NEWS WAR SERVICE.
Major Donald C. Mueller left Ft. Bragg, North Carolina, last Wednesday. Mrs. Mueller, who has been with her husband, returned to Boone to make her home while her husband is in the service.
Source: LeMars Globe-Post, August 19, 1943
MAJ. DONALD MUELLER WRITES OF FIGHTING AROUND CASSINO
Major Donald Mueller, Hdq. 995th F. A. Battn, of the U.S. Army, who has been in active service for over three years and in Italy for six months, writes his parents, Mr. and Mrs. A. E. Mueller, of LeMars, under date of February 18, as follows:
Dear Mother and Dad:
A few lines to let you know I’m well and happy as could be expected. The weather here is cold. We have had a couple of rainy days and we have the old devil mud with us again. I’ve often read about snow capped mountains but now I can say I’ve seen them. They are beautiful to look at but tough to climb. The Jerries sure are hard to move as you say. They fight for every inch of ground. I suppose you read in the paper about the big bombing and artillery mission they pulled off here yesterday. I had a ringside seat for the thing and I directed about half of the artillery fire that went on that particular mission. It was not a welcome job, but it had to be done. We have steered clear of that spot with our fire for a long time, but the other side didn’t call it a neutral spot and we had to take it down.
Italy will certainly be a wreck when this is over. We have to knock down nearly every house we come to as they are nearly all fortified. The Italians are living in caves and cellars right in the combat area. They just won’t leave and a lot of them share the same fate as the troops. After the most vicious bombings and artillery concentrations men, women and children pop up out of cellears, caves and shattered buildings and start living in the shells of house remaining. People in the United States can’t realize the poverty, squalor and filth in which these people are forced to exist. And still many times I can’t feel too sorry for them. Again the Americans are fortunate that the war is not being fought on their own soil.
Yes, dad, I think the Russians will get to Berlin before we do and I can’t say that I’m sorry about that either.
When we get to Rome, I don’t think there will be anything left there to send home as a souvenior.”
Source: LeMars Semi-Weekly Sentinel, March 17, 1944
Maj. Don Muller Among First To Arrive In Rome
Has Been With Heavy Artillery In Italian Campaign
Major Donald Mueller, who is with the invasion forces in Italy in charge of an artillery outfit, wrote his parents, Mr. and Mrs. A. E. Mueller, of LeMars, recently relating his experiences fighting which resulted in the capture of Rome. He had previously written of his battery’s part in the fighting around Cassino. His last letter, written June 6, says:
“It took quite a while for us to get started but we really traveled when we started. We have been moving so fast and often that we nearly had to fire on the run. I don’t think we have missed a day looking for new positions and sometimes we could not move into them quick enough to fire because our troops moved ahead so fast.
Yesterday was the big day and Col. Douglas, Lieut. Morris and I were in the big city just 3 ½ hours behind the first troops. We weren’t supposed to be there, but we managed to get there O. K. They surely showered us with flowers and probably would have kissed us if we should have stopped. It was quite an experience.
The people there were much nicer looking than any place I have yet seen over here.
Now the big show is started over in England so maybe it won’t be long in ending. Anway we hope not. We are getting tired of the whole thing.”
Source: LeMars Semi-Weekly Sentinel, June 20, 1944
