September 17, 1943
Dear Mother,
One day gone by which leaves it one day closer to coming home. You may be sure I'm longing with all my heart for that day.
Gee, Mom, I got a nice long letter from Helen to-day. She said, "I never thought Joe and I could get along so good. I've yet to have our first spat." She sure wrote as if she was happy. She also told how good you and Dad had used her and Joe both. I guess she realizes now that she has a chance to look back and think it over. She guessed she had many times left a lot of work for you to do when she may have helped out. Mom, she wrote so nice about you and Dad both. I know she sees now how much and also how good you both used them. Told how she would look at the new flag while sitting on the porch in the evening and think of her brother fighting for freedom, that she and Joe both were looking for me to come home. She wrote Joe sent brother his love. Gee, it was swell. (It will be almost two years before Helen and Joe will see Uncle Charlie and for him to see home again.)
You should see the haircut I had to get to-day. It had to be about a half inch long, not over 1 inch and clippers on the sides. (no longer than 1.27 to 2.54 cm long) Boy, you wouldn't know me. It's a fact, Mother, I ran the comb backward, forward, crosswise and then messed it all up with my fingers but one way looked as good as the other. I can comb it as well with my fingers as I can with a comb. If I could only give the Indian war whop like Dad, I could scare a man to death. You don't know what I look like. Well, I had to get it. ( Yes, my dear Uncle, you did, because you are heading some place where you will need to make a war cry.)
That black iron thing you found was a used hand grenade. It was one used for practice. (must have brought it home when on furlough) Someday I am going to paint it for a souvenir, either black or O.D. Don't think because it's small that baby isn't bad medicine. That little thing will blow the track off a big tank if thrown into it. Yes, Dad, was right. You can use it for a mine, although it's not a mine. You also can rig up booby traps with it in a thousand different ways.
As for the picture, are you able to find any of the boys by looking at the back? I wrote quite a few in my letters. I wondered if you could find the ones I was writing about? Some fellows are rough but a lot only think they're hard, just wise guys. You can always bring them down to your size. I'd be willing to take a licking trying it on some of those guys. (Now, Uncle Charlie, whose talking like a wise guy in this letter? Trying to impress your dear mother?) So you like the picture. Did I tell you "Baby Hays" broke his ankle? Can you find him? He's a pretty good fellow from Chicago. If you have that frame cut down, have a good job done and I will pay for it. (The frame must never got made because I found the picture in the original tube it came in.)
I think you wrote that Jake Rogers was going into the army. Gee, that sure will be hard on him. He gets so nervous and excited. It must be hard to leave a wife and a little baby behind. Oh, if only this war would only end. If you could only picture in your mind what I have seen. Mother, in plain words, "It's Hell." It surely changes a man's life.
Gee, Mom, wish I could get ahead not because I like it but so many boys back home are. I feel I should do partly as good as they. Other mothers tell, my boy is a Sgt., my boy is a Cpl., mine's a S/Sgt. and my boy is going to school. Your boy, Mom, has got one - just one stripe ^ a P.F.C. (In his discharge papers it states he was Private for 3 months, a Gunner Corporal 29 months and a Sergeant for two months. I know he became a Sgt. when he returned to the States and went to Camp Swift to train new recruits in preparation of the war with Japan.) Guess I got a bad break. Oh well, the main thing is to get back home. I could do it if they let me. One fellow was just in here talking with me. He said the other day when I made that direct hit with the bazooka he almost shit his pants. He was so glad. Most of the fellows were non-coms (a noncommissioned officer) or fellows with a few stripes. I shot the second best hit of all (out of the 16 that had been chosen to shoot the bazooka.) You see most all the rest of the battery was back on the hill watching us fire. Some of the guys do something then go around patting themselves on the back. Just big kids with a few years of education. That damn Spic (Davila) backed out. Guess he got cold feet and was afraid. Someday I'm going to have trouble with him. I'm just waiting my chance. (Uncle Charlie (and others) has been having trouble with Davila since March when this Corporal came in to replace the Sgt. of Uncle Charlie's gun unit who had been seriously injured. Uncle Charlie had been told by a S/Sgt. that the Battery Commander was considering making Uncle Charlie the Gunner Corporal. They knew there were problems with Davila. Maybe that is why my uncle was stated as a Gunner Corporal on his discharge papers for 29 months because maybe the paperwork had got lost and was discovered while he was at Camp Swift.)
Well, Mom, guess this will have to do for to-night. Give my love to Dad and brother.
Love,
Charles
^^Sep 16 Montgomery's 8th army contacts invasion – arm forces at Salerno
^^Sep 16 Soviet army under General Vatutin reconquer Romny a city in northern Ukrainian Sumy Oblast. It is located on the Romen River.
*September 3-17, 1943 – Invasion of Italy ENDS – European Theater
More information: https://www.thoughtco.com/invasion-of-italy-2360451
