December 9, 1944
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310.283.1-9.2017 Transcription
Somewhere—France
9 Dec 44 – 9 PM
After day shift 8AM → 8 PM
Dearest,
Another day of mad-house, but
I’ve burdened you c̅[1] the work
& [(SURGICAL operating room)][2] mismanagement of this outfit
to many times already recently,
so I’ll go on to Us & your 5 letters
that arrived yesterday. I breifly
answered the most pertinent
questions last night but now I
can be more liesurely:—
Your Nov. 8th’s:—Dearest, I
can’t say enough times how
wonderful a job you are doing c̅
Terry[3]—you super swell
Mother, you! Ummm! 9 lbs 12 ¾ oz.
Say, just see if Dr. B. would ever
have a chance (time) to write me.
He’s probably too busy to ever get
to it. Your handwriting let me
think that at least one thing that
has been tried on Thump[4] is olac
(A doctor would write it “Olac.”) Am I right
or wrong, dear.
[2]
You know dear,—you work
as hard as I do & get as little sleep
as I do—for distinctly different
reasons. I’ve mused about it often
lately. The difference is only that
you are at the start of fine
manhood & I am on the ass-end
of wrecked-fine-manhood.
This is something for the World
to think about! Ü ! « ! 卐 ! Anyhooo,
Dad tells me what I already know
about you & good ol’ Grandma
getting no sleep to speak of.
So help me, each of youz Guys is
gonna get a Silver Start plus
700 Oak Leaf Clusters plus a Legion
of Merit. Yowzza!
Yup, Edith Green always
writes c̅ typewriter. Contrary to
your belief I got her letter way
back in Marsielle seeming ages
ago. Discussing AJ Hood would never end.
As to your question about
trip-time crossing the ocean all
I can say is that I came far
faster than you or Dad think. Tell
Dad I just cant answer “ocean-questions” that
he would like to hear. Tell him I’m sorry!
[3]
You’ve just set me all brim[m]ing
c̅ curiosity about (QUOTE) “made some
very good resoloutions today” (Nov 9th).
Even though I’m itching to know,
please don’t tread into the realm
of Traitorship-Of-Written-Words to
try to send them overseas, dear. I
too have made them. let’s just
pray that we don’t have to wait
too many years & a [homeward][5] trip via the
Orient, to start carrying them out.
[Before I go one step farther, let me ad lib
that I’m positive all my letters will never
reach you & all your letters will never reach
- ITS DOWN-RIGHT DAMNABLE!!][6]
When you said—”the durndest
backache”—did you mean
dysmenorrhea? Please, now, answer
me, dear.
Your Nov. 15ths V-Mail:—(Guess
we both despise V-mails equally).
You know by one of my past letters
that I’ll never be able to resend
that ships-newspaper since the
censor “bounced” it, even though
the ship’s censor said it was send-
able. Hundreds did arrive home.
Mine just happened to be one of the Officer’s spot checked.
[4]
Four or more letters told you about
the coincidence & God-send of Dobie
& I meeting in France. Neither he nor
I have ever seen Clyde. Dobie is
supposedly near me but I’ll probably
never be so lucky again. I so
hope I never have to anesthetize him, & that is
about the only way I’d ever meet him again.
None of the 3 of us crossed the ocean
c̅ any one of the others.
Your Nov. 16ths:—Darlin’, I
could legitimately & actually write
pages about this Power of Att[orne]y
business but all I have time/energy
/or paper-traitorship-daring to summarize
is this:-Mr. Brendemuehl has for
the last time in his life advised
me on anything!—let alone
the presence of any more “blind-faith”
that I gave him for so many years.
P.S. Believe it or not—your letter did not make
me mad—honest! & sincerely! As I wrote
last night, I fear a Judge Advocate
General [lawyer in uniform][7] is miles from
here but Ill try like Hell. Heres
hoping the [last night][8]airmailed (2 stamps) Truax
papers aren’t lost. Just as you wrote,
I too never [fore][9] saw anything that wasn’t
covered by what I had already
[5]
fixed-up before leaving The States.
