Class distinctions in the Army

Class distinctions in the Army

310.197.1-9.2017

United States--Armed Forces--Military Life

Wilsey, David B., MD

The Holocaust Center for Humanity

310.197.1-9.2017 Transcription

Bad Mergentheim, Germ. [(YAH!)][1]

21 June 45

Dearest,

Of at least 14 possible letters

that could have arrived [finally!Ü卐⋆!][2]

to date, your June 5^th’s finally

came. As “reped”/squaked previously

(till your sick of it, no doubt) NOBODY is getting

any appreciable mail except newspapers,

magazines, & (a few) pkgs. Let me

again rep—I know, & I

apologize, for bitchin so often about

this “Army-Life,” but fear not as

I’m sure all of us (espec. 116^th) will be

quite normal people when Life &

Things are even a 50:50 shake.

Your June 5^th’s:—(2 stamps) Guess I

never did express how much nicer (easier)

it is to have stamps attached via a

marginal-fringe as you have been doing

for some months rather than by

Scotch tape. But—(thankful) stamps

iz thankful stamps. (Which circuitously reminds

me to rep an unanswered question:—Where did ya get those

nice Mrs D.B.W. sticker labels & postcards I’ve seen every so

often? Did tha travelin’ salesman get his foot in the door?).

[2]

Whumpf! I hope so hard that

all you ever have to contend c̅[3] dear, is

(QUOTE) “peeecoolyar….tardy mail.” One

reason alone I so hope we go via

[rep][4] the USA in latter Sept or early Oct

is to “save” you that infailable (sp?) 7⁺ weeks

“gaposis” to wives whose loved ones

go direct [7 weeks on a boat!][5]. Whuuu!

Nope! darlin’—the movie you

started to describe (& then corrected yourself) was

not “Impatient Years.” As I last said,

the show as a whole doesn’t “apply” to

us/all-new-baby-war-couples, but a

few points are good for {me & you}[6], & you

asked me to describe them. Just as

briefly as I can it’s this:— “I” (he)

should realize that your life has been

very much channeled/devoted/confined

to our baby, & rightly so—thus

“I” (he) shouldnt find-expected-“demand”

you to be as “scot-free” as when the

boy-&-girl were last together. On the

other hand:—the girl should not be

as dogmatically “scheduled” in her life

when he comes home to the extent that

he feels his Girl a “prisoner,” a “train-

[3]

schedule,” a robot—not the

human person he left. NOW, please

dearest, dont for a minute suspect me

of prematurely-accusing/“reading-into-you”

the things (above) demonstrated in that

good movie. Its just that the show

depicted humanly-possible pit-falls

to young first-baby-war-couples IF

the boy & the girl didn’t realize that

such was (humanly) possible. The

show really “described” this (above) para-

graph—I can see that my writing

has been pretty clumbsy.

[Rep][7] I guess we are now straightened

out on those V-E-Zone 5 EFM’s[8] in a row.

You acknowledge that I wrote about

that swell 1^st pkg of Mom & Dads cheese

they shouldna sent—& (rep) I

reacknowledge cheese pkg #2 that they

sacrificed. Rep:- PLEEEZ! all of you 3 start

utilizing any & all things in those Dachau-pkgs

whenever they start to come in. They are for ALL YOUZ

TREE GUYZ! I hope my long 9 pager made-it-through

discussing how those paired black 10-power artillery

observers glasses, c̅ details, are for Dad. P.S. Guess I

shoulda said “Allz youz Four Guyz”—as those pkgs do

have some things to make your work c̅ Thump[9] easier. (∴ Indirectly a #4)

[4]

The small size printing paper (c̅ 18¢ postage)

zipped through in good time, but as

yet I havent seen hide-nor-hair of

#2 larger size printing paper.

Say! Schmaltzie, howja get

that (QUOTE) “your electro 16mm F1.5…etc.”

Y-O-U-R! [(meaning me)][10] Whumpf! They are OUR

cameras &, Mrs Schmaltzie, at least

51% yours. So there! Seeeeeeeeee!

[Squelched?][11]

As you write in this June 5^th letter—

I too hope so hard that Hans[12] has

gotten a good Leica so you can

rapidly sneak up on ol’ Thump for

pictures for before he “calms down like

he’d had cold water poured on him.”

A shutter speed of ¹/₃₀₀, & any “F” up to

3.5 (or maybe 4.2) should “fox” him 100%

of the time. During the highest-high

of the (reped) “camera-insanity” I could

have bought a Luftwaffe “Robot” c̅

F2.0 & ¹/₁₀₀₀ for ^$125.00 but it wasnt

worth it. It (& that time zone) was a

“racket”! Also “Rolicords” (¹/₃₀₀ & F2.8) “compur” (¹/₅₀₀ & F3.5) etc

for outlandish INFANTRY MEN prices.

[5]

But “The” consoling thing is that if we

have to plod along c̅ {your Eastman & O U R electro F1.5s}[13] to

catch Clarice’s bubblings [etc][14] at close range

for about 2 years—after 2 yrs

American companies will have

everything {F1.5 ¹/₁₂₅₀ sec built in light meters etc}[15] in their

cameras, as the result of this war,

for around ^$65-^$85-^$95—so why

pay ^$125 (“racket” ! 卐«Ü) for something now.

