July 4, 1945
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310.205.1-3.2017 Transcription
The Fourth of July 1945
My dearest One,
I have been transferred to the 137th
Evac. (Sem) one the “eve” of when the 116th is
preparing to go into a processing & staging
area for U.S.A. embarkation. Why God has done
this to us is pretty hard to figure out
right as of this minute. To make an
analagous comparison in our respective lives
it seems as of the moment that this “blow”
to me is somewhat like the “blow” to
you regarding Clarice. So many of our
dreams, plans, & desires of the last 6+ weeks
are postponed/“blasted” into a seemingly
unbearable Future. I honestly believe this
transferred is just simply the dastardliness
of War & not any such thing as a “spite-deal”
by the 116th C.O. as he seemed truly sorry,
cooperative, & kindly in those very hurried
departure hours. It is so hard to ration-
alize why God wants it this way but
we do know [& must accept] that it is
His will & best Plan of Life for us.
Sister Selma wrote just before I left
48 hours ago. She says Brother Alden is almost
certain about the decision to repeat his ordain-
ation sermon. I saw Dean Middleton in Paris during
[2]
my few hasty hours there—my foggy hours there—
as I had no sleeper on the train from Strassbourg
to Paris. My orders were of the very Rush Type &
the dash in a jeep from Bad-M. to Strassbourg was
no physical or emotional fun. Aside from Dean
Middleton only “momentous” memory of Paris is
the Arc de Triumph.
This outfit, as you can surmise from the
Activation Number of 137 [APO[1] 408 c/o N.Y.C.][2] is a new, “green,” un-
experienced outfit which has never been in
combat nor [even!] set up in tents to function.
The thoughts of the inevidible forthcoming
“rough-spots” associated c̅[3] a new outfit acquiring
its seasoning/“sea-legs” in {combat & tents}[4] is almost
enough to make a guy weep or give up—
those physically, scientifically, emotionally “Horror-
Weeks” of getting an outfit into smooth functioning
are seem almost too much to have to go through
all over again. I wont have any hair on my
head when God finally lets me come home.
Every time that thought-wave of my old
outfit going HOME first, passes across my mind
I have as intense a “blow” as the first one was
when I heard the words only hours after the joyous
116th-news came through. Oh, dearest——
I’m in 2 man-sized tents again. The light
is almost gone—somehow my almost-gone-
spirit will come up—because we always
will have, my dearest One——All Our Love,
Dave
[1] Army Post Office.
[2] Bracketed text inserted into original with a caret.
[3] Medical abbreviation meaning “with.”
[4] In original, “combat” is written above “&,” which is written above “tents.”