V-Mail
Thursday, July 8, 1943
My Darling Wife
No mail arrived — and I won't be able to get any for a long time now. If you don't get letters as often as in past, don't get worried. You'll be able to read all about it in the newspapers and you'll just have to do your own guessing. In the meantime don't get upset — your hubby is going to be alright.
This letter and my recent letters probably [will?] be released for some time — so you'll be just that much longer in getting news.
Chow has been especially good the past few days. Chicken roasts, chops — and swell fresh bread. I'm really getting fat. I've had plenty of work to do and I'll probably have more but it is interesting and my boss, the Colonel, is a swell fellow. He's the best there is — You will probably note that since he took over — and since I became S-2, I have not been disgusted with the army. When things are wrong, he is the first one to see it — and do something about it. I like to work for a man like that — and I think most of the officers feel the same way.
Give my little Princess a great big hug from her Daddy — and tell her I love her very much. Need I repeat that that goes for her mother too — who is the most wonderful little woman in the world. Goodnight sweetheart — I hope this reaches you soon. All my love
Your John
READING CLOSELY
“Read all about it in the newspapers.” As close as he could come to saying an invasion was days away.
“My boss, the Colonel.” Almost certainly Col. George A. Taylor, who took command of the 16th Infantry that spring.
S-2. The regiment's intelligence officer, John's job.
Where he was. Two days before the landing at Gela. No letters survive from July 9 through July 14.