World War II Letters: THE IMPORTANCE OF SHARED PERSONAL HISTORIES

Mom and Dad early in the war

dinner for the in-laws, right after the war

I’m not sure at what point one’s personal history becomes part of the broader spectrum of human experience.  It may sometimes make a connection from the origin of that history .  Archeologists rejoice when they find a broken clay jar that once contained olive oil or wine thousands of years ago, or some edict written by hand on vellum affecting lives of thousands under an antique monarch.  Certainly, a piece of history like Charles Lindberg’s plane, The Spirit of St. Louis, at the Smithsonian in Washington brings more chills to the public because of its great significance in the history of man’s attempts to fly.  Something already famous, like King Tut’s sarcophagus covered in shimmering gold will bring shivers to most viewers.  It’s something most of us knew about before even seeing it, so it becomes a kind of shared history when we talk to others who have also seen it.

When I found the boxes of letters written by my father during WWII, I struggled about whether those personal communications would have much significance to the general public, especially those who were not alive during those years 1941-1945.  I decided that the backdrop of World War II would be inclusive of pop culture, including music and poster art.  It would include many references to a time that was surely our finest hour, when we as a nation were together in a cause of world importance against a powerful evil that might otherwise actually have swallowed up the world had it not been for our collective resolution and united with other nations to take a stand.  In that light, every letter home from every soldier in every corner of that massive conflict must surely have significance.  

We were fighting for home and for everything we held dear along with the English, the French, the Belgians, the Dutch, whose lives had also been plundered by Nazis, Fascists, and the Empire of Japan.  I don’t know that soldiers thought of the grand picture of world peace during the many parts they played in that war.  I believe that the things that kept them going were not just the eloquent speeches by Churchill and Roosevelt, but rather the memories of sweethearts left at home, babies on the way, sitting down to Sunday dinners with family, going to the movies or soda fountains, watching ball games.  That yearning to return home is as old as history itself and always manages to give a human face to incidents on the world stage, maybe especially in times of war.

Our family in 1948

Yes, the letters our soldiers wrote home still have a universal connection to what makes us all human.  My greatest hope in creating this part of the blog was that others who read it would have “eureka” moments too about their own parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, sisters, brothers, from that or any other time and wish to honor those people in whatever way possible.  So, if you have old boxes of letters, trunks in the attic, family photo albums, please sit down one afternoon and look through those mementos of your own history, and you will discover that what you find there is part of all our history, human history, all that experience that we share as a mortal species through every picture of smiling loved ones in front of Christmas trees or over birthday cakes.  Laugh, cry, write about your sentiments, and perhaps decide what you would like to leave behind for others to find seventy years from now as a reminder that you were once here too.

Bonnie, 1980

John, 1946

World War II Letters: Bonnie and Elwood Bolinger After the War

World War II Letters: Discharge Papers and a Letter from President Truman

Engraved WWII Canteen Cup: Please Help Find Owner

Tom Cushing, in Griffith Indiana, is still trying to find the owner of the World War II canteen cup, inscribed with the places the war took the owner of the cup. He purchased the cup from an Army surplus store in Chicago, in the late 1940s, to use as a Boy Scout. The soldier or his family might be interested in it as a souvenir. Please circulate this around to anyone you know who might have had a relative in World War II. Please respond via: mypotomacriver@gmail.com.

  

 LEWISTOWN, NEWCUMBERLAND, COLORADO, TENNESSEE,  
NEW YORK, IRELAND SCOTLAND, ENGLAND, FRANCE, BELGIUM, 
LUXENBOURG, GERMANY, then to BLANCHE

World War II Letters: A 24-Year Old Soldier is Almost Home!

Like every other soldier still on duty, Dad longed to be home with his family.  He and his twin brother Eddie would turn 24 on November 30, 1945, and Dad wanted so much to celebrate that post-war birthday, though Eddie would be home for it, not Dad.  November 30 of this year Dad would have been 90.  I've included in the last part of the WWII blog some photos of Mom and Dad right after he became a civilian again in 1946, and photos of them from the 1980's.  The last photo I took of Dad was in his living room in his favroite chair holding their very much loved dog, Benji.  Dad was at his happiest when playing his guitar, and I took a candid shot of him in his study doing what he loved best.  A favorite photo of our family was the one of Dad and my brother playing their guitars together.  We all joked about the potted plant behind Dad that looked as though it were growing out of his head and made him look like Carmen Miranda.

My brother David would be in the army during the Vietnam conflict, and I have included a photo of his unit and a photo of him and his rifle in 1970.

