August 10, 1943
Tuesday Night
Dear Folks,
I have just came off walking post. I'm on guard duty tonight. It's warm here with part of the moon.
Did I get a kick out of that letter in red and blue to say nothing about the part in pencil.
The picture of Eugene and Joe was swell. Tell them that they look like two (Yankee) farmers. Ha Ha.
So you may get a new dress. If you waited for me to do something like that before you got a new dress, I guess you'd never get one.
How is Uncle Dave making out in his new life? How is Grammy? (His mother's brother had got remarried in June and his mother's mother, Grammy York, had lost her third husband in 1942.)
I haven't got my letter from Flavilla yet but poor kid she has a lot to do.
Did Eugene get his barn full of hay? How much does Dad think he has in tons of hay? Gee, the barn did look good.
You wanted me to write you if I expected to be here the 14th. Well, I'll say yes but you won't find out until after, so you'll have to guess. I'll think about you about 12 o'clock Saturday. Mom, that's my birthday Ha! Ha! (He will be 28 years old.)
Did you mean the glass in the middle of the arbor was broken? You will never know what will happen in the mail. I have quite a few flags now. Why don't you save those in the back of the car so they won't fade.
How much were the three pictures in all? Did it come out good? How many did you have to pick from?
Did I have a good ride in that train, boy could you feel that baby when she started to open up. You know what ---- I saw a pretty girl beside the track and turned around to the fellow beside me and said, "I'd like to kiss that." He looked out of the window and began to laugh. It made me mad, but I forgot how fast we were traveling. You see this is great dairy country and we were 5 miles down the track. (If you missed the reason for his friend laughing, it was because he saw cows instead of the girl.) Sorry, Mom, I won't do it again. (Write like that.)
I bet Pop is reading about the war news. Remember how Grandpa use to read about the war?
I got a card from Mrs. Mains and it was nice. You know I always like the verse. An old lady from the paper mill sent me my first birthday card. I bet the last of the week I'll be flooded with mail. Oh well, it's nice to get mail.
I get the Portland paper all the time now, but sometimes I can't look at it. I do look at the Gorham and Westbrook news first. I do find things I'd never know any other way.
Well, Mom, guess I'll call this good for to-night. How did you and Cora all make it home? Tell her I sent her best wishes and asking about her. (a neighbor) Have Joe say hello to all the folks at the farm.
Good Night Mother Dear
So Long Dad
Good bye Helen, Eugene, Joe
Love
from a Yankee Soldier
Charles
P.S. Guess I'll send
this Air Mail.
**August 5 – WWII: John F. Kennedy (a future President of the United States) and crew are found by Solomon Islanders coast watchers Biuku Gasa and Eroni Kumana with their dugout canoe.
**August 6 – WWII – Battle of Vella Gulf: Americans defeat a
Japanese convoy off Kolombangara, as the U.S. Army drives
the Japanese out of Munda airfield on New Georgia.
USS
Stack (DD-406) was one of the six destroyers that took
part
in the Battle of
Vella Gulf, August 6 and 7 of 1943. Official
U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collection of the National Archives.
^^Aug 11 US amphibians land at Brolo on north coast of Sicily.
The job fell to the exhausted but gritty 2nd Battalion, 30th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division "The Rock of the Marne", U.S. Army, led by its Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Colonel Lyle W. Bernard.
WORLD WAR II AMERICAN RAILROAD MOVIE " TROOP TRAIN "
