Identified Letter
Letter identified to Cpt. Frank D. Tyrrell - HQ 3rd Battalion, 331st Infantry Regiment
Original WWII Envelope/Letter dated March 30, 1945. The letter was sent by Cpt. Frank D. Tyrrell, O-394383, Headquarters 3rd Battalion, 331st Infantry to his darling wife in Seattle, Washington. Captain Tyrrell wrote his letter on a 'liberated' German Feldpostbrief. The Feldpostbrief is a single sheet of paper which was designed to be folded into an envelope. The back of the envelope shows a German girl in traditional clothing. The address the envelope was sent from was APO #83 which was in Buttgen, Germany on this date.
The back of the envelope shows a German girl in traditional clothing
Cpt. Frank D. Tyrrell
Captain
Frank D. Tyrrell
(click to enlarge)
Captain Frank D. Tyrrell
Frank DeLos 'Terry' Tyrrell was born on June 12, 1915 in Bancroft, South Dakota as the youngest of five children. His father Thomas J. (1879-1968), who had English roots, and his mother Gertrude Nelings Tyrrell (1878-1942), who had US/Canadian roots, worked as farmers in South Dakota. Frank Tyrrell moved to Seattle, Washington in 1940 and was a teaching fellow in the Botany Department at the University of Washington. There he met Maywood 'Midge' Mitchell whom he married in January 1942.
In March 1942 Frank Tyrrell went into the US Army and served as S-3 Officer (O-394383) in HQ Company, 3rd Battalion, 331st Infantry Regiment of the 83rd Infantry Division. Captain Tyrrell participated in five major battles and has the ETO ribbon with a Silver Star for 5 campaigns. He went into Germany at the end of the war during the Occupation period. He brought home two parachutes, one from the Nazi military and another one that was US. These parachutes have been donated to the South Dakota Historical Society, along with pdfs of the letters. For his service he was awarded, among other decorations, the Combat Infantry Badge, the European African Middle-Eastern Campaign Medal with five Campaign Stars, the Bronze Star Medal with Oak leaf Cluster, Silver Star Medal and a Presidential Unit Citation.
He sent a large series of letters back home, writing about the War, the Germans, and Germany. (click to read Frank's letters)
After the War, Frank Tyrrell worked in the plywood and lumber industry, first at the Elliot Bay Mill Co. and later for Seattle Plywood and Door Co. Frank and his wife Maywood "Midge" (born Mitchell) has two sons, George (1951-2004) and Mark (1951-1997) Tyrrell. Frank "Terry" Tyrrell died on July 31, 1994, in Mercer Island, Washington, at the age of 79.