November 10, 1944
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310.34.1-7.2016 Transcription
Somewhere in Southern France
10 Nov. 44
Hi, dearest,
My psyche is lots better than last night —
even though I’m kinda pooped-out, I probably will only [(split an infinite - again! My! My!)][1]
write an intstallment-part of a total letter.
One reason (a main reason) for the psyche improvement
is that today rumors are more indicative that our
gang will get all back together again sometime in future
weeks. Even though they sent all our nurses away
they also sent some of of our officers c̅[2] them. (I didn’t know
this last night). Soooo, our gang is really scattered (1) 4 here
c̅ 40 some enlisted men (2) 4 at another General Hospital
c̅ some enlisted men & (3) all our nurses way out c̅ 5
doctors along. Our 3 “rank-ingest” officers came over
to visit us for a few minutes today & they didn’t
look worried either — gee! It was good to
“see-somebody-from-home.”
I mentioned (above) that I’m kinda pooped-out.
Just a nurse & I run the whole anesthesia in this
large & busy General Hospital. We work so fast & furious
from 7:45AM to 5:45PM that we haven’t really eaten
a decent noon meal these past 2 days. I’m on call
tonight too, & I certainly hope they let me sleep.
Again, I say it is good to be busy of course, but I’d
still like to be back c̅ the ol’gang even if we
just sat on floors & did no Medicine.
A person has so many impressions about these
French people that it is hard to express them all.
It seems that in the line of general soldier opinion
it holds that — “France can keep its French, & the
French can keep their France.” One thing is for sure —
the Frenchmen surely “keep-up” their women to the very
[2]
best degree that is possible (which in Wartime, of course, isn’t
always too good or high an “up-keep”). However, you will see
most all French women better off than French men as
regards things on their back; toilet accessories & privleges [sic];
nutritional appearance; & the majority of what privleges
are available! Oh, yes, I must mention [illegible deletion] that
the women to whom these advantages fall are ALL iN THE
SEXUALLY ACTIVE AGE GROUP — apparently a non-sexually
active French woman is as underprivelged & neglected as
an Indian squaw. Many G.I.-Joes & officers who have been
in France a long time will describe & rationalize at great
length about how/why/& rationale in a French man’s
mind about “keeping-up” the sexually active women.
Whatever or whomever is right about all this, it still
holds as an unbiased truth that the French people as
a whole are more sexual than other nationalities. Maybe
all this is why some soldiers have such a good
time in France — wine, women, song, & new
scenery, whether it be infedilitious [sic] to some nice American
girl or not.
(Too darned tired)
Sunday 11 Nov. 44
Hi, dear,
Even though they worked the Hell out of the anesthesia
nurse & me again today I dont feel as tired tonight.
Tomorrow is Sunday but we have close to an 8 hours
schedule of anesthesia instead of the 10 hour schedule, sooo
maybe I wont write an awful lot tonight either.
Before I forget for the umpteenth time — please
darlin’, don’t you try to write every day. You have too
darn much to do c̅ Terry[3] alone. My writing each
night recently is just to be able to talk to you —
no principle or rule of writing nightly letters. And
just incase letters arrive unchronologically, don’t think
that I have written nightly all these past weeks, because
[3]
I didn’t — it just wasn’t possible and/or appro-
priate certain nights in the recent past.
To go on a little more about France, Army, ‘n stuff.
German bombers passed (note! passed) over us again last
night on their way to “nail” a certain place a few
miles from here. There have never “nailed” where I am
- Guess they get the Hell knocked out of them if they
come out in the daytime, so they confine themselves to
night time. They dropped a flare-flash bomb to take
a picture of us [P.S. I smiled pretty — blah!][4] but go no
farther. Someday I’ll be able to tell you where-how-when
we had our picture taken by a German plane once before
[P.S. I smiled pretty then too — blah!].[5]
I must tell you something — even several
weeks before leaving the States I have been drinking
coffee. Now, mind you, its not because I like the
damn stuff but here’s why (#1) Those last weeks in the
States it was the only liquid offered/available 99% of
the time at meals & (#2) over here I gladly drink coffee
because it at least means a clean drink (& a boiled drink)
which is a real God-send. Why, I havent ever drunk
any French wine because they say it all is so new &
so lousey [Germans got all the good stuff][6] that it either has
typhoid, dystentery, or (believe it or not) urine in it. They say
the alcoholic content is so low & so inferior that you
just can’t trust the alcohol to have killed any of the
typhoid-dysentery-etc bacteria that are likely in it.
