December 15, 1944
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310.59.1-4.2016 Transcription
Somewhere – France
With 7th Army
15 Dec 44 @ 5:30 PM
[Dear,
Just to help
you judge as well
as straighten out
confusing thoughts, I have
written every day or said so
when I didn’t have the faintest
chance to write.][1]
Mornin’, dearest,
I say good-mornin’ even
though its 5:30 PM –– yup, I just
woke up after being again back on
nights [8PM to 8AM][2] so it is mornin’ time.
Anyhooo, I’m surely glad they are
shifting work schedules weekly
instead of bi-monthly or monthly.
Maybe I’d better restate something.
For weeks I’d reiterate important
points in successive letters so as to
make greater assurance that they
reached you. Lately I haven’t done
it ‘cuz it was hogging just too
much paper weight. Maybe, too, I’m
getting a little bit more trusting/
hopeful that things get through to
you––––although I’ll still betcha
that you never receive all I send &
I’ll never receive all you send [(as written 4x before)][3]. Betcha!
While on sending––––I may be
very jubilant before this letter is
over & here’s why:––Not one speck
of mail arrived today, BUT instead
18 sacks of packages [woopie!][4] came
[2]
about an hour ago & it is so big
an order, that as yet they haven’t
been able to sort it all. Probably by the
time I finish this [P.S. I’m still a very slow
writer][5] the mail orderly will have
completed his segregation.
I saw my first movie last
night in weeks. I tried to see one
some time ago at Epinal, France [NOTE!][6]
but the sound-track there (as at other
places) was so lousey, I got up &
walked out. Maybe this show was
lousey, but to [illegible deletion] me it surely seemed
“tops.” It was Bennie Goodman in
(something like) “Sweet & Low-down.”
Anyhoooo, it surely is now much more
encouraging when a Special Service
truck pulls up c̅[7] its own generator
in the back end, & runs an electric
wire into your mess-hall, etc, etc..
(Above) I mentioned Epinal, France.
This sets off a long discussion that I’ll
try to “thumb-mail.” Etousa (Eu[ro]p[ean] Theat[er]
of United St[ate]s A[rmy]) has decreed in recent
weeks this:––(1) A soldier can say
the name of some town he has visited
if it be 25 or more miles away (2) and
if an appreciable length of time has
elapsed since he visited that town.
Nobody knows exactly how long a
time is “appreciable” time, but it
[3]
is assumed to be at least a week on
up to a month. Thus, I can say that
Mirecourt (sometime written Mire-court in
religious history books), Nancy & Gray (all) France[8]
were interesting places that I’ll
describe in words when I come home.
Sooo, dear, you & the rest of the “Etousa-
wives” can plan on the rule of “25-miles
&at-least-7-days” whenever your Pas
speak of geography in their letters.
In the “extracurricular” line I
must tell you something else. You
will at first say Wilitzski[9] is crazy
to have laid out 1000 Francs ($20) for
a liquor ration last night––––or
that he is surely going to try hard to
become a drunkard. Nope! it’s this:––
the 116th has never been able to get
itself on the well established Etousa-
Liquor-Rations-Plan as yet. Sooo, c̅
Xmas coming up (& lots of the guys c̅ their
tongues hanging out for weeks) the C.O.
sent a truck off on a 2 day trip to
go to Reims, France & Brussels, Belgium
to get liquor. Well the set up before
departure of this Special Service Officer
was either (1) You go 1000 Frs[10] “across-the-
board” for all he could get his hands
on as licensed by Organizational
[4]
Strength Report or (2) you got nuthin’
except what you might buy/beg
off some other officer who was
“across-the-board” for 1000 Frs. Well,
to be honest, I would like to taste
some French champagne, so that fact
plus my very easy opportunity to sell
all the rest to the other officers (as well
as help get more total supply into the 116th which
they ask) I laid out 20 bucks. Guess
maybe I’d better clarify that the
Ration includes a combination of things
under each officers name––probably
something like this:––2 bottles of
champagne + 2 scotch + 1 gin + 2 cogniac (sp?).
Sooo, I’ll buy the whole unit—Ration;
keep the champagne; & “sell” the rest
to the guys whose tongues hang out
so far. Soooo, darlin’, I’ll probably
write you some night here in the
future around Xmas time while I have
“half-a-nose-full” of champagne.
[P.S. Also, the “tongue-hanging”-guys will be blessing me].[11]
Shucks! Nuts! Hell! Infact––“shit!” [(I wrote all about this last nite)][12] The
mail orderly just delivered 5 packages
to this room & I have nuthin’ (not even
my hair tonic or precious air stationary etc) let alone the pkg. Dad
wrote about way back even before Kilmer.[13]
Gee, dearest, this drops my “writing-
spirit” to nothing, so Ill stop c̅
All my love to you both,
Dave
[P.S. I could surely use 2 of those precious
old fashioned whisk brooms & 3 Noxzema][14] ← NOXZEMA (cream).
[1] Bracketed text written in the upper left corner of original.
[2] Bracketed text inserted into original with a caret.
[3] Bracketed text inserted into original with a caret.
[4] Bracketed text is part of original.
[5] Bracketed text is part of original.
[6] Bracketed text written above the line in the original, with an arrow pointing to “France.”
[7] Medical abbreviation meaning “with.”
[8] All located in the Eastern part of the country.
[9] Wilsey’s nickname for himself.
[10] Francs.
[11] Bracketed text is part of original.
[12] Bracketed text written above the line of text in original, with an arrow pointing to “shit!”
[13] Camp Kilmer, a New Jersey transportation hub for US soldiers heading to Europe.
[14] Bracketed text written in a box drawn in the lower left corner of the original.