January 9, 1945
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310.79.1-3.2016 Transcription
Somewhere –France
9 Jan 45 @ 9 PM
c̅[1] 7th Army
Hi, dearest,
I’m a bit tardy in getting
started at writing tonight but I just
had to get a haircut. That means waiting
in line [just like everything else in the Army],[2]
so thus more time was consumed tha[n]
getting a haircut back in the States. Say,
did I ever mention that the (one) barber
in this outfit (works only 2 hrs evenings
when he feels like it) is named Stach
from some little town east of Bismarck?
Before I forget again as I did last
night—please send me the book
Bishop Lewis mentioned by CS Lewis,
“The Problem of Pain.” You’ll think Im
foolhardy to tell you to buy two books
but I hereby towit so do. I do not
want to wait until you have read a
copy & sent it on, & Lord knows I may
have to read it just in snatches c̅ work
being so heavy & long as it usually is &
has been recently.
Well—did you know that
a statistical compilation was made
& it showed that the Elko Clinic’s
surgery alone, located in Burleigh County[3] of
[2]
course, did 1445 operations in its first
41 days. The average layman maybe can’t
see through the minute time consuming
details embodied in such general
figures, but it surely is a feat both
figuratively & literally. The absoloute
silliness in Dad’s V-mail completes
the picture. (There is only a tiny bit of silliness
herein (above) to cause [any][4] lengthy cerebration.)
No letter today, dear. Nope! none of
your pkgs have ever “made-it-though.”
I hope those 2 batches (of 3 each) of P[ower] of Att[orne]y
“made-it-through.” Also I hope the “$50-letter”
(a $50 P.T.A.[5]) explaining my New-Years Eve
present to you “made-it-through.”
I know this isn’t much of a
letter, darling, but I (& we) are just piled
way over our heads & I must stop to
do some of the N-E-C-E-S-S-I-T-I-E-S.—
in one of two more days I may be able
to write you better letters than this one
& the one last night.
All my love,
Dave
P.S. Something else had better! “made-it-through”—my
SOS call for stamps, as I’m now 90% out/”sunk.”
[1] Medical abbreviation meaning “with.”
[2] Bracketed text is part of original.
[3] A county in North Dakota.
[4] Bracketed text inserted into original with a caret.
[5] Personal Transfer Account for sending money back home.