Wednesday March 1, 1944

Dearest Kitten

I love you so much that my mind does not seem to function properly so that I can get my feelings into works and down on paper. How I miss you! If I could only take you in my arms and tell you and show you how much that I do love you.

Do you know why I love you so much?

It is very simple, it is because you are the most considerate, generous, and  beautiful wife in the world. How could I help but love you. Besides you are the mother of my two children. Do you remember how I proposed to you? Would you have wanted me to propose any other way? At least it was original.

It is a continual wonder to me how I was and am lucky enough to have gotten you to be my very own wife. I never was much of a ladies' man. I guess I was saving all my love for you, and now it is all yours.

Your letter of Friday came Monday and I am trying to answer it. No other letters since then though.

I managed to read your letters that were waiting for me when I got back. Your valentines were very cute and I like them a great deal.

Yes, Sweetheart, I saw your sorrow in your eyes. It made me feel pretty lousy myself. I had to leave you fast or I would have broke down too. My throat was full and my chest did not seem to be big enough to hold all of my feelings.

Just reading about Bobby waking you up and how you both must have felt without me, makes the tears come to my eyes. I have no fears that my wife and son will ever forget me. Of course my daughter is too young to remember me.

I got a seat all the way except for about 60 miles when I had to stand in the bus from Jacksonville to Tallahassee. When I landed in camp I was dead. The acting 1st Sgt. found out that I was in and he came down to the barracks and begged me to go up and take over. I finally had to take over so that he could get out on a weekend pass. I was pooped but the C.O. kept me busy till 10:00 P.M.

Things are moving along very fast here and you will be lucky to hear from me twice a week. I will do my best at any rate.

Well Beautiful, I have to get some sleep.

Give my regards to everyone & kiss the babies for me.

I love you with the whole of me.

Your Loving, Devoted, & Faithful Husband

Bob

Sunday, Feb 27, 1944

Dearest Kitten

I love you with all of my heart, soul, and body. The day will come when we will look back at our separations and be able to laugh about it although at the present it is so heart breaking to love so much and be separated. It has been only three days since I left you without too much grace at the South Station.

Forgive me for leaving you so abruptly at the Stationo but I had to or you would have found out what a big baby your husband is. My heart was so full of love for you and it seemed as though it was going to break.

Thanks for everything. Thanks for being you, the best wife in the world. The most considerate, lovable, and beautiful wife in the world and I was fortunate enough to get her for my very own wife.

Things have been hopping since I left on my furlough. Furloughs have been cancelled and I was very lucky to get out when I did. There are a few more men who got out but under the present set up on furloughs I would not have been eligible for a furlough.

Everybody has to be in by the 25th of March and we will be "alerted" soon after. It will not be too long now before we go to the port of embarkation, so do not be too surprised to hear that it has happened one of these days.

My trip down was without event. I arrived in Jacksonville at 1:00 A.M. Saturday morning and got into Tallahassee at 7:30 A.M. the same morning. I got into camp Saturday afternoon at 1:00 P.M.

I received all your letters and cards, also a package from your mother and a letter from her and Pauline and one from Andrew. I looked at the cards but the letters are still unopened.

Enclosed you will find three pictures and four negatives. Have the picture that is missing finished. It is the negative with four of us in it. Write on the back of it "Tec 5 Pomerleau - Myself - Lt. McCormick & Borosh".

Be satisfied with this letter until I have more time.

Regards to everyone & kiss the babies for me.

I love you - ditto - ditto - ditto.

Your Loving, Devoted, & Faithful Husband

Bob

FURLOUGH! Feb 5 - Feb 25, 1944

South Station, Boston MA, circa 1942
South Station Postcards

Friday, Feb 4, 1944

Dearest Kitten:

Your husband has all kinds of goodies to tell you about today. But first there is something that I have to get off of my conscience. It is something that bothers me a great deal and I must make a confession to you. You will not think too badly of me because of it I hope. The only thing that I can do is tell you about it and hope and pray that you can find it in your heart to understand and forgive me.

Well here goes Sweetheart, I love you with all my heart and there is nothing that I can do about it. Can you forgive me?

Thanks for the swell Valentine. I only wish that I could go get you. On second thought I may take you up on your offer. (I only wish that I could.)

