Saturday 10 March 1945

Dearest Kitten:

Here it is the beginning of another week and I feel like going to the beach tomorrow but I can’t. You see my C.O. is down to the beach this weekend. He needs a little rest once in awhile also. So I have to stick around and keep things together more or less.

It has been very hot the past few days and at the present time I am as hot as a pistol. Despite the heat, I have not lost weight. I still weigh around 170 lbs.

Enclosed you will find some pictures taken some time ago. The small ones were taken about six months ago and have been laying around my desk. The others were taken a  little over six weeks ago.

By the way did I ever tell you how much that I love you? I do you know. As a matter of fact I love you very very much. Almost more than I love myself. So how much do I love you?

Oh, Sweetheart! I am melting from the heat. No not that kind of heat. The kind that makes the weather thermometer go up

I can appreciate how you feel about my being away from you for so long Beautiful as I feel the same way lots of times. You and I will have to be patient and make the best of it until the day that I return.

Mother should have had her insurance put in your name a long time ago. After all she is living at our house and we have more or less taken care of her this long we may as well continue from now on.

Have you heard about the Air Corp Officer that had a change to fly home on an unauthorized flight? It seems that he flew back to the States and landed in his home town in the evening. No one that he knew  saw him except his wife and he left the next morning and flew back. His wife became pregnant and wow did her neighbors do a job on her. You see she could not tell that her husband had been home and neither could he. Being an unauthorized flight put them in a spot where neither could say a word. When the baby was born it was presumably two years since she has seen her husband. Rough what!

Are you certain that our daughter isn’t picking up some of the things that she does from her mother? By the way how often does the milkman call?

Blue snow must look funny. I can just imagine Mrs. Girard when she found out that it was her bluing.

Thanks for the special Valentine kiss. You know what gets me Sweetheart? It is the smell of you in the letters that I receive from you. My other girl friends smell nice also but each of them like yourself has a distinctive odor of its own. I can tell by smell test who a letter is from now. You, the blonde in Florida, or the red head in California each have a peculiarly nice odor all your own. Of course, over here I have a platinum blonde, but she does not write to me.

The ex-sergeant Ryan told me that he is so much more relieved now that he does not have the responsibility that he had. He would have been a T/Sgt. two years in about a month more if he had not blown his lid.

There is something I must straighten you out on right now. We will not have twin beds. Period. I was only kidding. I never dreamed that you would take me serious. Another thing, if you think I am going to wait until I get so old they, the children, will call me grandpa before having more children, you as sadly mistaken.

I am glad that you like the Koala bear. They are very cute and are very soft to the touch. It makes a nice souvenir of my time in Brisbane. One more month and we will be able to vote here.

Sorry but I must leave you. I love you Sweetheart. Regards to all & kiss the babies for me.

Your Loving Devoted & Faithful Husband,

Bob

Thursday 8 March 1945

Dearest Kitten:

This is your wayward husband who has just returned from three days at the beach. I went to Coolangatta with three of my sergeants and we had a very good time. Forgive me for not writing but being lazy and what with the other sergeants not giving me a chance to be by myself to write I failed to carry out my duties as your loving husband.

It was wonderful to feel so free from the usual grind of the Army that they insisted that no one would write. All we did was rest, eat, sleep, swim and sun ourselves on the beach.

There was Sgt. Nicholson, McMurray, the ex Sgt. Ryan, Sgt. James and myself. We had a good time and had a lot of fun. We spent most of the daylight hours on the beach swimming, sunning, and singing. We sang a lot and got so we could harmonize quite well together. Of course I am not sure that anyone nearby enjoyed it but we had fun.

There was a little drinking, we hit pub call only at supper time and the most that we would have was four glasses. Just enough for an appetizer. We also had two qts. of American whiskey that we rationed at two shots apiece in the evening, one before going to the show and one before returning.

In the evening we would go to a show and after the show we would drop into the recreation hall for a few hands of Casino, at 11:00 P.M. They served coffee and cakes and we would stay up for the coffee.

We got in quite solid with a couple of Red Cross girls that worked there and we could get practically anything that we wanted. They are both married and we used to get together and talk about married life, show pictures and crack jokes. They told us all about their husbands and we about our wives and children. The only single man was Sgt. Nicholson and he used to just enjoy listening to us.

