December 29, 1944
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310.69.1-6.2016 Transcription
Somewhere – France 29 Dec 44
9AM (AND DAMN TIRED)
Emily, M’ dear,
The keynote of this letter/addendum
to the P[ower] of Att[orne]y papers is:— WHAT IN “HELL” CAN
A PERSON DO c̅[1] THE BRAND OF HUMANITY
CALLED LAWYERS! 卐 ! Ü ! « !
Last night (after being to a JAG[2] office) I
wrote you rather jubilantly about how
please I was to have things fixed up
as you requested. In one way they are
fixed up—in another you have a
miserable mess of {traveling & fighting} on your hands.
Firstly, note that [after a lazy
N.Y. “sh[y]ster” had asked me only a few
hurried questions so as to “fluff” me out
of his office & hurry to chow][3] he typed up
the P. of Atty as stating me to be a
resident of Burl[ington] Co[unty], No[rth] Dak[ota] which I never
said & he never even asked about. After
working all night I drag myself back to
his office to find said sheets staring
me in the face to be signed. Upon asking
to have the 6 words retyped he just “fluffed”
me again on what was obviously stinking
rotten, Army laziness—plus a whole
bunch of “legal-horseshit” to condone his
laziness. As things stand it is so
lengthy to put on paper that I hate to
even start but I had better as someday
it might save you {miles & miles & hours & hours} of trouble.
[2]
(QUOTE) “An overseas soldier can change
his residence in the USA every day if he
so chooses & thus just because on 29 Dec 44
the papers “choose” it to be Bur. Co, No Dak. that
doesnt mean you cant change it tomorrow
morning 30 Dec 44 to Waukesha County,
State of Wisconsin.” Upon Mr. Brendemuehls
advice during the making of that preoverseas
will he advised (& I obediently like a child)
accepted his desire to state that my
legal residency was Waukesha County, St[ate] of
Wis. to make things easier for him to
handle in case of any settlement. Probably
for “lawyer-case” this is the better way.
Now here (attached) is a signed statement
that I declare my residence in Bur. Co, No Dak.
Presuppose—something happens
to me & things try to get settled c̅ 2
conflicting residences on file. What a
mess ↔ what a “lawyers-dream”!
(QUOTE) [After practically begging him
to just change 6 (six) (VI) words][4] “Well,
you can change it if you want to
make an erasure & initial the
erasure to make it legal.” Sooo, to try
to be panoramically-cover-all, I have
initialed along side on half the copies
so that you who have a typewriter & less
fatigue can erase Bur Co, St. of No Dak &
put in Waukesha County, State of Wisconsin.
[3]
Utilize this “initialing-changing-privelege”
only if you so desire (or seems expedient) some
day-sometime.
Being a doctor (thank God! not a sh[y]ster) my
estimate of the situation is this:—(1) Hang
onto these P. of Atty’s & never put them into
legal “circulation” unless you absoloutely
have to. [it very likely can be, as you yourself
say, that you’ll never need them][5] (2) If you
just have to use them, figure out which
place (state) you would forever after
want to get “sucked-into”—if
its North Dakota, 3 copies stand for you
to do that, & you just burn the initialed
copies. If it should be Wisconsin
you elect to get involved with—
erase + typewrite “Waukesha Co, State of
Wisconsin & burn the “Dakota-copies.”
All I can personally wish——is
that whichever way you choose, it will
not involve you into any (or at most
very little) traveling/”neglecting” Terry[6]/
fighting c̅ JG Lloyds-Brendemuehl.
As an afterthought—it just might be
that you would want to “force-Brendem-
uehls-hand” & cause all things to
be shifted into No. Dak. via the statement
of residency in No. Dak as done on 29 Dec 44.
[4]
This of course would just be “lawyer’s-
fee-glee” to rob-you-blind via
the money involved in “Two State Legaility-
Transaction.”
Emily, probably go to a lawyer in
Bismarck about this; PAY HIM; & just
get a panoramic though plan in advance
as to what is best-of-the-sh[y]ster-worst
if you should have to put these papers
into legal-“circulation” for some reason
someday. You tell this lawyer I’ll fly
home & break his damn neck if he
says THIS:— “Why didn’t the lieutenant
just refuse to sign such papers & insist
on having them retyped” You scream at
him for me:—YOU SILLY SH[Y]STER SON-
OF-A-BITCH—IN THIS MANS ARMY
YOU DONT “INSIST” (as above) ON ONE DAMN
THING IF THE GUY ACROSS FROM YOU
IS CARRYING MORE RANK THAN YOU!—
you just humbly pick up the few
crumbs (towit, faulty typed sheets) he has
so generously [& lazily][7] has thrown
you & you get-your-ass-outa-thar
just as damn fast as you can!!
Pardon me——one constructive
intelligent thing did come out of his
[5]
mouth——he advised (in Bis. it
would have cost me $25) that I send half the
copies today & the other half 5, 4, or 6 days
later so that if a particular mail
ship or place went down, all copies
wouldnt be lost.
Dearest, isn’t this a most miserable
way to be wasting 2 hours of time that
I could be writing instead, I LOVE YOU!
I LOVE YOU! I LOVE YOU! — ??? Sooo,
now Ill get to bed to get ready for
another night-duty tonight, & hope that
I feel better & have time to write
you again this evening (in answer to
a letter I hope [that][8] may come).
I’ll sign this c̅ my heart, &
also “legally,” so that someday you
could use this “addendumed” hand-
writing if you choose
All my love,
Dave
[Initials appear as:-
D.B.W.][9]
David Brown Wilsey
also
David Brown Wilsey, M.D.
also
David Brown Wilsey, 1st Lt.-M.C., 0-545093A.U.S.
[310.69.7-11.2016 is signed “Power of Attorney” legal documents.]
[1] Medical abbreviation meaning “with.”
[2] Judge Advocate General.
[3] Bracketed text is part of original.
[4] Bracketed text is part of original.
[5] Bracketed text is part of original.
[6] Their infant son.
[7] Bracketed text is part of original.
[8] Bracketed text inserted into original with a caret.
[9] Bracketed text written on the lower left-hand side of the page in original.