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241 When did you send the EFM? It had printed on it (Same type as the message) “E709AM”, and rubber-stamped in the same place “MAY 31 1945” Navy #3247 (Mil. Govt) F.P.O. San Francisco Sunday 3 June 1945 4:30 pm (on duty) Dearly Beloved, I've carried the little plastic case about in my pocket all day, setting it up in front of me where I worked, and now Wendy (the young lady in the shawl) smiles demurely at me from a cozy spot between two pictures of her mummy. 6:30 pm Little Sweetie, are you punishing your Daddy for not being home on your first birthday? He's had an earache all day - the first one in many years. Well, at least he'll know how you feel when you have one, as he supposes you will two or three times in your young life. (Secretly, I think you’re not punishing me - just trying so hard to tell me things today that my ear is burning up. And that's exactly what it feels like!) [pg 2] Nothing serious, mummy. Doctor calls it an abscess but says three or four days of treatment will probably cure it if I'm careful not to get water I nit. He put in it, of all things, methiolate plus a few drops of glycerine, and I hope he was right when he said that it would hurt more if it was getting better - it's certainly hurting more, though not quite to the point of driving me to distraction. Hugh altitude and excessive smoking while I was away probably helped to bring it on, though basically it's connected with my general nasal condition. I postponed doing anything about that for a week or two but will tend to it now as soon as this clears up. It's been a fairly eventful day for Sunday. We fired the Korean school principal this morning after two months of deliberation - he did get the school organized back in February and is supported [pg 3] by the teachers, but is an impossible guy to work with - talks your head off and goes around with a disagreeable face most of the time. Tel spent all morning talking to four key teachers and then to Moon (I just sat in) and this afternoon I spent two hours soothing the teachers. They felt it as a reflection on the school as a whole and I had to reassure them that it was not meant to be so. Random notes I scribbled down while Walter and I were drinking and talking the other night - Quotation from a letter from Helen parts of which he read: “The women [Carmel and Monterey wives of M.G. men] definitely don't have their carefree attitude any more…” I can see why they wouldn't: Walter told me of things in connection with the incident in which he was wounded that must have got around by now at home. But I still insist though I suspect that [pg 4] my words may not make much impression on those to whom a sense of danger has been brought home by bad news of people they actually know, that the danger must not be exaggerated. There is always danger in warfare, of course, but I believe that in the case of M.G. men the incidence of future casualties will not be high. Perhaps you would like to hear a little of Walter's description of being hit. There was no forewarning: all of a sudden he realized that he was coming out of a half-trance, still on his feet; he looked around him and saw men fallen, but it never occurred to him that some of them were seriously injured until he heard of it later in sick bay; he looked down at himself when he felt blood trickling, as rather surprised and felt no pain; one leg weakened under him when he took a step, but he managed to find his way to sick bay, where he was given sulfa and morphine to put him to sleep and ease the shock. [pg 5] By the time he got on the hospital ship shortly thereafter he was well enough thoroughly to appreciate the good food they served (with cokes, ice cream, milkshakes etc. in addition), and he seems to have enjoyed the five-day trip in it. I didn't both to check dates with him, but he wasn't more than a couple of weeks or so in a land-based hospital (it was then that he was awarded the Purple Heart - which I frequently come close to calling the Purple Cross). When I saw him he had had eight days of freedom to roam the island, and I think had covered every road on it. Next note, Walter: “I've never seen as good a wife as your wife - you’re going [he added sagely] to be mighty happy for the next 30 years.” His manner was so serious that it would have been ill-advised of me to ask him, what about the 20 after that? I don't want to be cheated out of even years 60-80, to [pg 6] which I think both of us have a certain expectancy. The healthy members of Grandfather's family - 7 or 8 of them - average something over 80, I'm sure. Probably, darling, we'll kill ourselves in a fresh outburst of youthful ardor some spring about the year 2001, when I'm 89 and you’re 82. How would you like right now to make a double suicide pact with [Pierre?] as the lethal weapon? By then we should feel a certain accomplishment with our four children, 16 grandchildren and 64 great grandchildren, and feel free (not deliberately seeking death for its own sake) to indulge in a rhapsody of gentle abandon, seeking the infinity of each other and finding it in the infinity of the cosmos. Next the single word Figure: I've already indicated how Walter referred to your lush curves, etc. There wasn't the faintest trace of conscious flattery in his voice; [pg 