February 22 & 24, 1943. Two letters home from Dad. Dad passes along the news that he began his training at the Savanna Ordnance School on the 22nd and that he has access to the typewriters in the classroom between 6 and 9 in the evening. In an earlier letter Anna asked if the tape on the back of his letters is something that the censors place on after reading the letters. Dad tells her that he puts the tape on as the glue on the flap does not hold so well.
He encourages Anna to keep writing news about his niece. “I like to hear about Theresa-Marie as I like her so very much. Uncles usually do and I always wanted a niece. Thank God Theresa-Marie notices the difference between pink and blue booties as that give her more credit towards her eyes that she can pick out colors. Have you found out her favorite color? Don’t be surprised if she picks blue which is mine.”
In a few other notes, he says, “We have pretty good food around here, but me and my Lithuanian friend, Joseph Damusis miss that good old Kielbasy and our mouths water any time we think of the same.” He also says, “I hate to hear of you people at home undergoing such hardships but we in the Army have no idea of it as we get fed just as if there were no trouble getting things, and that is where you come in. Someday I guarantee you that there will be a time when we can shut the cover of this lousy war with Hitler under it right down to h-ll.”
He says, “At this place all bugle calls are made over the public address system by records which reminds me of a movie where the guy just dropped a coin in the juke box and had reveille play. We work around here like housemaids trying to keep this place in order and it makes me laugh when some guy tries to show me how to make a bed or clean around it or what to do. I look so darn serious about the whole thing and when he tries to show me how to do things, he almost does everything for me and goes away pleased.” Leave it to Dad to channel his inner Huck Finn!
He laments that he “missed Mass for two Sundays in a row. On Feb. 14 I was on shipment and last Sunday I was going to go to 9:00 AM Mass instead of 8:00 so I could eat chow” but “We were quarantined so we had to stay in our place. However as I know how things are now I will be able to attend Mass every Sunday from now on with the rest of my friends who have also missed out on Mass.”
For entertainment, “I went to our G.I. Theater and saw “Young and Willing”. The show was the type where they don’t know when to stay out of immoral advice and the directors of such pictures try to poison the minds of cads further….It was a funny picture in a way anyhow.” I suppose Dad felt the plot device of six struggling actors (3 male, 3 female) sharing a New York City apartment was a little too risqué.
Poster art for the 1943 movie Young and Willing
Even with that review of the movie, Dad passes along the following semi-risque joke:
“A guy kept going to a show which played for several nights and he attended all of them. In it was a scene where girls would disrobe and just before they would undress completely a train would come between the audience and the people on the film. The cashier asked the man why he came to see the same show over and over again. He replied: “Some day that train is going to be late.”
He closes the letter with a paragraph written directly to his mother in which he tells her, ”Don’t worry over me as I can handle myself very good. I think of you always and I never as yet have cried so that should cheer you up and make you happy. I do not feel lonesome because I know I will come back someday and take care of you until the angles decide that they love you better than I do, which will be very hard for them to do.”