Russell Esterline, son of Harvey Esterline
I collect war letters.I just bought original handwritten world war II letters of Russell Esterline of Ohio.He served with the 130th Infantry Regiment and he saw battle in the Philipines from February 1945 thru April 1945.In April 1945 he saw some of his heaviest fighting.Esterline's specialty was with an artillery squad.Russell manned a mortar-gun position.One letter he said he had his mortar set-up in a sweet-potato patch.Weeks later he manned a position up in the hills.Some days he was allowed to come down from the hills to a base-camp for a rest period.Phillipinos carried supplies to the troops at the front lines.Also the natives did G.I. laundry and gave haircuts.