POST TWENTY-EIGHT (Charles Outshines the Sergeant) 25 April 194.

April 25, 1943

Sunday

Dear Mother,

     A letter before I leave for the field in the morning. Expect to go about 4 o'clock. Can't say I care much about going. We can only take two thin blankets with a shelter half. A shelter half is half of a pup tent. Two boys sleeping together combine the halves and make a full tent. Most of the time you just lay the half down with your two blankets on top and roll up in it. It's still not very warm here and it looks a lot like rain. May not be able to write you this next week but will if I can. Even if it's just a line. Don't worry if you don't hear from me for a few days.

     Gee, Mom, the old gang at the mill sent me a big Easter box. (cookies, candies all kinds, gum, maple sugar, peanut brittle, marshmallows, peanuts, Easter candy, cracker jacks etc.) I just can't tell you all they sent. The same woman was in charge of it. (Margaret Dinsmore) She has sent me the Sunday paper every week. I get it about Thursday or Friday. It cost her 90 cents to send the package. (That would be $13.68 in 2020.) 

     The package I told you I would send home, I've got it about 3/4 ready. A few more things I'd like to get. It won't be much but it will have Camp McCoy on it. Can't get much here.

     Eugene (brother) sure made me pleased when he sent me that letter. I know he won't let me down. If he can get a few lessons like the one he has just had, it will prove to him it is best to be honest in the end. I show his picture to the boys and tell them he's the grandest fellow in the world. Wish I could be home now because he is older and we could be going places together and see things. (Uncle Charlie is 27, and Eugene is 19. Both born in August.) Eugene tells what a swell job Dad is doing on the barn.

     Pauline wrote me a letter to-day. Said she had to come home from work at noon, even had to stop the bus driver. Guess she was pretty sick. Too bad for a young girl to be that way. She is a good girl. (present girlfriend)

     The mail has picked up this week. Either none at all or all at once. The girl from Houlton sent me a nice letter and wanted to know where I was. I hadn't sent her a letter in nearly ten months. Ha. Ha. I've learned a lesson. Let them do the writing, keep them guessing. Ha Ha I guess girls like what they can't have. If they want a letter and you don't write, they just beg you to write. Mom, I'm a bad bad boy writing to all these girls. I let them do the writing. I get the fun reading them. It helps to take up the time.

     You don't mean to say you have three pigs around the house now? Helen says We have a pig. When is Grammy and Eugene going to buy one?

     I see by the paper where a boy from Wisconsin was marrying a girl from Portland. After this war is over the States will sure be mixed up. One thing I will say the boys from the North are far ahead of the boys from the South. A man at the drug store at La Crosse told me the same thing. A pal of mine from Massachusetts told me a traveling man for Coca Cola here in camp at the Service Club was eating dinner and asked if he might set at their table. He told Dan the same thing. Even told Dan he knew he was from near Boston by the way he talked. I have been told if we go to Texas the people down there will get us (Northern boys) talking just to listen to us.

     You know, Ma, it may not seem like much but I think my Boy Scouts' training is going to help me in the field. You'll never know how much I got out of the Boy Scouts' work. We were running in wire the other day and the Sgt. tied a knot. He called it a loop tie. I told him to me it was a clove hitch but I wouldn't argue with him until I looked it up. He was a good chap and admitted to me I was right after he got back and looked it up himself. He also told the other boys the difference. Dan gave me a poke and said, "Thata boy Chuck." (My uncle was an Eagle Scout: Eagle Scout is the highest achievement or rank able to obtain in the Boy Scouts of America.) I've made up my mind along with Dan that when we have a chance to shine go ahead. Speak up.

     Flavilla does good but Waneta is a little backward about writing. I can't write all the time but Flavilla writes just the same. I sent them all an Easter card. Guess I told you about the mess up on Helen, Joe, Eugene's cards. I sent them what I had.

     I don't know what I'd do if I didn't have my pen and pencil set. It sure is handy.

