Postwar dreams Archives - Page 2 of 4

3 July 1945

Dear Folks:

Plan to go to the show after supper so maybe I better scratch out a letter before chow. When I returned this afternoon found a letter from Mom waiting for me – a good one too.

I’m glad you like the idea of my going back to school and I’ve made up my mind that will be my postwar plan, and still go in with Dick on his plan. I hope it is possible that I can get home this fall and begin after Christmas, and even get my old room back with Mrs. Davis. I’ll really go in for it. Keep praying it will happen.

You always tell me to be careful and you are right about snipers still being around but I assure you I don’t take any chances. As a matter of fact when we have an air raid or something happens, I’m always the one who wakes up first. But things are very quiet now and what few Japs that remain are being rapidly rounded up. I’ve seen too many guys get hurt when they didn’t need to.

I hope too that Phil will remain in the states for some time. I’ll bet Carol is all excited about getting married.

I’m glad General Stilwell took over – he seems to have a good reputation and the guys talk good about him.

It’s chow time and besides I’m out of any more news so I’ll let the big one I wrote last night excuse for this one.

Love,

2 July 1945

Dear Folks:

I haven’t been writing all I should lately but it seems like when I have the time I don’t feel like it and vice versa. The weather has been steaming hot and it kind of knocks the sap out of you. Two days from the 4^th [of July] and I suppose it will be hot as hell. The nights are cool and with a slight breeze from the ocean. The stars come out bright and close every night. The days are long and it’s about eight o’clock before it gets dark.

Two days ago Dick called me up about eleven thirty in the morning and even though I was busy, managed to get off for the afternoon. All we could do was find a shady place and talk but that was enough. We talked about everything as usual and swapped mail. He is looking good but was covered with dust from the long ride he made to get to me. Soon we will be [in] a permanent area and then I [am] going to try and have him spend a few days with me. He is not having it too tough and before long he will be taking it easy. I think we have much to be thankful for as we both came through alright. I feel almost certain this will be my last combat and that is a great load off my mind. Sometimes you think maybe something will happen the next time. The artillery fire we got a couple of times was making me pretty nervous, but it’s kind of humorous to think about afterwards – some of the incidents that took place. Dick and I both remarked about how our knees got to shaking a couple of times and even if you grab hold of them they still shake, even after the danger has past.

Your mail reaches me in as good a time as mine gets to you so you see how good the service is. And almost everyday I get one from someone. I received one of the first class Free Presses, and the most recent I’ve yet gotten but the packages and other magazines must still be on the way.

I have been allowed to tell you I’m in the XXIV Corps and I will wear that patch when I get back. It is a white circle with two blue hearts. My stateside uniform will look colored up with the Asiatic Pacific Ribbon with two stars, the Philippine Liberation with one star, good conduct, and American defense ribbons. I will have six overseas bars and one three-year bar. I will look like a veteran. But I hope it won’t be too long til its Mr. Moss and current scuttlebutt says it will. I think that regardless of what others say. My old eyes got misty as hell last night when I went over to the radio and heard some music that I used to play in the symphony at [the University of] Nebraska. What I want to do when I get back is just be a complete independent loafer for a few weeks and sleep every morning til ten, and then get up and eat strawberries and cream on breakfast food and tear into some fresh eggs and milk, then stick around the house and look at Dad and you and get re-acquainted. Another thing I’m looking forward to is new clothes, it will seem funny not to have everything the same. I will get $300 at discharge and I suppose it will take about all of that for a new outfit.

You probably haven’t been receiving any bonds. The last one should have been for February but before long you will get four at one time. They are only sent when we get paid and I haven’t been paid for four months. About the only good aspect of this place is that you can save money. To control inflation we can draw only ten bucks a month and the rest must go home. So I will probably have something over a hundred to send. I hope I will apply my savings in a wise manner when I get back and I would appreciate postwar ideas from both of you. Dick and I talked over my orchard deal and he is for it so I told him I would investigate when I got back and find out first hand its possibilities. I would like to go in [to] the deal where Dick could farm as he wants to and me be the partner but an inactive one. I think the Army has made me want something solid and be my own boss. I have had enough orders directed at me. Some officers think they are right solely because of their rank regardless of what an enlisted man may think and sometimes I feel like it’s a slave and master set up. But that’s not true of all of them but a few can make it bad.

