Wednesday 6 Dec, 1944

Dearest Kitten:

18 more shopping days till Xmas. Things are not going to be very merry over here I am afraid. Here we are roasting from the heat and singing about a white Xmas.

Had a little luck with the mail tonight. A Xmas card from Leo & Janette, a box from Estelle, and a returned letter that I mailed to Andrew, two hits and one error. Not a bad average. Received a letter from you yesterday also, #149.

Please send me Andrew & Pat’s new addresses. Andrew’s letter was undelivered because he must have changed A.P.O. It is rare for me to write to anyone outside of you and I hate to have them returned undelivered.

Leaving you at the South Station was one of the hardest things that I have had to do. I know that it affected you the same way. There will come a day when it will not be necessary to part again, under the same circumstances.

Bobby is certainly growing up fast. I am unable to believe the pictures of my two youngsters. They are so big that I doubt if I would know how to handle them now.

There is an increasing unrest growing inside of me for a chance to look at you and hold you in my arms. What I would not give for the opportunity to see my youngsters and all the people who I love so much.

I hope that Rita F. knows what she is doing with Hank. For her own sake, I hope that she never regrets it. After the treatment that she received though, no one can blame her.

The only thing that I need is you, and I can not have that so I guess that my needs are nil at the present time. When ever I get to the point that I need some thing, you sure will know about it.

Did you hear the story of the elderly colored man who was in the Merchant Marines when the war broke out? It seems that he was on a tanker and it was torpedoed. After being rescued and while waiting for transportation back to the states he was in about a dozen bombings. He finally got transportation and upon passing by the Statue of Liberty in New Your Harbor he was heard to murmur, “Lady, if you ever see me again, you’ll have to turn around to do it.”

Today the temperature reached 98.6 in the shade. Nice warm weather with your husband rapidly being dehydrated.

Now it is raining and cooling off rapidly, thank goodness.

Well Sweetheart I must go to bed and dream of you. I love you.

Regards to everyone - kiss the babies for me.

Your Loving Devoted & Faithful Husband,

Bob

Sunday 3 Dec, 1944

Dearest Kitten:

It has been a week since I have heard from you. It is not your fault I know because no one has been getting mail. There is a very good explanation for the mail being in a mess. The Post Office has been moved from one building to another some distance away. Everything being in an uproar as it usually is when anyone moves, it takes time to settle down again.

It is a beautiful day today and with a little luck I may get an hour sun bath for myself.

The mail clerk was just in to inform me that there was no mail addressed to me again today. Such is life. Maybe my luck will change tomorrow and I will receive a batch that will keep me busy for a month.

By the way, did I tell you that we had some cooked turkey for Thanksgiving. The men were given two hours for their meal instead of the usual one. Outside of that it was just another day on the calendar.

Last night I was lazy so instead of writing to you I went to the movies and saw “Man Hunt” with Walter Pidgeon and Joan Bennett.

This morning I had my pitcher taken again. If they come out food I will send them to you. My supply sergeant +T/5 Paul Murphy my night fireman, in the mess hall, are in the picture. Paul Murphy is the little guy who wants me to visit him after the war. He lives just outside of Washington DC and has never gotten over the way I helped him when his sister died when we were in Florida.

Supply sergeant Nicholson is from New York City and we get along very well together. We usually go in town together whenever we go anywhere. He is only 21, but is very intelligent and we get along very well together as we have about the same interests. He has a dry humour and between the two of us we do quite a job on everyone, that is between ourselves.

I kid him about being true to his gal friend back home and he kids me about being married and being forced to live the life of a bachelor. He quite a surprising guy. Not bad looking and very sociable, he has yet to go out on a date. We make a good pair due to the fact that we are both very cynical.

After being in town together for an evening we are usually in very good morale. We get a kick out of panning everybody and everything. Nothing is sacred to us. One evening we were walking down the street and along came a yank soldier pushing a baby carriage with a girl. We stopped him and asked if he had been over here long. He was so surprised that I guess it went over his head. See what I mean.