     Home must look nice now. New paint, blinds, barn, new kitchen. 

     Mother, would this be too much work? I have an idea. You take what money you need. Have a flower box made, a nice one, or even two if you like. Then plant some kind of flowers that grows plenty. When anyone comes you could give them a flower from me. It would look nice around the house. I'm trying to think of more to write but guess I'll have to close.

     It has been a nice Easter day here. How was the weather at home? My Easter suit was brown. Ha! Ha!

     Well, Mom dear, give my love to all with a lot for you.

                             Good Night Mother

                                  Love Charles

P.S. Will write when I come back from the field. 

                       Love you, Son Charles 

    

*April 22 to September 16, 1943 – Salamaua-Lae Campaign, New Guinea (Pacific Theater)

Troops: USA/Australia 30,000; Japan 12,000 plus.

Casualties (Killed/Wounded/Missing): USA/Australia 2,249; Japan 11,600, including captured.

Series of battles to capture Japanese bases by Australian troops under Edmung Hering and USA troops under General Douglas MacArthur in Lae and Salamaua end with the Japanese abandoning the garrison of Salamaua and the defeat of Lae five days later.

^^Apr 22 RAF shoots down 14 German transport planes over Mediterranean Sea.

^^Apr 23 British & US offensive directed at Tunis and Bizerta.

^^Apr 25 The Demyansk Shield for German troops in commemoration to the military personnel who fought in the Demyansk pocket. It commemorated the successful defense of Demyansk, achieved through the use of an air-bridge.

Demyansk Shield

This was included with the letter.

Easter Bulletin Cover - Camp McCoy Chapel

Page 1 of Bulletin

Page 2 of Bulletin 

First Page of Today's Letter

Another Letterhead Used By Uncle Charlie

U.S. Shelter Half

Clove Hitch Knot

Loop Tie Knot

*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

POST TWENTY-SEVEN (Uncle Charlie Is Smitten?) 20 April 1943

April 20, 1943

Dear Mom,

     Got your letter with the pictures. Gee, if I do say it that the one with you, Helen and I was pretty good. The boys thought it was good too.

     I'm not discouraged. Guess it was a bad week last week. This week seems a little different. I did feel a little down last week but I called up Marian to see if I could go down. She wasn't home but sent me a letter saying she had been looking for me to call or write. I went down Saturday and Sunday. She talked good to me. (I take this to mean Marian encouraged him.)  Asked me to go to church with her Sunday morning. (He did go to church as the below bulletin proves.) Maybe I shouldn't do it (see her) but if you knew how good she uses me you would see how much it helps. (Uncle Charlie is a lonely, homesick man needing someone to talk to, spend time with, and someone to encourage him.) Seems funny that she'd go out with me because when I don't go down she doesn't go out. She seems to be a good girl. Swell ideas, dresses plain but neat. Don't think I am getting like Uncle when I say this ----- but I've never seen a girl that dressed and picked exactly the clothes I like. Don't think, she doesn't look nice. (Uncle Charlie appears to be smitten by Marian. She seems to be a nice, down to earth young lady that even dresses in a way my uncle appreciates. She seems to be intelligent, able to uplift him and relaxes a young man likely scared, confused, and missing home very, very much.)