Haven’t seen Duane for a long time. I wonder what he thinks now. He was pretty cocksure and had certain ideas of how to win this war. He thinks he’s going to be home soon but how in the world he figures it, I don’t know. I suppose Marge is getting fatter every day. Wished I had a heart interest myself. These married guys really say it’s great.

I hope I can read my law books again soon when we get settled down. I’ve hauled them around in a box since Oahu. On Leyte I gave one to a Philippine school and they were really glad to get it. Also I expect to get some books on advertising. I signed up for an Army Institute course about three weeks ago. If I get out this year I think I’ll get back in school, sometimes I think by golly I’ll get an education and a good one if I don’t have anything else. I may be a little older but there will probably be plenty like me. But I don’t know just how I will feel when I get ….

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wonder when his discharge was coming.

I started to quit once before and I better do it this time. So adios for another time.

Love,

28 June 1945

Dear folks,

I’m so tired I could drop but before I do perhaps I can get a short letter off to you. The end of an operation always means a lot of paperwork in way of reports and decorations, so now I’m catching it.

I’m still looking at the pictures you sent whenever I get a little time to myself. Mom looks like she is worrying more than she ought to. I’m very proud of you in your Nurses Aid uniform and like to show it around. I hope in a few months I can remove that worried look or at least some of it. And things seem to indicate that it won’t be long before I can see you. I was awake till twelve last night going over in my mind how it will be when I see you first. Perhaps it will soon be a reality.

I hear we are getting a PX tomorrow, perhaps I can get something besides regular chow.

I wish I could think of something more to write about but I think I better fold up for tonight and perhaps the next one will be some better.

Love,

11 June 1945

Dear folks:

My writing has been delayed considerably because of a succession of events that made writing difficult. And I know you’ve been anxious too.

I’ve been bouncing over the roads today and I feel pretty tired and let down tonight but not so I can’t write you. On my travels today I saw Shuri and Noha including Shuri castle or what is left of it. You know the struggle it has been to take those places. I couldn’t describe to you the desolation and wreckage. Hardly a structure stands and everywhere there is rubble of stone and wood. Only a long two-story brick building remains to what was a city of 65,000-Noha. Bulldozers nudge around through the debris clearing roads and cleaning up, and preparing areas to live in. Shuri is equally wrecked. Shuri sits in a valley surrounded by hills and ridges that shelter catacombs of interlocking caves and emplacements. Every ridge is specked with these holes. From a high view the fields are potted with circular shell holes and occasionally a huge crater of a bomb or a large naval shell. And I saw our burned out tanks, many of them, stopped in a low place where the Japs probably used their suicide tactics of planting satchel charges on the tanks and blowing themselves up. Shuri castle has a few remaining pillars still standing. They immediately remind one of the Greek ruins. Now the Japs have been pushed into a very small pocket and there they will probably repeat their banzai charge and the remainder dive into the sea as they did on Saipan. It seems that the Japanese are entirely alien to what we believe about life and the standards we live by.

Yesterday I had a look at four freshly killed Japs who were killed in their cave. They had thrown a grenade at one of our men from their hole about half way up a steep bank. After we sneaked up and threw grenades and plenty of ammunition at them, someone looked in and they had died for the emperor. One had apparently held a grenade to his chest at the last minute for his chest was blown open and his face gone. In peacetime our government will spend thousands of dollars to find the murderer of one man but here a life seems worth little.

After coming in tonight I found I had four letters, two each from Mom and Dad—one from June. They certainly were appreciated and I’ve already gone over them many times. And I’ll read them many more. Now I’m the one who isn’t keeping up, but pretty soon I should be on a regular schedule. Yesterday had two Free Press dated back in February. I’m looking forward to the recent ones you kept.

Haven’t seen Dick or Duane yet but I think it won’t be too long. Probably the island will be secured soon and then it will be easier to get around. I would like to have Dick come over and stay a few days with me if it is possible.

I can’t say much about the demobilization deal except what I read and hear. I have more than 85 points and weighing everything I feel more optimistic than pessimistic about getting home in the next few months—although I have nothing to go on. Maybe it’s like a women’s 6^th sense. But if something doesn’t materialize I will lose faith in everything. I can hardly imagine being home again. A rumor today said those over 85 will see no more combat, but as I say it’s just a rumor.

Bob Meyers and Guyla Steele now—golly I can hardly picture it and Guyla a Russian. I don’t like that. Glad to hear Jim S. is getting married but sorry to hear his folks are leaving. I thought perhaps Phil and Carol would get married on his leave and was slightly surprised to hear they didn’t. Phil sent me a picture of her. She looks pretty sweet.