Another time on a tram there was this woman with a tremendous overhang. We were daring each other to go up and ask her if they were real or just padded. Later we saw a pregnant woman, Sgt. Nicholson turned to me and said, From all indications, the Yanks have been over here for some time.

This will be all for this time Sweetheart. Just as an afterthought, did you know that I loved you with all my heart. Yep it’s a fact that is always with me. My very existence is due to you and at times I am so lonesome that I can not even think straight.

Give my regards to everyone - kiss the babies for me. I love you, Darling.

Your Loving Devoted & Faithful Husband,

Bob

Thursday 30 Nov. 1944

Dearest Kitten:

It has been two says since the last time that I wrote and told you how much that I love you. Funny thing, I still do. That’s odd, I wonder why I do? You won’t let me kiss you, make love to you, or even put my arms around you. Could be it is because you are so far away. Hm-m what I could do to you.

Enclosed is a money order for ten dollars, this is what I want you to do. Cash the money order and take five dollars and go down and open a joint savings account at the Union Old Lowell Bank at Kearney Square. Tell them that I am overseas and that I want a joint account. They will give you some papers for me to sign or perhaps they may send the papers themselves. As soon as the account is opened I will have a class E allotment made out to the account. I will have $50.00 a month deposited for us. The reason for a joint account is so either of us can draw on the account. If ever you get into a jam you will be able to draw whatever you need.

With the other five dollars you can buy yourself some bubble gum. In other words buy whatever you want with it.

That is all for tonight so give my regards to everyone & kiss the babies for me. I love you with all my heart, Beautiful.

Your Loving Devoted & Faithful Husband,

Bob

Tuesday 28 Nov. 1944

Dearest Kitten:

This is just another short epistle to let you know that I am still very much in love with you. I always will love you no matter how far away from you I go. Time will not affect my feelings for you either. For more reasons than I have time to enumerate, you are the only gal in the world for me. What more can I say to make it clearer to you of my great love.

Enclosed is a picture of one of my men & myself which was taken about six weeks ago. The man’s name is Buonadonna. He is Italian and is from New York City. He has a little Bambino at home and gets a big kick out of showing me the latest pictures of her. He plays the violin for the Battalion band and is very fond of good music. He has a very cheerful personality and is always laughing.

Sunday I went to see the football game which we lost 18 to 13.It was a good game and I enjoyed it very much despite the heat.

Since Sunday it has rained quite a bit and we are thankful for the relief from the heat. Due to the fact that it is raining right this minute, I am able to sit quietly for a short while and write to you. Did I say quietly?

Later:

In letter 145 I am glad to see that you realize that it is not entirely my fault that your letters do not arrive with the same regularity that they are written.

You wondered if I would return bossy. You never know. I doubt it, but where men are concerned, I have learnt a lot in handling children, because children is all that they are.

Why doesn’t somebody shut Leo up once in awhile. The onlyest thing that he can talk about it buses. I hope that when I return he never gets on my nerves about them. I am rapidly acquiring a habit of shutting people up.

You got something when you wrote, “Darn this war.” But in the paragraph before that sentence, about turning on the radio and off with the lights, you really got something there.

Was glad to hear about Norman getting a furlough & Arthur being O.K. Arthur does not know what he is missing. When Arthur and I return we are going to raise a football team between us. So tell Lorraine so that she will be prepared.

Freddy is a man after all. Give him my best wishes for an easy pregnancy. Tell him if he is very careful his wife will not divorce him before it is over.

I love to hear about the youngsters getting into trouble. At least they are full of life anyway.

Leo Mainvelle? Please write plainer. There is no one I know by that name. Maybe he is one of your secret admirers. From the way your wrote his last name, I could not be sure how it was spelled.

The picture that I told you about did not come out. It was all blurred. I asked my C.O. if I could have a picture taken with his camera and he is willing. Now all I have to do is wait for the sun to shine.

No remarks about where Bobby gets his brains.

See how well I obey you?

Where that bond came from I do not know, as I have not made out an allotment for another as yet. In fact I had been wondering about sending some money to the bank each month instead. I want to open a joint account for us and have the Army make a monthly deposit. Let me know what you think of the idea.

