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 26th & 27th 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 3rd 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
My Little Hammock
Mon. 18 Dec. ‘44
1:00 p.m. (9:00 a.m. there)
Dear folks,
This will perhaps be the first letter you get after quite awhile. We can’t mail any more on the boat after today so I’m putting stamps on it and hoping it will go air mail. I have a few stamps that I’ll nurse along as long as possible so I’d like you to put in a few air mail stamps every once in awhile when you write.
Here’s what to look for in the way of letters. Dec. 7 letter you should have gotten a week ago today. Dec. 8 is a V-mail letter. This one is air mail and the ones between – Dec. 9-17 inclusive are all sent “Free.” That’s 11 letters in all. They are sent as you can see by all possible methods and in all probability will go out together so you will be able to tell which goes faster. I imagine the V-mail will get there first.
It’s a beautiful day today for which I am thankful. I can’t seem to make it seem that Xmas is but a week away. I got a good night’s sleep last night again in my little hammock. This morning I found myself on a little mopping detail again but it helps pass the time away at least.
It’ll sure feel funny to walk on something that doesn’t move. I’ll probably walk stiff legged for awhile. Maybe some of the things in this letter don’t tie up very well but they will when you’ve gotten all the letters. Everyone around here has grabbed pen in hand and is furiously writing. I’ve written every day just as if they were going out because I know you and how you like to get letters.
There really isn’t much I can say except I hope you get all of these pretty fast and that I have mail waiting for me. But if you get mine O.K. I won’t complain too much. One never knows how long we’ll be in one spot from now on so getting mail may be a problem.
That’s about all I guess so I’m going to sign off and write a V-mail also so you’ll be sure of hearing from me as soon as was at all possible. It might possibly beat air mail and I know you’ll be looking for the date to see how “far behind me” you are. So long now,
Love
Son
…So I Exterminated It
Sun. 17 Dec. ‘44
2:10 p.m. (whatever time we’re on)
Dear folks,
Right now I’m just sort of wondering what I’ll be doing at this time next week. It’s hard to tell. A week from tomorrow is Xmas but I don’t imagine it will seem much like it. You won’t have received any mail from me yet either probably. These letters written “Free” will probably take 2 or 3 weeks to get there after they finally get mailed. I must have 2 or 3 packages on the way. Edna’s sending one, & you said Elmo was too. I think Marie may have also. I hate to think of what Edna’s will look like as she never wraps anything securely. Even from Mich. to Ark. the pkgs. were all broken up.
Last night I tried a new experiment (for me) in sleeping. Up to now I’ve been sleeping on a mattress on a fixed spot. By that I mean a part which moves with the ship in its rocking and rolling. For a change I tried a hammock last night. What a difference. Instead of moving, you just hang still and the boat moves around you. It’s a real improvement but getting out on the floor in the morning proves to be quite a shock. We’re in rough water today and this boat is rolling plenty. I slept until time for breakfast this morning. It wasn’t too bad today – oatmeal, bread, jam & boiled eggs. There isn’t much you can do to an egg anyway except boil it. Someday when it has no longer military significance I’ll tell you a little more about this trip but for now I can’t.
After breakfast I went up on deck for awhile but it wasn’t very pleasant today – windy, rainy and rough. At 10:00 I got a little conscientious and went to an hour church service with a couple of the fellows. It was pretty good and I’m glad I went. A couple chaplains, one a Negro Captain, held the service. When that was over I took a swing around the deck and came on down and washed up a bit and shaved. I cultivated a mustache for a few days but it began to get that sort of sickly look like the ones Pop used to raise so I exterminated it. Now before I wrote this I dug out my typewriter and knocked out V-mail letters to Edna and Rudy so I’m even with my mail once more.
I just got the low down on the air mail situation. Letters written “free” go by boat to the U.S. and by train to you. Letters written “air mail” go by boat to U.S. and by air from there. That would make less than a day’s difference for you probably so I guess there isn’t much to be gained in that. V-mail is photographed, sent by air to the states, reproduced and then sent on by train. It might be faster but it is held naturally on this side until a complete reel of letters is photographed so all in all the 3 will probably have about the same speed. I wrote one V-mail and I’ll send one air mail so you can compare them and tell me which is better. I imagine I’ll end up just using the old “free” mail system.
