Saturday · Jan. 16, 1943
Tomorrow’s letter will probably be the last for some time.
And could she send German and Italian dictionaries?
Jan 16th, 1943
My Darling Ginny
Its just after noon and the mail this morning brought me letter from mother dated Nov 7th There is supposed to be more this evening and I hope I get my share.
Tomorrow’s letter will probably be the last for some time as I will be kept pretty busy and don’t know when I’ll find time to write, I’ll take time out at every opportunity to drop you a line.
Darling you don’t know how I miss you. Each day I sit for some time day dreaming and thinking of the day when I’ll get back to you—and I hope that will be soon. That home of mine is becoming more important as time goes …
… on. I may be mistaken but I think that the rest of our life together is going to be so much better and happier than the past for this separation. You asked me in a letter I received a few days ago whether the office had worried me like it did Ren. You know it did—With Ren, he could not forget it when he got home. With me, I forgot the office but the time spent in the office was one of tension and I must admit it tired me a lot. Perhaps being in better physical condition I could have been able to hold up better—but to get the exercise requires time. In the end I would not be much better for you one way or the other.
I have received just about everything I could want—except the picture of you—and lots more pictures of you & Linda as the weeks go by. I also want those small dictionaries …
… English-Spanish, English-French and now English-German and English-Italian. If you can get them to me I’ll be fixed up O.K. A carton of cigarettes every two or three weeks will come in handy to supplement my ration—and if you can get a box of Robt Burns cigarillos—3¢ each and send me one of those each month, my life will be happy & content. I wrote once and asked for generators for Coleman lamps. If you sent them swell—they are worth their weight in gold.—If you haven’t sent them by now, don’t, as I don’t know whether we will ever receive them
How is my little princess? I’ll wager she is getting saucier every day. I swell up every time anyone admires her picture so I know how you must feel when people admire her on the street. With a daughter like that we will have our hands full in our …
… middle age, won’t we.
Well sweetheart I’m running out of gossip. I love you bushels & bushels and wish I could give you the works right now—could you take it? Until tomorrow
All my love
Your
John
About this letter
Four small pages, written just after noon and addressed “My Darling Ginny.”
THE DICTIONARIESHe already had English-Spanish and English-French. Now he wanted German and Italian, the languages of the enemy in Tunisia. Questioning prisoners was part of an intelligence officer’s job.
RENRen Lawson, his friend from the Glendale City Attorney’s office.
READING CLOSELY
“I think that the rest of our life together is going to be so much better and happier than the past for this separation.” They were married 59 years.
A Coleman lamp “generator” is the replaceable part of a gasoline lantern that vaporizes the fuel.
Robert Burns was a popular cigar brand.
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.