Note: this is written on much thinner paper than previous. That may reflect the availability of paper pulp in England at the time.
Sunday
October 29, 1944
Hello Family,
The situation of my writing materials is still in a state of shortage but I’ll do the best I can. This can’t be V mail or airmail but I hope you’ll be glad to get it when it does arrive. I’m even all but out of ink and am writing with about 2 ½ inches of pencil so you can see that if a PX doesn’t open soon I’ll have to get something in a civilian store. I’d appreciate it very much (if you’ve not already done so) if you’d put a few airmail stamps in one of your letters.
As yet we’ve not received any mail so it’ll really be a treat when it does get here. One night last week about a half dozen letters came in for the whole company but outside of that, its been almost two weeks now since any of us has got mail. We were almost promised a mall-call tonight so just in case that does happen, I’ll not put this letter in the box ‘till after that time.
At last we have a Sunday off again. The last few Sunday were spent on the move so its good to have a free one again. I was hungry at breakfast time so I crawled out of bed this morning to go eat. When I got back I hit the hay again and slept so hard that I almost didn’t wake up in time for church. (By the way: that hitting the hay is almost a true statement now because we are sleeping on straw mattresses.)
Outside of a couple services on the boat, the church service this morning was the first one I’ve got to attend since we started moving. Our own chaplain held the services but it was in one of the churches here. It was a Methodist church so that made it sound not too different from home. The church was old fashioned but it was so neat and well kept that you could really call it beautiful. The seats were very square and the wood work had all sorts of carving and fancy work on it. Everything was well varnished but the floor, and that was bare almost entirely. But it looked as if it had been scrubbed ‘till it fairly shone. There was a large pipe organ high up in a balcony and it was played by an old man with very gray hair. Like a lot of other things here you can really say it was picturesque.
Since our meals consisted of all dehydrated foods at first, they are becoming more tasty now that a little variety is being added. I think our Sunday dinner today was fixed mostly from frozen foods and it was the first really appealing meal we’ve had here. We had chicken (I think it was boiled but I had two good pieces, a leg & a thigh, so that made up for the flavor), green peas, potatoes and gravy, apple sauce and a vegetable salad. You can see that even though we grumble a lot about the food we are by no means going hungry.
I sure do wonder how things are coming back there but I don’t even know enough about the recent happenings to ask you any questions. You think a lot about home over here and I’m very glad that I have a few pictures with me. It does me a lot of good to look at them once in a while. I’m also happy that I got my watch before I left. It’s a good feeling to have sucha dependable timekeeper and it’s just like always having a good friend with you.
Did I ever tell you why I never sent my civilian shoes home? A little while before we left they said we could bring them with us and since I got them to wear while I’m in the army Itook a chance & brought them along. At least while we’re here its possible to get some good from them and it gives you just a little more dressed up feeling to look down below your OD’s and see nice shiny shoes that aren’t quite so crude as your GI’s.
As usual I wonder how you are spending your Sunday. I’’s about the middle of the afternoonnow so I expect it’s just about church time back there. At noon today just after church was over I was trying to think what you would be doing and six hours from noon made it about 6AM. No doubt you were just getting up and maybe Daddy was going down to milk. It’s really very confusing to try to think in differences of time. I guess about the best way to do it would be to think of what you would be doing if it were 3PM back there.
I think I’ll write a couple more letters this afternoon so I’ll sign off now till evening.
19:30
Hurrah!! At least this will have a happy ending. We got mail at last this evening. I got two letters from you and one from Uncle Floyd. I could almost shout for joy. The letters you wrote were the ones dated the 16th and 13th. That was the night before the Elwood football game and the weekend after. It sure tickled me the way the game turned out.
Time has gone so fast lately that I have to try to figure out just where I was in order to see how long ago things that you mention happened. I hope it doesn’t take two weeks to get all your mail but even if it does, I should get letters regularly but they will just not be quite as fresh as they were back in the States. Boy it is good to hear from you though. Thanks too for the clippings. Maybe I oughtn’t say this but I read both your letters through twice before I even stopped. God bless you.
Love, Donald