Dad’s WWII Letters Home (cont’d) Letter 5

Clearly, a lot has happened between this and the last letter I have from my dad. I have no idea why he spent time in the hospital but he must have mentioned it to his folks in previous letters that weren’t saved. It appears he was still in Miami and the heat along with the grueling schedule was taking its toll on him. And his laundry. Gross! Also, like many service members, it appears he was trying to financially assist his parents from afar. After some research, I found that servicemen often asked for allotments for parents and siblings, which meant that some of their pay would go directly to the family instead of to him and then he’d have to mail the cash home.

Monday, July 5

Hi Folks,

            How’s everything? I was very glad to have heard from you I’m sorry that I haven’t written sooner but I will as soon as I get the chance. The first couple of days that I went to the drill field after getting out of the hospital were the toughest days that I ever put in. Boy when I got home at night I’d go to chow then I’d come back and go right to bed but now everything is okay I’m feeling great again only I’m a little tired because they’re really working me now, in fact, they’re working everybody hard now. I had K.P. all day Sunday and then I had fire patrol from 9 to 11 Sunday night, today I had guard duty and I had to walk my post for four hours from 10:30 to 2:30 then tonight I have guard duty again only from 2 to 4 in the morning. So I’ll be pretty tired when we go on the drill field tomorrow, that is, if we go; we’ll probably have guard duty again tomorrow.

            I had some pictures taken the other night and as soon as they are ready I’ll send one home to you, I have to see the proofs yet to see which ones I want made up. Then as soon as they are ready I’ll send one home.

            I have Jean & Pat’s birth certificates and I’ll send them right home; to be frank with you I don’t think the allotment has gone through because I was talking with some of the fellows who made out allotments and they said that they made out a big sheet of questions pertaining to their dependents and I didn’t so I guess that they won’t let me take out an allotment. But once I get to my next base I’ll speak to my Commanding Officer about it and see what, if anything, can be done about it.

            I’ll be lucky if I get a furlough within the next 6 months. After that I may be able to get one but I doubt if I’ll be able to get one before then but I’ll try.

            Boy, you sweat so much down here that you have to wash out your underwear every night otherwise you’ll never get it clean. I found out the ones that I can’t get clean I’m going to have to send to the G.I. laundry and pay for them and then I’ll try to keep them clean myself. You can’t clean anything that has dirt on it with cold water but we have to get them clean somehow so we use plenty of soap and good old fashioned elbow grease.

            The weather up there certainly must be hot but it’s been so hot down here that I know what you’ve been going through, on hot days like that we have to go up to the drill field and drill all day so I know what it’s like. It’s hell.

            I’m glad George passed everything and is going back to school and that everything is okay, by the way, has George any special address or do I send it home, as usual.

            I’m glad that Dad’s garden is okay hope he gets a lot of produce out of it. Oh, yes, I weighed myself and I weigh 144 lbs that is with my uniform & G.I. shoes on, so I figure I weigh close to 140 stripped. Well that’s about all the news take care of yourselves and God Bless you all.

Your son,

Frannie

P.S. I’m now in Flight E instead of T.