good farms and land. Stopped
at Haifa, got off train and boarded buses for forty
(06:39):
miles to Micabellis. From August nineteenth to the thirty first,
the sixty fifth drilled, attended lectures and set up their base.
Researching for the Warren Family Letters Home podcast has taught
me so much about World War II. When I saw
this particular letter at auction and noticed the reference to Palestine,
(07:03):
I knew I needed to find out more. The first
thing I wondered was what was the US doing in Palestine?
So I found out a little history on that. In
World War One, Palestine was part of the Ottoman Empire
and fought on the side of Germany, Austria and Hungary.
(07:24):
At the fall of the Ottoman Empire and ending of
World War I, the Allies divided up the Empire. The
League of Nations directed France to govern Syria and Lebanon,
and Great Britain was assigned to Mandates one over Mesopotamia,
which is now Iraq and one for Palestine, which became
(07:46):
known as Mandatory Palestine. Britain was mandated to establish the
Society for a National Jewish Home, which would take into
account the needs of both Arabs and Jewish popuas. Britain
occupied Mandatory Palestine and worked to establish this mandate, but
(08:06):
there were many political conflicts and anger from the Arab people,
both of the British rule and the mandated establishment of
the Jewish nation. At the time of World War II,
the British were still occupying Palestine, and the US arrived
to join Britain for training and providing defense from the Germans.
(08:31):
On August twenty sixth, nineteen forty two, Tech Sergeant Snowden
wrote home to Assister Flora Belle in Texas dares Flow.
Received your letter a couple of days ago and was
sure glad to hear from you. The letter was postmarked
July seventeenth. I also received about ten letters from Judy
(08:54):
that same day. Also received an air mail letter from
Judy just yesterday one today. It sure was good to
hear from you and Judy and to know that she
is all straightened out about moving, etc. I had a
nice trip here from the States and am in the
best of health. Haven't been sick a day. Hope I
(09:16):
can keep it up. I suppose this war is harder
on you women back in the States than it is
with the men in the service. There's really nothing to
worry about much. The only thing that worries me is
when I get back home and try and sleep on
a soft bed, I'll probably have to put rocks on
my side of the bed so I'll sleep more comfortably.
(09:38):
Laying all bull aside, this is not a bad life.
If I could see Judy and Grace every once in
a while, everything would be about perfect flow. Write me
when you can is I'm always glad to hear from you.
Love Ed. I'd like to go back to mister O'Brien's journal,
(10:00):
which tells us what he and Tech Sergeant Snowden would
have been experiencing after the date of this letter. September
seventeenth and eighteen. Left Mikabelia by bus to depot at Janine.
Boarded train across Suez Canal. Good choo but hotter than hell.
(10:23):
Interesting trip through Egypt's cotton district and fruit area. Got
off train at eleven thirty that night. Left desert home
camp and went twenty miles by truck and started taking
a desert track for five miles to l O number
one seventy four. This is our destination. It had been bonded.
(10:44):
The night before October sixteenth, experienced our first sandstorm, lasted
ten hours. The fifty seventh bomber group continued moving west
and on December ninth camped outside of Bengasi, and in
April of nineteen forty three found themselves in Las Guira, Tunisia.
(11:06):
Along the way, mister O'Brien's journal talks about skirting mines
and German air threats, but I'd like to share his
entry of April twentieth, Dear Diary. I never was so
close to my maker as I was last night. Here's
the story. I didn't feel much like retiring, and after
all had turned in, I started looking at a book.
(11:29):
I heard a plane sounded like one of our night fighters,
but it kept circling, and I decided to take a look.
I saw Germans seven miles off. We all got up
and with helmets, fell on our bellies in a gully
near by. Only one guy had a foxhole. The Germans
had a circus throwing anti personnel and butterfly bombs all
(11:52):
around us within twenty feet. They buzzed the field and
dropped flares overhead and scared us almost to death. First
raid started at nine p m and ended at eleven forty.
Then we all dug fox holes and then went to bed,
but we were dive bond again at one a m.
We had another alert at one thirty. Went to bed again,
(12:15):
clothes and all. Boy. I hope I never have another
night much as I did last night. Slept until six
a m. When our ships were taking off. Today I
helped on hunt for dud bombs. In December of nineteen
forty four, Master Sergeant Snowden was now thirty one years old,
(12:39):
and I found a hospital admission record. It stated type
of injury was disease, but it's also marked that it
was in the line of duty. He stayed in the
hospital until March of nineteen forty five and was honorably
discharged in May of nineteen forty five in Patterson, New Jersey.
(13:01):
On the nineteen fifty census, we find that Ed and
Pearl are now living in Dallas, Texas, and they have
added another daughter to their family. Ed is working as
an auto mechanic at the airfield. On February fourth, nineteen
ninety seven, the fort Worth Star Telegram reported that Thomas E. Snowden,
(13:24):
a retired LTV inspector, died February second in Dallas. He
was born March second, nineteen fourteen, in Giddings. He was
a disabled World War II veteran. He was a member
of Saint Alban's Episcopal Church for over forty years, and
he's buried in the Moore Memorial Garden in Arlington, Texas.
(13:49):
Ed Snowden, being a Texan, may not have worried so
much about the heat while in the desert climes, but
I'm sure those sandstorms and enemy dive bombings certainly were
skared experiences, especially in an area that nothing was familiar.
We still have many servicemen and women stationed in the
Middle East. Perhaps to honor Master Sergeant Snowden and mister O'Brien,
(14:14):
you could look up an organization that sends care packages
to our troops overseas. One such organization that I know
of is Soldiers Angels, whose motto is may no Soldier
go unloved. You can look them up at Soldiers Angels
dot Org. To see how you can help. Thank you
(14:41):
for joining me to hear the story of Thomas Edward Snowden.
If you know of the Snowden family of Texas, please
share my podcast with them. The original letters written by
mister Snowden were obtained by me through an auction site
and interesting the cell was a World War II collector
(15:02):
in England. Warren Family Letters Home is self funded and
we will never ask a family for any compensation to
receive their Letters Home. If you would like to contribute
to my mission of returning history to families, please contact me.
(15:23):
You can find me on Facebook at Warren Family Letters Home,
and I can be reached by airmail airmail email at
warrenfamilyat outlook dot com. All details in this podcast were
discovered by research done by me using public military genealogy
(15:43):
and newspaper search sites. Please support our military, whether active
or veteran status. These men and women sacrifice to serve
this great country, whether it's war or peacetime. Until next week,
(16:04):
this is Lauren, Muse and Hugh have been listening to
Warren Family Letters Home
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