September 6, 1944

Click Here to Enlarge Item

310.1.1-3.2016 Transcription

              0700—6 Sept 44

Dearest,

I’m sorry I didn’t have the chance

to write you sooner——& even

now it isn’t a really good chance to

write. I’ll hurry through things

chronologically: —

That Ayer-NY trip was the dirtiest

I believe I have ever been on.

In NY they told me the Silver

Meteor was out. After stalling about

3 hours I finally got on for the #2

at 2:35 P.M; I hurried out to Kathryn’s

& Barbras for a nice visit, lunch,

shave, & (“40-winks”) —she said

my accidental snooze shouldn’t be

apologized for.

Got here into Columbia early!!

Roamed around the city at 5AM

looking for a place to shave as my

flight has failed to come through &

the only think I could do to make

myself presentable was shave.

I took a room at the Columbia

Hotel for 2 hours for $2. I was out here

[2]

to report in at 0200. Oh yes, literally,

it is hot in Columbia, SC —— the

worst 4 day wave in years (just

like New Eng). Do I pick the

localities!?!

Again——the men, the

outfit, the equipment, & the organ-

azational type I am with are “tops”

& one of the best that has ever been

seen to pass through here. (P.S. Only a

rare few). Verbally I can say more

but it is that I take leave now

or never. There are still some weeks

of training-staging-bivouac[k]ing

but nobody leaves during those weeks.

The CO. said he would try to grant

me the maximum of 10 days leave——

which c̅[1] travel time could amount

to much over 14 or 15 days but usually

14-15days is maximum. This means

I could get all the way to No[rth] Dak[ota] &

back. Now——

One minute my thoughts

don’t see why you & Thumper[2] could

[3]

not travel from Mass[achusetts] to Dakota—

the next minute the thoughts don’t

see why we couldn’t go a good

part of the way, towards the latter

part of my leave——& every so

often I can “hear” the “Minnie-

Schuman-type” yipping about moving

a small baby. Gee, dearest, I dont

know just what to think or plan.

Or —— should we just see how

Thumper is the first few days I

am in Leominster; sorta have

our packing, etc, “alerted” (G.I.) so as

to pull out if we wish, & if we

don’t pull out there is nothing

lost. My guess is that we could

be enroute in 3 to 6 hours—what

is your estimate. Maybe it wouldn’t

hurt to “stooge” Ginny as to the

possibilities (Mom & I could sleep at a

cabin or hotel). Oh——there are a

million minutiae to say ——

even down to having Dad arrange

my flying part way back if we were

[4]

not to leave Bismarck Leominster until

very “late.” As I said on the phone,

you can tell-see how Thump is

eating, sleeping, BM-ing, etc. Maybe

even John Maeck could “estimate”

his physiological status — I

dunnknow, you be the judge

about consulting John Maeck.

Gee, darling, I got must hurry

to my P[reparation] O[verseas] M[ovement][3] physical. Just as I

hated to hurry off the phone

last night (because of excessive

overtime charging ratios), so I had

to stop this “talking” to you. Give

my love to Mom & tell her not to

work too hard.

My bestest —— my all-est ——

love to you & Thumper, precious.

Dave

 

[1] Medical abbreviation meaning “with.”

[2] Nickname for their infant son, Terry.

[3] In original, bracketed text is written below “POM,” in slanted script.