Jan 10, 1943

Sunday afternoon

Dear Folks,

Here goes for a letter. Gee, I thought you were never going to write. We were told the mail got mixed up. I never knew before and you'll never know what it means to a soldier to receive mail. We have a mail call twice a day. Go over to the classroom and they call out our names from there. Some times they come around with it. I've seen big men go day after day and find no mail for them. They come back to the barracks and lay on the bunks and cry. A letter means a lot. Remember, we're a long way from home.

I didn't get up until about about 11 today {Sunday, day off}. Guess I am fighting off a cold. Had a little ~~dinner~~ I mean chow, Ha! Ha!, feeling a little better now. Hope I'm not sick because what they once had the boys do in six weeks we're doing in two so you can see why I have no time. If you miss a day or two it puts you back. Had an exam the other day and what do you think? Out of 60 or 70 men three or four made 100% and I was one.

Oh, before I forget it write and let me know just what each part on the car cost and the total amount. Hope Joe did send me a shaving set because that's one thing you have to do in the army -- shave everyday. I was glad to get Helen's letter and will write later. But anytime someone wants to write it's O.K. The more the better. The letter sounded just like her. {most likely his sister}. Sent Grammy a card. Had a letter from Waneta. {sister} What did Tiny have to say the other day? Was she glad to see you? I really think Tiny liked me. I tried to do what was right and be good. We all make mistakes. Guess I've made a lot.

Have you got the kitchen all done? How is Dad? I bet he could go skunk hunting with that light. Tell Dad the news looks good and I guess he may be right. Seems funny Helen says so much about Joe, Joe, Joey. {sister's boyfriend and soon to be fiance}. She must like him a little, tiny, sweet bit. I'll tell you Ma -- don't let her fall in L---- will you. If she ever does, oh, dear. Of course Eugene {brother} never will because he told me himself it was foolish. {Eugene has a change of mind in about a year. ha, ha.} Ask him how Grammy Mains is? {She is Uncle Charlie's dad's mother.} Does he still go down to see her? Tell him when the river freezes over he can go cross country. Glad to here the good news about Eugene. Maybe that's why I came here. If so it's worth it. Tell him to be good and if he wants to go ice fishing use my traps or anything. When I come home with my chocolate baby I won't care about fishing. Ha! Ha! Guess I'll have to go South for that. {It is amazing how in the 1940's the black racial issue was still so strong. Even in the army the blacks and whites couldn't be in the same regiments etc. Though racial issues are not completely solved even today, I know my uncle and other family members changed their attitude. Not one family member had a problem when my wife and I adopted an African-American as our son, Paul. Sadly, he passed away unexpectedly in 2016 at the age of 25.}

Yes, I have my watch. I think a lot of it. Joey or Eugene haven't got a better watch than mine. What a family, Mother. Well I love my watch and sometimes when I look at the back ----- oh well it's all in the lifetime.

Hope you do send some pictures. I can send them back to you later. I just sit here and keep on writing anything I think so this letter may seem a little mixed up but it will be just as if I were talking to you.

Tell Mr. & Mrs. Mains I was asking about them. Sorry I can not write but you tell them why. Wish I could see my Xmas card but it would cost too much to send them. Gee, we have some big mouth Frenchman here. You know the rest. They're so smart when it comes to shooting out their lip but one big blow got 55 in the test the other day. I don't worry; they look good now but they'll be found out someday before long. You know how it makes me mad. In the army you keep your eyes open and your mouth shut. {His mother's mother was French and she had quite a mouth and attitude. That is where he got his thoughts about the French. My great grandmother could scare any of us!}

I am going to buy some bonds. I'll have them made co-owner in your name. That is, it will belong to you as well as me. If you ever need them you have a right to cash them in your name. I started one as beneficiary but you could cash that only in death so will have it changed.

Do these guys gamble here. All the time. They're foolish because some fellows here are card sharks and they clean the small guy out. One crook made $390 in one week. {That would be worth $5,783.68 in 2019}. Boy, they don't get any of my money. I'm going to save it to go home someday if I get the chance. I'm going to try hard so I can.

Kind of running out of words to write so will have to close soon. You look up on the map of Wisconsin and I am about 35 to 40 miles north of La Crosse. It has 70 to 80,000 people. Hope to go there some weekend on a pass. Will send something home if I can.

Well it's about 5 o'clock. "Chow time." So long, Mother. Tell Dad not to hang around the corner at night and Helen and Eugene be good. Someday we'll have a big dinner together. Even Joey "brother-in-law" and Dot "sister-in-law." {both "possibilities" at this time}

Good bye

Please write often.

Love & Kisses to all

Son Charlie

P.S. Just came back from chow. Got coughing and away went part of my supper on the floor. Oh dear.

La Crosse, Wisconsin

##Baseball and the Battlefield

In January 1942, Kenesaw Mountain Landis (1866-1944), the national commissioner of baseball, wrote a letter to President Roosevelt in which he asked if professional baseball should shut down for the duration of the war. In what came to be known as the “green light” letter, Roosevelt responded that professional baseball should continue operations, as it was good for the country’s collective morale and would serve as a needed diversion.

During the war, 95 percent of all professional baseball players who donned major league uniforms during the 1941 season were directly involved in the conflict. Future Hall of Famers Bob Feller (1918-), Hank Greenberg (1911-86), Joe DiMaggio (1914-99) and Ted Williams (1918-2002) exchanged their baseball jerseys for military fatigues. Feller, in fact, enlisted in the U.S. Navy one day after Pearl Harbor. Because baseball was depleted of so many able bodies, athletes who otherwise likely never would have made the big leagues won spots on rosters. One of the more notable was Pete Gray (1915-2002), a one-armed outfielder who appeared in 77 games for the St. Louis Browns in 1945.

Not all those who served in the military were superstars. Elmer Gedeon (1917-44), an outfielder who appeared in five games for the 1939 Washington Senators, and Harry O’Neill (1917-45), a catcher who played in one game for the 1939 Philadelphia Athletics, were the two big leaguers who died in combat. Over 120 minor leaguers also were killed. Other players overcame debilitating wartime injuries. One was Bert Shepard (1920-2008), a minor league pitcher turned air force fighter pilot. In 1944, Shepard’s right leg was amputated after he was shot down over Germany. The following year, he pitched three innings for the Washington Senators in a major league game.

^^Jan 5 William H Hastie, civilian aide to secretary of war, resigns to protest segregation in armed forces

^^Jan 9 Japanese government in Java limits sale & use of motorcars

^^Jan 10 Soviet offensive against German 6th and 4th Armies near Stalingrad.