21 July 1944

Dearest Kitten:

I received your third box tonight & your cablegram yesterday. Your cablegram was not very clear. It said that you had received money, and I never sent you any money. I imagine that it should have read that you sent money. Thanks anyhow, it is always nice to hear from you.

Letter #54 came and Barby's picture is very cute. She sure is a darling, just like her mother. Her eyes are so bright and intelligent, just like her father, hm-m.

For some reason I am in a happy mood tonight and this letter is not giving me any trouble at all. I wrote to your folks today and will write to Mother tomorrow.

Sorry that I should ask you for some money right on the month that you have so many bills. I am happy to say that the money was well spent anyhow.

Just for your own information and to possibly prepare you for the worst, do not be surprised if one of these days I get reduced to the grade of private. There are a couple of men in the Company who are always giving me trouble and one of these days I am apt to lose my temper sufficiently to start walloping one of them. If I get caught at it, it will probably mean my stripes. The only reason that I have not done so before is the thoughts of losing all that dough.

There is very little anyone at home can do for a man when he is in combat except hope & pray. I know that it is impossible to keep from worrying but try not to let it get you down. You should have more faith in your brother's ability to take care of himself. I have no doubts but that he will make out O.K.

Your uncle sure has gotten the visiting fever. It must have been nice to see him again, but if he keeps it up, he will have to start claiming Lowell for his legal residence.

If my letters sounded lonesome, it was because I was lonesome. Today I feel pretty good, but for the past few weeks I have been rather down in the dumps.

Arthur writes pretty regularly, doesn't he? I am glad to see that you correspond regularly with him. It is always nice to hear from friends.

The thing about having beer on ice that I miss the most is having you around. This month I have consumed 16 quarts and have another sixteen waiting for me for the rest of the month.

Our new club is almost finished and the night that we open it, I am going into town and stay there because, it will be a beaut of a binge. I want to be a few miles away when they start imbibing the fire water.

Reading about the folks going to the beach and out to the lake reminds me of how much I would like to be doing just that. It must have been fun with the children. You must have had a good time with them.

We have a lot of living to catch up on Sweetheart. When I return we will not waste any time so as to make up for all the lost time. I love you so much that when I look at one of your pictures I get thrilled so much that my toes tingle.

Well, Beautiful, until next time, I love you.

Regards to all & kiss the babies for me.

Your Loving, Devoted, & Faithful Husband,

Bob

Wednesday 20 July 1944

Wednesday 20 July 1944 [This day/date is incorrect - it was either Wednesday 19 July or it was Thursday, 20 July]

Dearest Kitten:

The weather tonight is very crispy and it would be a beautiful night for a brisk walk if it were only possible to have you by my side. We could start for a walk and do as we used to by winding up at some dine & dance place, hungry as a couple of bears and full of pep for a few dances. And so home to bed. Those days will return and this d--- mess will just be another chapter in Man's D----- Foolishness - A book of boners.

Since writing to you last I have received letters 51-2-3-6 & 7. Your snapshot in the 57th, tells me more eloquently than anything else just what is happening to you. Man alive are you putting on the pounds- Whew, better watch your calories or I will not recognize you when I get home.

Julie deserves a break if anyone does.  She sure has been patient. I hope for both their sakes that he will be home before this letter reaches you.

Please stop aggravating me with your description of some of your meals. How I could go for one of your Sunday specials right now. After a year and a half of Army food I will not know how to act in front of a self respecting roast or grilled steak.

Barbara must have looked funny with all that lipstick all over her. But you must have been disgusted especially when you were trying to get ready to leave.

I know just how Pat must feel about his sister-in-law.

Bobby must have been thrilled at all the sights that he saw on the trip to Boston.

Please send me some Calcium carbonate pills. I want to take them to keep from losing my teeth. One of the main troubles over here is the lack of Calcium in the drinking water. So before my teeth begin to deteriorate I think I will start taking care of them.

No I have not answered the young lady that wrote to me as I would rather write to you. She does not know where I come from and the address must have come from one of your rolls of pennies. Sometime when I have time I will answer her but I'll be darn if I am going to put myself out.