I would like to end the WWII portion of my blog with the photo with which I began, my parents when they were both 18.  My greatest wish has been to honor them both along with all those men and women who served their country in one way or another during World War II.  They all deserve our deep respect and gratitude for changing the world for the better and for all time.  I can add that I still love and miss them very much.

November 23, 1945
Guam
11:10 P.M.

Dear Mom and Dad,

     I received you letter of November 15 yesterday (Eddie & Marge’s anniversary)  I was going to answer it last night, but we had a fire at the gas dump.  Some fun!  I would like to have the money that went up in smoke there last night.

     Mom, when Bonnie goes around the house all day singing, you can be sure she is happy.  Boy, was I glad to hear that.  She has really been through a lot, but now I know she is all right, and I’m not one bit worried.  What a wonderful feeling that is.  You can be sure she won’t have to get nerve medicine from her doctor anymore...unless all women have to take it when they’re going to have babies.  By George, it won’t be long now before you’ll be a grandmother and grandfather again.  Say, Dad, do you feel “old?” You’d had better sit down in a chair and rest.  Egad, that sounds comfortable.  Move over, old boy!  What do you say to tapping a couple of bottles, huh?  You sure?  OK.  Hi Bonn, let’s have some Pepsi-Cola in here.

     Boy, I sure hope Eddie can get home for our birthday.  I received a letter from him today, and he said he hopes to be there.  That is only a week from today.  We’ll be a whopping 24!  It’ll be swell to see Eddie and celebrate the birthday together.  I would have liked to be there when he gets his new guitar.  Man, oh man, will he be happy!  Mine is still going swell.  I play it quite a lot.  If he gets home, he’ll be there for Christmas and New Year’s Eve too, won’t he?

    Well, I see it’s a quarter ‘til twelve, so I'm going to hit the hay.  Good night, and God bless you and keep you safe.  I hope I can see you soon.  Please keep me informed about how Bonnie is doing with her pregnancy.  She never complains, so I can’t tell if she’s being on the level with me that she is having no problems.  I’m so excited about the baby coming in March. Think of it, I’m going to be a dad!  Tell Bonn and Vi I said hello.

Your loving son,
   Elwood

World War II Letters: A Soldier Thanks His Parents

Missing home!

 In this letter, Dad expresses his deep gratitude to his parents for their kindness for his childhood and for their taking care of Bonnie, his wife while he was far away.  My mother moved in with Dad's parents in October 8, 1945, and they took good care of her while Dad was in the Pacific on Guam, where even after the war, he was on guard duty and in charge of air plane and Jeep parts, as he dispensed needed equipment whenver there was need.  Mom was then pregnant with me, and I was due to arrive in March of 1946.  Dad would be home for the birth.

October 30, 1945
Guam

Dear Mom & Dad,

     I received your package the other day , and that Pop-Ade tasted better than it ever tasted before.  All of the fellows enjoyed it to the fullest.  Thanks a million for it.  I have the new strings on my guitar and it sounds wonderful.  This cigarette case is just what I wanted.  I have Bonnie’s picture in it, and it’s perfect.  I still have some Pop-Ade left.  Thanks again for everything.

     Mom and Dad, no matter how hard I try, I’ll never be able to tell you how much it means to me that you love Bonnie and want her to stay with you while I’m gone.  In her letters she keeps telling me how wonderful and peaceful it was there with you.  She said it was like heaven in your home and being able to stay there.  She was happy for the first time since I left.  I’ll never be able to thank you enough.  Bonnie and I love you with all our hearts.  You have always done without what you needed for yourselves to see that we kids were happy and had what our hearts desired.  When I was smaller I didn’t realize it, but now that I’m older and have learned to know and understand people better, I know just how wonderful my parents are and what a good home I’ve always had.  We kids never really tried to thank you, because we were too young to know how lucky we were.  Violet was out of work and needed you, and you were right there waiting to help.  Now you have done more for Bonnie and me than I can ever thank you for.  I’ve been so worried about Bonnie, but now after the 8th of November, I know I can calm down.  You’ll never know what it means to me.

     Well, things look pretty bright for us now.  I found out this evening that by a week from today, we’ll know just what the score is on coming home.  I think I’m pretty safe.  I’ll know soon though.  I don’t think it will be long before your problem child will be calling again at 2:00 in the morning the way he did when he came home from England.  Say, how far away from the South shore Station in East Chicago do you live?  Do you live within walking distance?  If you do, I can call when I get there to let you know I’m coming and then just walk home.  I know your phone number, 2220-W, right?

