Wednesday · Feb. 10, 1943
Three feet underground.
British rations, a no-package order, and a blue Christmas read late.
Feb 10, 1943
My Darling Wife
The other day after I wrote to you answering your letters, I received some more mail. As I had already written to you I tried to answer most of the other mail.—mother & dad—Grandmother & Harrises, office, Jr. Chamber. I received your V-mail letter of Oct 28th, the letter you wrote on Xmas and the letter you wrote Dec 22nd. I also received a letter from the church, a letter from R.K. Hutchison, a Y secretary I used to work under, a letter from Dad written Dec 21st, and a card from the Reader’s Digest announcing that I was to receive a year’s subscription to the magazine thru the courtesy of the Glendale Jr. C of C. Pretty nice eh.
I’m sorry I couldn’t have been there to see Linda when the Xmas tree was set up …
… and when she received her Xmas presents. Your letter of Xmas day was swell and I have a pretty good picture of what was going on.
This letter is being written to you from 3 feet underground—due to the discourtesy of our neighbors. He’s getting too damn close for comfort—but as long as I’m in my hole I’ll be O.K.
American rations stopped and we have been getting British rations. They are slightly stinko—no coffee, plenty of tea. Their biscuits are lousy compared to ours, but they do have lots of American items—such as Corned Beef, Salmon, sardines, & fruit. Their breakfasts are their worst meal—supper being pretty good.
There I go again talking about the principal subject of discussion—the food. One good thing about the British ration—you get a bar of chocolate every day—plus only 7 cigs. Mine are holding out O.K.—and perhaps I’ll get some more packages of them soon. I was quite surprised to hear about that “no package” order. We hadn’t heard about it prior to that last bunch of letters. It’s too bad, because we really enjoy the cigs, candy, nuts, jams, etc that we get from home.—not to mention many of the items of clothing.
Reading about Xmas at home without my being there made me quite blue, and I hope we don’t have to be apart another Xmas. I want so much to be with you & Linda that I get …
… pretty low. I’ve been away from you 6½ months and it seems like years. When I do get back we’re going to make up for those months in a big way and I’ll love you and Linda to death. That picture gives me great consolation and I hope my love for you reaches you by telepathy.
Must close and take a [gander?] on what’s going on.
All my love
Your
John
P.S. I’m running low on stationery so until I see more in sight I’ll have to spread my letters out a little.
About this letter
Four pages in pencil. He is running out of paper and warns that his letters will have to spread out.
BRITISH RATIONSHis battalion was now supplied through the British: tea instead of coffee, seven cigarettes a day, and a daily chocolate bar.
THE “NO PACKAGE” ORDERIn January 1943 the Post Office stopped accepting packages for soldiers overseas unless the soldier had asked for them in writing.
READING CLOSELY
“I want so much to be with you & Linda that I get pretty low.” “I’ve been away from you 6½ months and it seems like years.”
The Harrises are his cousin Jo Harris’s family in Pittsburgh.
A “Y secretary” was a YMCA staff officer; he worked at the YMCA in high school.
“Limey” and “stinko” were common soldier slang.
The Big Picture
Two Axis armies
By February the Allies faced two Axis armies in Tunisia. Gen. Hans-Jürgen von Arnim’s Fifth Panzer Army (panzer means armored) held the north. Rommel’s army, chased across Libya by the British Eighth Army, fell back to the Mareth Line, a row of French forts in southern Tunisia. It got there Feb. 15.
The Allied front ran through the mountains in three sectors: British, French and American. Rommel feared an Allied push through those mountains could cut his army’s supply line from Tunis.
Where he was
Central Tunisia, at the front. He later recalled his 3rd Battalion on a blocking mission in the Ousseltia Valley, where the 16th Infantry held the north end of the line.
In this letter. His battalion was fighting inside the British First Army’s sector, which is why British rations, tea and “Limey cigs” replaced American ones.