Friday · Jan. 15, 1943
One of my typical days.
Hotcakes, a striker with hot water, and Bob Hope for the men.
Jan 15, 1943
My Darling Wife
No recent mail today—and I didn’t get anything but Newspress today. The copies received were very interesting—some for the week before and some for the week after the invasion You get much better coverage of the interesting sidelights than we do. Of interest to all of us was the article on Nov 7th in which the Germans reported that the British were about to attack N. Africa. I guess it is impossible to hide a huge convoy like we had. There was also an interesting article written about Nov 15th in which the trip of Gen Clark to N. Africa prior to the invasion was reported.
You have probably read the story of the escape of General Giraud from France. It was in the “Stars & Stripes” a North African newspaper printed by the Army. It was one of those …
… fantastic stories that one expects to find in fiction.
Today, we are having wonderful weather—warm, sunny, and the damn wind has stopped. You may be interested in one of my typical days. I get up sometime between 7:30–8:00 That merely necessitates my raising up in bed and dressing while setting down. Our striker brings us hot water and sets it outside of the tent for us to wash with. After our ablutions are over, we walk 50 feet to the mess—eat a none too appetizing breakfast—as a rule. However this morning we had hotcakes and the cooks have got the best recipes yet for good cakes. During the morning I find various things to do. Generally I am on my own and can do as I please. Likewise in the afternoon.
This evening the men were taken to a …
… nearby town to see my “Favorite Blond” Everyone liked it and now they will be happy for a while.
Darling I’m hoping for a recent letter from you. I hope you are receiving my letters for I know how blue I get when I don’t get word from you. I love you and Linda dearly and when I don’t get word of how you are for any period of time my heart aches. I hope this damn war gets over in a big hurry and I pray that God will see that I get back to you.
I hear that Gil’s outfit had a little trouble. I hope he is O.K. Let me know if you hear.
Must close now and get some sleep
All my love
Your
John
Hugs, kisses—everything
About this letter
Three small pages on a warm, sunny day, “and the damn wind has stopped.”
IN THE NEWSGen. Mark Clark’s secret submarine trip to meet French officers before the landings, and Gen. Henri Giraud’s escape from a German fortress.
“OUR STRIKER”An officer’s orderly, who brought the hot water.
READING CLOSELY
“I hope this damn war gets over in a big hurry and I pray that God will see that I get back to you.” Signed: “Hugs, kisses—everything.”
“My Favorite Blonde” (1942) was a Bob Hope spy comedy.
Gil was Esther’s husband, already at the front.
The Big Picture
A secret meeting
On Jan. 14, President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill met in secret at Casablanca, in French Morocco. Soviet leader Joseph Stalin did not come. He said the battle at Stalingrad kept him in Moscow.
For ten days they planned the next stage of the war. Their biggest decision: after North Africa, the Allies would invade Sicily, the island at the toe of Italy’s boot. A landing in France would have to wait.
They also agreed to step up the bombing of Germany.
Where he was
Near Oran, Algeria, now on the 3rd Battalion staff as intelligence officer (S-2). The 1st Division was still training around Oran while British, American and French troops held a line in the hills west of Tunis, more than 500 miles to the east.
In this letter. “Gil’s outfit had a little trouble”: American units were already fighting in central Tunisia alongside the French.