Morning Honey,
The weather is still dry and so far this has been a very easy bivouac. Not much sleep nights, but enjoyable work. Every night I arrange for our bivouac security, lead all the tanks into position and send out patrols. My platoon has had three battles with the Nazis, not counting bivouac raids. We have some thru with one man only going to the pokey – he went with the C.O. Some of my old men’s bones are creaking but they work as hard as they can.
I got two of your letters last night and am perfectly satisfied with the way things are working out. Just a week now and I’ll be on my way. I can hardly believe it yet, seems too good to be real. But I’ll be there, sure ‘nough.
It’s unbecoming of an officer to ask for money, but if you get this in time can you send me $15 to back me up on the way home? I have spent wildly since I got my commission, just seemed to slip away. It won’t go so easy from now on, Hon, so don’t give me up yet.
Won’t it be nice just to relax together without any secrecy? I believe I’ll take you up on going to sleep the first thing. I got about 45 minutes last night, but am amazed at how good I feel. Everything is rosy, hon, I keep saying to myself – “You never had it so good.”
All my love,
Wallace
Wallace's Tent on Salisbury Plain
Writing a letter with candle on clipboard, see Oct. 16 letter
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Friday, May 9, 2008
May 9, 1944 Tuesday
Ha, Ha, Hello,
You didn’t think I’d write today, did you? I find that being in charge of a unit offers a little spare time during the day. My platoon is on a “field engineering problem” today. That is, they are policing an old bivouac area for “C” ration cans. Nothing on schedule for Recon today, so –
Of course, I can’t work myself at this, so I organize the endeavor and follow along in my peep to see that all goes well. Now I am writing you from “Quibble,” my peep, clip board on steering wheel is my desk.
At night I am busy, tho. Officers meetings, reports, maintenance, security. Never get to sleep very long at a time before my runner wakes me up and says somebody wants to see me. Last night the Nazis captured almost all the big shots in the company. Company commander, Executive officer, 1st sergeant, almost all the C.P. – the recon platoon was well protected, all we lost was our runner who was at the C.P. – they’re all up in the pokey now for eight hours! Tonite we’ll hear what the Company Commander, 1st Lt. Bruderlind has to say. No doubt it will be plenty, and we’ll all be on guard all night from now on. He’s a good man, tho, reminds me of Al Greenwood.
What’s the latest on Bob and the service? Is he going to be here for our anticipated nuptials? Rather good line, anticipated nuptials. Is it nooptials or nup-shalls? Anyway, I like it. Never did get to try on the wedding ring we finally got for me, did I? It’s a theoretical fit, and I don’t think I’ve grown any.
Looks like it will be just the opposite from what we anticipated on mail. I don’t see how any mail will get thru to me, but I have it fixed with a guy to mail mine. The trainees get mail from the Post, but I have no address there. None comes from B.T. yet. I sit here and think of the things you must be doing – hope it leaves you some time to sleep.
See you soon – isn’t that a good way to end a letter, when it’s so?
Love,
Wallace
You didn’t think I’d write today, did you? I find that being in charge of a unit offers a little spare time during the day. My platoon is on a “field engineering problem” today. That is, they are policing an old bivouac area for “C” ration cans. Nothing on schedule for Recon today, so –
Of course, I can’t work myself at this, so I organize the endeavor and follow along in my peep to see that all goes well. Now I am writing you from “Quibble,” my peep, clip board on steering wheel is my desk.
At night I am busy, tho. Officers meetings, reports, maintenance, security. Never get to sleep very long at a time before my runner wakes me up and says somebody wants to see me. Last night the Nazis captured almost all the big shots in the company. Company commander, Executive officer, 1st sergeant, almost all the C.P. – the recon platoon was well protected, all we lost was our runner who was at the C.P. – they’re all up in the pokey now for eight hours! Tonite we’ll hear what the Company Commander, 1st Lt. Bruderlind has to say. No doubt it will be plenty, and we’ll all be on guard all night from now on. He’s a good man, tho, reminds me of Al Greenwood.
What’s the latest on Bob and the service? Is he going to be here for our anticipated nuptials? Rather good line, anticipated nuptials. Is it nooptials or nup-shalls? Anyway, I like it. Never did get to try on the wedding ring we finally got for me, did I? It’s a theoretical fit, and I don’t think I’ve grown any.