Yes I answered both your mother and my aunt. What more do you want? Blood!

Sorry to hear that my brother is acting up. Try to find out if I could mail a letter to him at work. There may not be anything to it but a few well placed words from me may be of some help.

So Norman expects to take a trip overseas too. Well that is what he has been training for. I hope that my aunt does not take it too hard if he does go.

Earl Littlefield is a distant cousin of the lad I introduced you to at Ogunquit.

It is O.K. for Bobby to be a boy but there are limits. Correct him of the habit or you will have real trouble. He has to learn a little modesty even if he is still young.

Sorry Sweetheart but I have to close, till tomorrow night. I love you Beautiful. Regards to all & kiss the babies for me.

Your Loving, Devoted, & Faithful Husband,

Bob

Monday 17 July 1944

Dearest Kitten:

It is a beautiful night out. It reminds me of a cool fall evening at home with the smell of burning leaves in the air. The smell of burning leaves is missing over here though. Nevertheless I can still appreciate the cool, quiet evening.

The memories that are flashing through my brain are all pleasant because they are all centered around you. How could they be otherwise, when you are the very heart of all my happiness and pleasure. All that I am trying to say is that I love you. My love for you is deep and trusting. Every time that I think of you and home there is a great longing that settles over me. Every cell of my body seems to yearn for you. The only way that it will be relieved is to take you in my arms again, and that time is not too far distant, I hope.

Since writing to you last, I received your 53rd letter. I am glad that you had Bobby taken care of. You may find a big difference in him now that his tonsils are out. I bet he was happy to be able to eat all the ice cream that he wanted.

I can visualize what they are like from your everyday account of them and also your snapshots that you send.

Yesterday our team played B Company's baseball team and we lost 2 to 1. It was a very good game and I enjoyed it very much. Sports, especially competitive, are very good for the men's morale. It gives them something to talk, scrap, and kid about. When you have a bunch of men with something else to think about, other than the mess that they are in, then the morale of the men is high! We are very fortunate here because we have good and diversified facilities for the men. There is so much going on that they hardly know what to do or where to go. Their work is highly satisfactory to clinch the bargain.

Now that Lorraine W. has returned, you should not lack for company. I expect to be hearing that the three of you go out regularly. It will do you all good to get out to a show or something occasionally.

Have not had a chance to get out to a golf course yet, but with luck I may make it one of these days.

This afternoon I went out to see a couple of my men in the hospital. They appreciate a visit like that more than if I had given them a million dollars. It gets very boring staying in a hospital when no one ever calls to see you. I should know.

My cold is very much better and I am back in fine shape. The only thing I need is you.

Give all the folks my regards and kiss the babies for me.

I love you with all my heart.

Your Loving, Devoted, & Faithful Husband,

Bob

P.S. I have not received Ce's letter as yet.

Saturday 15 July 1944

Dearest Kitten:

You have been on my mind a lot lately. It has made me rather lonesome for you and home, but I guess that I will weather the storm. There are times that I am busy enough to keep me from getting too lonesome and then there are times that I find myself dreaming of home and you. It is times like that when the longing for you creeps up on me and makes me short tempered.

I have to watch myself closely or I get grumpy as a bear. Times like that, I try to snap out of it by walking around and looking the company over.

There is one thing that I never tire of, and that is telling you how much I love you. By this time you should be sure of my love for you.

No mail from you for the past three days and I find it very hard to write anything very interesting. I can appreciate the job that you have trying to write every day.

It is about time that I hear of your receiving the set of salt & pepper shakers. There is another package on the way and one of the articles is a bracelet. Due to the fact that the jewelers over here are very independent and do not have the necessary material to do the complete job. Take the bracelet to a jeweler and have the links soldered with silver solder and have a clasp put on. Have To Irene with Love Bob engraved on the center piece. The other articles I picked up here & there. From time to time you will be receiving packages from me, I hope.

