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!