Wednesday · Dec. 2, 1942
Respoiled by then.
I have a runner who looks after me.
Dec. 2, 1942
My Darling Wife.
Another day—I got one letter—but an old one which had been sent to me at the hospital in Great Britain It was one Josephine Harris—via V-Mail:—giving me old news.
Today I took a bath and put on clean clothes and as a result. I feel pretty good. My Scotch & aspirin seems to be pretty good medicine for my cold is fast going away.
I have a runner who looks after me. He straightens up my tent, sees that my clothes go out to the laundry, heats water for me to shave.—bathe, shines my shoes and in general takes care of me swell. I’ll really be spoiled when I get home—or should I say respoiled by then.
We were assigned two new officers today so it looks like I won’t have a platoon for long and will get back to being executive officer again. That suits me swell. It looks as though I’ll get plenty of training under the new company commander. He’s going to act as umpire on company problems—at least some of them—while I get the training of taking command. I need the experience as all I’ve done so far in my army life is take care of administration details.
We get up at 6:30 A. It doesn’t get light until 7:15 and is it cold! It gets dark right after supper so we don’t get much recreation. About all we can do is pitch a baseball around a little before supper.
I still haven’t got rid of that trench mouth or gingivitis—whichever it is. It has come back since our little battle. I guess it was lack of facilities for cleansing my mouth for those several days that caused it to flare up. I’ve got to get to the dentist and get treated again—if they have the medicine.
I try to picture in my mind what you are doing now—and what the apartment looks like. It’s just about lunch time so I imagine Linda is heckling you for food.—or does she do that. I’ll bet she is developing definite ideas about what she wants by this time—and she has probably found the place the cookies are hidden by now. I hope and pray you are both well and getting along allright—and that I’ll get good news from home soon. Today they informed me that my telegram has not been sent yet because facilities are bogged down.—I hope you have received some news of me long before this letter reaches you. I wish I could be there now and really hug you to pieces honey—that’s what I’m going to do when I get home. Must close now for tonight
All my love
Your John
P.S. In case I didn’t tell you before, I would leave your address at [street address left out]—with War Dept. unless the folks move out. It takes so long for them to act, and you may want to move—in which case it takes another long time to change the address. The [illegible] address will always reach you—while the other addresses might cause [loss?] of mail
“Dec 42” is penciled sideways on this page in another hand.
About this letter
Three and a half weeks after the landings, John is in camp in North Africa. Two new officers have arrived, so he expects to give up his platoon and go back to being his company’s executive officer under the new commander.
ABOUT THE DATEDated “Dec. 2, 1942” in his hand; Dec. 2 was a Wednesday. Someone later penciled “Dec 42” on the back. Three pages, signed; the third page is a P.S. on the back.
WORTH NOTICINGHe mentions “our little battle,” the November landings near Oran, and a gum infection that flared up during the days he couldn’t brush his teeth.
READING CLOSELY
“I imagine Linda is heckling you for food.” It was lunchtime back home, and he was picturing his two-year-old at the kitchen table, likely already wise to where the cookies were hidden.
“The hospital in Great Britain”: he was just out of the hospital when he wrote the Oct. 23 letter. Josephine (Jo) Harris was John’s first cousin, in Pittsburgh.
A runner was the enlisted messenger assigned to an officer; in camp he often looked after the officer’s gear. Trench mouth was a painful gum infection common among soldiers.
[street address left out] appears to be John’s parents’ address. He calls Ginny’s new place “the apartment” here; on Nov. 24 it was “the place at [street address left out]”
The Big Picture
The race for Tunis stalls
The Germans won the race to Tunisia. By the end of November about 15,000 German troops and 100 tanks were there. The Allies got within about 12 miles of Tunis before they were stopped.
In early December German tanks struck back at Tebourba, west of Tunis, and pushed the Allies back. Then the winter rains turned the roads to mud.
At home, rationing (limits on how much of something each family could buy) was spreading: coffee from Nov. 29, gasoline nationwide from Dec. 1.
Where he was
In camp outside Oran, Algeria, with I Company, 3rd Battalion, 16th Infantry. The fighting in Algeria was over; the 1st Division stayed behind to guard the area and train while other Allied troops raced east into Tunisia.