ZHU DE | Typed Letter signed ("Chu Teh") as Commander-in-Chief of the 18th Group Army, also known as the Eighth Route or Red Army, thanking US Major W.A. Dexheimer for a gift and wishing him a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Property from the Descendants of Colonel Wilbur A. Dexheimer

ZHU DE

Typed Letter signed ("Chu Teh") as Commander-in-Chief of the 18th Group Army, also known as the Eighth Route or Red Army, thanking US Major W.A. Dexheimer for a gift and wishing him a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

One page (10 1/2 x 7 3/4 in.; 268 x 197 mm), 26 December 1944; old folds, some spotting and foxing. 

A personal note from the future leader of the People's Liberation Army to a member of the American Dixie Mission.

This follow up to Christmas Day 1944 illustrates the camaraderie between the Communists stationed at Yan'an and the Americans officially known as the "U.S. Army Observer Section".

Zhu provides commentary on life at the Northern Chinese outpost and sympathizes with the homesick Americans as he notes to Major Dexheimer "this corner of the world where conditions for cele[b]rating this occasion are so meagre and all of you are so far away from home."