Yesterday I took a quick run out to the golf course to see about green fees & rental of clubs. I hope to be able to shake myself loose long enough some afternoon to go out for a few holes.

If you can get a few more golf balls, I would sure appreciate it if you sent me about ten more.

The war seems to be going along favorably for the allies. Let us hope and pray that it continues until this mess is cleared up. What a wild time everyone will have, for a short while anyhow, after this chaos is stopped.

Enclosed is one of the pictures that I told you about. It was taken outside of the orderly room. You may wonder how come we are wearing our insignia. We are authorized to do so in this zone and our C.O. ordered us to wear them. It was not so cold that I had to button my field jacket around my neck, it is buttoned all the way because I did not have a shirt on.

You will also find enclosed another will that is a real will. You can destroy the others that I sent to you, as they are not worth the paper that they are written on. The Powers of Attorney are legal, so hang onto them.

Am just getting over a cold that made me miserable for a couple of days. One morning I woke up and I ached in every muscle and bone in my body. What a day that was. I am feeling fine now though.

Well Sweetheart I am closing as I want to get this letter in the mail.

Regards to all, kiss the babies for me.

I love you with all my heart.

Your Loving, Devoted, & Faithful Husband,

Bob

P.S. Do not forget to send me twenty five dollars when you receive your allotment the first of August.

Wednesday 12 July, 1944

Dearest Kitten:

With each passing day my love for you seems to grow. It does not seem possible that I could love you more than I do now, but my feelings for you is growing stronger and deeper with each passing day.

Putting my feelings into writing is very unsatisfactory, but, it will have to do until the day that I can take you in my arms and tell you, and also show you, how much that I love you.

Today I hit the jackpot, the two boxes that you sent to me. Thanks loads for being so generous. Now I can go out and have a game or two of golf. The flints and wicks for my lighter came just in time. My lighter needed a new wick and you would have laughed had you seen me putting in the new wick. I had parts strewn from here to h---. With the help of my clerk and a lot of patience, I managed to get the wick in properly and now it works like a charm.

On top of the boxes I received letters 48-9 & 50. Short but sweet. The letters usually come to me three at a time.

So-o you are putting on weight! Drinking a lot of liquid during warm weather makes you feel as though you had put on weight when actually you perhaps have lost weight.

Reading about your going up to the bathhouse makes me remember a lot of pleasant memories. We sure had a lot of fun up along the river. There is something about water that always attracted me.

M-M! Just look at all that d--- water that separates me from the ones that I love. Not very pleasant when you think of it in those terms.

I am dying to get home so that I can start training my son to grow up with manly characteristics. I only hope that I am capable of doing it. My main ambition is to raise children that I may be proud of and to be worthy of their pride in return. I may never be a rich man but if I can always provide my family and raise my children properly, I will be a successful man in my own ambition.

So Barby likes the water. I am glad of that. It is usually harder to get a girl used to water than a boy. Bobby will snap out of it I hope. He needs his Daddy to teach him to master certain things but to have the proper respect for them.

Sorry to hear about John. It must have made Lorraine feel rather odd to read about one of her old boyfriends turning up missing.

Did you get a linoleum to cover the whole floor?

I bet it does look nice. We sure needed a new one, and I am glad that you finally decided to get one.

Maybe I should explain to you that the new issue of bonds that is being purchased out of my pay are delivered immediately. You can expect one every month. There is no need for you to feel that you should buy more unless you so desire. What I do want you to do though is to slap some of my pay into the bank so that we will have enough ready cash for carrying out my plans. Do not get all of our cash tied up in bonds. I know that you would like to put all of our surplus cash into bonds but upon my return I want to have a few hundred that will be easily accessible.

There may be a change in Bobby after he gets his tonsils out. The sooner that it is taken care of the better it will be for both you and he.

The candy and peanuts sure tasted swell. With the supply you sent, I have enough to last me for some time.

Please send me a couple of pr. of shorts size 32 tan or brown.

Well Beautiful I have to close now. You have all of my love. Regards to all & kiss the babies for me.

Your Loving, Devoted, & Faithful Husband,

Bob