(P.S. and which doesnt have all features such as

built in light meters, “tops” range finders, etc.)

Dont ever think I didnt hunt for a

movie camera!—apparently the

“Movie Vein” hasn’t struck Europe as

hard as it has the average American

family. Out of hundreds of cameras

I seen ←(DAMN IT!) & studied only 2 or 3

were movie cameras.

There has been a 4 hr laps[e]. Reason=supper

time followed by the routine rush up to

the 6PM show at the 63^rd Div’s Theater. Then

3^X a week we run from that theater ½ mile

to the hotel where our E.M. live to see their

show. Bl “Leavie It To Blondie” (& Dagwood) at the

first show was cute but I walked out

of “Hail The Conquering Hero” at our E.M.’s hotel.

[6]

Anyhoooo, in the 4 hr interval

it was learned a “Thing” that you &

I have know all along—only

now its on paper (instead of Big Shot’s {words & thoughts[16]).

Towit, the 116^th is in Class II (officially

& on paper). Class I = Indeterminate [(time of)][17] Army

of Occupation. Class II Pacific-bound

either {direct Suez: direct via Panama

          {                        OR

          {indirect via beloved U.S.A. & kissing you;

Class III (briefly) juggle high-pointers & low-

pointers {in or out}[18] of an outfit till it

just “dies”/disbands in ETOUSA;[19] & Class

IV juggle all high-pointers into this or

that outfit till it’s all high-pointers

who will return to the soil of the

USA before the outfit “dies” via discharges.

All this Class I II III IV[20] changes Us not at

all dearest—we still pray

just as hard for the via-USA which

still seems likely when [rep.][21] the

Second-Bloc-3-Month-Redeployment-

Shipping-List is made up in August.

(Rep:- The 116^th missed the First Block 3-M-R-S-L in May).

Just to help [hope-against-hope][22]

“brace” ourselves, dear, lets at least have

this reservation in mind (espec. my mind) viz.

[7]

there I [(and all of us)][23] would be all “floating” because

we were ordered to Le Havre port, for

example, thinking that it meant NYC-

bound, & instead the ship would

stream through the Panama Canal as

some are doing. Lordieeeee! Whadda

heart breaker that would be [as well

as what a horrible “gaposis” in letter time—

geee, darlin’, you wouldn’t get a letter for 10⁺ wks][24].

But—God has it figured out

the way He wants it so why do I

(& we) fret on paper!

I had an interesting 2 hours early

this afternoon. I told you how the

(Lt. Col.) Chaplain Patrick (Episc.) of the 63^rd X

asked me to come see him sometime.

It turned out that he just wanted

to “bull” c̅ a Churchman——a

pleasure for him that apparently is

few & far between. It was interesting

how many “mutual” people we knew

ranging from deah ould New England

to Santa Barbra. Anyhooo, it went

on for 2 hours, & would have gone on

more had I not dragged myself

away (against his desire) based on the “wear-

out-your-welcome” principle.

[8]

Geeee, Em, how I “dream” these

past weeks about those first minutes

I meet you & Terry! So help me, I

“dream”/think so vividly about it

that it actually take my breath &

I find myself taking a deep

inspiratory breath (that sorta sighs-like).

Again, I can meekly mention that

I’ve darned near got those snapshots

worn out from patting ‘n looking

them over time after time. Guess

I should admit that I’ve made my emotions: heart

very vulnerable these past (hopeful) Rumor-Weeks, & if

the Suez or Panama Canals happen instead—well

I’ll not be worth living with during the week

it takes me to get over it. Never before in this

war have I been so careless re: reserved-emotions/

hopes. Here’s praying I don’t “pay” for it “the-hard-way.”

Oh!!! I want to hold you &

Terry so tight—so badly—

c̅

All my love,

Dave

[1] Bracketed text written under “Germ.” in original, with an arrow pointing from “(YAH!)” to “Germ.”

[2] Bracketed text is part of original.

[3] Medical abbreviation meaning “with.”

[4] Bracketed text is part of original.

[5] Bracketed text is part of original.

[6] In original, “me” is written above “&,” which is written above “you.”

[7] Bracketed text is part of original.

[8] Expeditionary Force Messages, with numbers corresponding to messages for quick correspondence.

[9] Nickname for their infant son, Terry.

[10] Bracketed text written in small print underneath “Y-O-U-R” in original.

[11] Bracketed text is part of original.

[12] Hans Gerritsen, a Dutch paratrooper Wilsey became friends with while liberating Dachau.

[13] In original, “your Eastman” is written above “&,” which is written above “O U R electro F1.5s.”

[14] Bracketed text inserted into original with a caret.

[15] In original, phrases are arranged vertically, with “F1.5” on top, leading to “etc” on the bottom.

[16] In original, “words” is written above “&,” which is written above “thoughts.”

[17] Bracketed text inserted into original with a caret.

[18] In original, “in” is written above “or,” which is written above “out.”

[19] European Theater of Operations, US Army.

[20] In original, classifications are stacked vertically, with “I” on top, leading to “IV” on the bottom.

[21] Bracketed text is part of original.

[22] Bracketed text is part of original.

[23] Bracketed text inserted into original with a caret.

[24] Bracketed text is part of original.