Taking A Chance On Pencil

V-MAIL LETTER

Thurs. 29 Mar. ‘45

10:50 a.m.

England

Dear folks,

No ink in my pen so I’ll take a chance on pencil. Just a V-mail note again today. I took off yesterday afternoon and spent the afternoon and evening in Cheltenham. I looked the place over during the daylight and last night went to a play “Junior Miss” at the Opera House. It was very good. I doubt if this letter will photograph. I stayed here at the Red Cross last night and I’ve been up about an hour. Haven’t decided yet what I’ll do today. Tomorrow I’ll be back in the groove again. So long for now.

Love

Son

A Pretty Little Plaster Of Paris Cast

Sat. 17 Feb. ‘45

Dear Folks,

This may be a running letter of a couple days. I don’t know just yet. Yesterday I had the medics take a look at the wrist and they bound it up good and tight to sort of brace it a little. They are going to have it X-rayed I guess to see if there are any cracked or chipped bones. The soreness is wearing out quite a bit now though and I don’t think there is much if anything wrong with it except the old sprain I have had now for quite awhile. But if they want to look it over it’s all right with me. I got your V-mail letter of Feb. 3 yesterday so I am about 2 weeks away from the news. Last night I went into town, got something to eat, looked around a bit, and came back. The lines at the shows have been too long all week to wait out to get in. I got to bed about 11:00 I guess. The boys got in yesterday so this morning we were back in the groove with reveille at about 6:30. Breakfast was eggs, oatmeal, milk, bread, butter and fruit juice. I got to work at about 7:45 and now I am here. It’s about time to go have the medics check on things in the wrist so I’ll sign off. If there is nothing wrong I intend to take off on pass tonight with Buck.

Well I am back at 3:00 p.m. I’m resorting to a sort of hunt and peck system of typing as I have a pretty little plaster of Paris cast around my right wrist and thumb. I went down to the dispensary and they sent me to the hospital for an X-ray. They found that the novicular bone was broken whatever that means. The pictures showed a little clean break down by my thumb. It wasn’t out of place so no setting was required. I didn’t want to have to stay at the hospital so they put the cast on and let me come back. Buck and I were going to London tonight but at the last minute he found that he has to go to school Mon. morning so we had to call it off. We were going to try to find one of his buddies from Ft. Wayne whom he hasn’t seen for a couple years. So that’s that. Maybe it’s better that way. It is good it isn’t payroll time as my typing isn’t too good. So instead of London I will probably go to ____ tonight. So for now I’ll sign off and call this a letter for today. Don’t worry about this arm because it is nothing at all. It is just a sort of nuisance. Be seeing you

Love,

Son

I Was Practically Eligible For A Dog License

Fri. 26 Jan. ‘45

Dear folks,

I’m back again. It’s a pretty snappy day here. No more snow but pretty cold. Last night after supper – hash, spuds, corn, beets, bread, butter & peanut butter & fruit cocktail – I changed clothes, got a pass and went into town. I usually always drop into the Red Cross & the YMCA first. Someday I may run into someone I know as there are probably quite a few fellows near here that I know. Then I went to a movie. It was “Dragon Seed” with Katherine Hepburn and wasn’t bad at all. It was a very long picture about the Chinese War. By the time I walked back to camp it was about 10:30. The barracks was really empty. I woke at about 7:00 this morning and finally got enough courage to crawl out and dress and take off for chow – grapefruit juice, all bran, milk, eggs, potatoes, bread, butter and grapefruit. I got ambitious and came to work early this morning and built the fire to get myself thawed out. I quit for dinner at the usual time – fish, potatoes, peas, salad, bread, butter & fruit salad. I don’t usually eat fish but that was good today, even for cod fish.

I think perhaps I shall stay in tonight and do a little washing and a few other things. I miss my boy Buck. He has a friend from back in Fort Wayne whom he hasn’t seen for nearly 2 years who is stationed not too far from here. Buck has been figuring on getting a pass to go see him. This morning the other kid shows up here looking for Buck but unfortunately he’s out in the field so they missed connections. I don’t seem to hear from any of my boys over here lately, not even Sammy. I don’t know yet how the mail will be today.