     Well, here I am planning and I’m not even on my way yet!  Ain’t I the guy,though?  I’ll write more again day after tomorrow.  God bless you and watch over you.  I miss you an awful lot.  Good night.  Write soon.

Your loving son,
     Elwood

World War II Letters: Getting Excited About Going Home!

In this letter, Dad expresses his excitement at the thought of getting together with his dad and brothers for another of their all-night gab fests.  Though a usually quiet man, when Dad was with his father and brothers, he became very loquacious.  His thoughts were more and more on the baby coming in march of 1946....and on going home.  Dad enclosed a cartoon Bonnie had made in 1944 about her first attempt at baking a cherry pie and then having to scour the oven due to the spillage. 

October 19, 1945
Guam

Dear Mom & Dad,

     Yesterday I received your letter giving me your new address.  I didn’t get to answer it though, because I didn’t get off work until late.  I’m glad you left that darned place on Michigan Avenue.  I didn’t like that bunch of people around there.

     I got a letter from Bonnie today, and she said she is coming to stay with you starting December 1st.  Mom, you don’t know how happy that makes me.  Please don’t let her back out of coming .  She has it nice with her cousin Jean, but they aren’t “her” people.  She wants to come to you, but you know how she is, so please make her come “home.”  Then when I come home, we can find a place where I can take care of her, OK?  Yes, Eddie is in the states, and you don’t know how happy that makes me.  I had been waiting for his letter telling me he was going home.  I know what it means to a man to get home after he’s been far away for a long time.  He said he would be the one to pick me up off the hospital floor when the baby is born.  What a guy!  wait until he and Jesse and Dad  & I get together again.    All of the windows will fly out of the house.  That will be the first time Bonnie will see me talking so much that no one else can get in a word.  Bejabbers!

     Say, Dad, when I get the word that I’m coming home, I’ll write to you and make a date in advance to got out with Bonnie.  You’ve got to let me have a date with her sometime after she moves in with you and Mom.  You won’t be able to take her out ALL the time.  By George, I can just see myself sitting at home mending socks, and you and Bonnie out to a show with Mom telling me, “That’s OK. You can take Bonnie to a show tomorrow night.”  Egad!

     Here is a cartoon Bonnie drew for me a long time ago.  Show it to her to see if she remembers it.  She sure is a sweet kid.  I’ve laughed at this cartoon every time I’ve looked at it.  I can just see her face turning red and scrubbing out the old stove.

     Well, this is short but I can’t think of much more to say unless I said, ) * !!))))000**##*** to Vi for not writing.  Bye for now.  Be careful.  God bless you and watch over you.

Your loving son,
   Elwood

p.s.  When Eddie gets there, make him take some pictures and send me a couple, OK?

World War II Letters: The Things They Carry

Elwood carried the above drawing that Bonnie made in 1944 with him, through the war, until he sent it home in a letter not long before he was discharged from the war.

World War II Letters: Frustrations and Waiting!

 When not on guard duty, Dad was in charge of the engine supply room, but after the war ended, there was much less to do, and he began to feel as though there was nothing of importance for anyone there to do.  I gathered that Dad didn't like most of the officers and felt a tinge of resentment about their power over him, as he was only a sergeant. His frustration was growing in his continually thwarted efforts to return to the states, though his twin brother Eddie was already on his way home.  Apparently, Violet, their sister, was not good at writing often enough to satisfy Dad's need for letters.

October 14, 1945
Sunday
Guam

Dear Mom & Dad,

     I haven’t heard from you since around the first, I guess.  Is anything wrong?  Have you heard from Eddie lately?  I hope he gets to come home.  I haven’t heard from him either.  Darn it, I wish we could all come home.  I think we may leave here in December.  They are keeping all of the news about when we’ll get home from us.  We can’t find out a thing.  So far this month I haven’t received any of those stars, so I may have to start getting in these officers’ hair.

     I have been off today, and all I’ve done is lie around.  I don’t get a regular day off anymore.  Until they put another man in charge of the third shift, I won’t either.  I shouldn’t kick, because we don’t have to work hard anymore. I’ll really be glad to get out of this army and get a job again.  I would swing a 16-pound sledge all day to get out right now.  I can’t wait to get a good job again and do a day’s work.  This army would make a bum out of a man if he let it.  Bejabbers, it’ll be a fair day when these “awfucers” go back to selling apples on the street corners, won’t it now?  It’s a sad state of affairs when a body has to put up with the likes of them.  There seem to be more lieutenants running around the landscape than there are privates.  Gee, what will happen if some of these officers can’t get any pencils or apples to sell?