Looks like it will be just the opposite from what we anticipated on mail. I don’t see how any mail will get thru to me, but I have it fixed with a guy to mail mine. The trainees get mail from the Post, but I have no address there. None comes from B.T. yet. I sit here and think of the things you must be doing – hope it leaves you some time to sleep.
See you soon – isn’t that a good way to end a letter, when it’s so?
Love,
Wallace
Thursday, May 8, 2008
May 8, 1944 Saturday
Hello, Hon,
Here I am, writing from the relatively civilized movie barracks. My recon platoon is seeing a picture on scouting I have seen many times.
How are you? Everything in order, I hope. I’m much more interested in what you’re doing than what I’m doing.
Had a busy day yesterday. As soon as I arrived at the area they put me in charge of the maintenance platoon and the Recon platoon. My recon platoon is in sad shape – only 12 men with 2 peeps and a half track. The maintenance platoon has three half tracks and about 20 men. These last kept me busy yesterday. Then I became Officer of the Day (O.D.) and spent most of last night inspecting the guards and all. Today I have only to march the men to class and keep a guard on our vehicles. Got some sleep, but the ground was clean but cold.
Well, I saw the Kentucky Derby as you know. Just like the pictures. Then I called you from a restaurant in Louisville. Tom and I got a table next to the phone and ordered dinner while it came thru. Only took a little while.
Gee, I love you, Honey, and in only two weeks we’ll be together. Seems like a long time because the bivouac looks so big. I’ll learn a lot about being a lieutenant. My thunderbolts look to me for everything. There are so many little details that come up – like relieving guards. Suppose I should forget where I left a certain guard – he might stay in one place unrelieved for years! I won’t forget, tho. I love you just as much as ever – even more out here in the woods.
Always yours,
Wallace
Here I am, writing from the relatively civilized movie barracks. My recon platoon is seeing a picture on scouting I have seen many times.
How are you? Everything in order, I hope. I’m much more interested in what you’re doing than what I’m doing.
Had a busy day yesterday. As soon as I arrived at the area they put me in charge of the maintenance platoon and the Recon platoon. My recon platoon is in sad shape – only 12 men with 2 peeps and a half track. The maintenance platoon has three half tracks and about 20 men. These last kept me busy yesterday. Then I became Officer of the Day (O.D.) and spent most of last night inspecting the guards and all. Today I have only to march the men to class and keep a guard on our vehicles. Got some sleep, but the ground was clean but cold.
Well, I saw the Kentucky Derby as you know. Just like the pictures. Then I called you from a restaurant in Louisville. Tom and I got a table next to the phone and ordered dinner while it came thru. Only took a little while.
Gee, I love you, Honey, and in only two weeks we’ll be together. Seems like a long time because the bivouac looks so big. I’ll learn a lot about being a lieutenant. My thunderbolts look to me for everything. There are so many little details that come up – like relieving guards. Suppose I should forget where I left a certain guard – he might stay in one place unrelieved for years! I won’t forget, tho. I love you just as much as ever – even more out here in the woods.
Always yours,
Wallace
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
May 4, 1944 Thursday
Dear Hon,
Here’s a new brand of bad taste, but I swear it is all I can get at the P.X. Case of necessity, not choice. Wish they would leave some space to write in. What kind of a plane is it? (Close to a B-25) What model tank? (Ha, ha, M4)
That concludes today’s quiz. Some more news came in today on our future. Fun to watch things work out day by day, isn’t it? Got my bivouac assignment today. They were assigned alphabetically and I find myself at the head of a reconnaissance platoon. That is both good and bad. For our immediate future, it is good. They say that the recon outfit is an easy job, so I may end up in better condition. I was anticipating really getting my teeth into the meat of leading a tank platoon, tho. Here I will have a half track and two peeps, I believe. That’s not a recon platoon according to the book, but what they have here. My duties will be to run reconnaissance problems, go ahead of the company and scout out bivouac sites, keep everybody from getting lost, and do most of the jobs nobody else has to do. Will satisfy my recent dream of putting around in a peep and looking official, tho. The heart-rending job of tank maintenance and recovery will not be mine. Some say the RCN platoon contains most of the company’s illiterates, which I hope is not true. The schedule for the platoon is not full; they do not have problems every day. On the off days we do our own company work.