7] just naively put but honest admiration. I to Walter (you will recall, I'm sure, his position as distinct sales manager or something for Scot Tissue; you may have heard him speak earnestly of his own future, that of the company, its probably expansion, its growing position with regards to competitors, etc. - all with the straightfaced devotion of a man who knows his purpose in life and is in singleminded, hotfoot pursuit of it) - “Business should prosper after the war; you should have great difficulty in meeting the demand, what with everybody's having to wipe up the enormous quantities of sh-that's been flung around in this war…” Perhaps I should explain that the proverbial expressions of wide and common currency for describing the red tape, stupidities, double-tracking and delays entailed by war and associated with military organizations generally usually have reference to that little word; it is probably next in rate of recurrence to the last two words [pg 8] of snafu and is somewhat stronger. “Throwing (or slinging) it in the fan” is a favorite way of describing men who are not only sh-s themselves but insist on getting in everyone else's hair. “Just wait till that [impending snafu] hits the fan,” you will hear someone say. I have, I think fortunately, lost my oversensitive intolerance toward the use of such language; when it is used as I enjoy hearing it and frequently do, it has pertinence, character and a certain picturesqueness, unlike the vulgarity of callow 19 year olds serving their first brave stretch in the Navy. I remember Henry May's relishing certain expressions (he’d heard them before, perhaps but had then felt them part of an alien world) and the discriminating, but by no means self-conscious, use of them; Charley Frankel did too, and Tel Mook (a little daintily but merrily) is learning to. My observation was quite over Walter's [pg 9] head; he was too absorbed in future prospects, including that of the immense satisfaction he evidently derives from his work and his simply approach to the simple pleasures of life. I don't mean to deride Walter, despite his amazing naivete (he thinks that as an officer he can do just about anything or go anywhere, restricted or not; admitted ingenuously to writing about where he was despite his knowledge of censorship regulation to the contrary, on the grounds that he was an officer and a censor!) - I really enjoyed his company very much, and was so glad to get a less-than-3-months old picture of you and Wendy. Let's see - some more notes on Walter re business: on the annual t.p. mfrs. Convention at the Waldorf every February (don't remember what he said about them); on Scot's biggest rival, A.P.W. - “just isn't on the ball. It's men that make the [pg 10] difference, and they just don't know enough to go out and get men.” Walter on you and Doug - “Of course, your wife didn't like it at all because she thought he’d lost his ideals and everything, but what the hell, he'll get over it.” Walter thought Doug was a nice guy. Two other notes made at the same time but apropos of other themes: “W.S. Young, veterinarian [Navy Lieutenant who sat for awhile at the same table with us - a friend of Jake's] - District vet, out of Harrisburg - Adams and Franklin Counties (Chambersburg.” “Mayor of Chambersburg [name not given] reported at Fort Ord Dec. 28th.” At the moment I remember one more thing Walter spoke of - I'm not anxious to remember anything more now, because I should get on to answering a few of your letters - he thought, when I mentioned your looking for a larger house, that it would be a shame if you moved; the [pg 11] cottage intrigued him and he thought it just perfect for you and Wendy, adequate too for the three of us if I should get home on leave. Of course, he admitted, there was the problem of the long haul from town and esp. from the beach, but he didn't think that was worth the difference. I'm [ani tam?], naturally, that you should do what you are ready to do. Don't move unless you have a fairly strong urge to, but if you have by all means do. Have you heard that one of the men in the 8th Section, Capt. Vardaman (Lt Cmdr when I was there, Cmdr shortly afterwards and then spot promoted) has become Naval Aide to his friend Harry Truman? Officers who were with him longer say that MG lost a good man: he’d had considerable experience in Europe and virtually took over academic as well as other leadership of the section during the last 2 or 3 months, making the course more meaningful. Walter [pg 12] and others seemed to have enjoyed the balance of the course more than the first part, but I've no regrets on that score. The stimulus of fresh news and scuttlebutt and of renewing many friendships or acquaintances moved more once again to consider the question of applying for transfer - gave me an itch, that is, to be moving on. I will tell you how I feel, and also what I propose to do about it. As Tel remarked the other day, it's amazing how MG men can practically write their own tickets at this period in the war. If I applied for transfer right now there's a good chance that I’d get it - through CASA - be there almost two months and go out on a fresh operation. From my own personal working standpoint this is what I’d most like to do; I'm really eager to go through one operation from beginning to end -at least