So for awhile I’ll start to answer all these back letters. Report – no mail today. Now Thurs. Dec. 14 – I got that letter from Amelia & answered it over here. So that kid finally got married. Can’t see it. I don’t answer very much in your letters some times as I may have already mentioned the same thing in my letters to you. The subjects are a bit cooled off too by the time a month elapses between answers. It does take nearly a month for a letter to be answered. I haven’t been getting my hair cut very often over here. I was practically eligible for a dog license. It’s almost long enough on top to comb again. The only mail I got from the time we left Texas until the first mail over here was 3 letters the first day on the boat. Today I read in the paper how thick the subs are in the Atlantic. It’s good we didn’t know it as we didn’t worry particularly about them on our trip over. Now Fri. Dec. 15 – You dated it the 16^th. We didn’t leave in a hurry. In fact we stayed longer than the average. If you ever wanted to send me a cablegram my cable address is AMIGUV. I don’t know just how it really does work but I believe you use that instead of an APO number. If I had it to do over I’d bring practically all of that stuff with me that I sent home at the last minute. I still have all the Xmas cards I got. I sort of hate to throw them away. You know me. You may as well use 3 cent stamps as the air mail doesn’t make any difference. Save the money. I haven’t heard from Walt. We can write to each other on this side but delivery is very slow. It doesn’t have to go back to the States. Now Sat.-Sun. Dec. 16-17 – All you put on the V-mail is a 3 cent stamp same as any letter. Oh yes, everybody came along. So Pop censors your mail for you. Now Mon. Dec. 18 – Well your correspondence is speeding up. Did Marie get down or I should say up to see you yet? You know time is really going surprisingly fast. Only 2 months ago we were in Texas. That seems long ago but New Years seems just a few days ago. So long as we stay here things won’t be too bad.

Well that answers a few letters and brings me up to Dec. 27. I still have 4 more to answer next time and perhaps more if it arrives. If any of those subs sink any of my mail “gives it war.” Well I’ll call this enough for now and sign off for one more day. So long for today,

Love

Arlington

Things Are Tough All Over

Mon. 15 Jan. ’45 – 7:45 p.m.

Dear folks,

It’s me again. It’s a beautiful day in Chicago and not too bad in England either. It has been quite warm today. I got to bed fairly early last night and slept until nearly 7:00 this morning. After reveille I took off for breakfast. Buck sleeps down in the supply room so I usually stop on the way and wake him up before I go on to the mess hall. He’s on K.P. all night tonight. Breakfast was – corn meal, milk, bread, butter, jam, eggs, and grapefruit. After breakfast I straightened up my junk a bit and took off for work. I was fairly busy all morning but not rushed. We quit at noon for chow. Not bad – meat loaf, spuds, corn, bread, butter and cocoa. Then back to work for the afternoon and that’s today. I finally got the package from Elmo today. The box was all beaten apart but everything was O.K. inside. There were 16 candy bars (Hershey almonds, Mounds, Clarks, etc.), 4 pkgs. of gum, walnettos, peanuts & a big hunk of fudge. So my larder is being kept well filled. I haven’t cashed my P.X. ration now for 2 weeks. I’ve been eating some of your walnuts tonight. They really are good. I’ve been rationing the stuff out to myself. I still have a fruit cake put away. Buck & I will take care of it maybe tomorrow night if he’s not on guard or something. I also got a V-mail from Edna today. She forgot to date it but she had received the letter I wrote on the boat V-mail to her. So I’m hoping you got my first letters sometime around Jan. 1 to 4. We’ll be due for more mail in a day or so I figure. I’ve got to get on the ball and let Elmo & Edna know I got their packages all O.K. as they are probably wondering. Now to get back to my letter answering. Oh yes, before I forget, Buck & I went up and snooped around the old cathedral yesterday. We should have gone inside as I understand it’s really beautiful but we didn’t. It’s a huge structure and really old. It was started sometime before 100 A.D. I understand and was completed 200 years before Columbus discovered America. Edward the II has been buried there about 1000 years. It looks very fragile like bric-a-brac. It’s hard to conceive how such a huge and really beautiful structure could have been produced with the crude implements which must have been available during those times. Now I wish I’d kept my camera but then none of us knew where we’d be or what it would be like. If I can find a picture of it I’ll send it so you can see.