     Guess by the letter there is no doubt but what Uncle has fallen. You can read it all over the letter. What a surprise. (I am assuming he is writing about Uncle Dave, his mother's brother. He had lost his first wife in 1940 and marries his second wife 10 June 1943. Uncle Charlie is writing that his Uncle Dave has "fallen" in love, I believe.)
     We had a big snow storm here Sunday night. It all went Monday & Monday night. To-day has been swell. You should see the heat raise from the ground. Off goes my winter underwear again.
     I sent some Easter cards. Had some for Joe, Helen & Eugene but when I got back to the barracks they were not in the bag. Instead I had a lot of small ones. Like the few I sent Flavilla's and Waneta's children. Just for a joke I'm sending three to the Kids at home. Ha. Ha.
     So you would like to sputter (complaining) at me. O.K. I'll send you a book of stamps. Ha! Ha! I know when you sputtered at me I would say to myself ---- "She'll stop if I don't say anything back." It always worked. 
     Let Eugene do anything he likes with the car as long as he goes right. If he wants to go see Dot or Grammy once in awhile its o.k. with me. Let him enjoy himself all he can in a good clean way. What he can do with a car license. Maybe you can have a few rides this summer. You said he was pleased he could do something for me. The biggest thing he can do for me, and I know he will, is to be good and be a square honest fellow. 
     Ha Ha two little piggies ---- how about the kittens, any more? Next time three pigs?
     Well, Mother, tell Dad I'm thinking of him. Miss him a lot. Hope he will feels good this summer. 
                                Love to all, 
                            Your Son in the Army
                                     Charles  xxxx 

^^Apr 14 A Japanese-25 decrypt by American intelligence detailing a forthcoming visit by Marshal Admiral Yamamoto, the Japanese Marshal Admiral of the Imperial Japanese Navy and the commander-in-chief of the Combined Fleet during World War II, to Balalae Island results in his plane being shot down 4 days later.

Marshal Admiral Yamamoto

^^Apr 16 40 Nazi bombers attack Haarlem, Netherlands (85 killed)

^^Apr 16 Swiss scientist Dr. Albert Hofmann discovers the psychedelic effects of LSD

Dr. Albert Hofmann

*April 18, 1943 – Operation Vengeance because of Marshal Admiral Yamamoto being killed - Pacific Theater
More information: https://www.thoughtco.com/operation-vengeance-death-yamamoto-2360538 

*April 19-May 16, 1943 – Warsaw Ghetto Uprising led by Mordecai Anielewicz, the leader of the Jewish Fighting Organization– Eastern Front
More information: https://www.thoughtco.com/auschwitz-camp-system-facts-1779683  

Mordecai Anielewicz

The First Congregational Church - La Crosse
Uncle Charlie and Marian attended Apr. 18, 1943

*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

POST TWENTY-SIX ( Discouragement from Different Directions) 11 & 13 April 1943

CAMP McCOY SERVICE RECREATION CENTER

April 11, 1943

Sunday Afternoon

Dear Mother,

     Here I am in the reading room of the Service Club. It is nice and quiet here so will try to drop you a few lines.

     It is cloudy and a little rain outside. Do not know if it will rain or a little snow.

     Before I forget it I'll tell you how I made out the last two days on the tests. The ranks were E, S, F, U. (These are the questioning and demonstration tests given by the high brass he mentions in his last letter. I am presuming E = excellent, S = satisfactory, F = failed, U = unsatisfactory.) I got done about Saturday afternoon, with four E's and the rest were S's. One other fellow had five E's. What a grind. I do not think the hard work will get me far after all.

     Clarence Harrison came over with a letter from Fred Gossbeck to-day. Ha Ha he sure can write the news. It really is nice to have a letter from him. He always gives you a good laugh. He told how Roy Morton was roller skating and fell and lost his cigarettes. A soldier said, "Hey sailor you lost your cig." When he looked up it was one of the Strout boys. Small world after all. (My maternal great grandmother was a Strout so we had many Strouts in our family.)

     I sent you a letter and told you I got my shoes.

     Make sure you take care of your eyes. Are you going to the same man? Guess, he was O.K.

    Poor Raymond is sure on the wrong side of the road. I hope Eugene doesn't start that way. I'd whether not come back than see him like that.

     Would you rather have me write more often even if I don't write so much? Mother, I am going to try and come home in June. Remember I said try.

     Did I tell you Lewis Woodis sent me a letter? It was nice of him. Didn't the army take him once? Guess he's not very well.

