Saturday · March 20, 1943
I want to see you.
Floods in the desert, foxholes in the sand.
March 20, 1943
My Darling Wife.
We got rained on for the last two days, but today the sun is shining, and I imagine that in time this desert sun could be quite annoying. The radio—B.B.C.—has told about our floods.—The mountains are barren. They drain through wadies into a central waddy. They were dry when we got here, but turned into swollen rivers in a short time. It is much like—only worse—the heavy rains we get in Calif.—like the one you had in January.
It’s a pleasure to dig a fox-hole out here—it’s easy to dig in the sand.—We even dig fox holes for the jeeps, kitchens. It’s rather weird to see a jeep drive out of one of these burrows.
Water will probably be a problem here. There will be enough to drink but I doubt if there will be much to wash with. The other day we had our first fresh meat.
There is a little mail expected in tonight—and I hope I get more than my share—to make up for the ones I didn’t get.
I hope you and Linda are both well and getting along alright. Without news from home I’m lost and always wondering how you are. Damn the army Postal Service.—It’s lousy right now.
You and Linda are constantly in my thoughts. I love you both and miss you a lot. The pictures I have get plenty of looking at, and I hope there are more pictures on the way. I not only want to hear from you—but I want to see you.—ever so much—even if only in a picture.
All my love
Your John
About this letter
A V-mail written near El Guettar, east of Gafsa.
THE V-MAILOne V-mail form in ink. His serial number at the top is blurred.
THE FLOODSDesert gullies (wadis) fill in minutes after heavy rain. He compares them to the January floods Ginny had in Southern California.
READING CLOSELY
“I not only want to hear from you—but I want to see you.—ever so much—even if only in a picture.” Written the day before the 1st Division attacked from El Guettar.
“Wadies” and “waddy” are his spellings of wadi, a dry desert streambed.
The Big Picture
Squeezing from two sides
In mid-March the Allies began to squeeze the Axis from two sides. On March 17 the 1st Division took Gafsa, which its Italian defenders had already left. On March 20 the British Eighth Army attacked the Mareth Line.
Patton’s orders were limited. His Americans were to threaten the Axis from behind and draw German troops away from the British. There would be no drive to the coast.
Where he was
Near El Guettar, about 12 miles east of Gafsa, where the 1st Division was preparing to attack the hills held by Italian and German troops.
In this letter. That night the British Eighth Army opened its attack on the Mareth Line, 100 miles to the southeast. His division’s attack at El Guettar was meant to threaten the Germans from behind.