thru planning and assault phases and for about 6 months [pg 13] after that (I wouldn't want to do it twice, I'm quite sure) But I do not intend to apply and [?] I said in my letter to Barbier [?] not calculated toward that end but [?] toward the opposite one. I figured then that once back I might get on the staff and not go out for a long time. If I am called for, of course, that can't be helped, but I think the chances are that I'll remain here another few months, and if that's the case - although I'll go out again as replacement - I may never go on an assault at all. That's what you want darling, and it would be folly for me to go out looking for trouble. If it's dished out to me, I think I can take it, and I'm neither afraid of the danger from the standpoint of being hut physically nor concerned about my coming back to you: of course I will. But let's dismiss any possible anxiety over that eventuality till it comes up, and consider the likelihood that it may never do so. 10 pm There - I feel a lot better. On my way [pg 14] out to make the rounds of the civilian camp I stopped for a couple of aspirins, and already the throbbings gone - in fact there's hardly any pain at all. I should be going to bed early, I suppose (can't till eleven-fifteen), but I will tomorrow. And I shall see the doctor again first thing in the morning. So many tangents, so many little things to write you about that I'll never have time for in letters (thinking of the hospital setup here, then Dr. Jacobziner's and his children's ward, his aims for a child health program which he doesn't think he'll be allowed to carry out…) On my little vacation I read a book, borrowed from [Slicer?], of which I’d like you to get a copy - “The Honorable Picnic” by Thomas Raucàt, published by Modern Age as a Red Seal Book (paper bound edition, hence about 75¢). It is a satire against the Japanese written by a Frenchman in 192X; [pg 15] for the most part it is more biting burlesque than scuttle irony, but there is a final chapter which is a masterpiece of subtle mimicry of Japanese aestheticism. The book is a little boring in spots, but on the whole good entertainment, and quite light reading, for all its burlesque it has many real insights into Japanese customs and ways of thinking. You’d enjoy reading it, I'm sure. Tonight I finished Cannery Row, which I read with much more pleasure than I’d expected and thought more of than I did of Tortilla Flat. Recently I got as far as selecting cardboard to go around three books I've been meaning to mail you for a long time; I have the wrapping paper, and perhaps soon I'll mail the package. That reminds me: no, I've had no word at all about my dictionaries, etc. I have certainly not given up hope [pg 16] of getting them again, however. I shall start trying to trace them at this end. Meanwhile, will you inquire at the Monterey office - wherever you sent them from - and see what means of tracing the box can be taken from there? I'll hold on to the bill of [loading?]. I have momentarily - here's all it says: Shipping Co. No. N5495936 File 3892 9/22/44 SOUTHERN PACIFIC CO From: Monterey, Calif - HHE Section 375 Fremont St. San Francisco Marks SOINC NAVY OVERSEAS FREIGHT TERMINAL SAN FRAN 7 CALIF For: Lt (jg) WRJ, USNR Consignee SOINC Destination San Franc. Appropriation Chargeable 1750811 TOT NAVY 1943 SUBHD 40 Issuing Office NAVAL SUPPLY DEPOT, OAKLAND, CAL Name and Ttiel of Issuing Officer - SUPPLY OFFICER IN COMMAND Pick up service at origin was not by govt. or its agent. Initials of Shipper's Authorized agent or employee - NLN 1 Box Professional Books 95# FOR: Lt (jg) WRJ, USNR c/o SOINC NAVY OVERSEAS FREIGHT TERMINAL FOR Transhipment to - FRAY 73 (Civil Affairs Section) [pg 17] Release valuation 10¢ per lb. for each article AUTH SANDA FORM 34 & orders. Certificate of Issuing Officer Name of Transportation Co. W. HONEY CHURCH SOUTHERN PACIFIC CO. Lt (jg) (sc) VSNR Date of Receipt of Shipment 1-5-45 Signature of agent F.E. Weeks per G.W. Armed with this information and knowledge of my present address (Navy #3247, Military Govt), will you stop in to see the agent at your next opportunity and see what he advises as to tracing this? He can probably get or tell you how to get information on what ship they went on; knowing that, it would be possible to trace them to Hawaii. Meanwhile I'll see what I can find out here. Just a few more minutes before I make my final rounds and can go to bed. I love writing you long letters, darling; enjoy the [pg 18] writing itself, and the thinking of you as I do it, and get an immense satisfaction out of the thought of your taking such letters out of your box (or being handed them by the SM), opening them then and there to read them quickly and then settling down to read them again. I just love the thought of bringing you pleasure, darling. It's time now to make my brief entries in the log. I've been lucky - never yet have had a duty watch when anything happened to go out and investigate. Now - right this moment - it really is Wendy's birthday; you are just about to get up for the day. Perhaps not quite, but I'm sure that at least Wendy's awake and playing quietly to herself. Or maybe she's tearing to be taken to bed with Mummy for a little while. Daddy wants too. I love you, my most precious darlings with every bit of me Warren
