June 15, 1945
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310.190.1-4.2017 Transcription
Bad Mergentheim, Germany
15 June 45
Dearest,
Already!—I feel like a “1/3-heel”
for having built-up you (& my inner heart) to
that Ü idea of kissing you (Aug 15) AUG 30 (Sept 10)
I didnt write last night because things
in general seemed all so “snafued” I
didn’t want to put-myself-on-paper—
& the major reason, of course, was this bizness
of the 116th openining [sic] up again here in Bad M.
which could mean sort of Army Of Occup-
ation. HOWEVER, our function here is
really a joke—the work we do
(numerically) is so minimal it hardly
justifies our setting up. Yet such is
the situation—maybe it is a part
of that panoramic plan you must have
heard of by now—that the 7th & 3rd
Armies have been chosen to be the Armies
of Occupation. YET, we are a special type
of soldier & could so very well fall out
of that occupying catagory which means
chiefly infantrymen. Anyhoooo, it still
is not too w[eir]d that we might go via
the U.S.A. sometime in Sept & still have 28 or 30
days leaving during October. Gosh, darlin’, for
10-12 days (those rumor days) I was so happy!
[2]
And———again today we had one
of those “must” War Dept [movies][1] shoved down our
throats-eyes. This time it was “On To Tokyo.”
If they would only show such as this (&
“Two Down, One to Go” that I wrote about) to
the American Public it would make
things more “peaceful” & better understood
all the way around. These shows
appeal (& convince) a soldier’s mind—
which in turn makes a soldier’s heart
all the worse off.
You’ll say, “again!,” he greips [sic] about
mail but, Em, it is so true the
War Dept just doesn’t give a damn about
how they run the mail anymore. During
combat days they made a wonderful &
successful effort; now they are “isch-
Rabibblish.” Two days now, I felt so
sure at least a letter would come, but
nobody is getting anything at all.
There’s nothing new in our daily
lives—just “rot” around all day
long trying not to due of boredom (sp?).
Each day focalizes towards a movie
which we see irregardless of its worth,
& thus “escape” for 1½ hours. The married
faithful fellows watch the daily increasing
[3]
violation of non-fraternization, while
the single & infedelitous husbands can
wile away considerable of the boring
Time via chasing skirts. (P.S. with success).
Thus a couple million of us would be
relieved, in a way, to go to CBI[2] for 3
reasons: (1) Boredom, by getting into action,
would be wiped out; (2) the other guys
would be so busy that we would not
see Sex-rearing-its-busy-head every
100 yards we travel; & (3) mail would
at least come through because it would
have a #2 priority. But—
all in all, we should be glad that
we aren’t contesting c̅[3] malaria, amebic
dysentery, cholera, yellow fever, & dengue.
I honestly suppose, dear, you will hear
us “bitch” under all circumstances
that are other than H—O—M—E.
Should I quit or go on writing.
I can think of lots of things to write
in an unpleasant vein, but nothing
nice seems to enter my “rotting” brain.
Thus, maybe I should quit—
hoping that tomorrow will [should!][4] bring
a letter to help lift us out of this
“Something” we are in.
My all-est love to you both,
Dave
P.S. I dont believe I’ve missed over 2 letter-writings in
the past month—have you received 28 letters for the past 30 days.
[1] Bracketed text inserted into original with a caret.
[2] China Burma India. CBI was the US military designation for this area during the war.
[3] Medical abbreviation meaning “with.”
[4] Bracketed text is part of original.