I saw something quite — quite something, I
guess, today. I saw my first hanging of a human being.
This Frenchman was hanged on the main street from one
of the lamp posts. He To make a long story short — he had
[4]
been a French soldier first → captured → then turned collaborator →
acted as spy, “snot,” etc (even turned f French women over to Nazis)
& so today they caught up c̅ him. Another reason for their
Hanging him today [it is so stated][7] is that today is Armistice
Day which was as important a day to the French in 1918 as
it was to the United States. Anyhooo, I have as of today
seen a man hanged by the neck! [(P.S. They hot pokered his eye out & cut his tongue out first. Wheew!)][8]
Maybe I should ad lib something — really, it is
surprising (& gratifying) how everybody in the medical
personel of the Army envys us men who are in an
Evacuation Hospital. Really, dear, [& in modesty][9] the Evacs are
doing the biggest & most vital step in the whole chain of
Army Medicine. Maybe you can see a little better now why
I have squawked/screamed/”bitched”/worried so much in
my recent letters about our 116th Evac being busted up —
if I can just be in my own gang I will feel “worthwhile,”
constructive, & REALLY doing my best.
4:30PM 12 Nov. 44
Oh dearest! dearest! dearest!,
Im just bursting c̅ happiness!
Your first letter came! Oh, darlin’, I’m so God-thankful to
to get a letter from you (routing, delivering, etc) — & soo
very very thankful to you that you wrote me — &
wrote when you did. Oh boy! Gee! Whoopie! Ummm!!
It was a letter you wrote on Nov. 1st and was postmarked 8PM from
Bis[marck] on Nov. 1st. Gee, dear, I just “ate,” ‘n “ate,” ‘n “ate” it up.
It told me all those things about you & that little ‘ol
Thump[10] that I just ached to hear. Dearest, I love you
both so, so, so! Golly, I’m so “floating” I just cant seem
to write “straight.” [Id write for pages, I know, if I didn’t realize I can
add no more than one more piece of paper-weight].[11] Im tickled that Ann
sent the negatives & I’ll scream if those prints are lost. It was
nice of “Godpappy” Bill to send a “gymnasium” — see!, he thinks
‘ol Thump will have good cardiac reserve! Surely, darlin’, go
[5]
ahead and buy Thump a crib. Boy, 23 inches tall! — darlin’
you are doing so fine a job c̅ that boy — oh, it’s [illegible deletion] wonderful
that to have a girl like you doing that grand job. AND it’s a
Helluva hard job too — so there! P.S. I’m glad Mom & Dad hounded you
into seeing Dr. Brandt even though I’m sure (& pray) everything is all right c̅ your pelvis. Duck! Ouch!
The orange juice sounds fine — just remember that over &
above the vit. “C” (& bit of carbohydrate value) it is a good fluid-
intake factor. Often when they are sick they’ll take gobs of
valuable fluid-forcing orange juice & little else in the line of
oral intake. I just about split my sides when I read how
that foxie ‘ol’ Thump is onto spitting out “Homecebrin” —
poor Em! (ho, ho, ho!). However, I put my money on Ma to win
the squirting D spitting battle. Atta girl, Ma! Don’t forget that
a ½ fair amount can adhere to his mouths mucous membranes & he’ll get it
eventually. Now — let me see, let me see, where could that
boy have gotten a [QUOTE][12] “temper”?? Gee, dear, that tickles me & I
just purr. [P.S. secret = his Pop sent it to him from France, huh?][13] I betcha!
Em, I can’t even begin to describe how nicely & cute-like
you write different things about Terry — I just
purr ‘n beam ‘m gobble them when I read them. [This is
poorly expressed but maybe I can write back some examples][14]. VIZ - - “he sure
is a honey — a real boy & no mistake. He’s going to have a
temper too (Maybe. War is affecting my mind but I just chuckeled so proudly to
think of little ol’ Thump c̅ temper & spunk).” Also you wrote “….took a
bottle & held it in front of him & he began to snap his tongue
like he does when he’s hungry — what a guy!” Hmm, dear,
I can almost “see” & “hear” him doing it — honest!
