Spitball Army

[Letter addressed to Mrs. Harry V. C., c/o Mrs. J. W., 20 Block Street, Dundee, Scotland.  Return addressed to Cpl. Harry V. C., 33428766, 1409^th A.A.F. Base Unit, E.D.A.T.C. A.P.O. 741 c/o P.M., U.S. Army.]

France
September 7, 1945

My Precious Darling:

Just a couple lines Mary Darling to let you know that I am well and getting along the same as ever.  Darling I only hope this finds you well and getting along allright.  I am still working for Ace.  I worked till seven o’clock this morning.  I sure will be glad when we change shifts.  I might get a little more sleep then.  Hank & Werth and I are going to town today some time.

Darling I am still looking for the papers you sent me to make out.  I only hope they don’t get lost.  Dearest how is every one getting along up there now?  Have you had any word from your Father since he went back?

I am sure sorry to hear that you did not get to be with him all the time he was home.  I hope he don’t stay mad at you.

Darling are you working any place now?  I don’t know how long we will be kept very busy here.  They are going to quit flying troops to the states the last of this month so that will cut some of our work out.

Darling I feel awful now.  I love you so much and I only wish I could be there with you.  I pray that we will be together very soon.  Darling I suppose you saw in the paper where they are going to send all the troops home to the states before Christmas that has 70 points or more.  Well Darling that will get Hank, Werth, Gray and a lot more of the fellows.  I only have 69 so I guess that will leave me out.  Darling I only hope we can get back together but I would like for you to go as soon as you can.  Darling do every thing you can to go.  Will you do that Darling?

Well Darling I have your 50^th letter to answer so I guess I better get started on it.  This makes my 53^rd so far.  I only hope you have them all by this time.

Well Darling by the sound of your letter you must still be a big sleepy head.  Are you, Mary?  Do you stay over at Chick’s place all the time?  Mary Darling you better keep on eating every thing you can.  I don’t want you to be so thin that I can’t hold you tight in my arms when I am with you.  Please Mary take real good care of your self.  You mean every thing in this world to me: and Darling you will for ever and ever.  Darling what is Jimmy doing now?  I bet he has some time with the [truck?] or jeep that his daddy brought him.  I am looking around for something I can send him, but so far I haven’t found any thing any good.

Mary you sure must of been doing a lot of writing.  I wish I could write that many letters at a time.  The way I feel now I can hardly write to my precious Darling wife.  That must of been some letter Mom wrote you.  I suppose I will be getting one before long.  Darling don’t you ever think about smoking.  If you do I guess I will have to turn you over my knee when I get hold of you.  How would you like that Darling.  I hardly ever smoke any more.  I get 600 franks for a carton so they are too expensive to smoke.

Darling I will have to close for this time.  I am sending you a couple more clippings to read.  Darling please send me a nice picture like I ask you before.  Send me one that you and Chickie had taken when you were walking down the street.  Darling I am thinking of you every second.  I pray that we can be with each other very soon.

Your Loving and very Lonely husband
Harry

The au pair prepared to pare a pair of pears.

Would you close your flap, that I don’t forego my boiled eggs?!

[Letter addressed to Mrs. Harry V. C., c/o Mrs. J. W., 20 Block Street, Dundee, Scotland.  Return addressed to Cpl. Harry V. C., 33428766, 1409^th A.A.F. Base Unit, E.D.A.T.C. A.P.O. 741 c/o P.M., U.S. Army.]

France
September 6, 1945

Dearest Mary,

Just a couple more lines to let you know that I am well and getting along the best I can.  Darling I hope this finds you well and getting along allright.  I received two letters from you today, the 49^th and 50^th.  There is four missing some place.  I sure hope they get here soon so I can get the papers filled out.  Darling what all do you have to have besides the papers you sent me?  I sure hope I can get all the papers made out so you can get back home allright.

Well Darling I guess it is about time to get started answering the big letter you sent me, the 49^th one.  I am sure glad to know that you got my letters O.K.  Were there many missing Darling?

