June 8, 1945
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310.185.1-7.2017 Transcription
Bad Mergentheim, Germany
8 June 45
Dearest,
(RE: CLIPPING) Is it true?—that you
homefronters are “in” on a major “topic.”
NEXT DAY:-
An insanely drunk M.A.C. threw a chair through 3 windows & cast blame
on about 15 innocent bystanders. We were all so furious that
no one (including me) could resume what we were doing.
Lordie, darlin, [24 HOURS LATER 9 June 45][1]
In one way I’m so darn sorry I
wrote no more for a yesterdays letters—yet
in another way I’m glad because 4 absoloutely
lovely letters came to me shortly after those
(above) 2 lines & now we can really “talk”
back-‘n-forth. (P.S. It had been almost a record [bad][2]
number of days since I’d had a letter from you—due to
moving of course—& then not only to get letters!—
but such swell lovely letters. Ummm).
Your May 22nd’s:— Ive tried to put on
paper a number of times just how much your
“thinking-out-lowd” about Thump[3] (such as 90% of this letter)
means/does {to & for}[4] me—but it always seems
so unexpressive of my appreciation & purring.
Dearest One, I may not see him & you &
your daily lives & happenings, but you write
so genuinely & vividly that I really do live
your two’s happenings. Honest! (even tho its queer).
[2]
Just like in 90% of this letter——I feel
so sorry (& really understanding) of what that
Indian’s antics put you through, but oh geee
do I ever purrrr & glow to know that he
is so 101% what we wanted—‘n too
I chuckle ‘n chuckle at what he “confronts”
you with, but its only a chuckle-c̅[5]-you—
not a laugh-at-you type of thing. Honest,
dearest, I chuckle so hard just “seeing”
him “give you-da-woiks”—I know
that when you’re despairately [sic] tired “it-
aint-funny-McGee,” but I know you
love him so anyway, & probably just love
to put yourself “against” his next maneuver
when you aren’t so tired—Lord in Heaven
how I ache to “battle” c̅ that Precious Being!
I’m afraid [& apologize][6] for “endowing” him c̅ lotsa different things—
one that runs you ragged is his busy investigativeness & his
investigative business—but geee, darlin’, Im so please[d]
that he will inquire, for learning, into everything—guess thats
why I’m one of those lugs who sees [EVEN][7] minor points all the time—
& though it will “cost” lotsa troubles I still feel he will be at
least 51% (if not 91%) the-better-off-for it in a panoramic manner.
Lastly, the only thing so far I disapprove of b is
his bi[t]ing your left cheek along c̅ all the other
things he investigatively bites—DA BUM!—
I gived him persific [sic] instructions to KISS your
left cheek soft & tender like [for me][8], AND he bites it! Lordieee.
[3]
Your Anniversary-Letter:— was just
lovely beyond words, dearest. I feel so inferior
that all I’ll say is I too repeat every word about
the Us-ness you wrote about.
Many times, darlin’, you write a sentence
that means so much to me—but
every so often there is a super-meaningful one.
Such is the one which I’ll just not try to
“discuss” but only make a one word addition
that I know is included therein anyway:-
you wrote “Oh my dear, try to remember there is
decency, beauty, kindliness, love, & Godliness in
the world & someday you will be back in it”!
These words just helped-to-core as they
sunk-to-the-core. The only word I (mentally)
added was “….there is decency, beauty,
kindliness, love, Godliness and FEDELITY (OF MAN
TO WIFE)…..” [This brings back the starting
point of the first two (unfinished) sentences on
page one (& the clipping).][9]. Em, Im not a ranting
Puritan preacher, a prude, a gossip-monger, or that
general vein—but oh darlin’! this
“major topic” (UNQUOTE THE NEWS HEADING) has become almost
revolting. Just to “read” that FEDELITY is
in this world was a wonderful refresher,
“rekindler,” reassurer! To look around you in
[4]
this European world daily—you’d almost
“need” someone to reconfirm the existance of
marital fedelity’s existance in the world.
I’ll not preach-a-sermon-of [Europe: Army][10] details—you know
‘em—I just say one more thing so as to
relieve myself by having talked to someone
about it:— all outfits, INCLUDING THE 116th, have
become so infedelitous it defies my adjectives
to express it. However, there were a few whom
I “believed-in” (& knew nothing to the contrary) as being
on my “Philosophical Side of the Fence”—WHEN BANG—
one whom I am closely associated c̅ used me
as a “father-confessor” for relief of his infedelity [conscience][11]
2 nights before. It sounds like an old
maid or Puritan preacher, but I was so
“shocked”/shaken/appauled that he would
do such a thing that I just couldn’t get
to sleep till 2AM. Granted! I could rationalize
all night as to “reasons” why he betrayed his
wife’s trust [liquor, war-nerves, “escape”—yes it was
“Dachau-Escape”—its psychic horror was as driving a
motive [for “escape”][12] on hundreds of Americans as much as anything][13], but I
still would like to scream at him—“you
damn fool; look what youve done; its an
irretrevable Something”!! P.S. This is all so clumbsy, but
I think you can see now why I “added” to “…decency, beauty, kindliness,
love & Godliness”—the world FEDELITY.