On the fruit orchard deal it would be mostly oranges and grapefruit and for the first couple of years a small truck garden to alleviate expenses. Our area is in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas. I thought I would put some money into it and let Dick run the place and build up a first class orchard and do everything to produce a good orchard. To make expenses until the crop begins to produce Dick would raise a small truck garden and with the equipment I would buy, he could make money helping others spray etc. And I would come back and get the best job I could and make up some of the first year’s expenses. If I get home soon I’m going to look into it but of course I’m not going all out on it until I can find out a little more. I am anxious to talk to Dick about. I think he will like it. I know my buddy would not let me down, he’s square and honest as the day is long. He is a great guy. He is anxious to help me and he wants later to expand and then go together on a business of hardware there. We had great fun going all over it one night in a foxhole. And I know Dad would fall over backward to advise me. I’m very anxious to see the picture of the store. Nancy and Mom and Phil all write about what an institution it is getting to be.

I’m glad you had a nice birthday and I wished I could have sent you something. (The Noha department store is very short on items). I know Dick and I and Phil will all be home soon to give you an inexpensive but most wanted gift—a big kiss.

And Mom I wouldn’t want you to go out west. Stay where you are and keep home what it has always been and always will be. Many people may soon regret having done that.

And I too want Nancy to go to school and for my choice, Nebraska University. And to have every advantage of graduating. I wanted to graduate in the worst kind of way and feel very badly sometimes because I didn’t. If I were still in school and took law, I would almost be out. I hate to think I will never get a degree. My days there were filled with association and acquaintance with learning, that are long remembered. I surely want Nancy to go and have all she needs to enjoy it.

I’m sure you finally got straightened out on my outfit and I have never been able to tell you. I’m feeling fine but I think I must feel like Dad sometimes—ready to blowup and sometimes I feel nervous as hell. I just hope I can soon see you. Minor differences will seem like nothing after this.

Well it’s beginning to get a little late (9 o’clock) and today may be another heavy one. But I’ll try to write often. You can now feel much reassured for it is almost over on this island and then we can have it easier.

Better stop sometimes although I feel like writing on and on if I could dig up the items.

Love,

4 June 1945

Dear Folks:

I’m sitting in a little office tent feeling miserable as the water continually pours down and makes the ground a spongy mass of wet clay. It’s too wet to work and while I’m loafing around perhaps I can answer some of the letters I got today. Today was a good day to get mail, when practically the only bright spot in the day, was a letter. I had one from Mom, one from Dad and one from Dick. Mom’s was very recent and Dad’s was a little older. Maybe if I can go through them again for the nth time, I can find something to write about.

I know how good it must have been to see Phil and I’ll bet he looked very good. Probably he is married now, and you gave him the present from me that I mentioned. I think your attitude is the best one – about letting him get married. Personally I like the idea fine.

I’m glad Dick wrote you such a nice letter. He’s a swell guy and really appreciates things more than appears on the surface. Was glad to hear from him today and I’m expecting that we can soon get together under peaceful circumstances.

But opposite the bad news and miserable weather is the good news that the troops are going great guns on Okinawa. I think it’s about over and one more campaign gone by. I hope I have seen my last one.

I remember Everly Gibbons alright and the last I heard of him, he was a captain in the army. I always did suspect him of being a little abnormal but from the story in your letter, he must have went whole hog.

I remember Dad’s letter about the Youmans-Harris fund and I can imagine the waves of gossip it must have created. My opinion of Mrs. Youmans is getting worse every day – perhaps their money they used to have, detracted from what she was really made of.

Maybe it was a good thing Dad cautioned about just walking in because I had actually thought of doing such a thing, although I doubt if I could keep the news myself if it ever came.

My chief evening diversion is getting to be working crossword puzzles. The medical sergeant got a book from his wife, so me and a Chinese may borrow it and scratch our heads while they play cards. We think we’re getting pretty sharp at it but we ran into a tough one last night. The aid station has lights so we go there.

I’m not sure but I think we’re going to cook up some of our odds and ends of rations tonight. I think we have a can of bacon, some peaches, a little grape juice, and perhaps get a little bread from the kitchen. Quite a treat.

Well, I think I’ll write to Dick before supper then grab a shower and besides I’m out of something to write about, so I’ll call this good.

Love,

10 May 1945

Dear Folks:

Just after dinner I received two letters, one from each of you and now while I can take some time off this afternoon, perhaps I can take time to write a better letter. It’s a hot sun shiny day and now I have my shirt off. But when the sun goes behind a cloud, it cools off quickly. And the past two days have given the ground a good drying, making it much easier to move around.