     Guess Helen Ladd is not coming up to see you. Sometimes I feel she'd like to but just can't get started. She thinks the world of you, Mom, and I know it. She was always telling me how lucky I was to have such a mother. Sometimes she'd give me heck for something I didn't do for you. She thinks so much of you, she hates to face you. If she comes once I think she'll come quicker the next time. (I believe Helen Ladd was Uncle Charlie's first serious girlfriend. The family thought they would get married. But something happened that no one seems to completely understand. My mother mentioned it several times. We can see in the letter Uncle Charlie is not angry at Helen Ladd but feels she is shy or ashamed to visit his mother. I believe his mother knew what happened.  Whatever happened, I thought Uncle Charlie never completely got over her. Maybe, that is why he never married though he always had a girlfriend.)

     How is Dad? He still doesn't have  much to say. (He was always a quiet man.) He must have the barn looking good by now.

     I don't get so much mail as I did. I didn't mean from home.

     How are all the rest. Does Eugene seem to keep his courage up. Things may change someday. How is sister? Don't forget to tell Joe I was asking for him.

     We had a good dinner to-day. Maybe you can guess why. We had some (-----  -------)? Guess what?

    I'll say so long for this time. Cheer up, Mom. It's hard but it could be worse.

                              Love to All

                        Son Charles xxxx

P.S. Ma, just for you (x)

(I have to chuckle when he tells his mother to cheer up. You can tell from the beginning of the letter he is feeling quite low and needs to be cheered up. He has gone to a quiet place to get away from everyone else. He mentions it's a cloudy and rainy day. He then shares his scores on his tests and is definitely not happy with his scores. He feels his hard work is not paying off. He is not happy with himself, where he is at and most likely missing home. It is going on four months. He's also concerned about his mother's eyes, his dad and his brother. He is even sharing concern about his old girlfriend and likely thinking about the good time he had with her. He is 27 years old and would be considered an "old man" by many of the younger soldiers and his feelings come from an understanding of life as an older adult.

His next letter continues with the same melancholy feelings and written only two days later, therefore, I am including that letter also in this post. I will let you come up with your own thoughts and feelings about this second letter.)

April 13, 1943

Tuesday 8:15

Hello Mom Dear,

     It is 8:15. I have just taken a shower and shaved so will drop a couple lines before the lights go out.

     I had to change barracks to-day. It's right along side but I don't think I'll like it.

    I got your Easter card & letter with check. Thanks a lot. If you need any more money for your glasses, take it. Get some good ones when you get them. 

     It was cold and windy here this morning. It has been snowing off and on all day. This has been a funny week. Nothing seems to go right. I don't know what to do. Hope the last of the week will be different. 

     Warren is in a different outfit than I am. They don't care whether a fellow ever gets home here. After all my hard work I don't think I'll make anything. Maybe I could if I was here 2 or 3 years.

     Harold just came back from a furlough. Don't know how he got it. Guess it's been about a year. He sure had a good time. All he talked about was his girl. I guess by what he tells she must be a swell girl. He says she is a little young but a swell kid.

     I had a good time the other weekend but do not know when I'll ever go again.

     Please try to send me some pictures of home. Guess I can't get accustomed to some of these southern boys. Just think some of them went to 3rd or 5th grade in school. They have been in so long that they have a couple stripes. Think of taking bull (---?---) from them. They don't even know how to handle a man.

     Lights will soon go out so will close.

                         Love to All

                            Son Charles

P.S. Will send you another letter in a few days. Maybe a little better.

^^Apr 8 U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt, in an attempt to check inflation, freezes wages and prices, prohibits workers from changing jobs unless the war effort would be aided thereby, and bars rate increases to common carriers and public utilities.

^^Apr 10 General Montgomery occupies Sfax, Tunisia

^^Apr 11 Frank Piasecki, Vertol founder, built a single-person, single-rotor helicopter designated the PV-2 and flew it. 

