August 27, 1945. Dad writes a short letter home from Guam where he is stationed with the 331st Bomb Group.
Apparently August is the rainy season at Northwest Field, as Dad details, “This morning the ‘Mississippi’ came along both sides of our barracks and underneath them due to a rain shower during the night. Our barracks are sort of in a hole where the water comes from the higher elevated places. It was almost knee-deep so I went to the mess hall in my shower shoes with a barracks bag on my shoulders where I had a pair of dry socks and shoes. After eating I went to some other luckier outfit’s shower room, rather as soon as I got out of our “house-boat” area, I changed into my dry foot gear, ate, and went to work. If it gets any worse, the Navy won’t have to sail around the island but [can] come across it.”
He writes that there was a special live show at the base theater. “The show ‘This is the Army’ played here about 4 days ago. The trucks took us to where the show was. This was a live show, although similar to the movie which they made, had several new angles to it, some of which would probably have been censored if included in the movie. A copy of the program is enclosed.”
Page 1 of the program for This is the Army as performed at Northwest Field
Page 2 of the program for This is the Army as performed at Northwest Field
Dad goes on to address some of the comments in the letters he has been receiving from home. “I guess mama is a little happy over the way the war in the Pacific has come to a close. It sure sounded swell when we first heard it here, and I’m sure we over here were happier about it than if we had been in the States and the same news came up.” Dad also writes that he is “…looking forward to receiving the socks and after that…I’ll be all set…with the material necessities.” Lastly he comments, “When ma wrote about the garden in our backyard, it brought me home or a couple of minutes. I never thought cabbage could grow in our backyard.”
After signing off, he includes a P.S. “This place is still flooded, but not so bad, tonight. Some darn toads, about 4 or 5, are outside our barracks and making noises like an air drill hammer; I hope to get some sleep while them darn things keep hammering away. They make a big noise alright especially 4 or 5 together. I guess I’ll have to pray for patience while their serenading goes on outside. It’ll probably go away as soon as the water dries up.”