Saturday · Dec. 12, 1942
Mail has been coming in.
But none from you, honey.
Dec 12, 1942
My Darling Wife
Mail has been coming in—but none from you honey—we still haven’t received any airmail. I received an old V-Mail from George—Sept—One from Dad early in October—about 10 copies of the newspress—Sept 25-Oct 7—the American, Cosmopolitan and one other magazine. I read the newspapers and came across several interesting items of local information—and also some news of the home front with which I was not familiar. I’m going to enjoy the paper if it keeps on coming. Packages have been coming in fast but none for me as yet. The insured packages started to come tonight, and I hope …
… some of mine will come tomorrow.
Last night, the officers had another dance. This time instead of 70 officers and 10 nurses, we had about 50 nurses and 30 officers. As a result the officers present had to dance and dance to entertain the guests—and as a result I was worn out when it was over. It was fun to talk with American girls recently from the states. Most of them are kids from New York who just qualified as nurses a short time ago. We had an excellent army dance orchestra and the party was fairly successful—except the girls were rather put out that there weren’t enuf officers to dance with and they had to sit on the sidelines a good part of …
… the time.
Today I went to the dentist. I had a slight recurrence of that trench mouth that bothered me, so the dentist painted it with gentian violet. My mouth is really hideous—all violet stained.
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—It offers excellent experience in command post operation and if I make good, would afford a good chance for promotion. Lt. Burke who was my company commander at Blanding & Benning had the job, but he has been given command of a company.
The letter breaks off here; the rest is missing.
About this letter
John catches up on two-month-old newspapers, dances until he is worn out, and mentions, almost in passing, the job that would define his war.
INCOMPLETEThe scanned pages stop mid-thought, with no closing or signature. At least one more page is missing.
TRENCH MOUTHThe gum infection he mentioned on Dec. 2 came back; the dentist painted it with gentian violet, a purple antiseptic.
READING CLOSELY
“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.” A week later he got the job. He stayed in intelligence for the rest of the war, and was the 16th Infantry’s intelligence officer on D-Day.
“The newspress” is the Glendale News-Press; “the American” is The American Magazine.
“Last night” was Dec. 11, the officers’ party he announced on Dec. 10.
S-2 is the staff officer who gathers and studies information about the enemy and the ground. Lt. Burke, who had the job, was John’s company commander at Camp Blanding and Fort Benning.
The Big Picture
All eyes on Stalingrad
In Russia, Soviet armies had trapped nearly 300,000 German and Romanian soldiers at Stalingrad on Nov. 23. On Dec. 12 German tanks set out to rescue them. By Dec. 19 they were about 30 miles away, and they got no closer.
In Libya, the British Eighth Army was chasing Rommel’s army west after its victory at El Alamein. In Tunisia, both sides waited out the rain in the hills west of Tunis.
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. He hints he may become battalion intelligence officer. The appointment came one week later, on Dec. 19.