Tuesday · Dec. 8, 1942 · 10 P.M.
Still no mail today.
Maybe tomorrow.
Nov. 9, 1942 · 10 P.M. (actually Dec. 8)
My Darling Wife
Here I am again. Still no mail today. Maybe tomorrow. This afternoon the company went to a show at the cinema—“Son of Fury” with Tyrone Power & Gene Tierney. It sure was swell to see a movie, and especially from America. I read the story in American [or?] Cosmopolitan and the picture was as good as the story.
After the show I went on guard as officer of the day. It started raining this afternoon and hasn’t stopped yet. I slog around in my galoshes and try to keep dry.
Tonight I censored 60 letters and feel like a working man. It took me …
… over two hours so I’m just getting to your letter.
The latest news from America re: Tunisia does not sound so good. Today they lost about 8 miles. I hope they get going soon—If they don’t they might use all of the troops in N. Africa for the job and that would mean another move. I like to stay put so that I can eat & sleep regularly, and write a regular letter home.
A few more letters came in today—regular surface mail—3¢. As mine all [came?] air-mail it seems to have been delayed. The surface mail arrived in two weeks from posting. Air mail is probably so heavy that they couldn’t take care of it all.
Tomorrow, I hope to get to the barber for a haircut & shampoo. The men say they do a good job and put a lot of …
… perfumed tonic on.
I’ve become resigned to the poor mail service but keep on writing in the hope that my letters will get to you. Honey, you don’t know it means to have two young ladies at home, all your own, and waiting for you. It carries me on from day to day, and my prayer is that I’ll [be able?] to rejoin you soon.
Yesterday marked the first year of American participation in the war. Great strides have been made. According to the report, U.S. war production now exceeds the combined production of Germany, Italy, and Japan. England & the empire are doing a lot too, so it is just a matter of time until sheer weight of arms will overwhelm them. It shouldn’t take another year at our …
… present rate. I hope not. I want to get home again and hold you in my arms and know I have you with me again. I wish I could stick my mug up to your ear and [illegible] it like I used to—remember.
This letter should reach you around Xmas if service is any good at all. It won’t be the Xmas we would like to have together, but I hope you and the baby have a real hearty Xmas. I’ll be thinking of you then. Probably you will be up at the house having turkey dinner, with mother, dad, George, Ditty & Bill. I hope you get Linda to hang up her stocking for Santa Claus—and I know Santa will have plenty for her.
Will close and drop a line to the folks. Goodnight. sweetheart.
All my love
Your John
About this letter
The day after Pearl Harbor’s first anniversary, John watches a Tyrone Power movie with his company, stands guard in the rain, censors his men’s mail, and thinks about Christmas at home.
ABOUT THE DATEHe wrote “Nov. 9, 1942,” but on Nov. 9 the division was still fighting for Oran. He says “yesterday marked the first year of American participation in the war” (Dec. 7) and that the company saw “Son of Fury” this afternoon. His typed letter of Dec. 9 says that movie was shown to the men “yesterday.” So this letter is Tuesday, Dec. 8, 1942.
WHO’S WHOGeorge is John’s brother. Ditty (Josephine) is John’s sister, and Bill is her husband; they had a dairy farm in Oregon.
READING CLOSELY
“I hope you get Linda to hang up her stocking for Santa Claus—and I know Santa will have plenty for her.” Linda, his daughter, had just turned two. He wrote this hoping it would reach home by Christmas.
“Son of Fury” (1942) starred Tyrone Power and Gene Tierney. American Magazine and Cosmopolitan both ran fiction.
Officers had to read and censor their men’s letters before they were mailed.
Tunisia: after the landings, British and American troops raced east toward Tunis and were pushed back in early December.
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.
In this letter. Censoring sixty letters was routine: officers read and passed every enlisted man’s mail before it left the unit.