Boy are the mosquitoes terrible around this place. I ran into a very generous one though. The night was dark and sultry. I was completely done in from battling the mosquitoes and from loss of blood. I was completely limp, too weak to call to the medics when along came Percy, the skitter with a delicate ego. Seeing my plight and knowing that I was only good for another hour or so if something was not done immediately. He buzzes off to the Red Cross blood bank and returned with the necessary blood in his body to take care of me. When he got through with the transfusion, I felt like a new man.

In appreciation I have kept him for a pet. I have him chained to the orderly room. Better than a watch dog, he is.

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

Your Loving Devoted & Faithful Husband,

Bob

P.S. Wish they wouldn’t give me so many furloughs.

Saturday 25 Nov. 1944

Dearest Kitten:

I am having a hard time to concentrate on this letter. You see I am writing this at my desk and bordering the paper is snapshots of you and the children. All I have to do is move my eyes ever so slightly and there are pictures of my loved ones.

Do you know how much I love you? How deep is the ocean? How high is the sky? Despite letter #144 I am still head over heels in love with you. Impatient woman, slow down before you blow a gasket. What will you be like when you have to wait two or three months before you hear from me. The Lord help me, you will probably skin me alive in your letters.

It seems that a traveling salesman was very discouraged with his wife as every weekend when he would return home she was filthy, the house was filthy, and the kids were filthy. He decided to kill his wife and upon reading about a man killing his wife with too much sex relations, decided that was the best way to kill her off. All one week he got to bed early, ate raw eggs, oysters and everything to build him up. Upon arriving home that Saturday, he started in on his wife. He even kept her in bed all day Sunday. Monday morning he was half dead but figured that he had made a good start, and given a couple more weekends and a chance to recuperate through the week, he would be making good progress. The following Saturday night he walks into his home all primed for his wife and behold. His wife is all spruced up, the house is immaculate, the children are clean and his wife looks like she did before he married her.

Unable to curb his curiosity longer, he asked her how come all the improvements. And what did she answer but: “You treat me right and I’ll treat you right.”

Was I surprised to read that Bobby helps you with the dishes. It is good training as well as a help to you.

Yep, just keep hoping and use a little patience and our day will come. Maybe sooner than either of us expect.

Sorry to hear about your tooth but that is what you get for giving your husband hell. Bad on you. You should be more patient with your poor henpecked husband.

We are getting to have quite a library. By the time I get home, we sure will have quite a home if you keep it up.

Sweetheart, I am seriously thinking of sending some money to be put into a joint savings account, rather than buying a bond every month. The idea being so that we will have some ready cash upon my return home. Sound O.K. to you?

I must close Sweetheart. This letter has taken me just six (6) hours to compose. Do you wonder why I hate to start a letter. The only way that I can get a little peace is to get out of the Company.

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

Your Loving Devoted & Faithful Husband,

Bob

P.S. Am going to a football game tomorrow.

Wednesday 22 Nov. 1944 - Thanksgiving Eve

Dearest Kitten:

Here it is Thanksgiving eve and I am thinking of the many things that I am thankful for. Having a beautiful wife like you and two darling children. Being fortunate enough to enjoy good health and liberty. Tomorrow a great many people will spend their day in concentration camps or under the yoke of a conquering tyrant. So you see even though I am miles away, I have many things to be thankful for.

We are having turkey tomorrow and I hope that it is good. We are more fortunate than a great many who will be battling the enemy. They will be lucky to even get something to eat.

One of my officers got a glass window from a plane for me. I got it on my desk with about a dozen snapshots and the latest pictures of my family under it. All day long I have been having a hard job to concentrate as I could not help myself from looking down at the pictures. The glass is about two feet long by a foot and a half wide. It is nice and smooth for writing purposes.

Today has been a relief after the hot weather. It has been fairly cool all day and now it is raining out. After the past heat, this is a very welcome relief.

So Bobby was all excited over the snow. He must remember raising heck with his dad in the snow. Remember the day that I was shoveling the walk and he was helping by throwing snowballs at me?

