May 17, 1943
Monday
Dear Mom,
Got your long letter just before I left for La Crosse last Saturday. I read it on the bus on the way down. It was a swell letter and I had a good laugh. Sure was glad to get it as it was the first letter all week. I wrote you one in a hurry while eating a little lunch early Sunday morning. Don't know as I wrote much but I found I had the paper with an envelope in my pocket. In a rush I wrote you a note.
I told you we were to leave on the 7:45 am bus. I called for her at 7:20. Poor kid, she still was in bed. The other girl had taken the alarm clock and set it back from 6:30 am to 8 o'clock. I called a cab and we made the bus depot O.K. Ha Ha I call her a kid, 23 years old.
I met her folks and they used me swell. What a swell chocolate cake she made. She made me eat three (3) pieces of it. (dinner & supper) Just like Abby Cash made, remember. Ha Ha, ---- she made me eat 3. She didn't have to make me eat very hard. In the bus on the way back Marian said, "I feel better now you've met my folks. I didn't know just how you'd take them." Then she wanted to know why I didn't introduce her to my folks. She didn't say much but I guess they talk well to her about me.
Here is a little sign I want you to post on the door at home. Watch Out for the Love Bug. He'll get you. Ha! Ha!
So, Mother, you had a week with a bunch of kids. My car had a funny spell over to Uncle. I take it to be a happy spell. Well, I haven't forgot how my car and I alone have had some lonesome spells. Glad I didn't leave anything like that inside. Mom, is the picture still on the shift? You know inside my car?
Gee, with that parlor set and all the rest I wish I could see home. I like to see you have a nice home, Ma. (His father had built the home in the early 1920's. It is only now in the 1940's they could put in a bathroom, fix up the kitchen and buy some nice furniture.) I know you like to have it nice. You could always fix it up even with what you had. Guess you and I like a lot of the same things, same taste.
I hope to get that thing for you this Saturday. I'll send it the first of the week if I can. You see we have no Post Office here except down the other end of the camp 2 1/2 miles I guess. You have to go there or wait until you go out. I may find someone going out that will mail it for me. Not much but I'm in the army. Wish it had come before but you have to wait for everything to-day. Called Marian one night and had to wait 2 hours in line.
I sent Dot a letter a long time ago. I do not know if she got it or not.
Mom, didn't Helen Ladd give you a cedar chest once? Seems to me she did. She had a big heart for you. (Right out of the blue my uncle writes about his first girl friend. He mentioned about the Love Bug getting you after going with Marian to see her folks. He never got over his first girl friend and I'm wondering if he's feeling a little guilty about having feelings for another girl. He had other girl friends all his life but never married. Right up to the day he died he had a girl friend. Never lived with any like they do today.)
It is raining here to-night. We have been out firing all day. Supper Chow at 7 to-night. I'm tired so will take a shower and shave then go to bed.
I put Helen's picture on the shelf with that small one of Eugene stuck in the corner. (his sister and brother) It looks good. Foolish but sometime I talk to the pictures.
Tell Dad the farms out here are poor. I mean the buildings. Some of the houses are made of logs, then cemented up. The land they plow is in between the hills and on the sides. The ground looks swell for farming. A lot of it is black soil. Never plow corn under here. Just cut it in the fall. See quite a few pigs around. Pig house is just a pile of hay with a few poles to hold up the center. Some pigs even roam around. The barns are stone or rock way up then wood. They put their buildings up cheap. They spend little money to keep them up.
Well folks, guess I'll say good night. Love to all (how many there) Good night, Mom.
Love
Son Charles
*May
17, 1843 – Operation Chastise (Dambuster Raids) - European Theater
More
information:
https://www.thoughtco.com/operation-chastise-the-dambuster-raids-2360533
**May
17 The United States Army contracts with the University of
Pennsylvania's Moore School to develop the computer ENIAC.
Computer ENIAC
**The
Memphis Belle becomes the first airplane in the 8th Air Force to
complete a 25-mission tour of duty.
The Memphis Belle
Churchill Addresses Joint US Congress May 1943
copyright gettyimages Library of Congress
OLD WISCONSIN BARN
copyright gettyimages Library of Congress
KILL OR BE KILLED! - World War II Training Film
*Source 1 https://www.thoughtco.com/world-war-ii-battles-2361453
*Source 2 https://americasbesthistory.com/timeline2ndworldwar1943.html for major battles
**Source 3 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1943_in_the_United_States
^^Source 4 https://www.onthisday.com/events/date/1943
##Source 5 https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/us-home-front-during-world-war-ii
copyright of letters and any original material Peter Lagasse
