Thanks Nancy - That is quite a letter from OM! I suggest Ream family take the 5 minutes and read it as it's only 3 pages.
Name drop/spoiler alert: King George Of England, Winston Churchill, General Eisenhower, and the Pope. The official end of WWII was 1st week of September 1945, so this was literally about 3 weeks after.
Credit Nancy:
I have just come across this letter OM wrote to his family---his mother and his brothers and their wives and his sister and her husband. It was a rotating letter. There was a certain order in which it was sent around the family members and when it came to you, you removed your old letter and put in a new, up to date one and mailed to the next person. So this was the OM's contribution in Sept 1945.
A little background to this trip……The US Government wanted to take radio and newspaper men (note-there was no TV) over to Europe so they could write about the conditions. I gather they were not censored. And OM never said they were. OM represented CBS. There was also one man from ABC, NBC, Associated Press, etc. They witnessed first hand the destructions of WW2.
Credit Jack:
OM's trip was a big deal. I particularly remember the handful of souvenirs he brought back from Hitler's bunker, little Nazi pins and signs, which I believe he just picked up from the rubble. Also, his broadcast from London was significant, as he was reporting back to the states his impressions of his visit, particularly noting the war damage. As I recall, he was introduced by Edward R. Murrow, the CBS London Bureau Chief at the time. I vaguely recall listening to his talk, but I'm not sure about that. Maybe it was a later recording.
Joseph H. Ream, Broadcasting Magazine Article, November 5, 1945 WWII in Europe ended on May 7, 1945
Same article from above as seen in the published magazine Joseph H. Ream, Broadcasting Magazine Article, November 5, 1945
Photo Augest 1945, Frankfort Germany, just after the end of WWII.
OM is sitting in chair center background. OM was working for CBS radio on an official US Army tour of immediate post war Europe.
OM mentioned an Eisenhower meeting in his "Family Letter" shown above, on page 3.