You’re right when you write:- “I know
you have no objections to my having
it (P. of Atty), but just thought it was
unnecessary.” The Brendemuehl
reason (above) is #1 explaination of
this whole mess, & if there is a #2
explaination it is this, dearest—
I still would be darned it I’d
subject you to the time-wasting,
traveling, Terry-absenting, [illegible] &-
annoying, & travel-spending envolved
c̅ having to run to Oconomowoc
just because I will (when possible)
send you P. of Atty: Emily, I never
want you in John Lloyds (or maybe
even Sevilla Lloyds) presence unless I
am c̅ you. O.K.?
[10 Dec 44 Two deaths, & almost
a 3rd occurred at this point in
the operating room. I went &
never got back till 2 AM.
I’ll describe all verbally someday.][10]
Your Nov 17th’s:—
Gee I’m pleased
about your $4 scale—you good ol’
“Jewess” you!
Whumpf! gonna surprise me
huh?! c̅ pictures of Thump YOU PRECIOUS
THING, YOU!
Nope, you never mentioned before that
you had them taken. [Oh! oh! I’ll bet
that letter was lost.][11] Gee! Im glad. All
[6]
I can say (again) is that I sooooo
want you too, on pictures showing
Terry. Please!!!!!!!!!!!!! Have I made myself emphatic?
I too hope for your sake, darlin’,
that Thump eats bigger quantities &
eats (accordingly) less often. P.S. Please
don’t think me a “wet blanket” just cuz I
recall what Charlie Gillespie said about his boy
not taking very big quantities at feeding times until
around 10, 11, or 12 months.
(Ho! ho!) Thumps’ constipated Ma
plus his pretty often constipated Pa
might make a tendency towards
those (QUOTE) “adult stools” (∴ by comparison
a relative constipation in an infant).
I don’t know just how to
answer about what [you][12] write re:
your getting (QUOTE) “fatter & fatter.”
I’ll just not write.
Your Nov. 18th’s:—Thanks a
million, dear, for sending those 5 airmail
stamps in this Nov 18th letter. They
are really a treasure over here.
Breifly (in case my other letter was lost)
that “unusual & exciting” incident in
the souveneir newspaper was my
privelege of being chosen to give a
spinal anesthesia in the middle of
[7]
a tossing ocean—the ship pitched
so, that I got down on my knees for
stability’s-sake to give the spinal to
a ruptured appendix.
I actually ate my meals at “Roy
and René’s” but slept 15 minutes
walk from there.
Dad: (& you too Em) I could go into
much length, which silly writing
would take, to answer both your
questions (arguement) about Armstead,
the numbers you wrote, etc. Let’s
just handle it this way until
I am home [as to write—silly, takes
me an awful long time & I just
don’t have it to spend][13]:—forget it
all now as it all is a thing of
the past—both as to probabilities
changes, & the like. O.K? I hope I don’t
disappoint either of you in handling it this way,
but I just don’t dare go into [illegible deletion] clarity.
All my letter-heads for sometime answer
much anyway. P.S. Armstead Street is really
very very clever, even though silly—I’ll remember.
And, Dad, would I ever trade this
French mud for my feet in Bis[marck’s] 8’ snow!
No, dear, we do not pay $2.50 for
cigarettes—cigarettes are worth $2.50
[8]
to a Frenchman (in his money as related to
our money)—thus the French whore
really makes a pretty good fee as
she turns around & just sells the cigs.
Heavens! you should apologize/ex-
plain about letting transitory de-
pressions sneak into letter-writing;
after 3 of mine recently.
GI posters posted everywhere one
goes encourage & prod a soldier to
save his money. [P.S. I didn’t un-save mine in
a crap game, poker game, etc—thats how I was
so [easily][14] able to send that $50 by Personal Transfer Account for
you, Terry, Mom, & Dad to divide equally for your Xmas presents
from me. Gee! I hope that “Dont Open Till Xmas” letter gets there][15]
The #1 incentive listed on all these
posters (because of its huge appeal to every one of us)
is “MONEY FOR A REAL VACATION AFTER THE
WAR.” Dearest, you have no idea how
we all crave/dream/save for/need
that v-a-c-a-t-i-o-n the poster
“appeals” about as a money-saver-prodder.
This all ties in perfectly & directly c̅
the last question in all your letters—
darlin’ we will take a second
honeymoon in every way & manner you
wrote. Ummm! geeee! ummm!
& we’ll take it with
All our love—
All our greater love,
Dave
[1] Medical abbreviation meaning “with.”
[2] Bracketed text inserted into original with a caret.
[3] Their infant son.
[4] Nickname for their infant son, Terry.
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