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352 Tinian 25 October 1945 9 pm Darling - Just about this time -a little earlier - I was discovering Charlie Frankel, Evan Davis and Riley Ewing….what a different setup the place was then! I'm sitting in the Officers’ Club just a couple of hundred feet from the center of the old tent and mess hall area, now leveled and part of it replaced with comfortable officers’ quarters (three of the men with dates are having a gay tho respectable little party in the compartment next to mine, with lights on but low, the reason why I'm here); the enlisted men, also all in Quonsets and with their own club, are in a new area; and the unit is generally transformed. Sweetie, I got your birthday cable yesterday and loved it. Once again our thoughts crossed - I do hope Sammy got my instructions in time (wrote him on the [pg 2] 21st, I think) and was able to carry them out. Incidentally, your cable was dated 22 October at 11:35 am and was received in the afternoon mail October 24th - pretty good. That makes it about three full days in actual time. I'm duty officer tonight and can't drink to celebrate my Tinian anniversary. Perhaps it's just as well. Have received a Christmas box from you and Wendy - it's about the size of a tin box only about half as high. And of course I'm looking forward to opening my birthday box on Monday, not nearly so much for whatever's in it as for the thought of your wrapping it for me and thinking of me as I open it. #433 - I was touched, after writing you the letter I did the night before last, [pg 3] at your saying “why can't I take things in stride, but I never have, I guess I never will.” You can, darling, you can. I know it's hard - Mother is the same way, and you haven't knocked around enough or had enough independence to make it natural and easy for you - but you have it in you just the same. I'm not scolding, just saying how I feel. Don't feel too bad about taking it out on Wendy. I've done the same thing, and I think it's altogether natural under the circumstances. Children even as small as Wendy, if they’re as bright as she is, grasp such things intuitively long before they understand them, and I think Wendy feels in her own little way what Mummy is up against, especially when Mummy [pg 4] shows by feeling sorry and brightening up in a short while that it wasn't really Wendy she was annoyed at. Of course there's a limit to the burden of suffering that can be transferred to a child - and such transfers take place automatically - but you could never abuse that because you’re essentially too well-balanced and happy. I wouldn't worry about it, Sweetie. The only thing I would say, and repeat, darling, is - don't lay yourself open to unnecessary hurt by dreaming your wishes and letting your dreams carry you away. Do try to be as matter-of-fact as you can. Gosh, how good is the sound of the words “it was gray out, but the air brisk, and we worked outdoors together raking leaves.” [pg 5] Darling, the thought of you alone is sufficient unto itself and fills my whole being, and yet is still enhanced by the concept of you as the mother and companion of Wendy Johnston. It is just a miracle wrought in the flesh and the spirit. Friday 26 Oct 7:30 am ‘Morning, Sweetie I spent an hour and a quarter on my rounds of the camp last night, instead of the usual half-hour: drove around the perimeter and almost got bogged down in the mud a couple of times, but double low gear saw us (my civilian police companion and me) through. Our M.P. guard company is much depleted and consequently the Staff Duty Officer has to keep a more rigorous watch. But as always on my nights, nothing happened. Hope your letters continue to come as regularly as they have been. Love you Warren