Please don’t ever stop writing such things about him. Only
one thing more in the world I could ask — please, dear,
tell me a few more things about Y-O-U.
Today has been such a nice day in my life. (even tho
some guys might sit & squawk about having to work all day — the other 3 docs
from the 116th had the day off, but the nurse & I gave 8 hrs of anesthesia apiece). Firstly,
your letter came — whoopie! Then an intratracheal anesth-
esia for removing a piece of booby-trap out of a soldiers
lungs substance went just perfectly. 5 bigshot N.Y. surgeons
told me how fine an anesthesia it was, BUT don’t you dare tell
them it was the first time I ever gave such a case in my life — I thanked God for
[6]
helping me c̅ it & “thanked” Dr Ralph Waters (Wis)[15] for training me thoroughly in
Anesthesiology principles so that I could swing over into such a thing as a dangerous
chest-case-anesthesia. Maybe all this talk about this case seems
pretty minor to a bystander — but the crux of the whole
thing is that in such a case even more (re: life, death, & success)
hinges on the anesthetist than it does on the surgeon. Ill
admit to you that I was plenty nervous & that those 2 hours
seemed like 20 hours — but none of the surgeons caught
on at all. So now I’m set for life as regards chest cases
& this satisfaction means a lot to any anesthetist. Another
thing that might seem minor 10 years from now but was
“big” today is that I got an unexpected ration of 5 candy
bars, some Phillip Morris’, a package of gum, & 2 boxes of matches.
I got some…General Hospital rations yesterday after
standing in line for hours, but today two fellows &
a driver came all the way up here just to share part of
their issued (116th) rations & bring the mail to the us docs
stranded [up][16] here away from “home.” They didn’t need to do it
but they did do it. This is just another example of the
swell gang we have, & why I so hope we don’t get busted up.
A guy certainly learns the joy from little-things-in-life when
he is under these circumstances!
Dear, I hope I dont bore you c̅ these repeated “itemizings”
of what Ive mailed but here goes again, & I imagine I’ll
stop doing it as soon as I know things arrive in your hands.
My first mailing to you was 3 letters dropped simultaneously
[a V-mail; a souvenier “newspaper” as air mail; & a regular written-out letter as air mail].[17]
My next mailing to you was 4 days ago & was 3 letters
dropped simultaneously [an air mailed written-out letter; a printing press (French)
piece of material as an air-mail; & a written out air-mail][18]. And, here is 3 nights
addition} [“edition”][19] written-out as an air-mail all in one envelope. Earlier
in this letter I hinted that I’d have to stop writing because of
paper weight (because I originally intended to enclose a wireless-newspaper from
the ocean trip) but instead I’ll put the wireless-newspaper all by
itself in a separate air-mail envelope & drop these 2 airmails
simultaneously tomorrow morning.
Paper weight plus kinda pooped plus wanting to hurry up
to bed so I can dream about you & Terry makes me bring
this “6 pager” to a close. My “bestest”-greatest-“allest” love to you both,
Dave
[1] Bracketed text written under “only,” with an arrow pointing to the top of the word.
[2] Medical abbreviation meaning “with.”
[3] Their infant son.
[4] Bracketed text is part of original.
[5] Bracketed text is part of original.
[6] Bracketed text is part of original.
[7] Bracketed text is part of original.
[8] Bracketed text written in small print to the right of “neck!” in original.
[9] Bracketed text is part of original.
[10] Nickname for their infant son, Terry.
[11] bracketed text is part of original
[12] Bracketed text inserted into original with a caret.
[13] Bracketed text is part of original.
[14] Bracketed text is part of original.
[15] Dr. Wilsey studied medicine at the University of Wisconsin.
[16] Bracketed text inserted into original with a caret.
[17] Bracketed text is part of original.
[18] Bracketed text is part of original.
[19] Bracketed text written above “addition.”