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.