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 21st – 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
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