We will have the 18th battalion, which is currently rumored to be all black and to contain all the Fort’s illiterates. Don’t see how they can both be true. Anyway, that leaves me with the illiteratest of the illiterates. Well, Binet and Simon did all right with feeble minded people to work with.
Tonite I took my blouse, not the R.O.T.C. one, a pair of pinks, summer khakis and assorted shirts and ties to the cleaners. Theoretically I will next wear the blouse when we get married. I will also sort out what things I’ll take home and what things I will mail to the Fort to my A.R.T.C. address. Then when I come off the bivouac on May 19, I will be all set to leave immediately. Just think, by this Saturday I will be all ready to get married. Then for two weeks of the primitive life. After that, we’ll be together. I’m very happy with the world. Great place, isn’t it?
It’s raining as tho its heart would break today and tonite. Trainees got all muddy and their morale was next to zero, so I spent most of my critiques trying to cheer them up. Developed quite a little song and dance that should have left them raring to go. They react very easily. Come up so glum and cold and wet. I built a big fire for them to stand around while I critiqued their problems, told them how good they were and told an old story or two to illustrate in a funny way why they have to go thru the discomfort of maneuvers.
The old men are hardest. Their bones just creak crawling in and out of tanks all day – and they are so beat by the army system. They act like whipped dogs. I think it’s because they don’t get treated with the respect they used to – no traineed does – and they can’t find a way to get used to it. A decent word or two to them helps, and if you can find time to talk about their civilian jobs they relax a lot. Then you can slide right into the problem at hand and they think about it as a man should, not like a scared trainee.
By the way, I had an assistant today – Private Brosnahan from South Dakota. Had point one, where I played the part of a machine gun and Private Brosnahan took a rifle and fired blanks at the side of the tanks. Great team we had. He’s the man who cleans the rifle at the end of the day, bless his soul.
Aunt Flossie sent me a card for being a Louie. I answered it yesterday and let her know that we would be glad to receive any information she could give us as a result of Alden’s furlough wedding. Should pave the way if you want to enlist her on our wedding projects as before. She’s good at that kind of stuff.
Last Monday there was a picture of the UNH men that got commissions here, in the Manchester Union. That is the remnant of 50 infantry juniors who studied together when we left for Wheeler. We’ve had some great experiences together. I’d like a copy of the picture very much, if you see an old Union laying around. Maybe my mother can find one from some of her friends.
This would be a good night for one of those walks in the rain. We would need some good raincoats, tho, and we’d have to avoid where the tanks have been or go over our heads in mud. So let’s have it be along a good sidewalk somewhere. We’ll just stroll along as if we didn’t know it was raining. Be nice when we get back, too, warm and snug. Maybe some coffee (or tea, if you must) before we go to bed. Some ripe olives, too, even if they are out of order with coffee.
‘Nite now,
I love you always,
Wallace
Here’s a new brand of bad taste, but I swear it is all I can get at the P.X. Case of necessity, not choice. Wish they would leave some space to write in. What kind of a plane is it? (Close to a B-25) What model tank? (Ha, ha, M4)
That concludes today’s quiz. Some more news came in today on our future. Fun to watch things work out day by day, isn’t it? Got my bivouac assignment today. They were assigned alphabetically and I find myself at the head of a reconnaissance platoon. That is both good and bad. For our immediate future, it is good. They say that the recon outfit is an easy job, so I may end up in better condition. I was anticipating really getting my teeth into the meat of leading a tank platoon, tho. Here I will have a half track and two peeps, I believe. That’s not a recon platoon according to the book, but what they have here. My duties will be to run reconnaissance problems, go ahead of the company and scout out bivouac sites, keep everybody from getting lost, and do most of the jobs nobody else has to do. Will satisfy my recent dream of putting around in a peep and looking official, tho. The heart-rending job of tank maintenance and recovery will not be mine. Some say the RCN platoon contains most of the company’s illiterates, which I hope is not true. The schedule for the platoon is not full; they do not have problems every day. On the off days we do our own company work.
We will have the 18th battalion, which is currently rumored to be all black and to contain all the Fort’s illiterates. Don’t see how they can both be true. Anyway, that leaves me with the illiteratest of the illiterates. Well, Binet and Simon did all right with feeble minded people to work with.