You didn’t think much of your Nurses Aide picture but I think it’s alright, only it’s not so clear. At first I didn’t think so much of your idea of taking the training but now I feel proud that you are doing it. It makes me feel that you sense the war personally and want to do something about it. And you look young, more like a young girl.

Haven’t seen Dick lately but he is located quite a ways from me and it’s not easy, especially at this time to make connections. However I assure you he is having it easy, and is in little danger, and that is the straight stuff. Last night Jap planes were having a look around but I didn’t bother to take much interest, only when they get too close, or our own flak might fall on us do I get up. Most of the big air battles you read about, I can’t see, for they go on away from the island where our own planes won’t get hit by our ack-ack. The airmen are certainly getting a work out and I think they are doing a great job. I wished you could see and hear the Navy planes dive on Jap positions and let go with their rockets. The rockets make loud swush and explode with great concussion.

Speaking about Dick, I have gathered some plans for the postwar that I think are pretty good, but what I would like to have your opinion on. I haven’t spoken to him about them, but I’m anxious to tell him. As I’ve already told you my partner is acquainted with the fruit growing business and gets some expert advice from his father. Now he says I can buy good fruit land for $150 to $200 an acre, and I figured on getting ten acres. In addition to that we would need a small tractor and some spray equipment, plus cost of the trees. Now if I can raise enough money before the war is over I thought I would put down the capital and put Dick down there to tend it. According to Cliff it will be four years before the crop will begin to produce, but in the meantime he can grow a small bit of truck gardening to make some of the expenses. After five years he says a normal crop will yield from $2,500 to $3,000 in fruit. After the first starter there is little expense, as he says it takes little care to keep the orchard going. And Dick could also work for other people to offset some of the first year’s expense. He claims a good well kept orchard will bring from $12,000 to $15,000 in fifteen years. In the meantime I would take some other job and try to save to buy another little acreage. He is going to buy his dad’s 20 acres and build that up. His dad currently makes from $1,500 to $2,000 dollars on it, but it is less than half planted and doesn’t get the good care that the owner would give it. So I’ll have to see what I’ve got and what Dick’s got and try to work it out. I look at it as sort of an insurance policy – money invested now that will increase many times in a few years. He says that section is prosperous and the bare land is available, and he says his dad has had only one crop failure in 12 years. If perhaps when I got back I would go into your business and could gather some capital then he wants to go into a partnership and open a hardware store in the Rio Grande. We talked it all over, pro and con, for about three hours one night. If I don’t do something like this, I might spend the money normally without anything lasting. Well you ask what questions you may have and tell me what you think about it. I might even go back to school, no I couldn’t hardly do that. Well you talk it over.

I’m glad you think I can write a little and sometimes I feel like you that maybe I should consider it more carefully.

I think if I was in high school I wouldn’t vote for a South Seas theme for a banquet. Magazines and stories make the Pacific seem romantic (and) wonderful, and perhaps it is for a short time, but to me it means hot steaming islands with homely brown people running around. I wished you could have seen Eniwetok. I was there before I went to Saipan. It is a small atoll raising only a few feet from the water’s level. It is almost barren, and the sun beats down unmercifully on the white sand. It is hard to see from a distance, and seems to lie on the water level.

Well it’s getting around four-thirty and at five is chow, so I better plan on getting washed up a bit. After supper I intend to take a bath in the bucket, and put on some clean clothes and hope to get a good sleep tonight.

In the meantime I don’t want you to worry because before you know it I’ll be home, and then all these months will be forgotten and everything will be rosy again.

Love,

6 May 1945

Dear folks:

About an hour before church so perhaps I can write you a few short lines before then. Communion is being held today and as a special treat we will have an organ. A small portable one but it sounds good.

Mail is continuing to come in good—both 1^st and 4^th. Yesterday got a package from June and today two Free Presses and March Reader’s Digest, so I’m expecting the February package any time.

I thought I better write too today because you have probably been reading about the Jap counterattack in which they landed behind our lines and we shot down 168 Jap planes. Well I was in my foxhole all night listening to artillery shells land but they did no damage, and aside from the tenseness all I got from it was more battle experience, of which I’ve had all I want. And Dick is okay. You can rest at ease about him.

