Military hierarchy

Military hierarchy

310.3.1-4.2016

United States--Armed Forces--Military Life

Wilsey, David B., MD

The Wilsey Collection

The Holocaust Center for Humanity

310.3.1-4.2016 Transcription.

 

0900 on 8 Sept 44

Dearest,

Guess this wont be a very important

letter –––– just odds ‘n ends.

Anyhoooo, I am all “rit-out” after

2 pages to Dad about transportation

possibilities if I get to Bismarck.

Just trying to lay plans for all

possible possibilities.

Ho! ho! Has the number

TWO (ii) (II) (2) “haunted” me. I cant

even begin to mention all the

instances but it surely is

amusing. Twos in my orders,

my assignments, my rooms, my

leaves, my plans––––my everything.

Say!! even TWO on the swellest

dependants any man in the world

could have! Anyway, someday via

the quicker spoken words I’ll

itemize the Twos.

[2]

As you can see from the

enclosed shoulder-patch, the Twos

still haunt me (& will for months

to come). Anyhooo, me figures

your scrap book is a slippin’ so

I send you what is called “The Duce”

by hundreds of thousands of men.

Thus you see that Thumps[1] Pappy

is in The Second Army (no Service

Command) which is #1 in the USA

protections and #2 Training Army of the

USA ALTHOUGH thousands of 2^nd Army

men are now overseas & thousands

more are going (Dats me, Bub!!).

For example Gen. Patton has the 3^rd

Army; Gen Bradley has (I believe) the

1^st Army; somebody has the 7^th Army, etc,

etc, on foreign soil. As any

Evacuation Hosp[ital], we will be attached

to some army – service – function.

(as Evacs serve as helpmates to only armys)

thus, shortly we will very likely

[3]

lose our association c̅[2] the 2^nd Army.

Maybe I should outline that “Army”

is one of the most huge [illegible]

of warfare eg [bottom up][3] squad → platoon →

company → regiment → division → corps →

& finally A-R-M-Y (only higher [(“bigger”)][4] is Theater

Command).

I could write all day about my

leave which seems to be set for

one minute after mid-night on

Sept 12^th (Tuesday) but I will have

called you long distance before then.

Ill just mention that although

ostensibly the leave is only a 12 day

leave it is really 13 days minus

two minutes [one minute after [a][5] midnight

till one minute before a midnight is 23 hours

& 58 minutes which is really a day].[6] Our

C.O. is “Old Army Stuff” & he puzzles

us lots –––– for example, think

this one out –––– he says that an

officer should be ashamed to be home

more than one day as of now [?!?!?][7]

[4]

I ran the infiltration course

last night. It was good (no ink)

experiences & almost kinda fun.

Those heavy machine gun bullets

that were tracers (every 6^th or 10^th one)

sure did look purrty, Ma as they roared over your head.

The sand in your mouth & every

square inch of your body

“grated” (grated) [Fred Chard][8] a

little bit. The star shells

(to make you “freeze” motionless) were

purrty too, Ma. Then they

set off smoke shells to make

things all the purrtier (as well

as all the more cunfuzin’).

Also, the dynamite blocks

shakin’ the ground & throwing

more sand into your mouth

& down your necks were just

[5]

simply absolutely positively

delightful, don’t cha know

m’ Dear. Anyhoo, just

look how much more Doc

Wilitzski[9] (the Scotch-Jew) got

for his money by having to

run a Night Infiltration Course

instead of a Day Infiltration

Course. (Night Course is supposed

to be the toughest of the two).

However, we started out for a

6PM Course [(Day Course)][10] but got lost on

the huge post & drove all

over So. Carolina in a truck

for 3 ½ hours looking for the

place. When we finally found

it we arrived just in time

for the Night Course. But, even

so we were all glad because

[6]

we got a good & representative

[so they say][11] look at So. Carolina

from everything from its

bootiful valleys to its

negro hovels up on stilts.

Say! why does the moon

stay up so late in the

morning & why does it

not get light until so

late in the morning, down

here in the South?? We

get up at 5:15 AM & Hell,

its 8 AM before you can see

to keep from falling in

a ditch ?!? (P.S. minor exaggeration).

Anyhoo, its no exaggeration

that I love you so, precious.

You & Thump divey––––AML[12]. Dave

[1] His nickname for their infant son, Terry.

[2] Medical abbreviation meaning “with.”

[3] Bracketed text is part of original.

[4] Bracketed text written below “higher” in original.

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

[6] Bracketed text is part of original.

[7] Bracketed text is part of original.

[8] Bracketed text is part of original.

[9] Wilsey’s nickname for himself.

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

[11] Bracketed text is part of original.

[12] All my love.