Never mind Beautiful, our day is coming. When it does it will make up for all the heartache and sacrifice that we have gone through.

I received a box of candy yesterday and can not tell whether you or Mother sent it. The address was blurred. It must have gotten wet somehow or other. Did you send it or did Mother? Anyhow thanks a million, I really enjoyed my share of it.

Norman wrote me a short note from Devens. It seemed funny to receive a letter from him as I have never corresponded with him before.

Of course I take good care of myself. Never fear about that. Next to myself I love you best. Somehow or other that last sentence seems to be mixed up a bit. Oh well maybe it is true.

So you do not think that I fly off the handle huh? You should see me some times when things get rushed around here. Last night I was up till after midnight with part of the company. We had to load ammunition into belts. What a job it was. It would not have been so bad had I been informed at supper time about the ammunition, instead of at 7:00 P.M.

Your letters of late have been filled with hopes and demands of whether I will be getting home soon. There is very little hope of my getting home for some time to come.

Stop being so critical of your family. It will not do you any good to let them aggravate you. Take them as they are with all of their faults and let it go at that. They mean well and can not always foresee just how you are going to take something that they say or do.

I would have liked to have seen Barbara in the overalls. I bet she was cute looking. So Bobby got a kick out of it too huh?

Sweetheart, I can hardly keep my eyes open and as much as I hate to leave you I must close.

I love you, Darling. Regards to everyone and kiss the babies for me.

Your Loving, Devoted, & Faithful Husband

Bob

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

(xx)

Wednesday, Feb 2, 1944

Dearest Kitten

I love you with all the affection that fills my heart. There are no words to describe my true feelings for you. The way I feel for you can only be shown through years of devotion to you.

As for my missing you, I miss you so much that I do not dare let myself think about it too much as it would never give me any relief. I would be a nervous wreck in no time. To alleviate the pain around my heart, I try to keep as busy as possible so that I do not have too much time to think about how nice it would be to be home.

I was very happy to read that you had a good time at Norman's party. I sure would have liked to have been there. So you got high huh? I am glad you had a good time but I was sorry to read that it made you blue.

The plane that I sent to Roland is one that has to be put together. The pieces have to be carved out and glued together. Would you want one to put together?

As for making Roger my mascot it was just to make him happy. There is nothing official about it except the letter to him. I sent him our insignias as a present, and to make him happy I sent the letter to make him my mascot. The Co. does not have an official mascot. Stop being jealous. It will do you no good anyway. Of course I would make my own son the official mascot if I could.

My men know that I have a soft heart. The reason that they know it is because I always try to help them out whenever they are in real trouble. I also give them hell at the proper time and can be a "Hard boiled Sgt" when necessary.

My heart can never change because you have it to hold and to have. How could anything ever happen to it under those conditions.

We may have two children more after this mess is over. About them being girls, is another thing though. We will have to let the good Lord decide that.

Stop aggravating yourself about my coming home. As you said in your letter of Thursday, it is only two and a half months since my last furlough. The Army only allows a furlough every six months.

So the girls are going to stick it out in Conn. It will be just as well for them to keep busy.

You are beginning to learn how to handle money after all, huh? It is just as well because when I come home for good, you are going to be the banker. In that way I will have more time for my work and more time to home.

You wanted to know how I am. Well it seems that my health is excellent and I have put on weight. I weigh 170 all dressed. Rugged, huh?

Here we go again. Of course I would love to go home again on furlough but it is useless to plan on it for a couple of months anyhow.

So Norman left Friday. I hope that he received my letter before he left. It sure will be an experience for him. There is nothing like it in the world.

You should go visit some of your friends as often as you can. It always helps out to talk over old times together. In fact there is nothing like it.

Of course I know that we have a beautiful daughter. She is just like her mother so how else could she help from being adorable and lovely.

You're the banker now Sweetheart. What you do with your money is strictly up to you. We can use the books alright.

I wished that you could write and tell me all about the funny things that my children do. I know that it is hard to remember all the things that they do. You see, the only connection that I have with them is through your letters. And how I love to receive your letters.

In all three of your letters that I answered tonight you mentioned my coming home. You may as well just keep hoping and praying for it to happen and then the time does not seem to go by so slow. Before you know it I will be home again. The chances of my getting home very soon is very remote at the present time. Just for the heck of it, let us hope and pray for a miracle to happen. They do happen you know.