My partner is trying to get me to buy in on a fruit orchard in Texas. His dad wants to sell it to him at $200 an acre for twenty acres or $4,000, and us split the cost. He figures in five years under normal years it will bring in an estimated $10,000 yearly and in 15 years will represent a value of 15 to 20 thousand. His dad has his own farms in Kansas and wants to sell the orchard. That’s a pretty cheap price. Right now his dad gets about $1,500 yearly but it is not all planted. Well it’s an idea and it sounds like a good investment but lots to think about.

Well better wash up a little for church so better get ready.

Love,

28 April 1945

Dear Folks:

Here I am again as is usual at this time of evening. About the only diversion after chow is listening to the radio and that doesn’t always appeal, and listening to the tales from Tokyo gets irritating. This morning while gathering the news, for interest I turned on Shanghai and listened for a few minutes to a commentary on military affairs. Of course Shanghai is Jap controlled. This morning he discussed the members of the Special Attack Corps or what we call suicide divers. They harp on this Corps quite a lot. American naval and casualty losses that he gave sound like evangelistic exaggerations. Many remarks they make seem the work of a simple minded child.

I see by the bulletin board that censorship regulations here permitted more leniency in writing so I thought I would tell you about some personal experiences I’ve had. Last night started out quietly although the air raid siren sounded about sundown. After hearing a few artillery shells crunch some distance away, I managed to get asleep but woke up with a start around ten thirty by the thunder of anti-aircraft guns. Then I heard a plane swoop over pretty low so I sat up and peeked over the top of our foxhole. As I usually do I woke up my buddy. It seems better to have company at such times, although perhaps I sometimes get over excited. Whenever a Jap plane gets anywhere near, the sky fills up with red tracers and little dots of bursting shells. When I first woke up I saw a great burst of fire but I couldn’t tell just what it was. In most cases the planes don’t come too close to our position so it’s more of a sideshow for us. A round of applause always goes up when a Jap plane is hit – most of them burst into a ball of flames and crash. Finally the excitement died down and while trying to get to sleep again, the shrill shreik of a Jap shell whistled over and drove into the mud. It was a dud, thank goodness. The sound of shells heading your way, and the later bursting crunch so hard on my nerves and I think everyone feels that way. When a shell sounds it takes about 1/10 of a second for everyone to jump in a hole. But we found the Japs many times harder and it is a mystery to me that all Japs in the island are not raving maniacs. The bombardment on L-Day was the biggest and most devastating thing I ever saw. It is source of great confidence in our forces to see battleships, cruisers and destroyers lined up pounding the Japs where it hurts the most. The sky was filled with our aircraft and the Nips dared not come near. About the only time they can pull a raid is at night. I came ashore on L plus one and we were all surprised by the orderly cultivation and rolling green hills, by far more like our own, a civilized place than what we had previously seen. I think this [is] enough on this subject.

I told you before that I had been on Leyte but I didn’t’ tell you I was on Midway also.

Had two letters today – one from each of you, but not very recent. In Mom’s letter was many clippings and the pictures of Nancy and Phil. It seems to me that Nancy looks an image of Mom, and so grown-up I could hardly believe it.

I’m glad Jack paid you a visit and I hope it made you feel better. I also think he has changed for the better and Jack seemed very considerate during our visits on Saipan and Tinian.

Boy it seems like lots of babies are being born back there, Alice C. again and J. Lupher. How many does that make [of] Luphers? I wish I had some of my own and every time you write about fixing up the place, I try to hope that someday I’ll be fixing mine the same way. Dad made a lot of good comments about home and so forth and in every one of his letters, I think we get a little closer to each other.

The talk with everyone now is rotation – those planes are turning up again and I think most of the older fellows are expecting to get back in a few months. And somehow I feel the same way. Even the thought of getting home seems like a dream.

Better taper off I guess – I’m feeling fine and living careful, so don’t worry.

Love,

26 April 1945

Dear Dad:

It seemed such a treat to get your letter today that I thought I would address this one to you, even though you know it is for you both. Well a few minutes ago I finished typing the daily newssheet and have my lead arranged ready for the evening. Also for tonight we had a can of bacon leftover from our rations and I see my buddy has the stove out so we’ll probably have quite a treat tonight. That bacon in cans is very good stuff. This guy I bunk with I’ve known for a long time, and we have become close friends, although at times we use words on each other. He is from Kansas where his father has a large wheat and cattle ranch. He is very likeable and always cheerful, as a matter of fact he keeps my spirits up. He is married and I think I know about everything about his wife. His name is Cliff Blount just in case sometimes you may want to know.