     Well, how is everyone there at home?  Hope everything is alright.  Have you seen Bonnie lately?  You have?  Boy, are you lucky.  I have received four letters from her this week.  Pretty good, I’d say.  I sure do miss all of you back there.  I dream of the day I’ll come home again.  Remember the last time when I came home from England?  We talked until the wee hours of the morning.  That sure was a wonderful day for me, to see you again after such a long time.  How are Jesse & Bee?  Did they answer my letter?

     Well, there isn’t anything I can say about this island, only that it is a heck of a place.  I hate it more everyday.  I’ve been getting along alright and I’m feeling fine, but I still don’t like it.  I guess I can stand it for a little while more though.

     Well, take care yourselves, and write soon.  Bye for now.

Your loving son,
     Elwood

p.s.  Not YOU, Vi.  I’m yer brudder.

World War II Letters: Almost Home, But Starving in the Meantime

I think if Dad had been able to swim back to the United States, he would have given it a shot.  He and the other soldiers in his unit were very tired on the island of Guam and truly ready to get back to civilian life.  Rations kept them alive, and Dad said that at times they weren't bad at all.  He acquired a taste for hard tack and cheese that he kept the rest of his life.  It was a favorite snack that went back to his days in the army. In this letter he complained about the shrinking quality and quantity of the food they were given on Guam.

Evidently, his sister Violet wasn't writing often enough to suit him, and he makes a joke about it in this letter.  Any little tidbit of news from home provided a connection that was like a life-line for soldiers waiting to be shipped back to the USA.
 

Oct. 5, 1945
Friday
Guam

Dear Mom & Dad, & Vi,

     It gives me great pleasure in writing this letter, telling you that I am practically on my way home.  I’m so darned happy I can hardly write.  Please don’t send anymore packages, because I may not be here to receive them.  We are supposed to be alerted on November 15th for shipment to the states.  The way we found it out was that a major and another man from the personnel office told us.  They said they have seen it in black and white.  It hasn’t come out on orders yet, so it is just in the making.  I only hope that these orders to come out aren’t changed this time.  Anyway, please don’t send me any X-mas packages.  If I’m not home for X-mas, I’ll be home shortly afterward.

     I haven’t written to Eddie lately, because I had hoped he was on his way home.  If they leave him over here, they should be shot.  He has served honorably on that ship in action for nine months, and when that ship leaves for the states, the full crew should be on her.  Sometimes I can’t understand the damned service.  The next time they want this boy, they are going to have to find him, and I’m not kidding.  Eddie has been through an awful lot over here, and he should be the member of the McKee’s crew that’s on duty on her in New york on Navy Day.  He should be entitled to go home before any of us.  He’s been through more in one month than we were in our twelve months in Europe.  I’m still hoping to hear that he is on his way home by now.

     Well, how is everyone there at home?  Ask Jesse if he broke his fountain pen, will you?  Did you find another place.  They must be as scarce as hens’ teeth.

     I just wrote to Bonnie and told her the news.  Maybe I won’t need those battle stars now.  The way it is supposed to work, all men in the 90th Service Group, who have 45 points or more up to V-J Day are supposed to go home.  (That gets me.)  Have you seen or talked to my honey lately?  I sure hope she is getting along alright.  Has she ever gone to the doctor yet?  She doesn’t seem to want to answer that!

     Boy, they are starving us to death over here now.  For instance, I didn’t get up for chow this morning, and this noon I had one salmon patty, one spoonful (one helping) of rice, and two pieces of jelly bread and a cup of coffee.  The salmon I had to throw away, because it tasted spoiled.  The rice I couldn’t eat without fixing it up some way, so I put sugar on it, so what I had for dinner was a helping of sugared rice, two pieces of jelly bread, and a cup of coffee.  I’m just waiting to see what we have for supper.  I’ll know in another half hour.  This has been going on for a week now.  Maybe it’s just that they don’t want us to get too big for our clothes, aye what? Well, I’ll close for now.  Write soon.  Be careful.  God bless and watch over you.

Your loving son,

  Elwood

For Vi.....................your loving brudder
                                  Cesspool

For Vi.....................No remarks


For Vi......................Write me a letter.


For Mom & Dad.......Make Vi write!!!

World War II Letters: Food, Glorious Food!

World War II Letters: How to Earn Points, Gee Whiz!