I forgot to mention that Dick Heil & Ken Hammond looked me up the other night. Several other Lansing boys are in their outfit but most of them I didn’t know.
It must be storming up on top judging by the movement of the ship and also the fact that everyone is down here instead of up on deck as usual.
You know I’d be getting in to Lansing tonight on a 15 day furlough for the holidays if we’d stayed on that side awhile longer.
I wish I’d kept a few more of those pictures I left at home. I was just looking through the ones I have now. They really look good. Stick a picture in once in awhile when you write, will you? Even though I may have seen them before its O.K. and I wish you’d take a few once in awhile and send too.
Well I guess I’m running down a little so maybe I better quit for this time. I’ve been writing on this for an hour. So for today, So long, Take it easy.
Love
Arlington
I’m Not Supermouse
Sat. 16 Dec. ‘44
Dear folks,
Well one more weekend is here and I’ve been wondering how to spend it. I can’t decide whether I’ll go to town tonight or not. But since I’m not Supermouse and have no water wings I’ll probably be right here where I am.
I feel a little disgruntled today. The boat is rolling quite a bit but that doesn’t bother. I’m just a bit sleepy as I couldn’t seem to get much sleep last night. The motion of the boat sort of rolled me around a lot. As soon as I could I got up on deck this morning and stayed up until about noon reading a small pocket book “The Case of the Stuttering Bishop.” It wasn’t much of a book but it’s something to do. When I came back down I spent about 3 hours trying to sleep off a headache but didn’t get very far so now here I am.
Nothing much I can talk about. I’ll really be glad when this trip is over as its getting pretty tiresome. We’re all getting a bit on edge and a bit on the argumentative side.
So far they won’t let us write where we think we are going although these won’t be mailed until we arrive and by then we’ll be writing our letters from “Somewhere in Timbucktoo or Nagasaki” or wherever it may be. I consider we are lucky to be headed to where we are and I hope we’ll stay for awhile. I’m going to miss being able to buy anything I wanted to eat so long as I had the money. When we were back at our last camp I did a pretty good job on the stuff I like – ice cream, milk shakes, milk, etc. Over here most of all that sort of thing will be unavailable. Remember those Bismcarcks I used to like so well? Well, they sold them at the P.X. and I really got my share of them for the short time I was there. Well this isn’t getting me anywhere, except hungry, but it’s something to talk or write about. I’ll really lay into some good food when I can get at it again.
As I mentioned once before we get a little work on languages. One of them I like and could catch on to fairly fast. Of course all they teach us are phrases to get directions, ask simple questions, etc. and we really learn nothing about grammar or construction but I know a little about it so I could grasp it fairly quickly. I’ve intended to do a little studying but never have done much yet.
Maybe I’ll get ambitious and answer Rudy’s & Edna’s letters tonight so I’ll be caught up when we arrive. I’m hoping we’ll have mail waiting and we should have quite a bit.
Well I guess that’s all I have to say for today so I’ll sign off until next time again. So long,
Be seein’ yo’all
Love
Arlington
Chicken Feed
Fri. 15 Dec. ‘44
[cut out by censor] (5:20 p.m. your time)
Dear folks,
Well I feel pretty good today. Right now we are listening to some music being broadcast from the recreation room here on the boat. I got a good night’s sleep last night and the world looked a lot better this morning. As soon as I washed and shaved and ate my breakfast I spent the rest of the forenoon on deck. The old ocean had smoothed out a little and also I guess I’m getting used to it by now. I got stuck for a little calisthenics this afternoon. I don’t mind it but it’s really been a long time since I’ve done any. They just sang a couple Xmas carols. It takes me back a year to the nights when the girls from the Tri Delts & Chi Omega houses used to go around signing [singing] evenings back at Arkansas Univ.