Now to your letters – Thurs. Dec. 21 — That clipping you sent was right – the Xmas is still down there at the Red Cross Club. There was a Club mobile out here Xmas Eve with a sort of portable tree to add some atmosphere. Maybe the “firebug” is in action around Lansing again. That tabernacle was the one Jim Bowden used to go to. I believe his dad or uncle did some preaching out there. You are really getting some winter. There ought to be good skating there this year. The old M.S.C. stationery looks really good. How I’d like to be able to use it. The streets must really have been bad with ice. Your letters are untouched. If you cleaned out that desk of mine you had a real job. You may have seen the moon but not I. I remember the 21^st – it was terribly foggy in the morning. At night it was a little better and we were at the anchor at long last. I’m getting quite a few letters right now. I guess people think – Gee, he’s overseas, I better write – They’ll probably lose their enthusiasm pretty soon. Of course I’ve got to get on the ball and answer them too. When you mail me a pkg. do they have special rates or do you pay postage to New York? I was curious about it. You must have really had a full mail box there one day. Now Fri. Dec. 22 – I haven’t heard from Tillis yet. Now you can plot everything on your map as it happens. Yeh, I got the Xmas tie situation all doped out O.K. That’s right, February is fast approaching. I’ll be wondering what you’ll do. I haven’t heard from Walt, Hugh or Leonard as yet. Yes it really was limited at McCoy. Now Dec. 23-25. I understand Miller is still missing. He was a pretty good musician but then things are tough all over. Looks as if they’re cracking down on the folks at home now. I can’t see it. The Americans as a whole don’t realize there’s a war on but “so what.” The points are really going to go fast for you now. I also understand they are going back to dim outs and blackouts. It’ll be like England over there pretty soon at that rate. The closer we get to the war the less we hear or know about it. I remember Jack Parker but I don’t expect he’ll be around this neck of the woods. You have a nice supply of points on hand. You ought to get by nicely. I’d like to have seen the little “arrangement” you fixed up for Xmas. It sounds cute. But I believe I’d rather just have been there, right?

Well that answers all but your Dec. 26 “Boxing Day” letter. I don’t answer everything in your letters but you know me & know why. It’s nearly 9:30 so I think I shall wind this up and begin to commence to head for bed. I’ll be glad to get a letter saying “well I finally got some mail today, 18 letters” or something like that. Well for now I’ll sign off,

So long

Love,

Son

Resting On The Oars

Fri. 29 Dec. ’44 8:00 p.m.

