February 25, 1945
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310.117.1.2017 Transcription
[P.S. Probably “THE” joke of Etousa[1] at
the present time is this:—(you ask
the question [$64?][2] & never answer it yourself):—
“What is the longest animal in the
world—that has it’s head in
London & its ass in Washington??—!!][3]
Somewhere–France
c̅[4] 7th Army
25 Feb 45
Hello, dearest,
Whadda night (last nite)! Whadda night! Setch a
night we haven’t had since our early weeks of being
open. Numerically—it was “Hell” of course, but
also behind it is that another anesthesia nurse is
down sick. Ya know (as old timers warningly reiterate) you
can work your nurses [& others][5] at this red hot war pace just
so long before they begin to break down (physically).
That was, of course, part of the reason for last night—
little Chet Derbin & I running the whole Anesthesia Dept
practically alone (a french 4th yr med. student c̅ little knowledge
was physically present). Anyhooo, (as an index), Dobie came in
about 10AM after having been moved away for over 2 wks
& I just could not wake up decently to even welcome
him & be sociable. Thank Heavens his return trip will
bring him back through this town again tomorrow so
I can visit c̅ him.
Your Feb 14th’s:- (A.S. That 1 stamp per letter, TANKS, is a nice idea).
Your adjective-expressions about Thump[6] are always cute,
but this letter is just loaded. Geeeeee! Ummm!
You tell ol’ Thump that he had better eat his different
kinds of food or I’ll sure up & eat them “on” him—&
that’s no “guff.” (Infact, remember how I use to eat up your food at a table?)
Tiz far better that he is a “little imp,” dearest; we
both agree 100% accordingly.
You “accused” yourself of writing a harangue—
NO!—it is just T-R-U-T-H! German POW pampering
gets over here; in lots of instances it’s plenty demoralizing
to guys over here. Em, Americans are “s u c k e r s”!—
you can act Christianly without being a “S-U-C-K-E-R.”
This war is making millions of ISOLATIONISTS that never even
leaned that deplorable way before—oh, Em!, its so
hard not to become one when you live in conjunction c̅
these other people’s lives. We must not be such—but
what a battle-effort it will be.
AML,[7] Dave
[1] European Theater of Operations, United States Army.
[2] Bracketed text is part of original.
[3] Bracketed text written on the outside of the original Airmail envelope.
[4] Medical abbreviation meaning “with.”
[5] Bracketed text inserted into original with a caret.
[6] Nickname for their infant son, Terry.
[7] All my love.