Tonite I took my blouse, not the R.O.T.C. one, a pair of pinks, summer khakis and assorted shirts and ties to the cleaners. Theoretically I will next wear the blouse when we get married. I will also sort out what things I’ll take home and what things I will mail to the Fort to my A.R.T.C. address. Then when I come off the bivouac on May 19, I will be all set to leave immediately. Just think, by this Saturday I will be all ready to get married. Then for two weeks of the primitive life. After that, we’ll be together. I’m very happy with the world. Great place, isn’t it?
It’s raining as tho its heart would break today and tonite. Trainees got all muddy and their morale was next to zero, so I spent most of my critiques trying to cheer them up. Developed quite a little song and dance that should have left them raring to go. They react very easily. Come up so glum and cold and wet. I built a big fire for them to stand around while I critiqued their problems, told them how good they were and told an old story or two to illustrate in a funny way why they have to go thru the discomfort of maneuvers.
The old men are hardest. Their bones just creak crawling in and out of tanks all day – and they are so beat by the army system. They act like whipped dogs. I think it’s because they don’t get treated with the respect they used to – no traineed does – and they can’t find a way to get used to it. A decent word or two to them helps, and if you can find time to talk about their civilian jobs they relax a lot. Then you can slide right into the problem at hand and they think about it as a man should, not like a scared trainee.
By the way, I had an assistant today – Private Brosnahan from South Dakota. Had point one, where I played the part of a machine gun and Private Brosnahan took a rifle and fired blanks at the side of the tanks. Great team we had. He’s the man who cleans the rifle at the end of the day, bless his soul.
Aunt Flossie sent me a card for being a Louie. I answered it yesterday and let her know that we would be glad to receive any information she could give us as a result of Alden’s furlough wedding. Should pave the way if you want to enlist her on our wedding projects as before. She’s good at that kind of stuff.
Last Monday there was a picture of the UNH men that got commissions here, in the Manchester Union. That is the remnant of 50 infantry juniors who studied together when we left for Wheeler. We’ve had some great experiences together. I’d like a copy of the picture very much, if you see an old Union laying around. Maybe my mother can find one from some of her friends.
This would be a good night for one of those walks in the rain. We would need some good raincoats, tho, and we’d have to avoid where the tanks have been or go over our heads in mud. So let’s have it be along a good sidewalk somewhere. We’ll just stroll along as if we didn’t know it was raining. Be nice when we get back, too, warm and snug. Maybe some coffee (or tea, if you must) before we go to bed. Some ripe olives, too, even if they are out of order with coffee.
‘Nite now,
I love you always,
Wallace
Sunday, May 4, 2008
May 3, 1944 Wednesday
Dear Bunny,
I’m improving. Tonite I have my pen with me, only it is empty. Soon I will get pen, ink, and paper all together at once. Can you read this? If you can, I admire you more than ever.
Moved to another new point today and instructed on the tactics of tanks crossing a defended ford. We have a groups of non-coms out here getting ready to ship out, and I did feel erudite lecturing to 30- and 40-year-old staff sergeants and such. They work the problem, then I push the model tanks around on a sand table, showing where they should go. You get a cross-section of the country taking basic, all right. A good way to wake them up is to ask a question and then ask for a man from, say, Minnesota to answer it. You’d be surprised how often you find a man from the state you mention. He seems pleased to think of his home state and everybody gets a kick out of it. Pretty soon they start volunteering in order to get their state into the discussion. Works very well, and is interesting to people from Florida, Maine, California, and Joisey all in the same outfit. Everything from Ph.D.s to kids that are still hoping for a high school diploma, too. They try very hard, too, and are easy to talk to. Far from dumb.
A New York City tailor now working at driving a medium tank looks homesick as hell and tells how his wife wants to know if he really sleeps on the ground. “If she only knew” he says breaking into his C rations.
A kid from Virginia wants to know if graduating from high school wasn’t just about the biggest moment in my life. I told him it was.
There’s the operator who says “Lieutenant, we’ve learned more here than at any other point. It must be a difficult one to teach. Would you want to swap your sandwiches for a C ration?” No.
Also the slick 35-year-old Florida man who goofs up his problem and like a well oiled lawyer talks his way out of it at the critique – “I assumed that your emplacement was meant to be at a greater range than it actually is, so I used H.E.”