Mary Darling I know just about how you feel.  I would give any thing if I could be with you.  I guess I will have to try some other way to get back there besides getting a transfer.  Please Darling take good care of your self.  Try not to worry so much about me Darling.  I’m allright.  Mary you are the only one that means any thing to me.  I love you with all my heart Darling and I will never stop loving you.

Darling you don’t know how glad I am to know that you are back from Preswick.  I could not do any thing for worrying about you and wondering how you were getting along.  Please Darling don’t do any thing to make Mom mad at you.  You just don’t know how I feel when you don’t get along with her.  I am awful sorry to hear that you did not get to be home all the time your Father was there.  I only wish that I could have been there so we both could of been there to see him.  Darling I only hope he don’t stay angry with you very long.

Darling I know how hard it is to get along when you are not with the one person in the world that means every thing to you.  I pray all the time that it will not be long till we are together very soon.  Darling did the Major say how long he thought it would be before you can get to go to the States?  I only hope you can get back before I do but Darling I don’t think you will.  In five months I will have enough points to get home.  I might even go before then.  I only hope that I can stay over here till you can get back.  Darling one thing you don’t even have to worry about is me stopping loving you.  That is one thing Mary that I will never do.

Mary Dearest I only wish that I could hold you in my arms all the time and never stop kissing you.  Dearest you are every thing in my life.  I am lonely all the time Darling, when you are not with me.  No matter what I am doing or where I am I am thinking of you.  Darling I don’t think I will ever ask you to let me do what I wanted to before.  I know that you don’t ever want me to.  I know I would like to see [you] just once but I still will not ask.  You know what I am talking about, don’t you Mary Dearest?  Darling when I am with you again I am going to hold you so tight and just keep on kissing you that you will not be able to love let alone float around.  Darling it has been so long since I have kissed you, and Darling you are the only one that I am going to kiss, tho I think I have forgotten how.

Darling please tell me what Betty was saying to you.  Was it some of the things that I had already told you about?  Dearest do you know if she has all of the papers to go home?  Did she tell you what all that Hank has sent her?  I know that he has a couple bottles of perfume for her now.  I would get you more things if I could Darling but I just don’t have the money.  I want to save all I can.  I know that we will need all we can get hold of when we get back in the States.  I have only received $30 pay since I have been over here.  Darling let me know how much you owe Mom and I will send it to you.

Darling I will look around and see if I can find you a nice pair of ear rings.  I see a lot in the stores but I don’t like them so good.  The only ones that are nice costs a good bit more than what I have just now.  Darling do you have any money at all now?  I sent you one pound in the letter I wrote yesterday.  I don’t want to send too much at once.  Please Darling try and save all you can.  Will you try Dearest?  I know that it will be hard to do.

Darling I don’t think that I could of helped from laughing if I would of saw you and Chickie when you ran across the field.  I bet you both were some sights.  When we get back home Darling I will have to take you to a farm so you can learn the difference between a bull and a ram.  Will that be O.K.  I sure would of liked to have been there with a camera.

Say Darling how soon am I going to get that picture?  I have a new pocket book so Mary Darling how about a nice new picture for it?

Well Dearest I don’t blame Chickie for not being called by her right name.  They sure must of been mad at her when the stork brought her, to have given her a name like that.  Please don’t tell her I said so, will you Darling?  I wish I could of seen that picture you went to.  It sure must have been something.  I went to the movie here on the base last night and you should of seen it.  The picture was packed.  The show was supposed to start at 6:30 but just as it started the power went off.  Every thing was quiet for a while.  Then the fellows up in the balcony started to acting crazy.  You know what I had in my pocket that you made me get rid of?  Well they blew them up and dropped them down.  The fellows kept hitting them and they floated all over the building.        There were a lot of W.A.C.s in the place and the fellows was sure using some language.  Two WACs were sitting across the aisle from where they were throwing them from and one dropped right in one of their laps.  Then some crazy guy hollered “Try that for size.”  Darling you should of seen their faces.  The show started at 8:15.  The name of it was “Ten Cents a Dance.”  It was real good.  Then there was a short picture of the “Three Stooges.”  I sure wish you could of seen them.  I had to get to work from the movie.

