A military police officer from Polk Co. writes home about the war in the Pacific.

Arild E. Nielsen World War II letters, 1942-1945 (selections).

Arild E. Nielsen wrote these letters to his parents in Centuria (Polk Co.) while serving with Company D, 738th Military Police Battalion, in the Pacific. The seven letters digitized here were written while he was stationed in the Philippines, New Guinea, and Okinawa. They describe his surroundings, Japanese building techniques, food and living conditions, the military point system, getting paid, receiving an award, and the Japanese surrender. After censorship is lifted in September of 1945, Arild writes from Okinawa with details he had previously suppressed, including attacks by Japanese planes, Gen. Douglas MacArthur's landing at Leyte Island, staying in captured Japanese barracks, and the dropping of the atomic bombs. Additional papers (described here) exist in paper form in the Wisconsin Historical Society Archives. These documents are made available online through a partnership between the Wisconsin Historical Society and Wisconsin Public Television.

View the Document

---