After the past couple of months, it was wonderful to be able to relax and enjoy being lazy with nothing to worry about. You were always with me though and I kept wishing that you could have been with me.

Thank God that the other sergeants were with me because everytime that they noticed me getting dreamy and lonesome for home they would pipe up with something and we would be off again singing and raising cane.

I must tell you about Sgt. Nicholson. He is my one real friend. We are very much alike in our tastes and everything. Seeing that he is not a line N.C.O. I can get a bit more friendlier with him than the rest of my N.C.O.s. We usually go out on Sunday evening to a show together. First we stop at the Red Cross in town for supper then go to a show. We are both moody and it is not necessary for us to have a continued conversation going.

There are times when we both are very busy with our own thoughts and times when only one of us is that way. We appreciate each other’s silence and know that it is not necessary to always make a reply to some remark that either of us make. We respect one another’s privacy in our own thoughts. Can you understand what I am trying to explain?

We can enjoy an evening together without saying ten words to one another. Then there are times when we do not shut up.

Sgt. Nicholson is only 21 but we get a great deal of enjoyment going around together.

Now to answer a few of your letters that piled up on me.

Yes there are a lot of married men who have steady girlfriends over here, and I suppose that, as you say, there are a lot of wives who are two-timing their husbands who are overseas.

How can I ever forget the last time that I saw you. There was a lump as big as an apple in my throat. I had to leave you the way I did or I would have started crying for certain. Do you remember the last time that I called you up? I was crying then. The tears were dropping off the end of my chin and I had to wipe my face before leaving the booth. Walking out of the building I felt as though everyone was looking at me and could tell that I had been bawling. I felt so small, like a little boy who just broke his favorite toy.

That is some position that Lorraine W. has. Tell her for me not to overwork herself.

You are going to be the most Beautiful gal in the Easter parade with your new suit. I like the material very well.

It certainly has been a rough winter back home. I am glad that you have been able to get along as well as you have.

Sorry Sweetheart but I must close no matter how much I love you.

I love you with all of me and am only waiting for the day when I return to take you in my arms again. Be careful because I am apt to eat you up the first time that I see you.

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

Your Loving Devoted & Faithful Husband,

Bob

1 March 1945 (Thursday)

Dearest Kitten:

It has been so long since I have written to you that it seems like a year. Believe me, I wished that I could have been able to write but it was not possible. Despite all my troubles & woes, you and home are constantly in my thoughts, & heart. Due to military security, I cannot tell you anything about what we have been doing. This is one of the reasons that I have such a hard job, at times, to write to you. A man’s main thoughts and topic of his conversation is his job. When a man cannot speak of his job he becomes tongue tied.

Your letters 188 to 203 gave me quite a bit of reading material. I will try to answer as many as I can tonight and finish them tomorrow night, I hope.

Enclosed you will find a money order for $35.00. I hope that this will help you out.

The class E allotment for the bank has not gone through yet. It is fortunate as I have found a use for the money that I have been paid. There is always something that I am buying for the company. Small stuff to be sure but it mounts up in the course of a month. I will be glad when I will not be able to send into town for this, that or the other.

Enclosed are some pictures taken the first of last month that I finally received. Except for the two taken in camp, the others were taken the last Sunday of January before Sgt. Donohoe left for O.C.S.

What do you think of shorty McMurray?

He is taking Sgt. Ryan’s place as one of my platoon sergeants. We get along very well and he is doing a fine job of his new responsibility.

The pictures of Bobby & Barby in the snow make me homesick for a little cold weather.

If our son looks just like his father, our daughter looks like her mother and I am not kidding. The two pictures of her in the doorway are a miniature picture of you.

The new linoleum has a nice pattern for a kitchen. Mothers picture looks as if she has been putting on a little weight.

Bobby looks like a regular roughneck and I certainly recognized that scarf around his neck. The d--- thing was always too short for me anyhow and you may as well make use of it as to let it sit around and get moth eaten.

Sgt. Nicholson was happily surprised to get a letter from Connie, but you must tell her that he is worse than I am about writing and he does not make the time to write that I do sometimes.

What do you mean, that you turned out to be a pretty good wife? You always were as far as I am concerned. As a matter of fact, the bestest of the best.

You asked for a kiss in about two years from now. Will you please be a wee bit more optimistic. Cut it down to about a year please.

