Rediscovered Letters Reveal G.I.’s Final Days at Trebah Before D-Day

A young bride in Penzance, four months pregnant, never got the chance to say goodbye to her American husband before he boarded a boat at Trebah Garden for Normandy. His letters home, written almost daily in those final weeks, sat carefully kept for more than 70 years before her family found them.

Ahead of the 82nd anniversary of D-Day, Trebah Garden has shared the story of Daniel Bowen Craigue Jr., the soldier behind those letters, and the wife and son he left behind in Cornwall.

A wartime romance in Cornwall

Daniel was 20 years old and a long way from his home in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire when he met Megan Rogers of Penzance. The pair married while he was stationed in Cornwall during the Allied build-up to D-Day.

Serving with the United States Army’s 175th Infantry Regiment, Daniel arrived at Trebah in the final weeks before the Normandy landings, joining the thousands of American troops who embarked from Polgwidden Cove. Megan was four months pregnant when he left for the garden. The couple never had the chance to say goodbye.

📷Megan Craigue around 1947 (kopia)

Letters from Trebah

Wartime censorship meant Daniel could not write about anything military. So he wrote about ordinary things instead. Repairing watches. Asking Megan to send photographs. Gentle jokes. Checking how she was feeling.

The letters arrived at her door almost daily through the final days of May and into early June 1944, a young man trying to hold onto something familiar while the war pressed in around him.

In one of his last letters, dated 1st June 1944, Daniel wrote: “Well dear, I can’t think of anything more to say only that I love you very much and miss you very much and hope to see you soon.”

📷Telegram September 6 1944 confirming Daniel's death

What happened at Saint-Lô

Days later Daniel crossed the English Channel with the 29th Infantry Division, arriving in France as reinforcements during the Normandy campaign.

On 21st June 1944 he was killed near Saint-Lô while trying to rescue his wounded friend Robert, who was 17 years old. He was posthumously awarded both the Purple Heart and the Silver Star for his bravery.

Back in Cornwall, Megan would wait through the summer for news. Confirmation of Daniel’s death did not reach her until September 1944. The following month she gave birth to their son and named him after his father.

📷Grave of Daniel Craigue

Letters rediscovered

Megan kept the letters for the rest of her life. After her death in 2017, her family rediscovered them, opening a window onto the final days of a young soldier who had sailed from Cornwall and never come home.

Trebah Garden Marketing Manager James Lewis said: “Daniel’s story is one of the most moving personal accounts connected to Trebah’s wartime history. We’re honoured to be able to share his story, and include it in our current exhibition The Story Of Trebah, where it has now been added to the wartime section to help visitors better understand the human stories behind the preparations for Normandy and the sacrifices made by those who departed from Trebah’s shores.”

Daniel’s letters now form part of the wartime section of the exhibition at Trebah Garden, alongside the story of the thousands of American troops who left Polgwidden Cove in June 1944.

📷Dan Craigue