Friday 27 April 1945

Dearest Kitten:

Here it is an anniversary of ours and we are separated by many, many miles. Despite the distance our love still reaches out to each other and keeps us joined as one.

Tonight I plan to go out and celebrate with Sgt. Nicholson. First we will go to the pub and have a few beers and then go to the National Hotel for supper and then to a show. There will be only one thing lacking, and that is you.

You could not have done better if you had tried with letter #257. Ir came today reminding me that this is our anniversary. How could I forget the day that I lost all my freedom. The day of my down fall. The day that I shackled myself forever to one woman. Woe is me, but for some reason, I am happy about the whole thing.

Gosh but I love you Sweetheart. All I can think of to write is how much that I love you. Nothing else seems to be important enough to write about.

Was glad that you enjoyed yourself on your weekend trip to Haverhill. It must have been a lot of fun. Did you feel like a single gal again?

When I return home, you will have to be patient with me as I will have to do a lot of work and buzzing around to do all the things that I have planned and also to get you all the things that I want to for you.

My back is much better than it has been for quite some time. I’ve been giving it a heat treatment of my own. Very simple, I just keep a lot of clothes on and keep nice and cozy, even to the extent of getting overheated. It seems to have done my back a lot of good.

Tonight I must be in good form if I expect to make pub call. It takes as much out of you to make a pub call as it does to play a game of football. So you can see for yourself that I have to be in good shape. We haven’t decided on what show to go to as yet but I think it will be “Going My Way” with Bing Crosby.

Received letters from Roland & Marion and Mother today. Everything seems to be going along very nicely with everyone at home.

This will be all for now as I must get prepared to celebrate.

Regards to everyone & kiss the babies for me. I love you Darling Wife.

Your Loving Devoted & Faithful Husband,

Bob

Thursday 26 April 1945

Dearest Kitten:

How can I put into writing, the feelings that I have for you? It is impossible to transmit to a sheet of cold white paper, my great love and affection for you. I love you Sweetheart, is the simplest and most sincere words that I can put down.

Your husband is in a very mood, Darling. Do you know what I would like to be able to do? It is to be able to rush home at 5:00 P.M. slap you on the can, kiss you and the babies, put my slippers on and after supper settle down in the parlor with the evening paper until you are through with the dishes. then we would put the youngsters to bed and sit quietly in the parlor listening to the radio and just enjoying each other’s company. How I miss those evenings at home with my loving wife. Those days will return again and soon, I hope.

Letter #258 came today. Why don’t you start with number one again and go as far as one hundred and start over again. Maybe you want to be able to nag me about how many letters you wrote to me while holding up the handful that I sent home to you. Is that it?

If you keep it up you will be a regular seamstress by the time I return home. I am glad that yo ulike it and are doing so well at it. It is always handy to know how to make clothes. Especially feminine attire. With two females in the family, it will be easier for you to keep yourself and Barbara in pretty clothes.

Give Bobby & Barby enough time with the little girl upstairs and I bet that they have her acting like a little Indian too. They must really act up at times. I am glad that they are active anyway.

Lorraine must have been embarrassed when Bobby wanted to go riding with his Daddy. I suppose everyone in a soldier’s uniform is his Daddy as far as he is concerned.

Yes I remember the feather clip you used to wear. I always did like your hair that way. If I could only see you with or without, just so long as I could see you I would be a very happy guy.

I have been having a little trouble with my back. I guess that I must have caught cold in the muscles. No, I am afraid that there is nothing serious enough for them to send me home. Last night it bothered me quite a bit but it is much better today.

Received a letter from Aunty Emma today also and things seem to be going O.K. with them. She certainly has her hands full with old uncle Charlie. How she even puts up with him is more than I can understand. Norman seems to be doing alright for himself.

I sent a bunch of the latest Beachcombers and a tourist guide to Queensland a couple of days ago so be on the lookout for them.

Have you kept all the Beachcombers and stuff that I have sent home? Someday, I may want to make up a scrapbook with them in it. It will be a nice souvenir for Bobby to brag about when he gets older.

We are in the rainy season down here now and there is hardly a day goees by but that it does not rain. Usually in the hours of darkness the days are nice but as soon as the sun goes down it gets cloudy and cool and rains before sunrise. The damp weather is what is bothering my back I think.

Well Beautiful I must close. Give my regards to everyone and kiss the babies for me, I love you Darling Wife, now and forever.

Your Loving Devoted & Faithful Husband,

Bob

Sunday 22 April 1945

Dearest Kitten:

Have been a busy beaver today. This morning I had to go to the memorial services at the city hall. Enclosed is the program for the services. You might be interested to know what went on. The hall was loaded with Yanks. We got back to camp at noon by convoy.