I am just as happy that Norman is not coming this way. From the best information that I can get, the beautiful tropical isle is highly over rated. Most of them are stink holes.

I wish that I could make all your dreams come true right away, but I am afraid that you will have to be patient. The Army has given me a job to do and it is by no means an easy one. Little did I think when I first came in that I would be given the responsibility that is now mine. At times I am not sure that I am capable enough and at others I am proud of the responsibility. It is hard to explain how I feel about it. There are times when my humane feelings get all mixed up with my sense of duty, it is then that I realize, or rather, feel my incompetence.

S/Sgt. Stephen C. Nicholson 32727294 - Unmarried. Girl friend - Yes, but not serious. Character - Excellent, most of the time - Satisfied? - Nope, haven’t been for some time.

Being as good hearted as you with money, I should give you hell for spending so much but I cannot say a word as the past three months I have been spending my money like a drunken sailor. Whenever I get out, it always seems that I do all the shelling out. It is mainly because I can not accept anything from anyone and I do not want to feel obligated toward anyone.

Enclosed is a slip for Lorraine Smith. I know that you will get the joke, I hope. So do not give it to her.

We used to have a lot of fun together huh? It was fun just to stay home and shoot the breeze. They were nice talks, I wish we could have one now.

I enjoyed the cartoons. but is that a hint I smell? They were both with the mail men in them.

This has to be all for this time Sweetheart.

Do you realize how much I love you, Beautiful? With all of me, how else can I say it, for every bit of me is yearning for you. More & more with each passing day it is getting deeper and stronger. I love you Sweetheart.

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

Your Loving Devoted & Faithful Husband,

Bob

15 Feb 1945 (Thursday)

Dearest Kitten:

This is going to be another short letter as I haven’t too much time. Busy as a little beaver, I am. We are expecting a General to drop in and say hello to us so we are preparing for him. Everything has to be just so-so.

My love for you has not changed any since the last time that I wrote to you, except to get stronger, if that is possible. Yes, Sweetheart you are still the only woman in my life and the only woman for me. I can still remember the first time I met you or rather saw you. M-m-m said I to myself. Now there is a nice young lady. Maybe I should do something about it. Woe is me. I did do something about it and now look at me. An old married man with two kids, as you were, children. Very nice children too, as they can not help themselves with such a wonderful mother.

As a matter of fact I do want twin beds, by you are going to have to coax me to let you climb in with me once in awhile.

What do you mean that you wish the years would fly by so that I could return to you. It will not be for more than ten years before this will be all over.

One false tooth will not mean anything to me after all the people that I have seen over here with false teeth. You had better get that tooth taken care of.

Sgt. Donohoe just called and said that he may come out. He has a day off from O.C.S. and he just called from the Red Cross. I may go in town with him tonight. As yet I am not certain that it will be possible for me to get into town tonight.

It is a good thing that Bobby does not mix his French and English. Let’s hope that he keeps it up. Anything I hate is for someone to speak a sentence, half in English and half in his native tongue.

Will you please stop worrying about whether I have moved or not. We are still in Brisbane and until you hear differently forget about it.

Never a dull moment with a couple of youngsters around, huh? How would you like to have a few hundred like I have? The only difference is that my children are grown adults with the ability to think. I can not tell them that the moon is made of cream cheese and expect them to believe it without question.

Certainly let Mother use my watch. It has no value laying around the house. If seh can derive some benefit from it, let her use it.

The pictures were swell Beautiful, but where oh where did Eva get that nightmare of a hat that she was wearing?

Peter looks more like a girl than a boy. He sure has grown since the last time that I saw him. My children are growing very rapidly. Tell them to slow down so that I may get to know them before they get to be as big as I am.

By the way, you would look better if you wore some curls on the top of your head. Get some curls up on top so that it will make you appear taller.

What are you going to do? Wait until I get home before glamorizing yourself?

It has been hotter than Hades the past few days and I have a wonderful cold that I caught last Sunday night. I told you in Monday’s letter about getting soaking wet, well the cold finally laid me out yesterday. Last night I was feverish, and a very miserable fellow. My cold is not too bad today but it is still with me.

When I return home, I will bake a cake for you on your birthday. Would you like that?