Dear folks,

One more day. Not too much to say today. I finally got a letter, a V-mail from Edna written Dec. 17. A lot of us told our folks to use air mail instead of V-mail but so far V-mail is all that’s coming thru. Maybe it’s the Xmas rush holding stuff up. Even her V-mail took over 10 days. Last night I wrote V-mails to Aunt Edna & Fred K. before going to bed. I crawled out at the usual time and started the old routine all over again at about 7:00 this morning with reveille and then breakfast – cereal, milk, scrambled eggs, bread, butter, and V-8 fruit cocktail. Then off to work until noon. The company took another hike this morning. They are getting a lot of them lately. It was really foggy this morning. The sun looked like just a big red ball. Dinner was good. I skipped the fish but took spuds, lima beans, beets, bread, butter, peaches & cake. After dinner they gave out our P.X. ration cards & sold out our weekly tobacco ration. All of us buy all we can of everything and pass it around. I have no trouble getting rid of the cigarettes, maybe someone else will have something I want next time. I got my work pretty well all up to date today so I hope I can rest on the oars a couple days. Supper tonight was good too – roast beef, canned (it reminded me of days up north on vacation), potatoes, turnips (uh huh), tomatoes, bread, butter, and pudding. After supper I did out my laundry – some socks, underwear & handkerchiefs. My former assistant was made a T/5 today as mail clerk. The old one got busted. In fact stripes are coming off all over the place lately – 4 men in the Co. so far this week. He informs me you can send one 5lb. pkg. a month plus whatever I request. Is that right? They had a show for us here on the post tonight but I didn’t make it. Tomorrow is Sat. so another weekend is here & my first week in merry old England is finished. Well there isn’t much else to say. If I ever get some letters to answer I’ll have more to write. I may get a pass tomorrow or Sun. I turned one down tonight. Well I’ll call this note a letter and hope mine is reaching you faster than yours are getting here.

Good night,

Love

Son

There Aren’t Many Pores Or Air Holes

Thurs. 28 Dec. ‘44

12:35 noon

Dear folks,

Hi again. I’ve got some time on my noon hour so I’ll start a letter. Something must be wrong as it’s developing into a nice day. The fog has cleared away and believe it or not the sun is actually shining. I got to bed at about 10:00 last night and was up at 7:00. I’ve been averaging 9 hrs. sleep per night lately which is good. We have regular reveille every morning now and it’s really cold out at about 7:00. It’s colder than at night. We hear it was 26 degrees below zero in Chicago last week & that Detroit had a big snow so you must be having some real winter there. There’s no snow in sight here, only white frost on everything.

Back at 7:35 p.m. The days are pretty routine now – reveille, breakfast, work, dinner, work, supper & then here I am. Let’s see: the menu today was – breakfast – hot cereal, milk, apple fritters, syrup, butter, & stewed apricots. Not bad at all. Dinner was beans, creamed carrots, salad, bread, butter, corn bread and cookies. Supper – spuds, sauerkraut, bread, butter & pears. We get a good variety of fruits, canned naturally. So far we have plenty of butter – some canned but mostly fresh lately. The bread is good but a bit more solid than American bread. There aren’t many pores or air holes. Our vegetables are mostly green leafy, that is the ones not canned. We get canned string beans, etc. and fresh vegetables like cut cabbage, brussells sprouts, plenty of cauliflower & carrots & spinach occasionally. The meat runs pretty fair with a few too many pork chops so far as I’m concerned but all in all the food is doggoned good so far and a lot better than I expected to find over here.

When I got to work this morning I learned that the other boys worked last night so I got on the ball and batted out my pay roll in a hurry this forenoon. She’s all done and nearly all signed now. Once that’s in we’ll have less rush in our work. It warmed up a bit today but is cooling off plenty. One of the boys found a 2 day cleaners in town so I sent my O.D.’s in with him for a cleaning and pressing job. They really need it. After getting lost last night I believe I know the way to town and I have the 3 theaters lined up in case I want to go. The shows are sort of old but still something to see. I guess we’ll be getting a little better deal here in camp pretty quick. They are going to get us movies at least twice a week. Also the P.X. opens in a couple days. All P.X. stuff is rationed. Each of us gets a card good for 8 weeks. Some items you get every week, some every 2 weeks, some every 4 and some every 8 depending on the scarcity. We get a weekly ration of candy, soap, cookies, etc. Every 2 weeks we get peanuts & a few other items. I don’t have my card yet so I’m not exactly sure how it all runs. Anyway we’ll have a chance to buy a few things. Stationery comes every 8 weeks so here’s a new request. Send me – some stationery, light weight air mail would do as we use but one side anyway, find me a steel shaving mirror, put in a couple pairs of wool socks, and fill up the rest with candy, cookies, gum, peanuts, raisins or anything else you have. This is the second request. Now you don’t have to send this out as soon as you get it. The idea is you have to have a request from me to be able to send me anything so I’m making sure you have plenty of requests on hand. See. I got 20 air mail stamps today so I have a few but don’t hesitate to send some as I can always use them. Cover the expense from the allotment. There’s plenty there to cover it all O.K. No mail for us today – 4 letters for the entire Bn. Some day there’ll be a whole barrel of mail (we keep telling ourselves).

