February 7, 1945
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310.102.1-4.2016 Transcription
Somewhere–France
c̅[1] 7th Army
7 Feb 45
[Is the 7th Army patch
(paper one) still enclosed?][2]
Hi, darlin’,
Ho! ho!—know what I did
last night?—whumpf!, I
wont tell ya—well—maybe
I will if you “beg” real hard. OK!
I went hitch-hiking. Some stuff;
some mess; some “deal”! By 8PM
(off work time) I had finished my letter
to you. From 3 recent letters you know
how I never really visited c̅ Dobie
so I went hitch-hiking to see him
in a typical French “drizzle-sleet-fog.”
I never got to him till 10:30 at night
& had to wake him up but he was
glad. I felt that I just had to have
some “concreteness” re: the possibilities
of a trip to see Clyde—well
its all off because Clyde has again
had to back-up into Belgium (‘n that’s
too far for a “quickie-trip.”) [Guess I told you
Clyde was captured by Nazi’s & escaped, didn’t
I—I didn’t tell you he had to abandon
his tank under fire & had to run like “Hell.”][3]
Anyhooo we talked ourselves out
[2]
& then came the “biggest”
part of the deal—tryin’
to hitch-hike back in
the wee hours of the morning. I
finally got to bed @ 2AM. [When I reread
these letters at Home—let this remind me to
tell what happened in Dobie’s town the night before
I got there.
Key=Railroads.][4]
No mail today but, panoramically,
luck has been good for about 2 weeks.
Oh yes—In last nights (really late
afternoon’s) letter I forgot to write about
the 4th point of several you mentioned
[in your duplicated (so stated [have only 1][5]) letter re: explainations
of peevishness][6]. The sum, substance, &
rock-bottom of any bemoaning about
absence of Captaincy is—100%
A FINANCIAL PROPOSITION. Hell! like
Ive told many guys—they could
reduce me to the rank & grade of a
3rd lieutenant (if there were such a “bird” below
a 2nd Lt) IF they just give me that
extra $56 BUCKS FOR YOU & THUMP[7]!,
each month. Sooo, therefore, thus,
towit:- my remarks are not
criticism—not self pity—not
egotism-of-higher-rating.—JUST
FINANCIAL!
[3]
Please send me 3 of those
honey-combs—the 3 jars
you sent were broken &
thus this time the honey wont run out of combs.
You know, that sorta waxey interstic[es]
stuff—I think they’re called combs.
Wonder what & where Franklin-
Joe-Winney are talking about right
now. One of the best recent latrine
rumors is that a huge Nazi transport
plane was escourted/protected for the
trip out of Germany by U.S.A.-Fighter
escourt, & supposedly was bound for
the Conference direction. These “latrines”!
(LATER)
Ive been over visiting (1 Block) Major
“Sully” Sullivan the C.O. of 2nd Auxillary
Surg Group (U of Wis[consin] Gen’l Hosp)—[surely
social][8]—& c̅ a few drinks.
Thus, I’m gonna hurry to bed via
the 2AM bed-time last night PLUS the
drinks tonight [even though its only 9PM][9].
Sooo, darlin’, sleep tight; “DONT
WORRY” (even if Etousa[10] does more to C.-B.-I.[11]);
dont let the “home-front” getcha; ‘cuz
you K N O W you have a Poppy whoz
gonna put you in OUR HOME c̅
All my love, added to it,
Dave
[1] Medical abbreviation meaning “with.”
[2] Bracketed text written in the upper left-hand corner of the original.
[3] Bracketed text is part of original.
[4] Bracketed text is part of original.
[5] Bracketed text written underneath “(so stated)” in original.
[6] Bracketed text is part of original.
[7] Nickname for their infant son, Terry.
[8] Bracketed text is part of original.
[9] Bracketed text is part of original.
[10] European Theater of Operations, US Army.
[11] China Burma India. CBI was the US military designation for this area during the war.