The Letters

The last letter before the convoys sailed, the landing at Oran, and a first Christmas overseas. Chapter page and history →

1. Oct. 23, 1942Just keep on writing to me.“Just remember always that I am constantly thinking of you and my little princess.”
2. No Date · Fall 1942A really homesick man.“Keep writing to me no matter what. Those letters keeps my spirit up and keep me going.”
3. Nov. 1942 · No DateToday I got paid.“Our enemies that were fighting a week ago—& who shot hundreds of our men, are now our allies and are being armed & set loose to fight the Germans.”
4. Nov. 22, 1942A bath in my helmet.“It gets rather hard to write letters one way—i.e. without receiving any.”
5. Nov. 24, 1942A house of your own.“We want our daughter raised as we think she should be.”
6. Nov. 25, 1942Hallelujah! the Jackpot.“Honey I love you like hell, and it is hell to be this faraway from you.”
7. Nov. 26, 1942Thanksgiving sans turkey.“I am enclosing the pictures so you will know what I look like on this date.”
8. Nov. 29, 1942Must have been rumor.“That mail we were supposed to get yesterday must have been rumor.”
9. Dec. 1, 1942He is a fire-eater.“My heart hangs heavy when I think of the time which must elapse before I can get home to my loved ones.”
10. Dec. 2, 1942Respoiled by then.“I imagine Linda is heckling you for food.”
11. Dec. 6, 1942Dancing made me homesick.“Since you aren’t here all I can do is to make you feel like you were here by describing things to you.”
12. Dec. 7, 1942A day in the Foreign Legion’s town.“For a description of this part of the country read Beau Geste.”
13. Dec. 8, 1942Still no mail today.“I hope you get Linda to hang up her stocking for Santa Claus—and I know Santa will have plenty for her.”
14. Dec. 9, 1942I can’t jitter.“Tell her she has the swellest mother in the world—and the sweetest wife her daddy ever hoped to have.”
15. Dec. 9, 1942Beer at 10¢ a quart.“May it bring an end to this useless expenditure of human beings.”
16. Dec. 10, 1942The mail was just a rumor.“Without letters from you it gets rather difficult to write a very long letter every day—so you’ll have to excuse them if they seem short—or talk about trivial things.”
17. Dec. 12, 1942Mail has been coming in.“There is a chance that I may get transferred and become a member of the bn. staff—the most insignificant of the positions S-2—Intelligence officer.”
18. Dec. 13, 1942One thin sheet.“May I again wish you a Merry Xmas & Happy New Year with the prayer that our next one will be spent together.”
19. Dec. 14, 1942Social customs prevailing here.“The knowledge that I have anyone as precious and lovely as you to come home to satisfies me—and the wolves can have what they can get.”
20. Dec. 15, 1942Try living in a pup tent.“I’m sitting here looking at Linda’s picture—and I feel so very proud. She is a darling if there ever was one.”
21. Dec. 16, 1942An English class at the bar.“She wasn’t my daughter, she was a doll … Don’t tell Linda about that or she will get a swelled head.”
22. Dec. 17, 1942That wine is dynamite.“Darling, I miss you so much I would give anything to be able to have you here next to me.”
23. Dec. 18, 1942Everything is canned.“You two young ladies take care of yourselves—your old man will be home some day and he wants you both in good shape.”
24. Dec. 19, 1942Bn Staff as S-2.“I got back to the Company today only to be transferred to Bn Staff as S-2—Intelligence Officer.”
25. Dec. 20, 1942My new job.“If anything it is a little more dangerous than my former job, but I’m more or less on my own and I think I can take care of myself.”
26. Dec. 21, 1942Four Xmas telegrams.“I love you honey, I love you I love you—wrap your arms around yourself and give yourself a hug from me.”
27. Dec. 22, 1942Save all of my letters.“If you keep the letters according to date, when I get home I’ll have a diary of my daily travels.”
28. Dec. 23, 1942Note sarcasm.“I love you both with all my heart—and I hope that you felt my thoughts were with you on Xmas—as they are at all times”
29. Dec. 23, 1942A second letter for today.“It is an inspiring sight to see the colors go by with their escort.”
30. Dec. 24, 1942’Twas the night before Christmas.“I don’t think the Lord would want our little family broken up so he will watch over me and get me back safe to you and Linda.”
31. Dec. 25, 1942Christmas Day, 1942.“You have heard of the blue Mediterranean. Well it’s even bluer.—and it is as calm as a pond.”
32. Dec. 26, 1942You have competition, honey.“I wish I could be there to see Linda running around the house on her tricycle—reading the paper and doing all the other cute things.”
33. Dec. 27, 1942A home of our own.“It’s all well and good to be one of the boys fighting for Uncle Sam, but it’s a terrific price to pay for the absence from your family.”
34. Dec. 28, 1942Hitting the jackpot.“The men can hardly believe it. They haven’t had a break like this since they left the states.”
35. Dec. 29, 1942Answering your letters.“As you have said in your letters the future for us is very promising because we have come to appreciate each other more.”
36. Dec. 30, 1942I can’t write a book every day.“I miss you honey and am always hoping for anything that will get me back to you.”

