As the Trebah History Exhibition opened this month, we received an emailsharing the heartwrenching story of Daniel Craigue, 20-year-old US soldier who was posted to Trebah prior to D-Day.
He wrote almost daily letters to his new wife Megan, whom he had fallen in love with during his training in Penzance.
Weeks later, Daniel would land on Omaha Beach with the 29th Infantry Division, and lose his life during the fighting in France.
Rediscovered decades later, these remarkable letters offer a deeply personal glimpse into the human stories behind D-Day – stories of love, courage, and sacrifice that remain woven into Trebah’s wartime history.
The Letters from Trebah
Daniel Bowen Craigue Jr. was born in 1924 and grew up in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire, USA. On 15 March 1943, at the age of nineteen, he enlisted in the United States Army, joining the 175th Infantry Regiment of the 29th Infantry Division. Daniel was stationed in Cornwall and, from late May 1944, he and thousands of American troops camped in and around Trebah while awaiting embarkation for D-Day.
The local girl
While at Trebah, Daniel wrote almost daily letters to his young wife Megan, née Rogers, of Penzance. The couple had met during the regiment’s training period in the area and married only days before Daniel was moved to Trebah. This posting came without prior notice and the newlyweds couple didn’t get to say goodbye. Megan was four months pregnant when he departed.
Military censorship meant Daniel could never reveal what he was doing or where he was going. Instead, his letters spoke of ordinary things: reminders about repairing a wristwatch, requests for photographs of Megan, jokes, teasing remarks, and questions about her daily life. His final letter, dated 1st June 1944, was noticeably longer than the others. Though he could not say so openly, it carried the sense that he understood a great departure was near.
To the front line
Soon afterwards, Daniel crossed the English Channel with the 29th Infantry Division and landed on Omaha Beach in Normandy. As part of the reinforcements, he was among the last soldiers to come ashore during the brutal fighting that followed D-Day. The division continued fighting their way inland and took part in the fierce battle for Saint-Lô.
It was here that Daniel died instantly of a gunshot wound on 21st June 1944, aged 20 years old.
During the fighting, Daniel had rushed forward in an attempt to save his closest friend, Robert, who was only seventeen years old and lying wounded on the battlefield. Daniel was struck as he tried to reach him. For his bravery and sacrifice, Daniel was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart and the Silver Star, the United States Armed Forces’ third-highest military decoration.
Waiting for news
Back in Cornwall, Megan waited for news before she finally learned of his death in September 1944. The following month, she gave birth to their son, whom she named in honour of his father.
It was not until 1947 that Megan was able to obtain more information on the circumstances around Dan’s death. Reportedly the only two survivors of Daniel’s paltoon visited her and shared further details.
Megan preserved Daniel’s letters from his time at Trebah for the rest of her life, before they were rediscovered after her death in 2017.
They are a moving record of love, youth, and courage written in the final days before one young soldier left Trebah for the beaches of Normandy – and never returned.
“I wish I could have spent more time with you. Don’t worry, we will make up for it some day.”
Daniel, writing in a letter to his wife Megan while stationed at Trebah, 19th May 1944
Trebah would like to thank Marie Tonkin, granddaughter of Megan, for sharing this story, letters and photographs, as well as her poetry.