On the island here there’s quite a number of horses and lately it has become the fad to get one of your own and ride him after supper. The battery looks more like a calvary outfit and often we have a short rodeo for a laugh. I did a little riding but I don’t go for it like some of these guys.

Your letter today was interesting and full of good comment. You are doing a good job and I know our absence has made both of us wiser and more appreciative although it worked more on me. I was glad you got my letter about being in Okinawa but know it will make you more anxious. It won’t last too long and then I’m sure we will have it easy for a while including shows and a little beer. Talking about horses and everything you probably can’t reconcile it with combat but there is the other side alright. About every evening the Japs start shelling and a shelling is nerve wracking but aside from the time one landed about 35 yards away, they haven’t been too close. Several men were only five or ten feet from the shell and came out unscratched so you can see the good of a foxhole. It doesn’t take you long to dig in. Haven’t seen Dick for a few days but hope he can stop by soon. He told me Diz Carroll had already had enough war. The reason the bonds sometimes arrive late is because they are sent only when we are paid and occasionally we can’t be paid every month.

I know you would like to see your business continued and especially to have one of us take. I know what it means to you regardless of what you say in your letters. I think we will keep it going and if Minatare can weather any decline after the war, I agree with you that it has many possibilities.

I think I wrote about Ernie Pyle’s death and it was a blow to everyone. Just when he was about to tell homefolks about the Pacific war. I’m sure the men in Europe will find the war here much different. No prisoners here, it’s dig them out and exterminate like cockroaches. I don’t mind if Mom puts my letter in the paper that I first wrote but I don’t think it is much of a letter. I was really not in a literary mood and could have made it much better.

Well it’s getting pretty dark and we are to do the bacon frying before dark so I better ring off for another time.

Love,

21 April 1945

Dear Folks:

So much mail has been coming in from you folks that I would feel like a heel if I did not write you every opportunity I have. This has been a fairly quiet day and it looks like tonight before dark I might have time to get a few letters off. Some of the boys killed a hog so for supper tonite we enjoyed pork – good treat it was.

I was sorry to hear that you did not get the sandals but in talking to some of the fellows they said that perhaps the hemp used in them might contain insects or germs. I couldn’t tell from your letters whether you received the bolo knife complete with the case or what. Dad said only the handle came and Mom sounded like the whole thing arrived. I don’t wonder that you don’t understand how it is used but a Filipino almost builds his life around it. He can build a house, split coconuts, get food with it and fight with it. Even the smallest boys carry one. I know you would have liked the sandals.

In your letters were many clippings which I’m always anxious to get. I think that in as much as the Free Press is many months in coming it would be a good idea to put a copy in an envelope and mail it first class – in that way it is somewhat recent.

In connection with requests here is another. I’m publishing a battalion newspaper and it is to be run off on the mimeograph. Now the request is this. In order to reproduce headlines and column headings onto a stencil we need print letters which are usually cut out of cellulose so they can be traced onto the stencil. There may be other means that I don’t know about but that is one. So when you are in ‘Bluffs perhaps, LeRoys or Rominger’s or a stationary and supply house, could fix me up.

No, I haven’t received the packages you mailed last February but perhaps these will come through.

On today’s mail I had two letters each from Mom and Dad, and I wished I was allowed to tell you how fast they came. I would certainly like to get home now when spring is beginning to green the land and to see the house.

Yes, I was certainly shocked at the President’s death and undoubtedly he will rank as one of the world’s greatest men. And Ernie Pyle too. I understand he was here on Okinawa for awhile before going to Ice Island. He was buried in the army cemetery there along with GI’s he wrote so skillfully about.

I think your letters are very good Dad, contrary to your occasional reference to their inferiority, and I know it isn’t always easy to write. I gather that your business is doing good and I’m sure it is. I knew you could do good when you got the opportunity. So much has happened since I left – more probably than you realize.

I haven’t seen Dick in the last 2 days. He is very busy to say the least. He is certainly a good kid and he is all around okeh. And the Army is not coercing him. I will let you know when I see him again.

Had a letter from Nancy today and from the more mature tone of her letters, I can hardly reconcile her to the youngster she was when I left. It is beginning to look like the Mosses are getting romantically inclined. I think Dick is more than interested in Helen Emick and I would certainly like him to promote that gal. I’m aching for the quietness, contentedness, and satisfaction that I hope I can soon have in my own home. I’m developing into a family man and I hope before too many years, a part of that ambition will materialize.

Love,