The truck ride to the front, the Ousseltia Valley, Kasserine Pass, Gafsa and El Guettar. Chapter page and history →

1. Jan. 1, 1943Does the writing look better?“I want more than anything else to be with my two lovely young Ladies.”
2. Jan. 1, 1943 (2)I am now their bon ami.“Knowing me, that speaks louder than words for I have a definite aversion to writing.”
3. Jan. 2, 1943Nothing ever happens to me.“There is likely to be a break in the letter writing at any time, but please don’t get worried over it.”
4. Jan. 3, 1943A fellow in another battalion also has a big head.“I love you too much to disgrace myself and you too.”
5. Jan. 4, 1943If all the French people were like them…“The little French girl insisted on kissing me goodbye and it made me want to have Linda here with me.”
6. Jan. 8, 1943No more one-page letters.“Honey, you are my everything and I hope you know it.”
7. Jan. 8, 1943 (2)They called her gentil.“I love you, darling, and I wish I could hold you in my arms right now.”
8. Jan. 10, 1943Why they don’t report just facts is beyond me.“I think of you both constantly and wish I were home—living as a normal husband with his family.”
9. Jan. 11, 1943Figure that out.“There are times in this little game called war, that you can’t even do that.”
10. Jan. 12, 1943XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO“Those letters are the most precious thing in the world—next to the pictures I want.”
11. Jan. 13, 1943I feel like a million.“You’ll have to read my loving thoughts for you between the lines.”
12. Jan. 14, 1943Figure them out.“Some of my letters may seem crazy, but figure them out.”
13. Jan. 15, 1943One of my typical days.“I hope this damn war gets over in a big hurry and I pray that God will see that I get back to you.”
14. Jan. 16, 1943Tomorrow’s letter will probably be the last for some time.“I think that the rest of our life together is going to be so much better and happier than the past for this separation.”
15. Jan. 17, 1943Hurrah! Two letters today.“You’ll know I’m thinking of you and love you with all my heart.”
16. Jan. 19, 1943It has California beat.“Someday my desires & hopes will be answered and I’ll be happy again with my little family.”
17. Jan. 20, 1943But I’ll never forget yesterday.“I want to get back home and be a father + husband—and not a soldier.”
18. Jan. 22, 1943It’s heaven.“I’ll never be the same man I was until I get back to you.”
19. Feb. 1, 1943Ten years have passed.“I have done more praying than ever before and you and Linda have become ever so precious to me.”
20. Feb. 2, 1943A pretty, short name for a jeep.“Those future years are going to be awfully full to make up for this time the war has taken.”
21. Feb. 4, 1943Won’t I be a beauty.“Honey I long to hold you in my arms again and be your husband—and the lover.”
22. Feb. 6, 1943I have no use for money where I am.“Constantly on my mind is the thought of my wife and daughter back home.”
23. Feb. 7, 1943Lauten Field Order #1.“A letter and picture mean more than anything over here in the field.”
24. Feb. 8, 1943OH Happy Day.“If it were any better you would be in the movies.”
25. Feb. 10, 1943Three feet underground.“I want so much to be with you & Linda that I get pretty low.”
26. Feb. 13, 1943Snug as a bug in a rug.“That way I don’t have the responsibility of determining life and death for my men.”
27. Feb. 14, 1943Were you my Valentine?“Tell the Princess her Daddy loves her too.”
28. Feb. 16, 1943War is no picnic.“Darling, I can’t believe I ever enjoyed the luxury of laying down on a sofa, climbing in between white sheets.”
29. Feb. 20, 1943A front seat for the broadcast.“I think you’ve always known just how I felt even when I said nothing.”
30. Feb. 26, 1943So you really have heard of me.“I’m too tough now for them to do anything to me. I’m making sure that I’ll get home to you.”
31. March 2, 1943A stubborn fool—and so am I.“I think of you and Linda each night when I go to bed.”
32. March 4, 1943Back for a rest.“I hope Linda is well now. From all I hear she is a dream and I wouldn’t have anything happen to her for the world.”
33. March 5, 1943A flashlight from a dead German.“Love does funny things—In this case it made me a letter writer.”
34. March 7, 1943A disappointed boy.“I’m a lonely man without you honey so write a heck of a lot of letters.”
35. March 8, 1943Poor me—I only got one.“Goodnight honey. I love you just as much even if I haven’t got as much room to write it in.”
36. March 10, 1943So obviously liars.“We couldn’t have anything better than our little Princess.”
37. March 11, 1943Everything was backwards.“When I’m back with you and Linda, I’ll spoil and pamper both of you.”
38. March 12, 1943I don’t give a damn.“I’m afraid I have too much of a mind of my own—and I have been pretty outspoken about what I think.”
39. March 13, 1943Letters will be scarce.“I’ll be thinking of you constantly even when I can’t write.”
40. March 14, 1943The lucky guy.“Mine is regular—and I know what I’ve got each month.”
41. March 18, 1943You might even see my picture.“Don’t worry about me—they can’t do anything to me—I’ve got a lucky star over my head.”
42. March 20, 1943I want to see you.“I not only want to hear from you—but I want to see you.—ever so much—even if only in a picture.”
43. March 21, 1943Read the newspapers for this date.“The odds are much in our favor. For that reason, we are able to sit and watch such things with the eye of an interested spectator.”
44. March 24, 1943A box seat.“We took everything they had and knocked the hell out of them.”
45. March 1943If wishing would come true.“If wishing would come true, I’d be home with you today.”

The invasion, a tank battle near Gela and a truce at an Italian villa. Chapter page and history →

1. July 1, 1943North Africa“There will probably be another one of those long waiting spells for you pretty soon.”
2. July 8, 1943At sea, bound for Sicily“You'll be able to read all about it in the newspapers.”
3. July 15, 1943Sicily, 16th Infantry HQ“According to regulations in effect, I can't write about anything else.”
4. July 26, 1943Sicily, on the move“Two weeks ago the regiment received the brunt of the heaviest tank attack made in this campaign.”
5. July 28, 1943Sicily, 12:30 A.M.“Parachutists had raised hell with them in the rear.”
6. August 11, 1943Associated Press story by Hal Boyle“I know the story sounds crazy, but crazy things happen in war.”