Sunday · Jan. 17, 1943
Hurrah! Two letters today.
Written the day before he moved out.
Jan 17, 1943
My Darling Wife:
Hurrah! Two letters today from you.—one mailed Dec 28th one on Dec 29th. I also received a letter from Kitty with all the gossip as of Dec 30. More mail is supposed to come in today and I’m hoping for some more letters.
Although I think I have made myself clear in other letters, I’ll go over this allotment situation again. Effective Sept 1, my allotment was for $210.00 per month. It will remain in effect thru Feb 28th. Commencing March 1st for an indefinite period it will be for $235.00 per month.
You should have received $210.00 per month—i.e. you should receive that sum for the …
… months of September, October, November, December—and later for January and February. The check is supposed to arrive the first part of the month following each of the above named months. i.e. September’s check should arrive the first week of October.
$210.00 has been deducted from my pay for September, October, November and December, and will be deducted for January and February. After that $235.00 will be deducted. Once an allotment is sent in, I cannot draw the money myself and to change an allotment takes 2–3 months. Therefore the checks you received are short and the government owes you money. As I understand it you have received the following sums
September · rec’d Oct. · $210.00
October · rec’d Nov · 175.00
November · rec’d Dec. · 210.00
That means you still have $35.00 coming to you for October. Be sure to write for it. By the time …
… you receive this letter you should have received the check for December of $210.
The money orders I sent you of $50, $25 and $25.00 (mentioned in my letters) are from money I have saved from the $77 I get each month and is not allotment money. The $175 I sent from England was the June pay we missed. You also have that travel pay of approx $120 coming to you and if it is not back to you soon, write in about it. There is an outside chance I’ll get another $100 for uniform allowance but don’t count on that.
I received a box of assorted cookies, candy, crackers, cheese, handkerchief—from the Forsythes today.—I don’t know what I’ll do with it for I leave tomorrow.
I don’t know what got into [Art Irwin?] but I’m glad you didn’t take him up. You don’t have to work or do a damn thing you don’t really want to do. Money …
… is not too important—we have plenty and it is to be used as you desire.
As I’ve told you in many other letters Linda’s picture arrived but I do not have your picture as yet.
I have some work to do right now so must close. I’ll try to write another letter to you tonight.—but if not you’ll know I’m thinking of you and love you with all my heart.
All my love
Your
John
About this letter
Four small pages. The day before, he warned that this would be the last letter “for some time.” On this one he writes, “I leave tomorrow.”
THE LOST PAGE, FOUNDPage 3 turned up loose among his papers in November 2026. It fits exactly: page 2 ends “By the time” and page 3 begins “you receive this letter.”
WHAT CAME NEXTThe 16th Infantry was soon in Tunisia. He went on to fight at Ousseltia Valley, Kasserine Pass, Gafsa and El Guettar.
READING CLOSELY
“You’ll know I’m thinking of you and love you with all my heart.” The next day his unit moved out, heading east toward Tunisia.
Kitty worked in the Glendale City Attorney’s office.
The table of checks is set out in his own three columns on the page.
“I leave tomorrow”: his next letter, Jan. 20, says there were no letters Jan. 18 or 19 because “we kept going so long.”
The Forsythes and [Art Irwin?] are not identified. The $175 from England also appears in his Nov. 25, 1942 letter.
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. “I leave tomorrow.” In 2003 he wrote: “Just as we were becoming comfortable, we were moved by truck to Tunisia via Algiers, Constantine, and Tebessa.”