And nationalities – accents are everywhere – Mexican, Swede (very thick accent, so I had him talk a lot, wonderful to hear), Italian, English, and all the U.S. accents. “I’m from Texas. We declared war the same time the U.S. did.” An Austrian smuggled some food in and comes out with black bread, figs, and salami instead of C rations!
I get a tremendous lift out of it. Then I feel like a heel again and leave at 4:30. They get ready to pitch pup tents and I come back and have cold beer with Tom, and shower and get my mail. Then I’m so comfortable I almost forget about what a racket this officer business is. About the filthy rifle I fired all day that I left for some enlisted man to clean, for example. May be silly, but it makes you wonder if you’re doing anything to rate such a preference. These men are almost thru basic, and will ship out soon. Consequently, I do try to show them some things they must know. Lot of practical things they don’t know.
Well, anyway, the next couple of weeks I won’t get anything the men on bivouac don’t get. Then I can complain about how uncomfortable it is. That’s always fun.
It’s rumored that Battle Training will close down in three weeks – that’s when I leave, of course, but I don’t mean to intimate the two are connected. They will use this area for maneuvers, and the regular A.R.T.C. officers will come out with the men they have been with for 15 weeks. Personalize training – that’s a good thing. Maybe basic won’t make the trainee feel he’s being run thru a mill.
Lt. Sayre has the location before mine. Every now and then he sends a message by a trainee, telling me to stop thinking about getting married and get on the ball. This burns me up, because he’s getting married, too, and I don’t get a chance to return the messages. All the trainees work in the other direction. When a problem goes wrong, tho, I blame it on him because he orients the men on my problem.
Found out today that in all probability I will get Sat. p.m. off to get a blood test in. Aren’t I wonderful? How are you doing with the minister, church, gown, invitation, test, etc., etc. – I’m sorry, Bunny, that I can’t do my share of the work now. Did get my train reservations for May 20th.
I love you out of all reason, Hon, and look forward to our week together more than anything I ever have,
All yours, always,
Wallace
I’m improving. Tonite I have my pen with me, only it is empty. Soon I will get pen, ink, and paper all together at once. Can you read this? If you can, I admire you more than ever.
Moved to another new point today and instructed on the tactics of tanks crossing a defended ford. We have a groups of non-coms out here getting ready to ship out, and I did feel erudite lecturing to 30- and 40-year-old staff sergeants and such. They work the problem, then I push the model tanks around on a sand table, showing where they should go. You get a cross-section of the country taking basic, all right. A good way to wake them up is to ask a question and then ask for a man from, say, Minnesota to answer it. You’d be surprised how often you find a man from the state you mention. He seems pleased to think of his home state and everybody gets a kick out of it. Pretty soon they start volunteering in order to get their state into the discussion. Works very well, and is interesting to people from Florida, Maine, California, and Joisey all in the same outfit. Everything from Ph.D.s to kids that are still hoping for a high school diploma, too. They try very hard, too, and are easy to talk to. Far from dumb.
A New York City tailor now working at driving a medium tank looks homesick as hell and tells how his wife wants to know if he really sleeps on the ground. “If she only knew” he says breaking into his C rations.
A kid from Virginia wants to know if graduating from high school wasn’t just about the biggest moment in my life. I told him it was.
There’s the operator who says “Lieutenant, we’ve learned more here than at any other point. It must be a difficult one to teach. Would you want to swap your sandwiches for a C ration?” No.
Also the slick 35-year-old Florida man who goofs up his problem and like a well oiled lawyer talks his way out of it at the critique – “I assumed that your emplacement was meant to be at a greater range than it actually is, so I used H.E.”
And nationalities – accents are everywhere – Mexican, Swede (very thick accent, so I had him talk a lot, wonderful to hear), Italian, English, and all the U.S. accents. “I’m from Texas. We declared war the same time the U.S. did.” An Austrian smuggled some food in and comes out with black bread, figs, and salami instead of C rations!
I get a tremendous lift out of it. Then I feel like a heel again and leave at 4:30. They get ready to pitch pup tents and I come back and have cold beer with Tom, and shower and get my mail. Then I’m so comfortable I almost forget about what a racket this officer business is. About the filthy rifle I fired all day that I left for some enlisted man to clean, for example. May be silly, but it makes you wonder if you’re doing anything to rate such a preference. These men are almost thru basic, and will ship out soon. Consequently, I do try to show them some things they must know. Lot of practical things they don’t know.