By the way, I have not had any success in getting you some leather gloves. There are a few around but it takes civilian clothing coupons to get them with, so I am out of luck. There is one more chance that I may be able to get a pair, so keep your fingers crossed.

You do a wonderful job of reporting everything that the youngsters do and I appreciate it Sweetheart. I get a kick out of some of the incidents that you tell me about.

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

Your Loving Devoted & Faithful Husband,

Bob

12 Feb 1945 (Monday)

Dearest Kitten:

Here it is the beginning of another week and I am still as much in love with you as I ever was. Yep, I love you with all of my heart and miss you very much. How happy it would make me to be able to take you in my arms once more. Wow! What a time it will be when I finally get home and can show you how much I really love you.

Saturday, I took the biggest part of the day off. In the morning I got most of my work cleaned up and at ten o’clock I left with a sergeant from B Company. First we hit pub call at eleven thirty. After that we had dinner at the American Red Cross, and went to the horse races. The Sergeant I was with goes to the races every Saturday and is a heavy gambler. We lost the first two races and won on the third. While cashing our tickets we got separated and I did not find him until the last race. By losing him I made money as I just picked out horses at random and bet on them. Two more of my choices came in and at the end of the day I had won about a dollar, eight shillings. Beginners luck I guess. Sgt. Strumpf lost quite a bit of money as he did not collect on any other bets. After the races I returned to camp and felt great after the excitement of the races.

The people over here are great racing fans. I was very surprised to see the number of women betting and looking up racing forms etc. from six to sixty, and do they know their stuff.

Sunday afternoon I went swimming at a pool in town. Sgt. McMurray and I went in and enjoyed ourselves immensely. After the swim we had supper at the Red Cross and saw a show. About the time that the show let out it started to pour. By the time that we reached home, we were soaked. It was late & I was wet so I did not write as I had planned. Funny thing about the Army, it is an unusual thing to have things go as planned.

Letters #184+7 came yesterday so I will try to answer them.

When this is all over and I return home, you can bet that we will raise a little hell and have a good time now and then.

The poor guy, I pity him if he looks like me, Connie’s friend. They must have been quite a striking looking couple. What with both of them six foot tall.

What got into Pauline? She never put herself out like that before. Could be that she is waking up and realizing that she is a big girl now and has to act like one. By the way how was the lunch?

I received a V-mail from André, was I surprised. He appears to be doing very well. Let’s hope that he is through with combat duty and that he will be sent home. He could not understand why my letter did not reach him. It must have been due to his moving so rapidly. The letter was dated 17 Jan so he must have put off writing to me for a couple of days.

It must have been tough on André to be so long without mail, especially at a time when he needed to be cheered up so much.

Sorry Sweetheart, the Army is calling and I must close. I love you my Darling Wife.

Your Loving Devoted & Faithful Husband,

Bob

Thursday 8 Feb 1945

Dearest Kitten:

I love you with all my heart. The love that I have for you is the main thing in my life. It is what keeps me going and helps me over the rough spots. You are everything that means anything to me. Without you I would be lost. This separation is very irksome to say the least.

I received letters #183-5-6. Thanks for being so prompt with the prints. Maybe I did not make it clear enough but I only wanted two of the original pictures back with two additional prints of each as I wanted to give one to each of the men in the pictures. Enclosed you will find the ones that I do not want. I have all the pictures that I want to keep with me, the ones from you. I know what I look like so I do not want to keep any of myself.

It is not a bad idea, seeing as cigarettes are hard to get, it would be a very good time for you to quit.

Certainly was tough luck for Freddy & Claire. I was very sorry to hear about it. Ii do not agree with the way Freddy feels about trying to have another baby. If Clare does not suffer from any after effects, they would be foolish not to try again as soon as she is well again.

I am very anxious to return home so that we can have fun with our children, taking them everywhere. With all the trouble they cause, I wouldn’t swap them for all the gold in the mint. It wouldn’t be fun if they did not cause a little trouble now and then.

Not satisfied with snapshots of me huh? You have to make enlargements huh? I don’t mind Sweetheart so long as you are satisfied. Sgt. Nicholson wanted the picture

[Page Two of this letter is missing...No doubt he would have ended it:]

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

Your Loving Devoted & Faithful Husband,

Bob

Saturday 3, Feb 1945

Dearest Kitten:

Thanks for the lovely Valentines. They made me feel as though I were a single man with a lovely young lady trying to impress me with the fact that she thinks that I am pretty swell.

