December 18, 1944
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310.62.1-8.2016 Transcription
Somewhere – France
With 7th Army
18 Dec 44 @ 6:45 PM
Umm, dearest,
First, I sleep in clean
“sheets” that I washed myself [(as written)][1]; second,
I eat S-T-E-A-K; third I pull
out a lucky lottery ticket used in
“diveying” up uneven scotch [(as written)][2] whiskey
ration (my first purchase in Europe—I’ll probably sell it);
AND 4th I get two very nice letters
from you!! Great day??—ummm!
Only now its getting so late I feel
sorta hurried in writing this letter
to you before I go on 8PM-8AM night
duty [this is the middle of the 2nd (alternated) week of nites][3]
YOUR DEC. 5ths : Quickly, thanks for the cute
cartoon & the fox-hole surgeon clippings.
[P.S. I haven’t even looked at any girl twice—
even looked—‘s funny—I’m just
numb to anyone but you, you lovely thing.][4]
Not in the least to minimize that
quick-thinking “foxhole-surgeon—
do you know that your Poppy has
done the same & then gives anesthesia
through the tracheotomy tube so that
the poor guys throat can be repaired?
Infact, right this minute I carry in my pocket
(as always) the connector-metal-piece so as to
[2]
adapt my anesthesia apparatus onto an
emergency trache[o]tomy tube. Naturally,
all our work is c̅[5]in the hospital
instead of a foxhole.
Three of us here in the room just
finished trying to decide that we had
seen “Since You Went Away.”[6] I’m fairly
sure we saw it in our last days at
Columbia. Wasn’t it: Ginger Rogers c̅ a
baby; 3 other girls; a noble refugee
kitchen-woman; etc; etc? It was a
“home”-hitting movie!
From what you write about my
letters arriving in your hands makes
me feel better (even though I still am positive
we will never receive all of eachothers letters) [REPITION 4X][7]
However, I am sooo very thankful
that if one of us has to be “on-the-short-
end-of-the-horn”—it will be me
instead of you. I really imagine that
things should be better now for me
since you know of A.P.O.[8] 758
Don’t ever think for one minute that
I haven’t realized how huge a help
Grandma & Grandpa have been not
only to Thump[9] but to you. Afterall!
I hereby, towit, ‘n stuff –forthwith
bestow upon Grandpa the Bronze Star
for his part in helping you & Grandma
receive your Oak Leaf Clusters[10], Legions of
[3]
Merit, etc that I have written of 2x or 3x before.
Yup! Yowza! ‘n Youbetcha!
P.S. Tell Grandpa that as a very minor & inadequate
expression of my appreciation to him I am sending
tomorrow morning [I hope!][11] about 22 pkgs of cigarettes
to him. We hear (true or not) that guys in the U.S.
can hardly get cigarettes, so rather than me
fuss [‘n hazzard][12] around streets bartering them
off for goofey French trinkets at the relative ratio
of $2.50 a pkg, I am sending them to him. Tell him
I hope they aren’t too old by the time they arrive—
& also explain that if I didn’t cut the “Armyseal”
c̅ a razzor [sic] [I hope it wont hasten their staleness
appreciably] I could get into a big mess of “hot
water.” I don’t imagine razoring the seal will hasten staleness
much.][13]
Lastly, re: your Dec 5th’s, let me
put on tangible paper, that it was such
a lovely, lovely, ‘n sweet letter.
Your letters all are so so so wonderful—
but if you want an index of how super-wonderful
your letters have been recently, let me ad lib
that almost every one recently gets “scissored”
apart, & my chained-onto-[me][14]-billfold is buldging
by leaps and bounds where I keep the cut out
portions in a separate holder.
Your Dec. 7th’s: — [P.S. Boy! aren’t you
so real real glad that we agreed on air-mail
writing way back when——infact, it was
your figurin’ ‘n your suggestion, you wire
ol’buzzard, you!][15] Let me ad lib——
[as you already do][16], please don’t fail to
say so, when you do not write—ever.
My chance of knowing how many are lost,
poor as it is anyway, hinges on knowing
how many times you don’t write. As
repititioned before, I’ll always do the same.
[4]
You speak of hoping your Dec 5ths
letter got through—& it did. Let me
similarly hope that my last nights Dec 17th
letter gets through [as well as many others, of
course, but especially, that one I wrote down in
Marsielle c̅ so much of my heart on paper—
finally].[17] Just why I hope so hard for
my Dec 17th is hard to express—guess
its ‘cuz the religious thing I wrote was
so very very deep & profound & sincere
in me, as I wrote it.
