June 11, 1945
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310.187.1-4.2017 Transcription
Bad Mergentheim, Germany
11 June 45
Dearest,
Still!—the mail service isn’t
straightened out. Golly, I felt fairly sure one
of your letters would get through today (a dull,
dank, ½ raining day).
Before I forget—we, the 116th Evac,
got a letter Letter of Commendation out of that
Dachau deal. It’s good to know that at least
someone in this here Army didnt think
Dachau was a-bed-of-roses.
As I look back over the months I can
think of at least 2 dissapointments:—(1) Never
being able to gets back to Bacarat after knowing
you’d like some of that crystal. (Which reminds me
that Doby even had crystal engraved/itched for Kay & all but 5 pieces
broke after being merely slapped back in the box after P.O. inspection).
[Which also reminds me—(thinking of Doby) did you know
Clyde was given a Silver Star, which really is a worthwhile
award in this maze of Army awards, for (QUOTE) “- - - -brilliant
& heroic personal bravery & action in the Ardennens “Buldge”- - - -.[”]
Geee I was proud for him when I learned it.][1] (2) Not getting to Bergtes-
gaden. Maybe I better “rep” some things as I haven’t
done it in a long time:—(1) The scrumptous
Wisconsin cheeze did come. (2) In one week, back
at Dachau, I got 3 of your swell boxes; two of which
conveyed that grand cheeze that Mom & Dad SHOULD
NOT have sacrificed. (3) Ages ago I mailed the Income
Tax blank to Fargo. (4) Your lovely Anniversary
[2]
Letter arrived. (5) We have a good [or fairly good][2] chance
of being redeployed through the States instead of
direct CBI[3] & we might (PRAISE GOD IF TRUE!) see
eachother (Aug 15) AUG 30 (Sept 10)—lets
“brace” ourselves though, dearest, incase something
crashes our dream down (into the Mediteranian).
Ad lib:- At least the Anesth. Board is inquiring about me—
they wrote the Chf. of Surg for a statement about me. He doesn’t “love” me 100% (86%)
(6) 2 reasonably recent & 2 less recent batches of
snaps of Thump[4]—you & Thump—Thump & Dad have
made-it-through. (7) You have a arrow-head-appearing
ornate perfume vial centuries old out of a
Lohenhoe [a family][5] Castle (8) You have 2 fairly decent
head scarfs from the ancient, walled, & one of
Europe’s oldest cities, Rothe[n]berg. (9) Thump has a
good Germany “Honer” mouth organ which will
cause you to brain me if he ever learns to blow
it hard (P.S. I’ll “steal” it away from him). Ad lib:- Please, darlin’,
dont feel you have to rant on paper about Dachau—I know
you “see” & know it for what it was & that’s all I care—
all I ask is that you “instill” it into as many thousands others
as you can—till maybe we can get millions to “see” it!
(10) Dachau “liberations”[6] have all been sent except
the 2 electro 16 mm F1.5 cameras that I convey
personally—thus someday, over the next 6-10 (?)
months (yes! months) you should receive 8 (or 9) cardboard
containers & one chest high wooden container. You can
refer to the cardboard ones as:—“the 2 plasma boxes
arrived”; “the 2 Goodyear inner-tube boxes made it through”;
“the two waterproof intraventous-bottle boxes”; “the one
overseas shipper box I sent you came back;” or some such scheme.
All loot [my! my!][7] is split-up/divided between the 9 (or 10).
[3]
(11) Lately I have been luckier on picture post cards
& have quite a few from different places & sites.
(12) Around 10 snaps of Dachau atrocities & me
standing in Italy have been “dribbled” into
my recent letters. (13) I still dont know whether
I’ll ever be able to get to {London→ sneak to see Hans[8] [or] Paris→ sneak to see Hans;[9]
they are only granting very few (1 or 2) at a time
& my number (via lottery) is 27th on the list!
(14) to #(141,414,141,415) I LOVE YOU, I LOVE YOU, SOOOO!
Though you never say too much about
it, Em, I know absoloutely how that Precious
Terror Terry makes you exhausted, at your wits
end, & s̅[10] time to yourself———every
minute of your life. What you have done
for him is beyond any verbal or written
expression—it’s incongruous to thank
you for the marvelous care, help, & judgement
you have given him. I just wish there was
some [TRULY][11] expressive way I could tell you what
it means to me—& what it means to
Terry both {past & future.[12] Guess only one indirect way
of [feeble][13] expression is to say:—God has
been so good to give you to Terry & me—
all we can do about it for the {war months & babyhood yrs}[14] to
come is so wholeheartedly give you every bit
of
All Our Love,
Dave
[1] Bracketed text is part of original.
[2] Bracketed text is part of original.
[3] China Burma India. CBI was the US military designation for this area during the war.
[4] Nickname for their infant son, Terry.
[5] Bracketed text is part of original.
[6] Looted objects.
[7] Bracketed text is part of original.
[8] Hans Gerritsen, a Dutch paratrooper Wilsey became friends with while liberating Dachau.
[9] In original, “London→ sneak to see Hans” is written above “Paris→ sneak to see Hans.”
[10] Medical abbreviation meaning “without.”
[11] Bracketed text inserted into original with a caret.
[12] In original, “past” is written above “&,” which is written above “future.”
[13] Bracketed text is part of original.
[14] In original, “war months” is written above “&,” which is written above “babyhood yrs.”