Like the other soldiers during WWII, Dad kept careful track of the points he had accumulated in hopes of returning home after the war.  I don't know if the Navy and the Army used the same point system, but for army I believe some point examples were:

1 point for each month overseas. 
5 points if you received the bronze. 
5 points for any additional medal 
5 points for the purple heart. 
12 points for each child under 18.

Note Dad's use of the then popular phrase, "Gee whiz!"  I think it disappeared after the 1940's.  The only place I hear it now is in movies from the 1930's and 1940's.  I was wondering what American slang phrases are now popular that will also disappear in time.  There are so many, but here are some I came across:

I went to the beach to "catch some rays."
I "goofed up" on the math test.
We have to "hang tough" on our decision.
Hey, "what's going down?"
This job is "pure gravy."
That food tasted " yukky."
Bob is a real "couch potato."
His girlfriend is a real "airhead."
Who's bringing the "booze?"

Oct. 3, 1945
Guam

Dear Mom & Dad, * Vi,

     How is everyone there at home?  I sure hope everything is going alright.  I haven’t written to you lately, because I was waiting for your new address, but in the letter I received from you today, you hadn’t moved as yet.  I’m sorry, honest.

     Gee whiz, I thought Eddie was sure of coming home.  I hope they take him, though he’s short 1 3/4 points.  I want so much to hear he is home with Marge and Ronnie.  I hope and pray he makes the grade.

     Well, the latest rumor is that I am going to get four of those battle stars we were gypped out of.  If I get them, that will be twenty points more and I’ll have a grand total of 69 points.  There has been a lot of trouble on the count of those.  One time I was supposed to have 51 or 52 points but ended up with 49 over here.  Some fun.  Anyway, IF I get those this month, I’ll be home for X-mas, but remember I said “if.”  I know now I’ll be home when the baby is born.  That helps an awful lot.

     Thanks a million for sending my request box.  I haven’t received it yet but it won’t be long.  I’ll sure be able to drink some of that Pop-Ade.  The boys too.  I gets so darn hot here that when anyone goes fishing and gets a fish, all they have to do is clean it and put salt on it, and eat it.  It’s already fried.

     Say Mom,  do you mean to say you have won $160 already at bingo?  Egads!  That’s a small fortune.  How about loaning me five?  No change?  OK, I’ll take the ten!!  I’m just kidding, I don’t need any money.  If I ever do need any money, Mom, Bonnie will send me some.  Thanks just the same.  If I ever needed money and didn’t ask her, she would be hurt.  She’s sure a wonderful, sweet little wife.

     Well, there isn’t much I can write about this island or anything else, so I’ll close.  Tell everyone I said “Hello” and to write.  Did Jesse & Bee get my letter?  I guess they didn’t.  Bye for now.  Take care of yourselves.  God bless you and watch over you.  I miss you terribly.

Your loving son,
   Elwood

p.s.  Please don’t tell Bonnie about this possibility of us coming home by December or X-mas.  If we don’t get more transportation from Guam and Tinian, we may not get there in time for X-mas.  I want to be absolutely sure before I tell her, OK?

World War II Letters: Twin Brothers

 Dad and his twin brother Eddie missed each other all during the war and each worried that the other might not return home.  Eddie already had a child, Ronnie, with his wife Marge, and Dad was expecting his first child in March of 1946.  Years later both their families lived in the same duplex, where the brothers continued to look after each other and remained close until Eddie's death in the early 1980's.

Even after the war officially ended, there was still sniper fire in the Pacific, alluded to in this letter my Dad wrote in September of 1945.  Renegade Japanese soldiers remained for months on Guam, where sniper fire, though much reduced, was still a threat from some wooded areas and caves.

Sept. 12, 1945
Guam
7:10 P.M.

Dear Mom and Dad,

     How are the best mom and dad in the world getting along?  I hope you are both OK.  Have you talked to Bonnie lately?  When you call her again, tell her I said “hello.” I sure do miss her.  Do you know how she is getting along? If she is having a hard time being pregnant, I know she won’t tell me.