[5]
The only question in your letter was about
EFM’s[14]—I hope my memory is right (BUT a
Dachau-orgy memory could be a bit off) that I didn’t
send the 4th one to you that I had in mind
to send (to make quadriple-sure you would p have post-V-E
assurance). Thus the number 4 includes Mom’s
Mothers Day cablegram. AND—I still
wait (probably impatiently as regards mail’s time consumingness)
to read that you received a “….best Mother
in the world…” cablegram. Did ya, huh?
You say you (QUOTE) “received three” but was
one of them the Mother’s Day EFM. (P.S. Dad should
have received a Fathers Day E.F.M. too—I havent heard).
Let me ad lib something—just
yesterday lots of us in a bunch [(including the CO)][15] here at rest-full
Bad Mergentheim were discussing just what
Dachau-Orgy was—& it was unanimously
agreed that all we had seen/lived/experienced/
“stood” before Dachau was secondary to
“standing” Dachau. You know from 7 months
of letters what we “stood”—thus if
Dachau can “obliterate” it all, think what
Dachau must have been—or another way
or wording it—that thar iz a testimonial
[indirect inference][16] regarding Dachau!
[6]
Your May 27th’s:- No dear, you are not
dumb—never wuz & never will be!—
but I just couldn’t take the time or paper-
weight-space to describe each enclosure I
sent from Dachau. They are all Dachau S.S.
“products”—insignia etc which I can
give minutiae about verbally. (P.S. The S.S. just
ain’t worth another airmail stamp.) Lordieee, how I
hunted for Hummel figures (as Dachau slave-shops
did duplicate many of the Worlds known products for
resale) but I never did find any. The closest
I came were 2 statuettes [(not very good ones either)][17] (sp?) which, like so
many other U.S. reports, will probably arrive
broken. I’ve kicked my pants for not “liberating”[18]
& chancing some of that Dresden ware in those
first wild [literal][19] days at Dachau.
Thanks so much, darlin’, for a thorough
paragraph (& thorough observation) of Thumps color.
I have absolute confidence in this report—
infact, Arley Barns would not have satisfied
me better on the report. So there!
Say! if ol’ Thump just will not take,
lets say 15 minutes, to drink suck his milk,
let him slurp it in 150 seconds out of a drinking
cup, cuz he’s old enough now. [This will have been done
probably by the time this letter arrives—anyhoooo, lotsa
babies wean off bottles real soon lotsa times][20].
[7]
Sooooo, Defective—I mean, Detective (OUCH!),
you’ve “discovered” my “unconscious-habit.”
Well, well, well! We will let Thump be the next one to bring up the
facts about it—its too darn hard to write about things on paper.
(Maybe) I’ll still have a “proof”-scar to show
you on my right index finger—where the
Chief of Surg. went after it on 2 different days c̅
a scalpel. It wasnt an average/normal/
common-type of thing at all—only a
wierd Dachau bacterium could cause such
a “screw-ball” infection. Anyhooo, the
finger is filling in just fine.
Your May 28th’s:- was so nice—guess
cuz it brought 4 such good-newsie things:-
(1) I’m so pleased about our $59.53 [(you bargain-hunter, you)][21] car because
all your past “Ohhhhhhs!” were about lighter
blues. (2) That the Anniversary EFM made-it! (whadda
mess of a husbink [sic] Ive turned out to be—presents arriving in Winter;
cablegram 2 days late (it shouldn’t have [been]); no sequence; no nuthin’!).
(3) That Cile, Eacrets, Lommens all thought of us.
(4) AND TERRYS SWEATER CAME-whoppie!
(boy! how I “sweat-that-one-out”—almost as much as Im
“sweating-out” seeing you (Aug 15th) AUG 30th (Sept 10th). [rep 9x, 10x][22]).
You’ll brain me, but I bought him one of those good German “Honer”
mouth-organs—she woe! she screams—but she’ll not
feel so jilted when I say I bought her 2 quite nice head scarfs
today while on a 3 hr ride to the ancient, walled, famous, & one of
Europe’s oldest cities, Rothe[n]berg, today. Anyhooo, I can get the
purrrr outa buying our swell boy something—it doesnt mean
I have to give it to him to drive you crazy blowing the reeds. Anyhooo,
I “chuckled-a-day-dream” to see the expression on his face the first time
he made it make noise by blowing. Boy!, would he ever “investigate”!
It’d be so darn cute to watch him.
OH, EM, I LOVE YOU BOTH SO VIOLENTLY—ALL-ly,
Dave
[1] Bracketed text is part of original. In original, “24 HOURS LATER” is written above “9 June 45.”
[2] Bracketed text is part of original.
[3] Nickname for their infant son, Terry.
[4] In original, “to” is written above “&,” which is written above “for.”
[5] Medical abbreviation meaning “with.”
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[14] Expeditionary Force Messages, with numbers corresponding to messages for quick correspondence.
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[18] Looting.
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