Lets #254-5 & 6 plus your two anniversary cards. The 27th is rapidly approaching and I am more then ever aware of the promise that I once made you, remember? A war is responsible for the breaking of that promise but I am in hopes of making it up to you at the earliest possible moment.

So you are chastising your husband for his not writing as often as you think that he should by slowing down on your own letters huh? Two wrongs do not make a right you know. Beside, see what happens to you when you get mean with me, your face swells up. I was sorry to read about it Sweetheart honestly. It serves you right for putting off going to the dentist so long.

Won’t it be a relief when we can move where there is a nice bathroom? It will be so much easier for you to give the children their baths etc. I miss taking a bath in the bath tub. When I get home I am going to stretch out and soak for a couple of hours.

Thanks for the pictures. Andrew looks good, the lucky stiff, but the smudge under his nose would look better on someone else.

You are looking good Sweetheart. As for Barbara she has a sour puss in one picture that reminds me of my first wife when I first married her. She used to get a puss like that on her once in awhile. She got over it though. Yes she got so that she was quite civilized toward me, but I had to leave. Don’t think that she will have changed much by the time I return.

Your Mother & Father are not getting any younger and the sooner your sisters realize that, the better off your parents will be. They take your Mother and Father for granted. It is partly your Mother’s fault for babying them so much. Oh well, I better keep my big nose out of things that do not concern me.

Things are certainly happening to the people that I know back home. Was very happy about Fred Gagnon. His folks must be relieved over him, now that they know that he is safe.

It was kind of you to give the bathinette to the young woman from the upstairs apartment. Poor kid, from what you write of her, I would say that she needed a friend. Do what you can for her Sweetheart.

Is Barbara going to take after you? She seems to be falling down all the time like you used to do.

Received a letter from Estelle today and plan to answer her in a couple of days.

By the way, thanks for your cards, they are very nice. Only a woman in love could be so nice and thoughtful. Especially when she knows that her love is returned. I do love you even if you do get mean now and then. It only goes to prove that you love me when you get mad at me for my so-called neglect in my correspondence.

Give my regards to everyone and kiss the babies for me Darling. I love you from the bottom of my heart.

Your Loving Devoted & Faithful Husband,

Bob

Saturday 21 April 1945

Dearest Kitten:

Gosh but I love you Sweetheart and miss you from the bottom of my heart. How I wish that you were by my side so that I could touch you and talk to you. What a pleasure that would be.

I received letter #253 today. Getting poetic huh? The poem was very nice and I appreciated it very much as it explains the way we both feel.

Sorry to have caused you so much grief with the picture. Her name is Martha and we had a nice long talk about our loved ones and she thought the youngsters were adorable. I know that you will understand that we enjoyed our talk as our main subject is both our favorite one, that happens to be you for me and her husband for her.

I only wish that you could be with me Sweetheart. There is nothing that would make me happier. Let’s hope that the day when we will be together again for good is not too far distant.

By the time that you receive this letter you should have received the flowers for our anniversary. How did you like the little note?

How can I forget any of the good times that we had together. They are always with me in a very wishful way. I am always wishing for those times to return, but I always satisfy myself by thinking of the good times we will have when I return home.

How would you like to live in New Hampshire up in the White Mt. district? I have been thinking about how much I would like to run a small hotel where we could have both summer and winter guests. Swimming & boating in summer, hunting in fall, fishing in spring and skiing & skating in winter. It will take some doing but I hope that we may be able to swing it. Oh well, I may wind up as a travelling salesman yet.

You should not spoil Barbara so much. There may come a time when you will be sorry that you are unable to leave her with someone else when you wish to go somewhere without her.

I was rather nasty in the letter that I wrote to you, but it was the way that I felt at the time. I got over it though. Please forgive me as I hate to do anything to hurt you. I trust you Sweetheart but it is the rest of the world that I do not trust.

We have built a volleyball court and installed lights on it. We are now building a tennis court and basketball court together. All the work is being done with the few men that we have left after all other details have been taken care of.

If you can, please send me some face towels. I can not seem to hang onto them. I must be supplying the men in the company with face towels.

Tomorrow I have to go to a memorial service with half the company. The services are being held in the city hall and we have to send a certain number of men to attend the services in honor of our late president.

"FDR unfinished" by Source. Licensed under Fair use via Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:FDR_unfinished.jpg#/media/File:FDR_unfinished.jpg

Sgt. Routson who is very handy at most everything and is a carpenter by trade made me a stainless steel band for my wrist watch. Remember the snap on band that I used to have that was covered with leather? Well it is made on the same principle. It is much better than a cloth or leather strap, especially for tropical duty as perspiration rots leather & cloth very rapidly.