Well that’s about all there is to say tonight I guess. I don’t imagine you’ll get any of my letters for a week or two yet. You’ll probably get V-mail first if it works like it has here. All we can do is wait. There’s still something out for every day. So for another day I’ll say so long,

Love,

Arlington

MERRY XMAS!

MERRY XMAS!

Mon. 25 Dec. ’44 Xmas

Somewhere in England

10:45 a.m.

(5:45 a.m. in Lansing)

Dear folks,

One more Xmas is here. It’s a rather hazy, damp and pretty cold day here. I wonder if you have snow there. Last night I wrote some V-mails to Gramp, Elmo, and Amelia just for something to do and to give them my APO number. I got to bed at about 10:00 I guess. They called us out for reveille this morning at about 8:00. Breakfast was bran, milk, scrambled eggs, bread, butter, and grapefruit juice. After eating I got my work out of the way and then got dressed & picked up my pass. It’s good until 11:00 tonight but I’m staying here for dinner and I expect to be in before then tonight as there isn’t much to do in town I suspect. I got 7 pounds for my money and still have some shillings and pence coming as they ran out of change. Probably most stores will be closed today – Xmas. I hope I get some mail tomorrow. It will make up for Xmas a lot if I do. I dug out my long woolen snuggies yesterday & I’m plenty warm except for my feet. They’ve been cold ever since I’ve been in England and I can’t seem to get them thawed out. There were a lot of turkeys visible in the kitchen this morning and there was a very pleasing odor there but I’d rather have smelled it in your kitchen like Sun. Oct. 15. Remember that? Well I’ll sign off now and wait for dinner which will be on before too long I hope.

Back at 9:25 p.m. It was a long wait for dinner but it was worth it. We didn’t get to eat until nearly 2:30 – turkey, a big slab of white meat, mashed potatoes, dressing, gravy, cauliflower, salad, cranberry sauce, bread, rolls, butter and pineapple cake. It was plentiful and really tasted good. At about 3:30 Buck and I took off for town. It’s quite a place.

Tues. 26 Dec. ‘44

12:15 noon

Dear folks,

Back again. I’m doubling up on my letters to make the stamps go farther. I had to quit last night when the lights went out. Now it’s 6:30 so I’ll start in again. I’ll finish this tonight and mail the 2 days in one. We walked in to town yesterday. We didn’t know the way exactly but we just went in the general direction and ended up in the center of town. It’s about like one would expect. The houses are small apartments very snug looking. They all look alike to me. You can go for a couple blocks and see only one kind of house. The streets are a bit narrow and curve all over so that it wouldn’t be hard to get lost I’m thinking. We wandered around and saw what we could of the town in daylight. Then we went up to the Red Cross Service Club downtown. It’s a nice place patterned after our Service Clubs but it was pretty crowded. Everything was [closed] yesterday due to Xmas probably. They have places for fellows on pass to sleep, a small dance floor, a few ping pong tables and a place to eat. It was pretty crowded so we left and found another place where we got some free cake & sandwiches. It’s useless to try to eat in a restaurant so far as I can see. The civilians deserve it anyway so if I do any eating in town it’ll be at Service Clubs. After eating we walked around a bit and came back to the Red Cross. They have a big log book there where fellows sign according to states. I hunted through it and found about 10 men from Lansing none of whom I knew. Then we got on the end of the line or queue as it’s called over here and got supper. We got a fair meal – potatoes, gravy, roast beef, bread, & fruit cake for 1 shilling, 3 pence or about 25 cents. That’s cheap enough and a better meal than one could get anywhere else. After eating we headed back for camp and got back about 9:00. It really was foggy last night as usual. I started to write a little but the boys were sleepy so the lights went out. After 6:00 or so town is blacked out and you can’t find anything except the “pubs” which I wasn’t hunting for. It’s good there isn’t much traffic. All the stores were closed Xmas, the 26^th & 27^th for the Holidays. Today is Boxing Day, whatever that means.

