January 6, 1945
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310.77.1-6.2016 Transcription
Somewhere –France
c̅[1] 7th Army
6 Jan 45—9PM
My dearest,
Your 2 letters “saved-the-day”—
figuratively & literally! Things have
been pretty miserable/rotten/disheartening
in all phases of daily life here the past
4-6 days & each day things seem worse.
No letter had come for 4 (or 5 or 6) days &
that ontop of everything else had me
[& most everybody else to][2] really at the lowest
ebb we’ve been since arriving overseas.
The #1 keynote is of course the un-human,
supra-human, unbelievable amount
of work that has been thrown at us
this past week. You can stand it (“take it”)
for awhile—then it just begins to
“eat” you right through the middle—
the more it “eats” & the deeper it “eats,”
the more the more the more piles on you.
You both “scream”-“cry”-&”beg” for other
medical units to come & help & they
never come—so there just is no
stopping/no let-up. Finally you
almost go nuts! {literally [&] figuratively.[3] Emily,
when we think!! of the doctors sitting
[2]
on their dead asses back in army hospitals
we just cant help but feel a combined
hate/disgust! [I know you’ll just say Im
tired, upset, etc, etc—that’s not it at all as
TRUTH IS TRUTH—I just never told you before][4].
Also, just because I told you only once
before about these narrow-minded/un-
panoramic-thinking/case grabbing/ego-
tistical/inconsiderate/unthinking
surgeons—don’t think for a minute
they have changed much. As Ive written—
there is just a limited (understaffed)
anesthesia {personel & materiel}[5] in any Evac[uation] Hosp[ital]—
yet they grab-“scrounge”-bicker-&”weedle”
against eachother & often against the
anesthetist because he doesnt do them
personal (“pet”) favors, while all the time
they should be taking their turn! Emily
it nearly drives a person insane—&
especially so under these supra-human
circumstances (mentioned above) the [b]east
week. Lord knows were always busy
enough; “heckled” enough; “run ragged”
enough by just normal-things—then
add this dastardly “surgeon-element” ontop
of it & you’ve got a picture that just
defies written description. Oh, yes, some day
[3]
Ill add about 9 more reasons why it will be a long
time before I ever get a Captaincy, but the #1 reason
ties right in c̅ what I’ve just written—two
certain (surgeon) Majors are the most unqualified-
unreasonable-selfish-narrow-AND EGOTISTICAL
medics you have ever seen—yet one of them
through his blab-mouth over the course of years of
gentleman-noncombat association c̅ the C.O. holds
the C.O.’s “right-hand-ear.” I have “crossed” this
Major in an entirely-passive-nonverbal manner
[since I vowed to you in that last letter similar
to this that for your & Terrys[6] sake I wouldnt let
my health be ruined by trying to keep abreast the
unhuman demands][7] & as a result I’m positive
he will use his ass-kissing-“inside track”-to-
the-C.O. to “spike” any early Captaincy even if
the 9 other “normal-reasons” against it were
overcome. Reduced to simple terms—I can “see-
right-through” this Major; he knows it; & that’s why
he hates me so—would hate anybody so—
who could “see-through” his flapping-mouthed/ego-
tistical/egomanical/unqualified/untrained
actions as a would-be-surgeon. Soooooo, m’
love, don’t “look-down” on your Friend Husband for
not having a Captaincy very soon—from the above
you can see that merit, hard work, effort &
sincerity c̅ truth mean little (or hold 2ndary place) in
so much of this army-life. But I dont need to
even itemize this after your feelings & experience for
your 7-9 months in the army.
To your Dec 16ths:- Ho! ho! how! I just
knew you’d have an awful time trying
to tell what was in that [illegible deletion] “Dont-
[4]
Open Till Xmas Letter by SHAKING IT—you
ol’ package-shakin’-champeeeeen! Hum!
hum! it surely tickles me! O U C H !
The things (almost 2 pages) you philosophized
about War-profiteers-& God holding the
answer—all are so right—but
will Right make Might?!?!?!?! I
pray so! (More when we talk—writing is too hard).
Again—I so soo sooooo
love to read the things you tell me about Thump,[8] darlin’. [Again][9] Dont ever
ever stop! Remember when I said way back when
from just a picture that his forearms were like Pops—
& now you say his (QUOTE) “hands are exactly like” mine.
Thanks for noting the shipping day of
the hair tonic. Still (to-date) no package
has ever arrived from you—via no
fault of yours. (P.S. Did you give of my APO[10] 758
to Readers Digest—none have ever come as yet).
Your Dec 17th’s:- So often you or Dad
write of army division you read about
in newspapers. Dear, don’t you remember
that any book on army organization has
told you that Evac Hospitals are what
is called “Army Function”—thus any
person dealing c̅ “Army Function” deals c̅
dozens of divisions. Sooo, don’t you read
newspapers too hard about something that
[5]
isn’t really informative (or important) or conducive
to peace of mind. Please, dearest!
I’ll write Dr. Secor et family if I ever
have one spare moment. (Dont you remember,
dear, how I told you that that Elko “tribe” (unquote) is
a very funny one—no appreciable inter-clinic
fraternizing or socializing—never has been &
probably never will be any.) Gosh! I wish
so many times a week we could talk for
just 2 hours about what we will do
after the War—its most “heckeling”!
Dearest—do just whatever
you wish about your hair. To be
panoramically thoughtful, I suppose
you should keep it short as Lord knows
you have so much of your time taken
up by hard work c̅ Terry. And—here
now I learn that it makes you nervous
which just is outright against the idea.
Golly! it’s taken me almost 2 hours
to write this—I just must get to
sleep for the sake of you & Terry who have
All my love,
Dave
Please please please send stamps often (I’m 85-90% “sunk”)!
[1] Medical abbreviation meaning “with.”
[2] Bracketed text is part of original.
[3] In original, “literally” is written above “figuratively.”
[4] Bracketed text is part of original.
[5] In original, “personel” is written above “&,” which is written above “materiel.”
[6] Their infant son.
[7] Bracketed text is part of original.
[8] Nickname for their infant son, Terry.
[9] Bracketed text is part of original.
[10] Army Post Office.