Eight days before heading to Camp Shanks.
Will leave from there on October 7th for Northern Ireland.
September 24, 1943
Friday
Dear Folks,
Another letter before going to bed. It has rained most all day but has cleared off tonight. Oh yes, it's still cold. You said it, Mom, no matter what you write it's a letter from home.
Now, Mom, don't you wonder and worry too much about me moving as one never knows in this Army what will happen. I know you and all the rest will remember me at all times no matter what comes or wherever I may go.
I got a nice letter from sister, Helen, to-day. She sent me some pictures which were swell. Gee, she and Joe looked swell. I'm going to send them right back to her as she asked me to after I was done with them. I sure enjoyed them.
So you think I've got my Helens mixed up. Ha ha a good joke. Once, Mom, I didn't have to worry about getting my names mixed up. It was one and yes, one and only one. I know we had trouble but I was square. Guess, I'm not the same fellow I was once. I had to reopen an envelope the other night to make sure. I never believed in that stuff once. I know now what it is to have something hang with you. I made a mistake, Mom. I had only one reason to not be sorry. I was coming in the Army. When I left I had a little feeling inside me but it didn't work. I've found that miles are only a matter of distance or space between. Many things I think but have no answer. The hardest thing now is that I don't have you, Mom, to talk to. I can see you now coming down the stairs to meet me as I came home late at night. I couldn't do wrong because I could always see you. I just took my car and rode until late at night trying to forget. Many times I'd see things that hurt. Oh well, it's all over with now so -- ha ha maybe I'll find the answer someday. The big thing now is have this war end. (Some may think this long paragraph has nothing to do about the war. It does have something to do about war. When a man or woman serves their country and has to be deployed, they have more than a filled backpack of military stuff on their backs. They have other burdens on their backs that comes with them. Those burdens can be many possibilities. For my uncle, it is leaving his family and still trying to figure out why a relationship with a young lady hadn't worked out. A relationship where marriage had been a real responsibility. A soldier can't leave their every day normal life behind when they are deployed. This paragraph shows our military need our prayers and thanks because they are all carrying a heavy load. A load including more than a backpack of military gear.)
I liked to have seen the cat in your plant. Of all the places for a bed.
That's o.k. about the shirts. Let Dad or Eugene wear those things I sent in that box too. That's one reason I sent them. He can have those two arrow shirts if he wants them.
Where is Leroy (I believe he is writing about his brother-in-law) going to work? Guess it won't be hard to find a job to-day. He'd better not hang around too long.
Well, Mom dear, guess I'll have to close for to-night. Didn't do a thing all day but, will pay for it. Wish they'd start a little fire to take the dampness out of the barracks. We did do the floor to-day and due to the fact it was raining, the room seems damp tonight. I sleep plenty warm. Keep your chin up, Dad. So long, Brother. I feel o.k. Be good.
Love,
Son Charles
**Fourteen
coal miners were killed September 25, 1943, in an explosion at the Moffett Scharaeder
mine near Forrestville or Minersville, Pennsylvania. From the Indiana
Evening Gazette, Pennsylvania – 14 Dead in Blast at Mine (AP) --
All 14 victims of an explosion which ripped through the fifth level
of the Moffett Scharaeder coal mine at nearby Forrestville yesterday
were identified by rescue workers today, but ten of the bodies
remained in the underground ruins as precautions were taken against a
second blast. Richard
Maize, State Secretary of Mines said the cause of the blast had not
been determined, but he expressed belief methane gas was ignited by a
spark from mechanical loading equipment. Grief-stricken
friends and relatives huddled near the shaft of the anthracite mine
awaited removal of the ten victims still underground. Taken
from the pit last night were the bodies of August Fell, Robert
Thompson, Steve Keystock and Nicholas Stanko. Still
in the fifth level ruins at the time when this was written were the
bodies of Andrew Kanykewskie, John Plahn, George Bobrick, Michael
Liptok, John Dando, Archie Miller, Robert Edwards, Joseph Blase and
John Adams. (One not named.)
**John
Anderson replaced the late Kingsley Wood as Chancellor of the
Exchequer. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, often abbreviated to the
Chancellor, is a high ranking Minister of the Crown within the
Government of the United Kingdom, and head of Her or His Majesty's
Treasury. As one of the four Great Offices of State, the Chancellor
is a senior member of the British Cabinet.
John Anderson,1st Viscount of Waverley
Courtesy Of The Red, White And Blue
(Official Music Video)
Toby Keith