Your certainly have been busy entertaining the past month or so. I am glad that you are lucky enough to have someone visit you to break the monotony.

The name is familiar but I can not place it right now. I should know but it just slips my mind.

Well Sweetheart I have to close. I love you with all of my heart, darling Wife. I exist only for the day when I will return home to you.

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

Your Loving Devoted & Faithful Husband,

Bob

Monday 20 Nov. 1944

Still at Brisbane

Dearest Kitten:

I have neglected you disgracefully and am duly ashamed of myself. Things have been in more or less of an uproar around here and my time has been very much occupied.

Yesterday, I grabbed my supply sgt., Nicholson, and we went to the seashore and enjoyed ourselves. It is the first time that he has been in swimming and he got a wonderful sunburn. We got back to camp at 8:00 in the evening and I had hopes of writing to you but no, my good luck had forsaken me and it was necessary for me to take care of my little chick-a-dees. It seems that they are always hungry and it being one of my sad duties to see that everyone eats, it was too late and I was too tired to write when the mess got straightened out.

For some time to come my mail will not be all that I would like to make it and not the way that you like to receive it. You see that at some future date my APO will eventually change. But there is something that will never change and that is my love for you. There isn’t a day goes by but that I think of you and home with all that the word home implies.

There are times that I get very lonesome but the majority of the time I am too busy to get too lonesome.

Oh there are times when I wonder where and when this separation will end. It seems that the longer I am in the Army the longer it seems before I will get out.

By the way, your husband can now wear a gold bar on his left sleeve, denoting six months overseas. Marvelous isn’t it? I only hope that they do not reach my elbow before I am repatriated to the states. As one 1st Sgt. who sports six of them put it to his company commander, “Sir you will either have to break me or allow me to wear them on the other sleeve.”

There is a drought over here at present. It is quite hot and has not rained for almost a month. The air is full of dust & smoke. The dust is so bad that in three hours time I have to dust off my desk again as it feels gritty to the touch. The smoke is from wood fires - they call them brush fires over here and let them burn as long as it does not endanger buildings. At four this afternoon, I could look directly into the sun with my naked eye. That is from the dust and smoke and is no exaggeration.

The Aussies over here have a habit of always carrying something. I guess they do not feel dressed without a basket, bag, or pack.

If my mail has been delayed it is because the Post Office over here has been changed and it may be some time before they get properly settled. There are a lot of Aussies employed in the Post Office and they take a month of Sundays to get anything done.

Letters #140 -1 & 2 came and also a package from you and Mother. I wrote to Estelle, thanking her for the peppermints that she sent. I tried to make it as funny as possible and I hope that she likes it.

Of course there were some sheilas around at Coolangatta - what-a-name. Sheilas to the left of me, sheilas to the right of me, right in amongst them rode the brave amphibian. Hmm-m was that me? Immodest women - bare legs clean up to their shoulders. Try as I could, I couldn’t get any of them interested in me. Better luck next time. The swimming was good anyhow.

What a couple of scrappers we are going to have with Bobby & Barbara. They must keep you hopping.

I enjoyed reading about Blanche. She looks good in her uniform. They certainly gave her plenty of publicity.

There you go talking about snow when I am dying from the heat. At night I go to bed with my pajamas only. I tuck my mosquito net in nicely around my blankets that I use for a mattress, go on a skitter hunt inside with a flashlight. After killing all the skitters that I can catch, stretch out and go to sleep. We have used our net ever since we came over practically. The mosquitoes go around in dive bomber formation over here. We have already lost one man that way. The last time he was seen was one night he was headed for the latrine. The only thing that we can figure could have happened to him is that he couldn’t hold himself and dropped his pants. That is all these mosquitoes need around here. I suppose that somebody someday will find his dog tags because I can not imagine these mosquitoes leaving even the skeleton. They don’t only take your blood, they take blood, flesh and bone.

Glad to see that you had some company to break the monotony of things.

Sorry but I must close. Regards to everyone and kiss the babies for me. I love you Sweetheart.

Your Loving Devoted & Faithful Husband,

Bob