We were up at 7:00 today & out for reveille. Brr. It was very cold out today. We had quite a frost last night and everything from the trees down to the weeds & spider webs was all white frost and it was really pretty if only there could have been a bit of sun to shine on it. It’s been so foggy all day you can see only a few feet away. As usual they say its way colder than normal. It’s the same old story that you hear everywhere. Breakfast this morning was good — hot cereal, milk, bread, butter, scrambled eggs and grapefruit juice. I went to work today and worked all day believe it or not. It was about time I guess. We’ll be on a payroll pretty quick. Dinner was stew, potatoes, brussell sprouts, fruit salad, cookies, bread & butter. Supper – spuds, corn, bread, butter & pineapple. That’s the dope on today. We got 13 V-mail letters for the whole Co.today – none for me. I’ll cut this off so it won’t be too heavy. This cleans out my stamps. Here’s your first request – send me plenty of air mail stamps. Also send a pkg. of non-perishable food when you can. Cover the expense from what I send. You can get the dope on size of pkg. etc. from the Post Office. Stick in a couple khaki handkerchiefs & single edge blades. If I think of more I’ll mention it another time. This should serve to satisfy the postal clerk as if it goes past the censor it’s O.K. with the C.O. So for now I’ll sign off and call this it for tonight at 7:15.

Love to all of you,

Arlington

Somewhere In England

Sun. 24 Dec. ’44 – 11:20 a.m.

Somewhere in England.

Dear folks,

Tonight is Xmas Eve but it surely doesn’t seem like it. I remember when Xmas fell on a weekend before and we used to like the long holiday it made. I didn’t like last year but it was a lot better than this one probably. I don’t know what sort of meal we’ll have but with things the way they are the meal is all there is to the day. I can just see our old time Xmas and I wish I could – chicken, mashed potatoes, good gravy, sage dressing, hot biscuits & all the cakes & pies & the olives and little things that went along too. A rumor just wafted up from the mess hall that there’s turkey aplenty for tomorrow so that’s good. I know you don’t have a tree this year. I’ve seen but one so far – a little one on the boat. I’ve been sort of wondering if Julius might get home for the holidays again like last year. I hope he did.

I got to bed quite early last night at about 9:30.

Back now at 4:35. I wrote a short letter to Marie last night before I got to bed. I was up at about 8:00 and off to breakfast. It’s a long process to wait in line but it was O.K. – scrambled eggs, bread, shredded wheat & milk. The milk is powdered but it tastes O.K. to me. After breakfast I went to work but nothing was doing so I came back and started this letter. I quit for chow at 11:30 and it was after 1:00 by the time I got back but it was a good meal – roast beef, potatoes, string beans, cabbage salad, bread, butter, & cake. We went exploring for awhile this afternoon. There are some big hills nearby which we climbed – myself, Buck & the 3^rd member of our trio – Staff Sgt. Everett Haines from Warsaw, Ind. – our mess sgt. The view from up there was pretty good. The sun was shining for some strange reason and even then it was sort of hazy and hard to see too far.

They had a Red Cross “Clubmobile” down here for us awhile ago so I went down and got my 2 doughnuts. They had it all decorated with wreaths & stuff & even had a little Xmas tree there by the truck. That’s the second one we’ve been served by in 3 days so they are around. I ate about ½ dozen doughnuts in nothing flat the other day. The Red Cross seems to be doing a pretty good job over here. They gave us cards with the name of the truck so I’ll send it along to you to see.

Now I’m waiting for supper. I turned down a pass for tonight and I’m glad I did as our money hasn’t come yet that we turned in for conversion to English currency. Time out for chow.