Know what, Precious? ——again,
I just “saw” ol’ Thump a hiccoughin’
& a proppin’ up infront of you on that
big bed that would dwarf him, as I
read your paragraph. No kiddin’—this
wonderful “seeing” of Thump doing/acting/
experiencing those things you write is
absoloutely a P-H-E-N-O-M-E-N-O-N!! —a
God-send phe Phenomenon!! (Ive written of all this
before—I hope they reached you).
Dear, I could write 10 pages of
conjectures about that $45 you received
but I just gotta summarize it down
to this——after setting the whole
Hdqrts[18] of the 116th [infantry] into chaos &
investigation about said mess-up:—
(1) Just a thought——Could Fitzsimons
have owed you anything (bonus or otherwise)?
(2) If the $45 you received was the $50
[5]
I sent via Personal Transfer Accounts for
YOUR, TERRY’S, MOM-DAD’S XMAS PRESENT
(divided into $12.50-quarters) m via my “Dont-Open-
Till-Xmas-Letter” ——Lt Dougherty,
the finance officer, I, & many others
will just tear the guys out of the
Etousa[19] finance officer for making a
mess of things.
(3) Maybe it all is an (unfathomable)
overpayment example (which goes on
quite often). Was it really made out
to “Emily E. Belk” as your letter worded
it?
(4) OR, did you write a wording of
thoughts on paper different than you
really meant to, & thus we all here
get thrown into a “tizzy”. I even let
the finance read your paragraph, so
I can’t be accused of misreading which I have
[shamefully][20] done more than once in our life.
Soooo, don’t let this all “throw-ya” like
it did the finance officers & I at first.
We both agree that its only 5 bucks
difference, BUT the key-note is—is or
isn’t P.T.A.[21] a reliable set-up? We
both figure on waiting (about a mo[nth] probably)
till we hear from you.
Be sure & tell Mom & Dad that I’m
100% for your decision about $42.50 a
month. I thought of it many times but
didn’t have a ghost of an idea what an
equitable offer would be.
[6]
This probably goes s̅[22] saying—
but someday just make a tabulation
of letters you know I have received
from you via checking back on these
letters of mine that I know you are
saving. Thus I have felt all the freerer [sic]
in destroying [P.S. as ORDERED by War Dept][23]
your letters after reading them—
except for those precious parts I scissor
out, of course. Also, another reason I’m glad
you are saving my letters is this:—when I come
home Ill be so overflowing c̅ information & tales
I won’t know how & where to start. Soooo, Ill
just go down the line of these letters in your scrap
book & that will make for an orderly/chronological/
sensible guide, as well as reminders for dozens
of things that would otherwise slip my mind.
I feel kinda extravagant about
air mail stamps even though only
once did a letter of yours finally get
through carrying them. P.S. I hoarded 35
airmail stamps once in Southern France & have
had to rarely dig into the “hoard” ——however, I
feel that I always want to stay ahead of this
hoard as sometime we might never be able to get ‘em,
& thus I’d have a whole month’s worth of writing before
I was snafued on our airmail speed.
Oh, yes, !! ––twice I have
forgotten to ask you to roll-the-ball
even this early on getting me the
next “Foreword Day By Day.” I have the
green covered Advent-Pre-Lent one (JUST
BY CHANCE, BEFORE LEAVING N.Y.) written by
Leslie Glenn, whom I’ll tell you of
[7]
when I see you. However, I hate to
take such a “chance” as the last issue;
to get the “Lent-Foreword” (as mentioned
on pg #21). Bishop Lewis promised to send
‘em to me, & probably has, but mail is
surely snafued too often. Even if Bis[marck]
Rector can’t (or won’t) roll the ball fast,
please contact Bish. Lewis or Fr. Kelley
25 [600 Haven St, Office of the Dean, Evanston, Ill][24]
to have them put one in the mail
right off. Thanks a million, darlin.
P.S. I’d rather have excess ones to give away to
other fellows, than none at all. Infact, I almost
believe I’d feel “lost” overseas s̅ those “Forewords.”
Can I plagerize –– huh? –– by saying ––
I do love you so very, very much &
miss you so horribly I cant put it
into words—–please, darlin’,
take care of yourself for me & Terry.
All of my love,
Dave
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[5] Medical abbreviation meaning “with.”
[6] A 1944 film about a housewife dealing with life while her husband is off fighting in the war.
[7] Bracketed text written in the right-side margin of original.
[8] Army Post Office.
[9] Nickname for their infant son, Terry.
[10] Type of military badge denoting subsequent awards of the same decoration.
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[18] Headquarters.
[19] The European Theater of Operations, United States Army.
[20] Bracketed text is part of original.
[21] Personal Transfer Account for sending money back home.
[22] Medical abbreviation meaning “without.”
[23] Bracketed text is part of original.
[24] Bracketed text is part of original.