Well, anyway, the next couple of weeks I won’t get anything the men on bivouac don’t get. Then I can complain about how uncomfortable it is. That’s always fun.
It’s rumored that Battle Training will close down in three weeks – that’s when I leave, of course, but I don’t mean to intimate the two are connected. They will use this area for maneuvers, and the regular A.R.T.C. officers will come out with the men they have been with for 15 weeks. Personalize training – that’s a good thing. Maybe basic won’t make the trainee feel he’s being run thru a mill.
Lt. Sayre has the location before mine. Every now and then he sends a message by a trainee, telling me to stop thinking about getting married and get on the ball. This burns me up, because he’s getting married, too, and I don’t get a chance to return the messages. All the trainees work in the other direction. When a problem goes wrong, tho, I blame it on him because he orients the men on my problem.
Found out today that in all probability I will get Sat. p.m. off to get a blood test in. Aren’t I wonderful? How are you doing with the minister, church, gown, invitation, test, etc., etc. – I’m sorry, Bunny, that I can’t do my share of the work now. Did get my train reservations for May 20th.
I love you out of all reason, Hon, and look forward to our week together more than anything I ever have,
All yours, always,
Wallace
May 2, 1944 Tuesday
Hello Bunny,
Your real honest-to-goodness Sunday letter came today. I was very glad to get it. Clears up things a lot to see what you are thinking about these things. Now we can coordinate.
My leave will start on May 20 and I will get home Sunday night or Monday, not sure which. Now I will probably have to start back here on the 28th – that’s Sunday following, or maybe early Monday. So that amounts to about one full week at home. If you can get off for that, it should do very well. That would let you be back by Memorial Day.
If it’s a church wedding you want, let’s have one by all means. I thought it would be a lot more work and all. If it is possible, however, let’s do it. You can’t scare a tanker! Much.
On the blood test, I know N.H. is comparatively strict. However they have a whole section at the station hospital set up for pre-marital blood tests. The doctor here at Battle Trng. says that a test there is good in any state that requires one, for the length of time that the state has for its own tests. That would be 30 days for us. They have regular forms for it and it looks very official. I’ll keep in mind about getting an N.H. registered man, tho. I have the doctor filling out and signing the form now and will do everything to get to Camp before 5 p.m. this week to have the test taken.
The license plans you mention look very simple and effective!
In view of the fact that you will need to be back to start school on May 29, we would save travel time by going to Boston. I prefer whatever you say on that. The Bradford it will be. Can you make the reservation, OK?
Noon wedding, midnite weding or before breakfast is all the same to me, Hon.
One of the things I have learned recently is just how little I know about psychology. I never really have studied it, but these last months there has been a lot of chance to observe people. There is a great deal to know – they are all so complex. I imagine I would want to be with you always even if we hadn’t been forced apart. That emphasizes it tho, no doubt.
We can talk over all about summer school sometime when I am home. That’s in the next phase, so well get thru this one first.
You know that starting next Sunday I will be on a 2-week bivouac in charge of a platoon. I won’t get mail, and won’t write any, they tell me. So if there is a big silence from me the two weeks before we get married, don’t be at all disturbed by it. I will certainly let you know if anything comes up to interfere with our plans. And we’ll try to cover everything between now and this Sunday.
I will plan to call you this Saturday night, May 6, at 11 Court St., and we can see what the score is then. I will do everything to get that blood test and get my things ready to move out the minute I come off the bivouac.
If I turn up with a blood test and a big kiss (maybe two, or even more), can you see about the other things? Big order, but I hope you can do it. Let me know what else there is for me to do, too, if you can think of a thing I can do. Gee, they better not induct Bob before then, or we’ll be short a best man! We can pick up some guy off the street if necessary, tho.
My passionate pleas to trainees today totaled some four hours of actual speaking time, and I’m hoarse – there was a big wind (don’t say that was me, please) to talk over. I can still croak I love you, and mean it very much, Bunny.
Yours forever,
Wallace
Your real honest-to-goodness Sunday letter came today. I was very glad to get it. Clears up things a lot to see what you are thinking about these things. Now we can coordinate.
My leave will start on May 20 and I will get home Sunday night or Monday, not sure which. Now I will probably have to start back here on the 28th – that’s Sunday following, or maybe early Monday. So that amounts to about one full week at home. If you can get off for that, it should do very well. That would let you be back by Memorial Day.