I feel very sorry for Lorraine, but she has been quite fortunate. Arthur has been in for three years and he is just leaving. Very lucky indeed I call it.

As for Pat, an APO number does not necessarily mean that he is going overseas. It means that he is going into the field and because he will be moving around a good deal, they do that because they will not be near any regular post or station. 

Yesterday we had a holiday. It was the first anniversary of the brigade. Turkey for dinner and the Co. had a beer party in the evening. Yesterday morning we stood a Review of the whole brigade. There were approximately 7000 men in the Review. You never saw so many soldiers in one bunch in all your life. It is the first time that the whole brigade has ever gotten together at once.

In the afternoon we were off. I mean the men as I was busy all day long tending to details.

The order making me a technical sergeant came through today, Sweetheart. $18.00 more a month. One more promotion and I will be at the top of the ladder. Not bad for a rookie of one year, huh? Hot stuff - that's me.

Well Darling, I must close as it is late and I must get some shut eye. Early Reveille tomorrow morning.

I love you - love you - love you. That is what my heart keeps saying. It is like a broken record, saying it over and over again and again.

Regards to everyone and kiss the babies for me.

Your Loving, Devoted, & Faithful Husband

Bob

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

(xx)

Sunday, Jan. 30, 1944

Dearest Kitten

Here it is Sunday again and my thoughts are of you and the nice quiet Sundays that we used to spend together. Sweetheart I always enjoyed just being with you and only wish that I could be with you today.

In due time the day will arrive when we will be together again. Let us hope that it will be forever and ever. As long as I have my say, we will never be parted for more than a week at any time except in a case of an emergency.

Do you know that I love you Beautiful? Well I do. I love you so much that it hurts. It hurts me because I know that you love me as well and that it is very lonesome for you.

So last Saturday you thought that I was coming home. Weill it is a very long ways up to there Darling and it is impossible to get home on a weekend pass from here. I only wished that I could get home on a weekend pass.

By the time that you receive this letter it will be the first of the month and you should receive a check for $300.00. If you receive $300.00 I would appreciate it if you would send me $25.00. For the next three months I will not receive any pay at all. Due to the changeover from Class E to Class F allotment retroactive to November, you will receive $300.00 all at once. It will be $100.00 for the past three months. They will have to take all the money that they overpaid you and myself for those three months. As it stands now, I owe the Army about $150.00. So I will receive no pay for the next few months.

If you only receive $100.00 this month forget it as I can borrow enough money to keep me going until I start getting paid again. I was only trying to get away from borrowing money. In my present position it is bad policy to borrow money from the men.

Maybe if we both pray hard enough, I may get a chance to get home again to see my wife and babies, although it looks very doubtful at the present time a miracle could happen. Let us hope and pray that it does.

So Charlotte's baby is cute huh! I sure would like to be able to go around visiting with you.

It is about time that Uncle Henry got what was coming to him. He has been asking for it for a long time. I certainly was not surprised to hear it. I have been expecting something like that to happen for a long time.

I sure would like to see my daughter. It would be fun to watch her walking around. I bet that soon both will be running around raising h---.

Of course Bobby has a temper. I would rather he have a controlled temper than none at all. At least it shows spirit, but it has to be properly controlled.

(Later)

No letter today again. Hmm I guess my wife doesn't love me anymore.

Don't let it get you down, I was only kidding. I know that Tuesday night you had a party to attend and I hope that you enjoyed yourself. Did you?

The weather has been wonderful down here lately. I go around during the day in my shirt, but at night and early in the mornings I wear my field jacket.

Today I have a lot of letters that I want to answer. I only hope that I will be ambitious enough to answer them.

As you perhaps have noticed, I am signing my letters differently T/Sgt instead of S/Sgt. It will be effective the first of February. The order has gone through, it is just that it has to come back from Regimental.

Gosh but I wish that we were just completing our dinner and getting the babies ready for their nap, so that we could go into our bedroom and have a little session ourselves. Oh well! No help. It is nice to think about anyhow.

Regards to everyone and kiss the babies for me.

Your Loving, Devoted, & Faithful Husband

Bob

AXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

(xx)