This is written on flimsy 8″x12.5″ paper, folded into a booklet. It’s hard to read in either color or b&w, but color was a bit better. It was in an envelope postmarked May 23, 1945, presumably the wrong envelope.
June 1, 1945
Hello Folks,
I’ve got something to start with that will interest Daddy very greatly. Day before yesterday when I received the letter that described the little Aladdin stoves you are making. I had never seen them. When we came overseas we were issued a little coleman stove just a little bigger than the Aladdin ones for each squad (12 men). But in the curse of combat most of them were lost. And now that we are through fighting they are reissuing all the equipment that we are supposed to have. Well this time instead of getting Coleman stoves the company got a supply of Aladdin stoves. It says Alexandria, Indiana as big as anything on the box and they are just like you described. So it looks to me as if you’re doing real war work this summer. If you could tell me some special parts that your machines make, I could really see what your work is like.
It’s about seven o’clock (1900) and I am going to church at 7:30 so I won’t get very much in one of this written before then. I’ll have to leave in time to get there. Just in case I don’t get back to writing tonight I want to tell you that I got your letter of May 23 this evening and also your package that contained the salve that I asked for. I sure can’t complain about the way my folks look after me.
Boy I sure was glad to hear from Wendell. I’ve had experiences but I’m very happy I didn’t have the one he went through. Church. Later. We had a very nice service.
My daylight lighting system is going to give out pretty soon so I expect the best thing for me to do would be to sign off and go to bed.
May the Lord watch between me and thee while we are absent from one another.
Love,
Donald