747 Tank Battalion Co A

The Side of Dad They Didn’t Know Angela Daniel | Posted: Wednesday, May 3, 2017 11:12 am. Local Author Publishes Her Father’s WWII Letters  Rarely, when a skeleton is pulled from a closet, does a story end well. Rarely does a recollection of unspoken years bring peace. Rarely does the opening of a hidden box bring closure, nor along with it the desire to proudly share with the world. For the three Cadmus sisters, in finding their father’s secret letters, they find Your Loving Son. Private Robert Cadmus took a train to Fort Dix for basic training, and in his first letter home, dated January 6, 1943, makes sure he tells Mom and Dad what he’d had to eat. This letter will be one of over 300 Bob will write to his parents, detailing his army life, except for war plans and locations he is not allowed to discuss. Bob is trained as a tank driver, and he evidently becomes quite accomplished as he rises in rank to Sergeant. The Bronze Star, the Purple Heart, and the Croix de Guerre are a few of the medals awarded for his service with the 747 Tank Battalion. The wretched accounting and horrors of World War ll are familiar to Americans.  However, this collection of letters offers a glimpse as to how the everyday training in army life turns one into a soldier, and how a son remains true to being a son.  While Bob faces certain combat, his tender worries for his parents and brother back home is surprising. Bob faithfully shows concern, in detail, about their health, sincerely desiring them to vacation and enjoy themselves, while asking for no pity for himself. Even though Bob confesses he is freezing or going without food and sleep, he reminds his parents he is having the time of his life. We will never know if indeed true, or a planned ruse to keep his mom and dad from being too sick with worry.  When Bob thinks his Dad needs money, he selflessly instructs Dad to take it from his army money account, not to be reimbursed. Even when the darker side of war is described, as when he witnesses his buddies wounded and killed during the war, and after the war as they get drunk and drown in a canal outside the barracks, Bob manages to stay upbeat and focused in his letters. He once expresses sadness for those men who have no mothers to remind them of the good left in this world. The war ends, and Bob’s mother keeps all the letters he wrote in a box.  Returning home to New Jersey and to his former job at Mather Springs, Bob marries and has three daughters. Unhappy with factory work, he moves the family to Ocean County. He and his father go into business together, buying and running Dicks Landing on Barnegat Bay-a successful boat shop and well-known destination for crabbing and fishing. Bob was always open and easy going, but his family will experience his heavier side. Daughter Betty remembers her father being “a puzzle… happily joking with (them) but switch to being angry or withdrawn in a matter of seconds.” Daughter Nancy recalls a “fun loving prankster and storyteller- a strict authority figure with an inner sadness…” Daughter Shirley, when reading the letters, realizes “why he had acted the way he had, realizing what a caring person he really was. Realizing what a hero he was.” Bob never spoke much about his life during World War ll. Though Bob passes away in 1998, Betty, Nancy and Shirley discover the letters in 2009, and quite actually meet their father for the first time. Through tears and many hours, the daughters sort their father’s letters, type them, and agree to have them published. Your Loving Son proves to be a good decision. Bob shares in one of the letters that he wants the world to know the sacrifices his friends made in the war. The book is a tribute to the sacrifices Bob made- and to his relentless drive to give his utmost in service so that no fellow soldier’s death would be in vain.  Indeed, Your Loving Son is a tribute to all sons and daughters of war, and to their families back home.  Author Shirley Cadmus earned a BA and MA from Madison College, Harrisonburg, VA. She is a retired art educator, current artist and art gallery owner in Milton, NC.  She lives in Caswell County, NC. Your Loving Son may be ordered at Amazon, or purchased at the Milton Studio Art Gallery, the Milton Renaissance Foundation Museum and Visitors Center or the Kirby Gallery in Roxboro, NC.  A book signing/art reception will be held May 18 at the Caswell County Arts Council in Yanceyville, NC, and June 27 at the Heritage Festival, also in Yanceyville.