     I wrote to Jess and Bee, and to Eddie the other day.  So far, I have received only one letter and got it today.   It was from Bonnie, one that she wrote on August 9th!  That’s over a month ago.  Boy, was I happy when I received it.  It’s such a sweet letter.   Maybe now my mail will start coming to me regularly.  Boy, Mom,  I know how you feel about being asked to send me things I need, because you told me when I got home the last time, so would you please send me that Pop-Ade you had in the fridge?  It’s terribly hot over here, and believe me, a good drink like that would really be wonderful.  If you don’t have it anymore, please don’t go out to get any.  I know it is hard to get.  I asked Bonnie to send me a couple of tee-shirts, a mirror, and a set of guitar strings.  Oh yes, I’ve been trying to remember what it was I wanted.  Would you get me one of those transparent cigarette cases that George has at his cigar store?  I guess that’s his name.  Anyway, it is one of those cases that you put the while pack of cigarettes into.  The top comes off the case.  I had one, but I’ll be darned if I know what I did with it.  It’s nice to keep cigarettes in, because it’s so very humid here, and the smokes stay fresher longer in a case like that.  That white case with the gold finish you gave me, Dad, I left at home this time, because it’s too good to bring over here.  I don’t want to use that case until I become a Mason.  I remember you used to carry that case to the lodge, and I want to carry it too. 

     I’m going to try to save $50 here.  It won’t be easy, because I'm sending almost all m money home to Bonnie.  If I can save it, I’ll try to send it to you.  It will be coming out of the money I’ve allowed myself for rations.  Please don’t tell Bonnie that, or she’ll make me quit sending her $100 a month, and I know she needs it.  I can surely do without candy and stuff in order to save about $5 a month extra.  At that rate, it’ll take ten months to save the $50.

     I have a higher point average in this squadron due to my other tweleve months over seas.  The average for this squadron is 45 points, and I have 48.  I sure hope I can be home when the baby is brought into this world.

     I had a swell dream about Eddie last night.  I dreamed I met him here, and we spent a whole evening together.  No one will ever know how much I miss Eddie.  I’ve worried so much about im since you told me what Jack Ralph said about Eddie’s ship being attacked by the Japs.  Now that the war is over, I’m not worried so much.  If something were to happen to one of us,  I had prayed it would be me.  Now I know Jack Ralph was wrong about Eddie’s being wounded, thank God.

     I guess I’ll close for tonight.  There isn’t much I can write about this place, except to say that I think I told you about the Jap sniper here in the area not occupied by Yanks.  Well, a negro fellow went in there day before yesterday and never came back.  He was found shot dead in the area, where evidence of a Jap camp was also found.  I figure I won’t ever need to go in that wooded area, as I’ve never lost anything there and have no business there anyway.  If two men travel together in that area, the Japs won’t attack them, because if if one is shot, the other will kill the Jap.  We’ve all been trained to react instantly.  But a guy who goes there alone is sure to be killed.  A Jap will pick a spot where he can see anyone coming his way and will lie there for hours without even moving.  He lets the enemy move and give away his position first.  Anyway, don’t worry.  I won’t be going anywhere near there.

     Bye for now.  Be careful.  Write soon.  God bless and watch over you.

Your loving son,
  Elwood

World War II Letters: The Trouble with Dolores

 

Dad was a handsome man, and he couldn't help the attraction felt by women he encountered along the way during the war.  The fact that he shared with his parents this particularly innocent female encounter says a lot about his good intentions and also his sensitivity to how his wife Bonnie would react to any kind of correpondence between him and the Seattle lady. Based upon Dad's having met Nadine from Michigan and Bonnie's reaction to that guileless meeting, Dolores might really have caused some problems for Dad had the news been received by my mother.  As it turned out, there was never, to my knowledge, any further problem from Dolores or her machinations through any more correspondence.  I can imagine, however, that the possibility worried Dad for a while, even after he returned home.  He adored my mother and wouldn't have upset her for anything.  Fortunately, she adored him too.

Sept. 13, 1945
Guam
12:15 p.m.

Dear Mom & Dad,

     I just received a letter from you and believe me, I sure was happy to hear from you again.  Mom, I’m glad that youre going into Billings for a thorough check-up.  I hope you’re all right by now.  You were really lucky to have won $50 at bingo.

     In this letter you have enclosed a letter from Dolores Wartham of Seattle.  I had forgotten about her.  She is a girl I met through Fred Seacrest and  Bill Puckett and the boys in Santa Anita.  I hadn’t known her very long when she claimed to the boys that she more than liked me.  She said (and I’m not bragging) that she liked me because I was clean and the quiet type. I had told her all about you and Dad, but I also told her about Bonnie.  She used to force her way into our bunch when we were all out galavanting and then hang around me.  Of course, I was with her only in the crowd, but I didn’t tell my honey, because I knew she wouldn’t like it, but what is a guy to do?  She asked for my address and yours, so she got it, and after she had written me a few times in England, I wrote to her.  Why she said my letter was so sweet, I really don’t know, unless it was because her letters were all HELLO and GOODBYE.  I did write one good, long letter telling her about England and the army air corps.  Anyway, I’m glad you didn’t tell Bonnie, because she might not ever understand.  I’m not going to write to Dolores, because if she writes back after I’m out of the service, the letter will come to my house.  If you hear from her again, just throw the letter out and forget about it.  