"Frank Piasecki"  

"Piasecki with PV-2"

**April 13 – The Jefferson Memorial is dedicated on the 200th anniversary of Thomas Jefferson's birthday. President Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicated the completed memorial. The circular, open-air memorial is 165 feet in diameter, with an exterior made of Vermont Imperial Danby marble. The design of the shallow dome clearly refers to the dome of the Pantheon. The bronze statue is added in 1947. 

Jefferson Memorial dedication ceremonies, April 13, 1943, looking across the tidal basin in Washington.  Man standing on top of the memorial is a guard. 

(AP Photo/Gene Abbott)

President Roosevelt at the Dedication
of the Jefferson Memorial (c)


THOMAS JEFFERSON
BRONZE STATUE
ADDED IN 1947

Difficult Times

Caption from LIFE. 

"Battle fatigue is mirrored in the stark staring 

eyes of this Marine painted against the 

background of Bloody Nose Ridge" 

by Tom Lea Courtesy of The National WWII Museum (c)

 Caption from LIFE

Commander of a 7th Regiment battalion

28 year old Lieut. Colonel Hunter Hurst

sits on a smashed wet log by Tom Lea

Courtesy of The National WWII Museum (c)

Caption from LIFE 

Requiescat in peace "The dead Marine 

seemed so quiet and empty and past all 

the small things a man could love or hate."    

by Tom Lea 

Courtesy of The National WWII Museum (c)

*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

POST TWENTY-FIVE ( No Lights Digging a Hole) 8 April 1943

 April 8, 1943

Dear Mom,

     Just a few lines to-night but I know you'll be glad to have time.

     I have just taken a shower and put on my summer underwear. It has been a warm day here. Yes, it has almost been hot. I have shined my shoes, washed my belt, got out my cleanest shirt & pants etc. You know why? We are starting on a two day Test. Boy, I'm almost blue in the face from taking tests.

     The test is an oral & demonstration test. This will be before the boys if you want to call them that. Some of the highest ranking officers in the Army. They will have card places marked like 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 etc. You go to each one. They may ask you some questions and then ask you to show them how it is done. Each test will take place where that kind of equipment is. I'm beginning to think they want me to take MacArthur's place Ha! Ha! Some of the boys are shaking in the knees just to think they have to go up before them. I feel o.k. to-night but don't know about to-morrow. Oh well, I made the grade once on paper and feel confident on the next two days. I'll let you know later.

     Marian sent the pictures to-night but they came out rotten. She said we could take more next time. It seemed the camera must have moved. She nor I can guess what went wrong.

     Helen Ladd's mother sent me a big box of popcorn & molasses, you know. She had the box lined with wax paper and packed it so it made one big corn cake. She doesn't seem to gain much in health.

     I read about the shooting in in Westbrook. I say that's going some.

     We went out on a night problem the other night. No lights, no smoking and what a job going through the woods in the dark. The boys stand a big chance of getting hurt. Keep on your feet and you're o.k. except for the limbs that hit you in the face. What a job trying to dig at night. You can guess with roots & rocks and no lights to see what you're doing. Another fellow and I dug a hole under a tree, crawled into it for two hours. I was tired and made up my mind to take it easy. The other guy came from Caribou, Maine. We had a chat about the old state of Maine. We looked at the stars and wondered if the folks back home could see the same stars that night.

      Guess I'll have some figs and go to bed. Love to You, Dad, Eugene, Helen, Joey and the little pig. 

                                         Love to All

                                                Charles

P.S. I forgot the kitten. Ha! Ha! 

