Wednesday · Dec. 9, 1942
Beer at 10¢ a quart.
Things have been fixed up for us pretty nice.
Dec. 9, 1942
Dear Aubrey, Ren & Kitty:
Today’s mail brought two letters from Kitty, one enclosing an Xmas card, the other giving me a lot of news re the City of Glendale. You don’t know how much I appreciate these letters with all the news of what is going on. I’m supposed to get the News-Press but it isn’t coming through.
I was sorry to hear that Ren was pretty low, and I hope you’re well by now, Ren. I’M still waiting to hear the outcome of the Myers case - if it isn’t still pending.
Regular mail - mailed Nov. 1 - 20 has been coming in swell - but air mail has not come in for five weeks. The last letter from my wife was early in October. I have received lots of cards from Jr. C of C members, including one from Kenny White.
Since writing to you this part of N. Africa has changed considerably. When we arrived, the barren hills had been plowed and were a reddish brown. Now the new crop of wheat is coming up and the hills and fields are a beautiful light green. A few days ago I took a trip to a historic city in this area, and in doing so passed through miles upon miles of wheat fields. The crop yield must be terrific. The cities and villages are just as you have seen them portrayed in pictures involving the Foreign Legion.
Top half of typed page 1.
Recently things have been extremely pleasant for us. The Army is providing cigarettes as part of the ration, and has provided candy and stationery for resale to the men. The men have been getting 24 hr passes - that’s a lot over here. Beer is being provided in copious quantities at 10¢ per quart. It only costs the P.X. about 2-1/2¢ per bottle and the beer compares favorably with U.S. beer. Our Bn. has taken over a cinema in the village adjacent to our camp. The theatre is a better one than you will find in any American village of comparable size. That’s where the men go at night to get their beer, listen to phonograph, and shortwave broadcasts from America. A show “Son of Fury” with Tyrone Power was provided for the men - free - yesterday. The officers use the place one night per week, and nurses are brought in in trucks to dance with us. All in all, things have been fixed up for us pretty nice.
At present I am in my sleeping bag trying to write this letter, with a poker game going on in the tent and a bottle of beer at my side.
Bottom half of typed page 1.
As you may or may not know, I have been second-in-command - executive officer - of my company since I left the States. That makes me responsible for the mess and supply and other duties assigned to me by the company commander.
It’s getting late so I’ll have to close and get some sleep. I hope you are all well, and that you all have a very merry Xmas and a Happy New Year - may it bring an end to this useless expenditure of human beings.
Sincerely yours,
JOHN
Typed page 2. The faint mirror-image text is the back of the sheet showing through.
About this letter
The same day he wrote Ginny, John typed a letter to friends Aubrey, Ren and Kitty. It gives a fuller picture of camp life than his letters home, and it fills in what was going on in his letter of Dec. 8.
WHY THIS MATTERSHe says “Son of Fury” was shown to the men “yesterday.” His letter dated “Nov. 9” describes that same movie “this afternoon,” which is how we know that letter was really written Dec. 8.
ABOUT THE COPYTwo typed pages, signed “JOHN” in type. It may be a carbon or a copy he sent home. Page 1 is long, so it is shown in two halves.
READING CLOSELY
“May it bring an end to this useless expenditure of human beings.” His New Year’s wish to friends in Glendale, written from his sleeping bag with a poker game going on in the tent.
This letter is typed, so there are no hard-to-read words. Hyphens are his typed dashes.
The “Foreign Legion” pictures he mentions were desert adventure movies like “Beau Geste.”
Glendale’s newspaper was the Glendale News-Press. John later wrote for the City of Glendale newsletter.
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.