December 4, 1944
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310.50.1-5.2016 Transcription
4 Dec 44(—gosh, so near Xmas)
Somewhere in France
9AM
Dearest,
Lately I have been writing you
at night after I wake up from
sleeping all day. Last night that
was impossible for over-load-in-
the-operating-room reasons. I’m
awfully tired but I think (& hope)
that if I write this quickly it
will go out c̅[1] the mail carrier
just as if I had put it on the
carriers desk last night on
my way to work.
For some time now I could
have written a “scorcher-letter”
about War, et al (& maybe you have
sorta expected one). I could really
rant c̅ minute details but
let me close it out c̅ these
generalities: — IF, those smug,
safe, un-Christian, ulterior-
motive shits sitting in Berlin,
London, Washington, Moscow, &
Chungking could really S-E-E,
[2]
& S-T-R-U-G-G-L-E c̅ [(to keep alive)][2] bodies that are
torn to Hell in a thousand different
ways by War I absolutely betcha
that they would make ways of
settling differences on paper instead
of on bodies torn to Hell!! Someday
I’ll give you accurate detailed accounts—
but till then just recall your Anatomy
& start mentally ripping guts, brains, lungs,
mouths, & extremities in all the different
ways you can “visualize” — AND YOU’LL
HAVE ABOUT ONE-TENTH THE PICTURE!!
The Table of Organization calls
for 3 anesthetists in an Evac[uation] Hosp—
each night from 8PM to 8AM I do
the work of 3 anesthetists (often run
3 cases at once—simultaneously) while
a nurse anesthetist does the work
of 2 people & an enlisted man we
are training does the work of 1½
people. Night after night, this
sorta gets ya. Maybe someday
Berlin-London-Wash-Moscow-Chungk’g
will stop this thing & reduce the
work ratio down to a 1:1 ratio.
If we only! would get some
mail we would all probably be
[3]
less irritable, defected, & “hope-less.”
Everybody is just about ready to
scream because no mail has
come through to at least sorta
“take-us-out” of this place for
a few wonderful moments while
we read words ‘n things about
something other than guts ‘n blood
‘n Hell ‘n stink.
‘Nuff said—but not enough
said to the Capitols of the World—
I can’t say skip what Ive
written, because its true—all
I say, darlin’, is don’t think about
it much—infact don’t
even let it come into your mind
at all UNTIL you have the chance
to shove this information down
the throats of some certain
people in the United States of
America who never have seen,
& never will “see” what War
really is. Even war veterans on the streets
or in named-General-Hospitals back home don’t
really show what’s going on over here.
[4]
I’m so God-Thankful that
you & Terry[3] are safe ‘n sound ‘n
warm ‘n clean —‘n W-H-O-L-E.
Guess I better stop writing & go
to dreaming about you two
Precious-Guys—who have—
All my love,
Dave
[1] Medical abbreviation meaning “with.”
[2] Bracketed text inserted into original with a caret.
[3] Their infant son.