May 9, 1945
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310.160.1-2.2017 Transcription
V-E [day] +1 or (?) 9 May 45
Dearest,
Yesterday I wrote calling it V-E day in my
letter head. Today Im not so sure today is not VE
Day. Regardless, militarily-medically the V-E changes
in our life (blackout of lights, etc, etc) occurred yesterday.
I surely hope my yesterdays letter reaches
you as I hita highlight-keynotes on things which
will certainly fill my letters & thoughts for
months (?) to come. Anyhooo, I’ll “rep” a series
of paragraphs just to make sure:—
(Rep) I’m at the “Queen Bee” horror spot
of Europe along c̅[1] 78 other docs caring for more than
40,000+ derelects of Humanity reduced by to such by
the S.S. (Storm Trooper-Nazi) beast—namely
Dachau. Its piteous sights, filth, disease,
horror-torture enviroment are every word multiplied
100X in the Jan (or Dec.) Readers Digest. In other
words—The-Hell-On-Earth (as to size
& prestige) even though other concentration camps are worse.
I INSIST—you (& all I’d hope) would read (#1) 30 Apr 45
“Time” magazine & (#2) the above Readers Digest.
(Rep) 2 Batches of Terry’s[2] cute pictures in “t-[v]” &
on couch came. 2 packages c̅ arrid, leather laces,
candy, pop corn, etc etc came. Income blank arrived
[2]
2 forewards came yesterday & one some days before
(old rep) A hair Rx it made it through.
(Rep.) A nasty infection of my right index
finger kept me (along c̅ moving, work, & “sweeping-life”
etc) from writing you for 6, 7, 8 or 9 days prior to
my V-E day letter. I still cant hold a pen
decently.
(Rep) Maybe God has decided the 116th (& 127th Evac)
should face this dirty deal/”dirty deal” for the
rest of all warfare. Many here pray to “face”
the CBI[3] instead. I just do not know which
is worse, as of the moment.
Under firearm guard & “posse” of my (rep.)
good Dutch Lt Paratrooper-“Underground” friend
Hans Gerritsen, 3 of us went into the S.S.
hospital yesterday. Ill give details at home.
(P.S. It probably will be just my luck not to have
Hans be able to “find” me one of the many hundred
“liberated”[4] $800 Leica F2 (lens) cameras before
he is repatriated. Still hold your breath.
Dearest, my psyche is really very stinky—
I’d better get this into the mail before I
start saying things that might disturb you.
All (EVERY BIT!) my love,
Dave
P.S. Im truly sorry darlin that the greater
part of 14 of your letters are still unanswered.
13 EFMs[5] try to help make “amends.”
[1] Medical abbreviation meaning “with.”
[2] Their infant son.
[3] China Burma India. CBI was the US military designation for this area during the war.
[4] Looted.
[5] Expeditionary Force Messages, with numbers corresponding to messages for quick correspondence.