If it’s a church wedding you want, let’s have one by all means. I thought it would be a lot more work and all. If it is possible, however, let’s do it. You can’t scare a tanker! Much.
On the blood test, I know N.H. is comparatively strict. However they have a whole section at the station hospital set up for pre-marital blood tests. The doctor here at Battle Trng. says that a test there is good in any state that requires one, for the length of time that the state has for its own tests. That would be 30 days for us. They have regular forms for it and it looks very official. I’ll keep in mind about getting an N.H. registered man, tho. I have the doctor filling out and signing the form now and will do everything to get to Camp before 5 p.m. this week to have the test taken.
The license plans you mention look very simple and effective!
In view of the fact that you will need to be back to start school on May 29, we would save travel time by going to Boston. I prefer whatever you say on that. The Bradford it will be. Can you make the reservation, OK?
Noon wedding, midnite weding or before breakfast is all the same to me, Hon.
One of the things I have learned recently is just how little I know about psychology. I never really have studied it, but these last months there has been a lot of chance to observe people. There is a great deal to know – they are all so complex. I imagine I would want to be with you always even if we hadn’t been forced apart. That emphasizes it tho, no doubt.
We can talk over all about summer school sometime when I am home. That’s in the next phase, so well get thru this one first.
You know that starting next Sunday I will be on a 2-week bivouac in charge of a platoon. I won’t get mail, and won’t write any, they tell me. So if there is a big silence from me the two weeks before we get married, don’t be at all disturbed by it. I will certainly let you know if anything comes up to interfere with our plans. And we’ll try to cover everything between now and this Sunday.
I will plan to call you this Saturday night, May 6, at 11 Court St., and we can see what the score is then. I will do everything to get that blood test and get my things ready to move out the minute I come off the bivouac.
If I turn up with a blood test and a big kiss (maybe two, or even more), can you see about the other things? Big order, but I hope you can do it. Let me know what else there is for me to do, too, if you can think of a thing I can do. Gee, they better not induct Bob before then, or we’ll be short a best man! We can pick up some guy off the street if necessary, tho.
My passionate pleas to trainees today totaled some four hours of actual speaking time, and I’m hoarse – there was a big wind (don’t say that was me, please) to talk over. I can still croak I love you, and mean it very much, Bunny.
Yours forever,
Wallace
Thursday, May 1, 2008
May 1, 1944 Monday
Hello Honey,
Well, I was Queen of the May today and knocked the 5th battalion dead with my lectures on ammunition and position for tanks. Brought the house down with my punch line – “For a tanker, position is everything in life.” Went over all twenty times I gave it. Got a little tired of it myself, tho.
Tonite Tom and I went to Post and finally got a valopak and some other very important items – a mirror (haven’t seen myself well for a week now) and a clipboard to help me look official. Tomorrow I will be an anti-tank gun at point four.
Today I got $51 in pay for just the last ten days. Spent $16.01 for the valopak. Called about reservations on the Jeffersonian from here to N.Y.C. on May 20. Will know about them in a couple of days. Most of the N.H. men are going home that way, so I guess it will be best.
Got back here by 10 p.m. and jotting this down before I go to bed. Wore my pinks with all the nice little notes in them tonite. I leave them there and take them out when my morale is low. I love you very, very much.
All yours,
Wallace
Well, I was Queen of the May today and knocked the 5th battalion dead with my lectures on ammunition and position for tanks. Brought the house down with my punch line – “For a tanker, position is everything in life.” Went over all twenty times I gave it. Got a little tired of it myself, tho.
Tonite Tom and I went to Post and finally got a valopak and some other very important items – a mirror (haven’t seen myself well for a week now) and a clipboard to help me look official. Tomorrow I will be an anti-tank gun at point four.
Today I got $51 in pay for just the last ten days. Spent $16.01 for the valopak. Called about reservations on the Jeffersonian from here to N.Y.C. on May 20. Will know about them in a couple of days. Most of the N.H. men are going home that way, so I guess it will be best.
Got back here by 10 p.m. and jotting this down before I go to bed. Wore my pinks with all the nice little notes in them tonite. I leave them there and take them out when my morale is low. I love you very, very much.
All yours,
Wallace
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