Hm-m is one sweet smelling. Brings out the wolf in me. - Sunday 4 Feb. 1945

Sgt. Pound insists that I give you his love. He just came in for a pass and is slightly inebriated. Suffering from a hangover I guess.

He came in just as I got started. He must have had a large evening last night.

So did I. One of the men in the Company was supposed to get married yesterday and the men in his platoon threw a party. They invited me down so I had to stop in for a few minutes last night.

Yesterday was a very busy day for me. Sgt. Donohoe left for O.C.S. without Sgt. Ryan and I had to say goodbye to him.

Funny how things turn out. Wednesday night Sgt. Donohoe, Ryan, & myself went into town for a last good time together. We went to a hotel that serves drinks with their meals. After dinner we went down to the lounge and had a double brandy and coffee. We were just shooting the breeze and enjoying ourselves when Sgt. Ryan wanted to hunt up something more to drink. Donohoe & myself did not care for anything more to drink but we wanted to stay together. Just to humour Ryan we started off and landed at a restaurant where Ryan knew that he could get something to drink. Sgt. Ryan got a bottle and decided that he wanted to get tangled up with some fast Sheila. He was sober when he left us as Sgt. Donohoe & myself were not interested in looking for women.

When he did not rejoin us at the restaurant we took off looking for him but could not find him. It was getting late so we had to come back into camp. Just as I was climbing into bed my mess Sgt. grabs me and tells me that Sgt. Ryan had gotten into trouble.

On reaching the orderly room everything was quieted down. It seems that Sgt. Ryan had gotten drunk and gotten into a fight after returning to camp. He came into the orderly room and threw our typewriter at the guy he was fighting with. The typewriter is in a slightly damaged condition. It took about four men to quiet him down and finally he passed out. He could not remember a thing the following morning as he was out on his feet while it was happening. Whatever it was that he had to drink after he left us must have been pretty powerful as he was O.K. when he left us.

The C.O. had to bust him, keep him from going to O.C.S. and transferred him to B Co. Too bad but he has been warned about his drinking a number of times. The lesson that he is going through now may do the trick I hope, as he is a very good soldier and would make a good officer.

Now for letters 180-1 & 2. Sorry but there is no Sheila taking your place. No one ever could.

Mother’s letters came with three of yours. She sounded rather happy about everything, but senses that there is something wrong between you and your family because they do not come up very often.

The tie that I was wearing was not black, it was dark brown. They are issue over here and look a lot better. The dark brown tie breaks the monotony of khaki.

I wear a short haircut all the time over here. Beside being cooler it is easier to take care of. I will admit that my hair is receding at the temples though.

Yes I received Mother’s letter with the money order. I was almost certain that I had mentioned it in a couple of previous letters.

Today I will write my thank you notes. I admit that I have been lax but there does not seem to be enough hours in each day to take care of everything that I have to do.

The expression is, I blew my top, leaving out the off.

Have you had the wall fixed yet? The one that Bobby fixed.

No you did not tell me about Alice Tardiff. I hope that she will always be happy with her husband.

Mother told me that you were getting to be quite a seamstress. The skirt that you made looks very nice.

Don’t know about the  hand bags or gloves as I never looked at them. Just keep your slip on, and I will see what can be done for you.

(I could use some shaving soap. The kind that is put up in a wooden jar please.)

Hey, what’s going on over there? Is there a production line on babies? Everyone seems to be having one. Just give me the chance and we may join the rest.

Sorry about the belt. I tried it on my Aussie wife and it fit O.K. What am I saying! I had to go by guess and I am afraid that I guessed wrong.

A boomerang is a weapon used by the Australian aboriginals. An expert can split a man’s skull or cut his head off. The ones that I sent are miniature size. The long piece of wood is the charm.

Oh yes I wanted to tell you about last night. Sgt. McMurray & myself went into town & saw Fallen Sparrow & the Scarlet Claw. After that we had a stead dinner and dropped in to the party. Two glasses of beer and we came back to camp.

Did I ever tell you that I loved you? Well I do. It is something that I can not deny. I love you. That short sentence speaks volumes when it is meant.

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

Your Loving Devoted & Faithful Husband,

Bob