 ^^Apr 5 Allies bomb Mortsel, Belgium's worse loss of life during WWII (936 civilians)

Mortsel, Belgium 1943

^^Apr 6 British & US armies link up in Africa during WW II

^^Apr 6 British offensive at Wadi Akarit, South Tunisia

^^Apr 7 Adolf Hitler & Benito Mussolini met for an Axis conference in Salzburg. In the 1920’s, it was Hitler who first sought out Mussolini, not the other way round, given Mussolini’s position as the doyen of fascism. After his appointment as Prime Minister in late 1922, Mussolini had not taken Hitler seriously, at the time an obscure leader of a marginal far-right party. The Nazi party’s stunning success in the September 1930 Reichstag elections prompted Mussolini to take a stronger interest in Hitler’s political strategy. To be sure, the Nazis shared some ideological common ground with the Fascists, above all a strong belief in war, political violence, anti-Bolshevism, and ultra-nationalism, but the Nazis had drawn up their two core issues well before any contacts with the Italian Fascists: the conquest of living space and the solution to the ‘Jewish question’. More than a straightforward common ideology, therefore, it was Mussolini’s successful combination of political violence with seemingly legal political activity during the Fascists’ seizure of power which attracted Hitler to Mussolini in the 1920's and early 1930's, as he was preparing for the Nazi seizure of power.

https://yalebooksblog.co.uk/2018/08/14/mussolini-and-hitler-christian-goeschel/

                                                                                                                                                                                                       ^^ Apr 7 Lt Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg seriously wounded at allied air raid.

In early 1943, Stauffenberg served with the 10th Panzer Division in Field Marshal Erwin Rommel's Afrika Korps. On April 7, 1943, he was seriously wounded at Sebkhet en Noual, south of Mezzouna in the North African desert, when Allied fighters strafed his vehicle. He lost his left eye, right hand, and last two fingers of his left hand after surgery. 

On July 21, 1944, at 12:30 AM., Stauffenberg was executed by firing squad for attempting to assassinate Hitler by placing a small bomb in his own briefcase and placing it under the table where Hitler was having a meeting. He excused himself from the meeting to speak to someone. The bomb went off but killed no one. It was later reported that Stauffenberg died shouting, "Long live free Germany."  https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/claus-von-stauffenberg

