France
21st General
Hello again, Bunny,
Just want to thank you once more for some of your last November’s letters. I read all the clippings with real interest and the jokes are good – I like the ones about the psychiatrists – like this “I hear things” one, or the one I saw where a lady with deep blue skin was diagnosed as “extreme melancholia.” The “Bits of Wisdom” bits, too – “Ours is a world where people don’t know what they want and are willing to go thru hell to get it.” Maybe after going thru it, you have a better idea on the subject. You and I haven’t had exactly smooth waters, but we know what we want pretty clearly, don’t you think? And we even appreciate very well what we do have, which I think is an awful lot. Our dreams alone are more than most people ever have. And our store of memories is already rich. I’m glad you keep them fresh for me in your letters, Hon. They do not generally make me nostalgic, but very satisfied; for I remember the events and say “she’s still there, and waiting – our future will be even better than these.” Together or not, we still have the most wonderful thing any people could have, that basic, remarkable little miracle that you call our “togetherness.” We have that; anything else we have isn’t really miraculous, but grows out of that miracle very naturally. That’s what makes us different and very lucky, whatever happens.
I believe I’ll send you the Xmas Greetings I received from the Church. It has some good local pictures, particularly the inside of the church. Can you see the two people being married up there? Wonder who they are?
Just received and studied the careful and complete copy of my U.N.H. record you sent. Very interesting. Considering the circumstances under which I received it, and that it is not the last step in “our” education, I am satisfied with it. It is spread out in a lot of different fields, but shows at least a trend toward specialization that we must build on – history, psych, education, and music are the main things and all fields I am interested in. The languages fit into a broad base, too. History and music will become general, avocational interests and psych and education will take specialization. Feel sure that if I had actually had a senior year, my last grades would have really been in there; because at the end of my junior year I knew exactly what I was doing. I had you to keep me on the beam and a certainty about the courses I wanted to work hard at. Never had a combination like that before!
The Boston Globe needs a proof reader, I guess. I either one of the people in the picture you sent is Ernie Pyle, he certainly has changed! I can only deduce that Pyle was in the original picture but left without notice, as reporters will, to cover an important new assignment.
I told you, diddle I, that I went to see the Doc about getting out of here. I thought I would get out tomorrow but it looks like it will be the next day now. That’s the latest, tho. You see, I’m using the time I have to write all I can to you, Hon. When I leave here I will go to a replacement depot – called the repo-depot – that will take a few days, and I believe I’ll be able to write you from there. Then I will go back to the Company.
I am sending you a hammer in order to accomplish something that my letters may not be able to do. That is to pound home the idea that you have a faithful and devoted husband who loves you more than anything in the whole world, who thinks of you all the time and who wants above all to come home to you just as soon as possible. I’m always yours, whatever happens.
Every bit of my love,
Wallace
P.S. ‘Tis said that 3 taps of this hammer on the tip of the nose will convince you that I love you very, very much always, and will raise your spirits to the smiling point. Just see__