Well Mary Darling I will have to close for this time.  I only hope I got the letter that you sent the papers in tomorrow.  I love you with all my heart Darling.  Pray that we are together soon.  Darling you mean every thing to me.

Your loving and very lonely husband
Harry

Toothache assessment: “I’ve been prostrated with the agonies of the damned.”

Sixteenth of 20 watercolor picture/postcards from the postcard book titled: “Official View Book, A CENTURY OF PROGRESS EXHIBITION, Chicago, 1933.”

This card pictures “The Sears, Roebuck Building, on the Avenue of Flags” at the 1933 World’s Fair held in Chicago, Illinois.

The accordion-style postcard book’s cover:

My Dad taught me: The best part of drinking bottled Coke is the tiny cokie particles collected in the bottom, making the last swig the best.

[Letter addressed to Mrs. Harry V. C., c/o Mrs. J. W., 20 Block Street, Dundee, Scotland.  Return addressed to Cpl. Harry V. C., 33428766, 1409^th A.A.F. Base Unit, E.D.A.T.C. A.P.O. 741 c/o P.M., U.S. Army.]

France
August.13.1945

My Precious Darling:

Well Darling here I am again to let you know that I am well, and getting along the same as ever.  Darling I miss you so awful much.  I haven’t heard from you for five days.  I only hope that you are well and not working too hard.

I was putting another oil cleaner together today.  We got it all fixed up ready to use.  Hank and I went to a movie here on the base tonight.  The name of it was The Fighting Guardsman.  It was pretty good.  Then we went to the Red Cross for coffee and doughnuts, after that we listened to a band for a while.  We also played a couple games of horse shoes.

Darling by the looks of things now, we are going to be assigned here.  If they are going to keep us here I wish they would do it and be done with it.  Then I would get a chance to do something, wither get transferred back or put in for a fellowship.  Boze tried to get a transfer, but they said no body could get back.  They are shipping all the fellows from the bases in England over here.

Darling are you getting my letters allright?  I sure hope you are.  I can hardly write for worrying about you and wondering how you are getting along.  I only hope I get a letter from you tomorrow.  I still have one of your letters to answer yet.  It is the 25^th one.  This is the 31^st one so far that I have wrote to you.  Darling I can’t tell you how to stop worrying about me.  I only wish I could.  I am allright, Darling, and I am taking good care of my self just for you.  Darling I am telling you every thing I do, after I finish work, and write to you.  I just lay on my bed and read.  The name of the book I am reading now is “Show Me a Land.”  It is not so bad.  Darling how are you getting along with your reading?  Have you read any of the books you was telling me about?  Please Mary Darling don’t worry about the letters you wrote.  I had every thing coming to me that you said.  I am awful sorry about it.  Please forgive me wife Dearest?  Darling have you received any more letters from Kenney?  I would like to hear from him.  Darling when you write to Mom tell her that I am well and getting along O.K.  I received her letters but I haven’t had time to answer.

Darling did your Father get home all right?  I sure would of liked to have been able to have seen him this time, but there was no way to get off and get back.  I only hope I get to see him the next time he gets home.  Darling did he come close to Paris on his way home?  I wish he would fly back and stop here so I could get acquainted with him.

Darling did you ever get that colored picture yet?  I am looking for it soon.

Darling please let me know as soon as you get the money I sent you.  I have only sent two pounds so far.  Then I sent you two other things from Paris.  I sure hope you get this O.K.  I will send a few more things before long.  Darling please take real good care of your self, and please don’t work too hard.  I miss you something awful Darling.  I pray all the time that I will be with you soon.  I love you more and more every day.  Mary Dearest I knew you meant an awful lot to me, but since I came over here I just found out for sure how much.  Darling I can’t find words to tell you.

Tell Mom and Jimmy and the rest I miss them a lot too.  I am thinking of you every second Darling.  Your Loving and very Lonely Husband.

Harry.

She does love old movies, so it shouldn’t have been a surprise when she said “basil” as if it were cast in a Sherlock Holmes film.

Do-rag-wearing huckster to me at gas station: “Hey, Boss-man!” I think: You’re perpetuating a Black stereotype that thousands have died while attempting to eliminate. But I don’t say it. Instead, I post it on my blog.