England
Oct. 26, 1944
Hello Family,
This may not turn out to be much a letter but I just want to let you hear from me tonight. This will also serve as an experiment to see how quick you get a letter sent “Free.” Let me know how much difference there is in the speed of the different methods of sending mail.
We haven’t received any mail yet but I don’t suppose we’ll have to wait too much longer. I sure hope so anyway. At least even if we can’t get mail, I hope the letters we send can get out of here and started on their way.
While we are here we are going to have to use English money. Its just about like learning ato count again. We’re even going to get paid in this so I guess we’ll either catch on or wish we had. Getting all the pence, shilling, crowns, pounds, etc. straight sure does take concentration at first.
I wanted to tell you a little bit about our immediate surroundings so here goes. We are living in a rather small English town in a building that used to be a mill. There’s even a dam out back and the water-fall that turned the mill wheel. It sure is a rambly old building but it is very solidly built. It reminds me of an old castle of some kind.
We’re almost in the heart of the town so we’re a lot closer to civilization than we have been in the past. We have to go down the streets to get from one place to another and every time we go to chow we have to go right through the center of town.
You have heard about the children begging things from the American soldiers in different countries and we sure see a lot of it here. Even though candy and chewing are scarce, they’re not destitute and most of its just that old beg, beg, beg idea.
Well be good and take care of yourselves. Let’s trust God that everything will work out for the best.
Love, Donald
Ask me any questions you’d like to have answered and I’ll do the best I can to answer them. Maybe I’ve missed something & it’ll give me something to write about.