Well, Sweetheart I must close. I love you with all my heart, Beautiful. Give my regards to everyone and kiss the babies for me.

How I miss you Darling.

Your Loving Devoted & Faithful Husband,

Bob

Sunday 8 April 1945

 

Dearest Kitten:

Here is your loving husband again to let you know that you are always with me, in my dreams as well as in my thoughts while awake. How I love you, Sweetheart of mine. I can not begin to tell you how much I miss you so I will not even try.

I have invented a little game with your mail. With each letter I make a mental bet whether Barbara’s picture will be on the stationery. It is the first thing that I look for.

It is getting chilly down here again as winter is beginning to set in again. We wear our Sun tans yet but are permitted to wear our field or battle jackets. It is nice during the day but gets quite cool in the evening.

Tomorrow I am going to Coolangatta again. Sgt. Nicholson is going with me. This is the third time for the men in the company. Twice a week we send thirty men down in a convoy. On Monday morning thirty leave and come back Wednesday afternoon on the convoy that brings the men down Wednesday morning.

It costs eighteen cents for a bed, twenty four cents for a breakfast and forty eight cents for a dinner or supper.

Yesterday afternoon I got a truck and loaded it with men that wanted to go swimming. It was a bit cool but we enjoyed ourselves. We went to a swimming pool out on the edge of town. The men started playing tag and they got me into it. In about a half an hour I was all pooped out. They tried to keep me it and did a fairly good job of it. We then started building pyramids in the water. Where they did not step on my while climbing up I could not say. The rest of the men were allowed out on pass but the most of them stayed in and worked on their clothes and equipment or wrote letters.

The picture For Whom the Bell Tolls is coming to one of the shows in town. Seeing as you recommend it, I guess I will have to take it in.

Yes I remember Paul Hamel. Sorry to hear about his leg but he is fortunate in being at home.

What is Lorraine going to do when Jr. comes in from making mud pies etc? He is a boy and must expect him to get dirty once in awhile.

Yes I still go to church. There is a catholic church about a half mile from our camp where I go. We do not have a chaplain with us so the men have to go out of camp to attend church services.

Jack & Mary are the middle aged couple aren’t they? I think I know who you mean. You certainly have been running around a good deal lately. I am glad because it keeps you young and I do not want you to become an old nag. Not that I think you ever would.

Sweetheart, I am glad you told me to let you know when I get home, whenever that is. I did not realize that you feel that you must meet me looking your best because it will not make any difference to the way I feel about you. You could meet me in a suit of burlap with your hair in rag curlers and your face smeared with grease and you would still be the most beautiful sight that I have ever seen.

What the hell gave you the idea that I liked the Army? You were never so wrong in your life. The only thing that I am living for is to get my job with the Army completed and get the hell back with my family. But, I do want to do as good a job as it is in my power to do. A lot smarter men that I run this army, my job is to see that their orders are carried out. My ability to do this is the yardstick of my success or failure as a 1st/Sgt.

Besides Sergeant Nicholson there are three other of my sergeants going with us tomorrow. It depends on whether they will give me a chance on whether I will write to you from down there. I doubt if they will leave me alone long enough to get off a letter to you.

Well Sweetheart I must close. I love you Darling Wife. Give my regards to all the folks and kiss the babies for me. I love you.

Your Loving Devoted & Faithful Husband,

Bob

3 April 1945 (Tuesday)

 

Dearest Kitten:

I love you from the bottom of my heart and it appears to me that I miss you more with the passing of each day. How I could possibly miss you more tomorrow than I do right now is more than I can explain, but nevertheless I will feel as though I miss you more tomorrow than I do today. Slightly mixed up I know, but what I mean is that I love you and miss you very much, Sweetheart.

The past couple of days has been letterless so I do not have any of your letters to answer. When I do get some it will probably be about a dozen or so.

Sunday I had to leave before the end of the Mass. I felt as though I were going to throw up my toe nails and had to get up and get out of church. The fresh air straightened me out and I felt better after awhile. Sergeant Nicholson was wondering what had happened to me. He said that I looked as white as a sheet. All day Sunday I felt dopy but by Monday morning I was O.K. Must have been something I ate. I have been extremely lucky so far about my health, thank God.

Last night Nick and I went to the show at the ampitheatre and saw A Sparrow Falls with John Garfield & M. O’Hara.

We are rapidly approaching an anniversary of ours. How I remember everything about that fateful day. What a lucky guy I was that day, and how happy you have made me since.

Sorry but I must close as I have a lot to do tonight and I have to get going on it.

Give my regards to everyone and kiss the babies for me. I love you, Sweetheart.    

Your Loving Devoted & Faithful Husband,

Bob