Back at 6:45. Chow tonight was O.K. I hit the line twice and really got filled with spaghetti, cooked cabbage, beets, bread, butter, and pears. The showers were hot tonight so I took one and then shaved. I’m scheduled for a pass for tomorrow so I think I’ll take off after dinner. I’m not going to miss Xmas dinner if I can help it. I was on for C.Q. tonight & tomorrow but Kumins took me off when I told him I had a pass. I haven’t collected by English money yet and I haven’t sent that $50 to you either. I probably won’t need much money as there isn’t much one can buy. It’s practically useless to try to buy food and just about everything else is rationed. Probably once in town will be enough for me. There are a few theaters but they’ll be pretty crowded I imagine.

I’m wondering what you are doing tonight. I know you haven’t had any mail from me for about 2 weeks and I figure it will be until the first week in Jan. before you do get any. I wish I could sneak up and pop in on you believe me. There’s not a bit of snow in sight here and naturally I don’t know how it is back there. I’ll always be about 2 weeks behind you.

Well I guess that’s about all the dope for today so I’ll be closing. No mail for us until Tues. due to the holidays so I’m hoping to hit the jackpot then. Anyway I’m wishing you the best possible Xmas & maybe next year it will be different (or did I say that last year?)

Good night (Good afternoon to you – 2 p.m.) & Merry Xmas

Love to all of you

Son

They Really Do Drive On The Left

[date has been cut out by censor]

Dear folks,

I’ll start you a letter now and write until I’m able to mail it sometime. I think its O.K. to say our trip is nearing its end. [section cut out by censor]…we left the states. I got a fair night’s sleep last night. There isn’t very much I can say right now. This will probably be cut a lot as it is. Food is a wonderful subject, I’ll start with it. Breakfast – oatmeal, milk, bread, jam and a boiled egg. Supper – potatoes, beans, bread, butter, cold meat and an apple which I saved for the rainy day. I got one of those big Hershey almond bars from the canteen today along with a bunch of life-savers. I’m storing up a little for the day I’ll need it. I never ate life-savers until now but I find that they are sort of good to have to eat from time to time. We were issued “K” rations today and I guess their content is no secret. They come in 3 boxes, one for each meal. Breakfast has coffee & eggs, dinner – cheese & a fruit drink, supper – meat loaf & bouillon. In addition each has biscuits, gum, candy & cigarettes. It isn’t bad stuff to eat, its compact but really fills you up. The cheese is best.

It’s a beautiful starry night outside. A light is occasionally visible in the distance. To me that light is beautiful but I don’t suppose many people see anything in it. What happens each day from now in becomes more & more and uncertainty. One thing sure, if I never knew there was a war on before I do now. A [cut by censor] flying overhead is a beautiful sight. Well it’s nearly bed time so I’ll sign off for today and continue this when I can again. I think I’ll go see what I can and then get to bed. Good night or I should say good afternoon as it’s only about 4:30 p.m. for you.

[cut by censor-date?]

I’m back for a few more words. I’m taking the chance of saying that I’m somewhere near England I think. I couldn’t prove it but the fog is thicker than any I’ve seen even at San Francisco so I take that as an indication. Not much to write as we’re sort of just waiting. It’s a little colder but otherwise, except for the fog blanket it’s O.K. Naturally we don’t know for sure where we are and we have no idea where we are going. Time will tell that. We missed our little candy snack this afternoon. Breakfast was fair – oatmeal, milk, prunes, bread & jam. I’m waiting for supper now. Old mopping detail comes up again tomorrow. Well its chow time so I’ll sign off and see what delicacies are in store for us tonight. Back at 9:30 after supper. Naturally – spuds, bread, butter, sauerkraut, & rice. I almost feel like a civilian on a cruise tonight. No blackout. Instead of stumbling around in the pitch dark, its’ light enough for me to write this out on deck. I can see as far as the rail and then fog. It’s really swell to see the lights and I’m not kiddin’. The fog lifted this afternoon but she’s back now. Right now I’m listening to Harry James play “Two O’clock Jump” as I write. Well its’ bed time so I’ll sign off and head for my hammock pretty quick. Good afternoon to ye.

