The Lt. Licks Them
Tues. 12 Dec. ‘44
Dear folks,
One more day at sea. I’m almost losing track of the days. Same old lineup today. The wind is really blowing and we are rolling quite a bit. I got a pretty fair night’s sleep last night and breakfast was fair. I guess I’m getting used to the food now. They prepare it with virtually no seasoning. They seem to use no salt at all on stuff. Let’s see — I had bread, butter, jam, a boiled egg, and oatmeal for breakfast. I spent quite a bit of the day watching the waves splash. The spray was flying and I had a little trouble as when the water evaporated it left salt all over my glasses. I was on a mopping detail for awhile this morning so that kept me busy. I actually did a little work this afternoon. Sgt. Kumins got us together and put us to work for awhile. We got our usual lineup of stuff from the ships canteen today. I’m getting a small cache of food stored up now for that rainy day sometime.
So that’s about all I have to say about today. Some people think I’m foolish to write so many letters but I know what I’m doing. I figure you’ll be nearly a month without mail so if you get a lot of letters at once, even though they are pretty stale news (and very little of that) at least you’ll have some to read for awhile. If I know you you’ll appreciate a lot of mail as much as I do even though a little late.
I still have one letter of yours to answer so I’ll get at it. Mon. Dec. 4 – Yeh, a month ago I was home. A year ago I was too and I believe it’s about 2 yrs. today since I got my first notice. Xmas day completes my 2nd year. I know my letters aren’t the same as always but I can’t help it much. Where was that Geo. In the Pacific? I am pretty far behind in the news here. We get some war news occasionally over the P.A. system but I miss our old radios. We really got good programs and good reception on the coast. I don’t know where Vox Pop was broadcast from last night but I wasn’t there. I mail my letters unsealed, the Lt. licks them. So far you have seen names of Lt’s Harris & Vidugiris, Co. officers. You’ll usually see theirs or a couple other Lt’s names maybe. All 5 of those letters were mailed at once. I got only one pass. We were alerted a few hours before I got another one or before I was to get it. You should have gotten at least 6 letters plus Xmas cards and an extra letter or two before the break came. On a day or two I wrote twice as you’ll note. You probably got the last ones yesterday. I may use air mail if I can get the stamps and it saves time. I imagine it helps quite a bit. I made 5 trips home up through the old Arkansas, Missouri to Chicago route. I carried that bath towel until the last place. There we had to get rid of all that weren’t O.D. in color so out it went. After we all got rid of our low cut shoes we found we could have kept them but that’s the way it goes. We write on one side so nothing will be unintentionally obliterated should the censor decide to do a little cutting up. Your glasses don’t need changing – you see perfectly. As for your choice of phonograph records I don’t think you could have done any better. You got exactly the right ones.
Well that covers your second letter and answers all I have from you until I get some when we land (I hope). I’ll probably get quite a few at once. I have a couple letters to answer from Rudy and Edna yet before we land but I guess I’ll have lots of time.
Bedtime is approaching so I’ll be signing off until next time. So long
Love
Arlington
Recent Comments