     EVERYTHING happens to me.  A girl named Nadine in Michigan used to like me too, and after Bonnie and I were married, Bonnie found out about her and cried herself to sleep for a whole week.  That is why I won’t mention this to her.  And don’t think that Bonnie is too jealous.  I feel the same way about her.

     Well, so much for that!  How are you both?  Boy I sure wish I could see you, but it won’t be that long before I do see you again.  If the latest rumor is right, I have a chance of being home for Christmas.  Don’t tell Bonnie, because if it isn’t true, it would break her heart.  I’ll know in a couple of weeks for sure.  The rumor is that all men with 50 points or more will be home for X-mas.  There are so many rumors flying around here, that I don’t know if there are any  I can actually believe.

     I received nine letters from my honey yesterday, and one of the letters had the sweetest little baby booty in it.  It is pink, trimmed in white, and had a little pink silk ribbon on the right side.  I guess it’s for the right foot.  In another letter there was five dollars, and another one had two dollars.  Bonnie is sure a sweet kid.  I don’t know what I would ever do without her. I’ll write to her again tonight.  She told me in her last letter that she will be moving to Jean’s, but she didn’t give me the address.  I guess I’ll just have to write to her mother until I get it.  Today I didn’t receive any mail.  It’s 4:30 now, and I just came back from this afternoon’s work.

    I guess I’ll close for now.  Keep writing.  I need your letters.  Bye for now, and God bless you both.

Your loving son, 
   Elwood

p.s. I just found out that it was only a rumor about the 50 points.  I still think I’ll be home when my baby is born.  I pray I will, anyway.

World War II Letters: After War's End, Waiting to Go Home!

 As of September 9, 1945, Dad had his final address on Guam and was hoping to be shipped home by February before the baby's birth in March.  There was already a tremendous release of tension among the soldiers, who knew they would soon be on their ways home.

Sept. 9, 1945
Guam

Dear Mom and Dad,

     I am settled now and my new address will be the address I’ll have for my stay here.  It is:

507th Air Material Squadron
90th Air Service Group
APO 334 c/o Postmaster
San Francisco,  California

     When you write to this address you’ll know for sure I’ll get my mail.  I don’t know when the other mail will catch up with me.  I sure wish I could hear from you and from my honey.

     We have a nice barracks here, and our whole area is built up pretty good.  In the last place we had to wash out of our helmets, and the showers were big oil drums on platforms with spigots on them.  This is comfortable for being on an island.  I was really surprised.  The natives here speak English, and the native women wear regular dresses and make-up.  Their form of transportation is an ox and a two-wheeled cart.  It rains here almost constantly, and the mud is terrible, but overall, it isn’t that bad.  I sure wish I could be there with you now.  Oh, yes, Dad, remember these soft shoes you gave me?  Well, they really are handy.  I wore them on the ship all the way over, and now I wear them in the barracks.  I really like them.

     Well, this is a very short letter, but I’ll have to close for now.  It is time to eat supper.

     Bye for now.  Be careful, and pray I can come home soon, Eddie and I both. God bless you and watch over you.  I sure do miss you.

  Your loving son,
   Elwood
p.s.  Write soon!

World War II Letters: Guam!

Guam Barracks, 1945

As of September, 1945, the war had been over for a while, but Dad was still on the island of Guam in the Pacific.  His buddies were breaking up and leaving a few at a time, but Dad was not really celebrating yet.  He was still on guard and yearning to get back home before I was born.  Again he and his twin brother Eddie had lost contact with each other, Eddie being in the United States Navy and stationed elsewhere in the Pacific.  I love the photos of celebration in newspapers of England and the United States.  My favorite is still the most famous, of a sailor giving a nurse a kiss right in the middle the street surrounded by jubilant onlookers.

Sept. 7, 1945
Guam

Dear Mom and Dad,

     Here I am half way around the world again, and this time the war is over.  As soon as the Japs heard that the 367th was on a ship and on the way over here, they threw up their hands and surrendered.  I’m right as two rabbits about that too.

