438th AAA AW BN
APO 403 % Postmaster, N.Y.
France
22 August, 1944 1010
Dearest sweetheart –
Well it looks as if it may clear up this morning, and that will be very welcome. We’re all just a little bit damp and soggy. Yesterday – we all stayed “put” – since there was no point in doing much traveling around. In the p.m. we played poker. It was an ideal day for that. I lost – but I guess I’m still ahead of the game because last month I actually sent home more than my salary. The poker we play – is not monotonous because we play dealer’s choice. The result is we play draw poker, stud, 7 cards – deuces wild, Woolworth (5’s and 10’s wild); baseball (3’s and 9’s wild, but if you get a 3 – you have to match the pot; a 4 gives you a free card down); one-eyed jacks and split-whiskered Kings wild – etc. etc. It’s a lot of fun and helps pass the time.
In the evening I got 3 more letters from you sweetheart – the 31st July 1 August and 11th August. All were very welcome, I can assure you, dear, because on the whole – it was a rather blue day. One thing that made me laugh particularly was the drawing of you with your new hair-do. My goodness, dear, are you trying to discourage me? What a fiancée! What a scowl! Oh well – it is just a sketch – but darling – make the next one smiling!
Say – you mentioned a long time ago the song “I Love You”. It meant nothing to me then except for the sentiment, of course. Last nite I heard a Fred Waring 15 minute program and he announced the next number as “I Love You” and then someone sang it. The next few words were or are “so take it from there”. Is that the song you refer to? If so – I had heard it in the States. I believe Betty Grable sang it in some picture – perhaps “Coney Island”. Anyway I liked it then and I can understand why it became a hit. We’re having considerable difficulty now in getting good reception from England. We’re pretty far in-land and of course the nearer we get to Germany – the more effective their jamming becomes. Most recently we’ve been tuning in on Radio Algiers. It comes in fairly well and has some good newscasts.
Your letter of the 11th of August, sweetheart, mentions the possibility of your coming down with a cold or sore throat. I hope you were able to ward it off, dear. I can’t understand why you should be so susceptible to them, anyway – especially after having gone to the trouble of having that tonsil tab removed. I guess you’ll have to build up an immunity from “association” with me. I use the word “association” in lieu of something else, dear.
Concerning France itself, dear – there’s very little to write that you’re not finding out in the papers, on the radio, and I suppose in the news reels. I can tell you this, perhaps, that almost every picture you’ve seen – I have seen in the real. If our outfit hasn’t actually been there – I have managed to see it myself in my various travels on my own. Needless to say – it’s been something I’ll never be able to forget. I haven’t been in a combat area so very long, dear, but I have been here long enough to know that it won’t affect me. So many times people have said that war does this or that to a fellow, changes him, hardens him etc. etc. I don’t see how I’m any different than I was before coming here and if the Lord can continue to spare – I won’t change. I left the U.S. and then England loving you, wanting to return to marry you, to start practicing, to live my life with you; I still want that with all the energy I have and with all the delicacy of feeling a person can have. War hasn’t taken the edge off anything, sweetheart. On the contrary – it has sharpened it – and for that I’m glad.
That’s all for now, darling; I’ve got to write the folks and then do a couple of things. Until tomorrow, dear – so long. Love to the folks and
Well it looks as if it may clear up this morning, and that will be very welcome. We’re all just a little bit damp and soggy. Yesterday – we all stayed “put” – since there was no point in doing much traveling around. In the p.m. we played poker. It was an ideal day for that. I lost – but I guess I’m still ahead of the game because last month I actually sent home more than my salary. The poker we play – is not monotonous because we play dealer’s choice. The result is we play draw poker, stud, 7 cards – deuces wild, Woolworth (5’s and 10’s wild); baseball (3’s and 9’s wild, but if you get a 3 – you have to match the pot; a 4 gives you a free card down); one-eyed jacks and split-whiskered Kings wild – etc. etc. It’s a lot of fun and helps pass the time.
In the evening I got 3 more letters from you sweetheart – the 31st July 1 August and 11th August. All were very welcome, I can assure you, dear, because on the whole – it was a rather blue day. One thing that made me laugh particularly was the drawing of you with your new hair-do. My goodness, dear, are you trying to discourage me? What a fiancée! What a scowl! Oh well – it is just a sketch – but darling – make the next one smiling!
Say – you mentioned a long time ago the song “I Love You”. It meant nothing to me then except for the sentiment, of course. Last nite I heard a Fred Waring 15 minute program and he announced the next number as “I Love You” and then someone sang it. The next few words were or are “so take it from there”. Is that the song you refer to? If so – I had heard it in the States. I believe Betty Grable sang it in some picture – perhaps “Coney Island”. Anyway I liked it then and I can understand why it became a hit. We’re having considerable difficulty now in getting good reception from England. We’re pretty far in-land and of course the nearer we get to Germany – the more effective their jamming becomes. Most recently we’ve been tuning in on Radio Algiers. It comes in fairly well and has some good newscasts.
Your letter of the 11th of August, sweetheart, mentions the possibility of your coming down with a cold or sore throat. I hope you were able to ward it off, dear. I can’t understand why you should be so susceptible to them, anyway – especially after having gone to the trouble of having that tonsil tab removed. I guess you’ll have to build up an immunity from “association” with me. I use the word “association” in lieu of something else, dear.
Concerning France itself, dear – there’s very little to write that you’re not finding out in the papers, on the radio, and I suppose in the news reels. I can tell you this, perhaps, that almost every picture you’ve seen – I have seen in the real. If our outfit hasn’t actually been there – I have managed to see it myself in my various travels on my own. Needless to say – it’s been something I’ll never be able to forget. I haven’t been in a combat area so very long, dear, but I have been here long enough to know that it won’t affect me. So many times people have said that war does this or that to a fellow, changes him, hardens him etc. etc. I don’t see how I’m any different than I was before coming here and if the Lord can continue to spare – I won’t change. I left the U.S. and then England loving you, wanting to return to marry you, to start practicing, to live my life with you; I still want that with all the energy I have and with all the delicacy of feeling a person can have. War hasn’t taken the edge off anything, sweetheart. On the contrary – it has sharpened it – and for that I’m glad.
That’s all for now, darling; I’ve got to write the folks and then do a couple of things. Until tomorrow, dear – so long. Love to the folks and
All my deepest love
Greg
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