Not much to write about tonight that I can talk about. When you get that first check use it on the “outside” for little things such like a few Air Mail stamps. I’d like to send these air mail but I’m hoarding my stamps to use so you’ll get the last letters, or I should say newest ones, first when I land.
We just had a little practice with the monetary system of the nation we expect to be in pretty soon. It is going to be a headache I’m afraid if we get a chance to do any spending. I still think Alexander Hamilton had the right idea with our decimal system of currency. I can learn the American equivalents of their currency pretty easily but making change with their chicken feed is something else.
We’ve been issued books on a couple foreign languages and also have had some classes. One language I don’t know anything about and wouldn’t learn very soon I’m afraid. The other I know a little about and think I can catch on to pretty fast.
Well it’s nearly bed time so I’ll sign off once again until next time,
So long
Love
Arlington
Rambling On
Thurs. 14 Dec. ‘44
Dear folks,
One more day to cross off the list. I’m in a little better spirits tonight fortunately. That wasn’t much of a letter that I wrote last night. I guess first I better recapitulate a bit. I’ve been numbering my envelopes but the censor tells me that’s out so I’m doing a little differently to let you know how many letters to look for. So far I’ve written something every day and so long as possible I’ll keep it up. If and when there’s a break I’ll let you know when I did write and when I didn’t in the next letter so you will be able to tell about what to look for. So when you start getting mail again it will take up right where the last one left off. I wrote once by V-mail and I’ve use “Free” mail ever since which will probably be a lot slower. When I am where the mail will go right out I’ll use air mail perhaps so you’ll probably get the V-mail & the air mail first and then these will come tagging in. I imagine you’ll get better results than I. I expect mine to come in groups of ½ dozen or so letters but then I may be luckier, at first at least. I’m hoping we have plenty waiting for us when we arrive. I presume you’ve been writing regularly – so if it’s by air mail it ought to be there. Today we were told to leave the APO # blank on our envelopes that we mail so we may have a new number. All the letters I’ve been mailing have the old 17567 but they’ll probably change them for us or let them go as is. I’ll get it all O.K. so don’t worry about having written to the old address. That explains that a little I guess and I’ll get to something else.
I got to bed at about 9:30 last night but didn’t sleep too well. I felt a little steadier this morning and as soon as I ate I beat it up on deck and spent the whole forenoon outside in the air. It’s the only place to be when you don’t feel too good. I stood for over an hour just watching the water go by. I’ve discovered that watching the waves doesn’t make one sick. I believe the sea was just as rough but one can get used to it. I was a little distressed at the beginning of the trip, then got used to it until it got rougher, now I’m used to that. If it doesn’t roughen up more maybe I’ll make it. I came down this afternoon and started doing a little work. Sgt. Kumins hunted me up and told me I had to finish by tomorrow so I worked steadily all afternoon until I finished a little before supper. I just had my nightly stroll around deck. It’s mighty dark out tonight.
We change time again tonight. This is the 3rd time we’ve been set ahead an hour and always at night so we lose an hour’s sleep. I can just guess that when we come back some day those extra hours will be during the day instead of night.
I was really surprised today. Remember that little kid, a T/5, that I was talking to one night when we were sitting downtown on my furlough last June? His name is Dick Heil. I was walking around with Buck today and I saw someone that looked like him. By the time it dawned on me he was gone. If you’ll remember, he said several fellows from our old High School class were in his outfit. So I started keeping my eyes open. I haven’t run into him again but tonight I ran into another one, Dillard Garrisson. So some of the old home town is on here too, by coincidence. I believe Ken Hammond and a couple more are in that outfit too. I’m going to try to look them up if I can because, once we land, we’ll probably be separated. It was good to see a couple old familiar faces. I’ve know these 2 since Jr. High at French.
Well I’ve rambled on for 3 pages and haven’t said too much but really there isn’t too much I can say. I have a couple letters here to answer so maybe I’ll do that yet tonight. I also have a book that was in that Red Cross kit which I’m reading at. Anyway I guess I’ve run down for today so I’ll sign off and turn this over to the censor. So long for tonight,
Love
Arlington
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