[cut by censor-date]

Hiya. Well here I go again. I may make our friend the censor unhappy but I can’t see anything wrong with what I’m about to say. First of all I’m here. “Here” for the time being I’ll call “somewhere in England.” Last night I stayed out until 10:00 but it was so foggy you couldn’t see anything. I dug into breakfast pretty heavy as these meals are kind of far apart with no extra candy & stuff in the middle. Let’s see, it was oatmeal, bread, butter, jam & potatoes. I got up on top as soon as I could this morning.

Back again at about 7:15 p.m. Now to begin where I left off. I was on deck from breakfast until mid-afternoon except for a time when I did my mopping. I had a very interesting time and saw a lot [of] things I’d like to talk about but guess maybe I shouldn’t. Anyway I never saw so many or so many different kinds & sizes of boats in my life as I did on the way in. Now let’s see what else can I say without giving any info. Trees & green grass surely looked good again to me. The first thing I noticed on the skyline were several church spires. They are very numerous. Two things impressed me – the tall steeples and so many domes on buildings. The jockeying into position at the dock was quite a thing. Naturally all of us were at the rail to see what we could of these strange new people. They gave us quite a welcome but why shouldn’t they? You already know my attitude toward the British in this war and I haven’t changed any. They had a pretty sharp looking band out to greet us. They played several marches & slow tunes & then reorganized & dug a little “American” jive or tried to. That made a much better hit with the G.I.’s naturally. I stayed up and took in all I could before coming down to shave & clean up a bit before chow tonight. I was just up on top again but there’s no one around this area now naturally. I was surprised to see that there is no blackout. Evidently the Luftwaffe doesn’t come around anymore. I think its O.K. to say I saw no evidences whatever of any bombing which also surprised me. Now let’s see what else I can say. The people ah yes the people. One word could describe them – “tired.” They look like they could use a good long rest & vacation. They are a bit smaller than Americans – are slim faced & a bit longer nosed. Their clothing is what we’d call a little worn & old fashioned – what I saw. Still they seem to have quite a bit of spirit. The bicycle seems to be the chief means of individual transportation. I couldn’t be sure but I guess they really do drive on the left side of the road here. Naturally I couldn’t see too much as I’m still on the boat but I saw a couple right-hand drive vehicles. That’s about all I can safely say I guess about what I saw. To me the place looks very interesting and I’m hoping I can get a pass pretty soon to see the most I can of what’s to be seen. I want to hit a post office or whatever they have at the first chance & buy one of every stamp they have. I’ve way too much cash with me any way so I’ll advance my hobby.

Well that’s about all I can say. We are pouring over maps to get the situation in mind and see where it is we’re headed. Anyway I believe I’ve covered it & this is getting long enough so I’ll sign off from Southern England “somewhere” and write again next time. I’ve still written every day as usual. Good night & good afternoon (its 2:50 your time).

Love to all of ye’

Son

Watching The Scenery

V-MAIL

Mon. 18 Dec. ‘44

Somewhere at sea

Dear Mom,

I just finished an Air mail letter to you but I’m sending this on the chance it might be faster. You’ve got a flock of letters on the way to you. We’ve had a long but pretty good trip so far. Except for a couple days it’s been quite smooth. I’ve never been “really” seasick although I got pretty close to it a couple times. We’ve had a few movies and some programs on board to pass the time. A few details from time to time also accomplished the same thing. Sleeping in a hammock was something new for me. I’ve spent a lot of time on deck watching the “scenery.” We mess twice a day but these people don’t know how to cook. I’m hoping we have our own cooks for Xmas dinner. I got your long letter and your Mon. Dec. 4 letter after I got on the boat. I’m all O.K. and you had better be too,

Love to you all

Arlington