March 13, 1945
Click Here to Enlarge Item
310.121.1-3.2016 Transcription
Somewhere–France
c̅[1] 7th A[rmy]—13 Mar 45
6:15 PM
‘Lo, dearest,
Maybe I should have said L-O-W—
after 4 days of “finigeling” & snail-pace
working (everything is the slow & “hard-way” here)
I am all low/tired-down by just having
finished all my Amer. Board stuff. Today
(after a busy night) I slept only intermittantly
because I set the clock @ 10AM & again 3:45PM
to go after promised-but-unobtainable
Board photos. Finally, at 4:30PM, after 4+ days,
I was successful. I just sealed the NYC
e[n]velope—whoopie! (P.S. In USA, Lorraine
Berg + photographers could have done it all in 4+ hours).
Not one piece of 1st Class mail came
today—that’s unusual. Anyhoooo,
maybe its just as well that I’m not
answerin’ letters after my 4+day kinda
sleepless “episode” of getting Board applications
arranged/fixed-up.
Over the next days (starting yesterday) you
should receive 10 pictures—7 of the
wedding & 3 (called (#A), (#B), (#C)) left over-extras
from Board “shooting.” Please itemize ‘em, dear.
I hope too that you get letters summarized
as:—“Captaincy-philosophy-letter”, & “friends-
philosophy-letter. Also I hope PTA[2]-$50 has
[2]
arrived for Terry’s[3] trip to see Arlie Barnes
(any ol’ time).
As last night—(after a million times
saying so—& wrongly) we dont see how we
can circumvent this “Mess-Called-Moving”
very much longer. We’ll probably go into
tents as is S.O.P. for Evac’s.
Gee, I am tired, darlin’———but
I’d have to stop anyway in 10 more minutes
so as to go to work. [Oh yes, “The Click” of
Field Grade Officers “railroaded” through a “fixed-vote”
motion at an officers meeting at which there
wasnt even a quorum (?) present, to work 2 week
shifts—2 weeks nights → 2 weeks days → etc.
Soooo, rather than get off nights in 36 hrs, it will
be 1 week & 36 hrs before I get off nights.][4]
I love ya—love ya all-to-Hell—HONEST,
Dave
P.S. I received a letter from Clyde up in Belgium. He
has really caught “Hell” in lotsa different ways
& times. Good ol’ “tough” Clyde, for example, (QUOTE):—
“I got hit in the ass c̅ the top of a house” [during the
Bastogne “Roar”][5]—yup, darlin, just
like Clyde—to then go on & say—
“but that is all.” Lordy! that is all!
P.S. I believe Dobie told me he got a Purple Heart.
[1] Medical abbreviation meaning “with.”
[2] Personal Transfer Account for sending money back home.
[3] Their infant son.
[4] Bracketed text is part of original.
[5] During the Battle of the Bulge (December 1944-January 1945).