SOLDIER LETTERS
I inclose (sic) a letter received from Bernard Corbin, formerly of Mt. Etna and Corning. Publish it if you care to. I tho’t it would interest a number of people as Bernard was a very popular boy.
Dorris Gossard, Mt. Etna, IA.
England, March 13, 1944
Dear Friend: -- It has been quite sometime since I last wrote to you so I had better try to answer some of your questions. I will tell you a little about the camp and my army life in England. The camp is pretty nice but not as comfortable as they were in the states. We have washing and shower rooms and if you are lucky enough to be first you will get hot water. We have a laundry system where we can send out clothes, but most of us do our own washing and ironing as the English are rather slow and short of laborers.
Our mess hall is large and has fairly good cooking equipment. As for the food we eat, it is not too bad for being overseas. We had chicken, potatoes, peas and carrots, gravy, coffee, bread and butter and cake for dinner today.
Our barracks are wood and the beds are made of wood with upper and lower bunks. My bunk is the lower one and I am always afraid that the person above me will fall through some night. We have a large theatre and have had three picture shows a week, and rest of the nights are stage shows.
Our PX are run by our own boys and we usually get two candy bars, one package of gum, seven packages of cigarettes and etc., for weekly rations.
The English run clubs of their own where can drop in for a pot of tea and cakes. The boys in my barracks are from all different states and we get along very good. If we stay in at nights we usually devote our time to writing letters, playing cards, reading if we can find something to read or arguing about the Civil War with a few of the southern boys. The country here reminds me of the middle western states and sometimes you could almost feel at home if you didn’t know different. Most of the towns are small and about the size of Corning and Carbon.
Well, friend, I must close and write to mother.
Your Friend,
Bernard Corbin
Source: Adams County Free Press, Corning, Iowa, Thursday, April 20, 1944, Page 8
Pvt. Bernard Corbin Killed In Battle
Mrs. Harry Bohanan of Corning received a message Saturday, conveying the sad news that her brother, Pvt. Bernard Corbin, had been killed in action in France on August 8. Bernard was about 21 years of age and entered service from Portland, Oregon, in January, 1943. His mother, Mrs. Edith Corbin, is now living with a daughter in Portland. Bernard was born and raised in the vicinity of Mt. Etna, and his many friends will regret to hear of the unfortunate news. A brother, Kenneth Corbin, lives in the vicinity of Elliott.
Source: Adams County Free Press, Corning, Iowa, Thursday, September 07, 1944, Page 1
Card of Thanks
We wish to express our sincere gratitude for the letters and cards sent us in our recent sorrow of the loss of our son and brother, Cpl. Bernard W. Corbin.
~Mrs. Edith Corbin and Family.
Source: Adams County Free Press, Corning, Iowa, Thursday, September 28, 1944, Page 7
Obituaries
BERNARD W. CORBIN
Cpl. Bernard W. Corbin was killed in action in France August 8, 1944, a year and ten months after entering the army. He was born at Grant, Iowa, December 29, 1923, the son of Richard Corbin, who died in 1925, and Edith Corbin, now of 5024 S. E. Ogden St., Portland, Oregon. The family moved to Mt. Etna where Bernard attended grade school. He was a good student and later attending Corning High, graduating with the class of 1941. That fall he and his mother moved to Portland where Bernard held a good factory job until inducted. It was his ambition to become a success in the industrial world that he might provide a home for his mother, to whom he was devoted.
But War is no respecter of the ways of Peace as millions of tragedies shall have testified ere present hostilities cease.
Bernard was a serious minded, Christian boy, a member of the Brethren church of Mt. Etna.
Surviving brothers and sisters are Kenneth of Elliott, Ia.; Dale, G. M. 1/c, Navy; Mrs. Dorothy Bohanan of Corning; Mrs. Violet Cochran, Denver, Col.; Mrs. Velma Falconer, Boardman, Ore.; Mrs. Vivian Bunnell and Mrs. Florence Bryson of Portland, Ore.; seven nephews, eight nieces and an aged grandfather, John Corbin of Stratford, Mo.
Source: Adams County Free Press, Corning, Iowa, Thursday, October 05, 1944 (photo included)
Bernard Wesley Corbin was born Dec. 29, 1922 to Richard and Edith Rosecrans Corbin. He died Aug. 8, 1944 and is buried in Brittany American Cemetery, Montjoie Saint Martin, France.
Cpl. Corbin served in World War II with the U.S. Army 39th Infantry Regiment, 9th Infantry Division and was awarded the Purple Heart.
Sources: ancestry.com; abmc.gov