     How are you?  I sure hope everything is all right.  How did you feel when you heard the war was over?  Yes, I guess you did the same thing we did.  Some people went out and celebrated by getting drunk and getting into a lot of foolish trouble, and others stayed in their homes and thought of their boys in the war, just as those boys were thinking of them and thanked God that this was finally a thing of the past.

     I tried my best to find Eddie on the way over but didn’t find him.  I was told he was probably in Tokyo Bay waiting to protect the landing.  We made two stops before we arrived here on Guam, one at the Marshall Islands, and one at the Carolinas.  In both places I inquired about Eddie’s ship, but he wasn’t there.  Well, our outfit is breaking up.  Some of the men are leaving for Tinian Island tomorrow morning at five.  As far as I know now, I’ll stay on Guam for a while.  All of my buddies that I have been with since I came into the army are shipping out in all different directions.  Ed Skafish and Bill Haakinson, and Jimmy Scott and I are about the only ones who will be here, and we won’t be here long.  I hope to be home by February, but that is only my hope, maybe just wishful thinking.  I pray to God I’m home when the baby is born.  If I’m not, I know that you will see that Bonnie and the baby are taken care of for me.

     We haven’t received any mail as yet, and it looks as though we won’t for at least another week.  I sure hope I get a letter from you then.  I miss you both so very much.  Dad, I want to ask you again to forgive me for not saying so-long when you left for work that day.

     Tell Jesse and Bee ad Vi I’ll write within the next week.  I want to be assigned and have a permanent APO number before I write.  Now my APO is 234.  Tomorrow, lord knows what it will be.  My whole address will change within the next week.

     I guess I’ll have to close now, because it is getting dark, and we have no lights.  Our shower is a barrel on a platform with a spigot on it, and our helmets are our face bowls.  Nice place, Guam.  I wish they would just give it back to the Japs and send us home.  

     Well, bye for now.  Be careful, and God bless you both.  Keep writing to this address until you hear from me again.

      Your loving son,
          Elwood

p.s.  Tell my baby doll I said hello, and that I miss her.

YouTube video on Guam: 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6MXJMRYR4Q&feature=watch_response

World War II Army Air Corps Jacket and Buttons

World War II Letters: July 1945, Missing Home

 At this time,  military security was very strict in terms of soldiers not even being allowed to reveal where they were at the time or where they were going.  The envelope from this letter has an approval stamp from the army examiner.  The return address was San Francisco, which was the base from which soldiers were shipped to the Pacific, where Dad was to serve on the island of Guam, but no one knew that at the time, not even Dad.
    

  25 July, 1945
                                                                                            1:30 P.M.

Dear Mom and Dad,

     We just had a mail call , and I received your first letter with my new address on it.  I sure was glad to hear from you.  Thank you for congratulating Bonnie and me.  I’m sure it will be just what we ordered.  No, Dad, I’m afraid you’re wrong.  Bonnie and I both want a girl first, then four boys, and then three more girls, and then seven....Oh well, anyway, we want a girl.  NO TWINS!!!

     Dad, about that petition.  I am ready, but as you know, I won’t be able to begin at present.  I too hope Eddie feels the same.  I’m sure he does though, with you and Mom as our parents.  You’ve made me feel a lot better now, since you told me you would be with Bonnie when the baby is born.  I won’t worry too much now.  I’m sure I want to be home when the baby is born, so you both know how I feel.  I’m glad Bonnie had a good rest.  She sure needed one.  She works too hard there at her mother’s.  I wish you were living in Highland, and she could be with you.

     I sure miss you both an awful lot.  I’ll never get used to being away from you.  I guess when I get out of the army, I’ll have to live in the town you live in, or all my money will go for transportation from my home to yours.  All Bonnie used to talk about was being with you or having you over to our house.  She sure loves you both.  I’m so very proud of her.  I don’t know how I was ever lucky enough to have her.  

     I’m glad you feel OK now, Dad, since you had your lower teeth extracted.  For two pins, I would have the same thing done.  My lower teeth are all right, but they are full of fillings.

     Mom, please do keep in close contact with my honey.  If you will, I can rest assured she will be all right.  I just don’t want her to work herself to death.  I want her to rest and to have fun, not work all day, seven days a week.

     I’m sorry I can’t tell you where I am.  I know you both would like to know all about it.  When I come home, I’ll tell you all about it, OK?

     I guess I’ll close for now.  God bless you both and watch over you.  Be careful.  I love you, and I miss you terribly.  Bye for now.  I’ll write again day after tomorrow.

                                                                    Your loving son,
                                                                        Elwood

p.s. Bonnie and I will be married seven months tomorrow, the 26th!