Lt Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg

World War 2 Training Film 

Why Keep Your Rifle Clean 1943

*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

POST TWENTY-FOUR (Uncle Charlie Meets Marian) 5 April 1943

5 April 1943

 Dear Mother,

     Just was going to write you when they called me over to the orderly room. My package came and I'm having one grand time eating figs. Mom, if you don't mind I'll tell you not to send any more gum. You see, I've found that my stomach is o.k. if I don't chew gum too much. Then too if you're caught chewing gum in ranks it's T.S. in the Army. You forget so easy you don't know you're chewing it.  
     Oh yes, to tell you about the card I sent Sunday from La Crosse. You see, one night I was up at the service club playing some games, had a little ice-cream. My friend or a fellow I know was standing near me and we were watching a party they were having for the boys. A lot of U.S.O. girls came up from La Crosse. They come quite a lot. They can't leave the building and have 3 or 4 older women with them. So we were standing beside a post watching them dance. I said to him, "Well guess if you don't dance you're out of luck. They think that's all a soldier can do." One older lady heard me. She asked if I didn't like the dance. "Aren't they nice?" I told her I never cared about dancing. I cared more about the outside life and going to see places in my car. We talked about an hour or more. Guess she took a liken to me. She told about she and her husband. He died two years ago. How they went fishing etc. After a while she asked, "Do you ever go to La Crosse?" I told her I had been once. "Well the next time you come down you call the Public Library and ask for me. I'll introduce you to one of the nice girls I know, but you must be a real nice boy for she is a nice girl."
     Two weeks ago I went, called her and she called the girl. Called me back and gave me the number. I called and she told me to come up and call for her in an hour. The old lady, Mrs. Showers, must have told her a lot about me. I had told Mrs. Showers I was a little funny. I found the girl just what she said. The girl's home is in Tomah. A town about 5 miles above camp. La Crosse is 40 or so miles below camp. We talked and had a very nice evening but after having some ice-cream and I took her home she couldn't ask me in as she only boarded there. 
     During the next two weeks she talked with the lady of the house. The lady of the house told her to have me come down. So this past week I had a letter asking me down to dinner Saturday evening and she was going to do the cooking. So this last Saturday I went down. She got out of work at 4 o'clock, hurried home and had supper ready at 6:30. 
     The lady of the house works out (outside of the home). When she came home everything was ready. I made another hit with the lady of the home and her 16 year old daughter. The girl is quite big for 16 with light hair just like the girl I went to see. Look almost like sisters. The little girl, Ruth, thinks Marian and I are just swell. We took her out to lunch with us Sunday.
     It seemed so good to be in a home. Look around and things that look like home - even a few cactus plants. They all tried to make it so nice for me. It seemed so good when the lady of the house was talking to me. I just had to put my head down...…
     Guess I'll tell you the girl's name, Miss Marian Schedler (Schad'-ler) (23 years old). She wore a pretty blue dress because two weeks before I said something about liking blue. When I left her Saturday night she told me to call for her at 9 o'clock Sunday morning to take her and go to church. 
     I went but she was kind of sick so we stayed around the home until the afternoon. She got two rolls of film and we took some pictures. I left her a dollar to have them printed and send them up to camp. When I got back to camp she had slipped the dollar back in my pocket.
     I asked Marian what she thought about going out with a soldier. (You know, Mom, some people don't care to see a girl with a soldier. They look at you funny. It hurts sometimes. Guess they think the girl is cheap.) So I asked her. Here is what she said. "Most all boys are in the army to-day. I have nothing against a soldier but I don't believe in running around with any Tom, Dick and Harry. Soldier or not a soldier. You would have never taken me out if it hadn't been for Mrs. Showers."
     Marian never comes up to camp. She told me all she did was work, go to a show or bowl, ride a bicycle and get her beauty sleep --- and Mom --- she's not bad looking.
     Don't worry, Ma, she's a good girl with a lot of common sense. The people want me to come back this weekend but I can't. Think I'll go in two weeks. Little Ruth hangs around like a fly around sugar. Was she glad when we took her with us. 
     The snow is all gone here too except in the woods. A little frost when you try to dig a foxhole. Work like a dog. 
     For the love of mike tell Helen not to get sore so much. Give Joe a little freedom. She can't be under his nose all the time. Let him drift a little it will make him stick more.
     Boy, Mom, do I wish I was coming in around 11 or 12 o'clock. Remember how we used to stay up until 2 or 3 in the morning? Guess this letter is just like one of those talks we used to have. Not much to write about.
     Will close now as I'll send you another letter in a few days.
                                 Love to all
                                       Son Charles
P.S. over
     Remember how we sent films to (Century Photo Service La Crosse, Wisconsin) I never thought about it until Sunday afternoon. I told Marian I never dreamed I'd see the place. Can you remember?

(Thoughts from me)
     This letter from my Uncle Charlie transported me to the Knight family homestead's kitchen in Gorham, Maine. It was as if I was sitting with my Uncle Charlie and having a heart to heart talk. That is how deeply this letter impacted me.
     I could feel the words coming from my uncle's heart. A 27 year old young man sharing how he met a young wholesome girl filling a part of any man's desire for female companionship in appropriate ways. While at the same time concerned how Marian might be looked at going out with a soldier. He knew many considered such a girl as being cheap and it hurt him.  
     Actually being able to spend time in a home where he felt both the ambiance of home life and being openly accepted by all those in the household moved him so much that he had to put his head down in gratitude for being so clearly accepted. What a gift for a soldier so far from home for the first time.  
     When he began to share about the long talks he and his mother had had many times into the early morning hours just made my heart burst with the heartache of a son having such a close endearing relationship. I had a very similar relationship with my mother so I understood what he was expressing. My mother was Uncle Charlie's sister. 
     I wish he was still alive so I could tell him how proud I am being his nephew because he was and still is so very special to all his nephews and nieces.  

^^Apr 3 Jan Dieters (leader of illegal CPN Dutch) arrested, put on trial, and executed.

Jan Dieters

Uncle Charlie and his mother Nina Knight

La Crosse, Wisconsin 1943

TOMAH, WISCONSIN 1943

*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