13 Feb. 1945
My dearest Love,
Finally a good letter has come from you. It was posted Jan. 28th which isn't bad service but still not quite as good as some of your letters I got in Guinea. I hope this means that normal mail service is about to resume and that I'll be hearing from you regularly. Along with your letter came letters from Sunny & Irene. Sunny is all right tho he apparently went through here at Orinoc. He indicated there were many men killed in action in his outfit. So it looks like the 77th had to pay a price for the good job they did. He writes "I was never more weary, and had a native pack carrier with me for a couple of days but he got such a baptism of fire for 2 days & nites, that at the first cessation & an open road we had secured, he took off. I was relieved cause I didn't want him hurt, and dug him in with me at nite -- where he shivered in my poncho. But he was invaluable cause he got water for us, cocoanuts, etc." He may have written you & give you even more details. The whole Leyte operation was a far tougher one than this has been so far. Altho it was bad enuf in the sector we are in, the mountains. The Japs pulled troops of here for the Leyte deal and didn't have the time or shipping to replenish their depleted garrisons. - It sure was good to hear that Sunny is well and I hope it won't be long before we can see each other. - Irene's letter told of the terribly cold weather they have been having in Central New York - and of her goings on with friends there. There isn't much to do up there tho and that's her chief complaint.
Your trip to B'ham in late January must have been fun in spite of not getting any slight the night you, Em & Giles tried to sleep together in the studio couch. I guess that Giles is going to be like his mother, a regular night owl. I hope one of our children will be something like me and like to go to bed early & wake up early too. Maybe our little daughter will like to keep those hours & get my breakfast for me when she is old enuf. Or will you be getting up to get me my breakfast when I get home after this mess? I have my doubts. I've leaned to each bigger breakfasts in the army than the mere coffee & toast I had at home. (Today was a Red Letter day. We had "fresh" eggs for breakfast, the first I've had in at least two months.) We haven't had any fresh meat since we got off the boat over a month ago. Maybe I'll get some meat in a little while tho. Vienna sausage, spam & bally beef get monotonous after a month. Somehow or other we have escaped canned salmon. - I have tried to buy a chicken or two from Filipinos but haven't had any luck whatsoever. A little fried chicken sure would taste good. ( I have just brewed myself a little tea. A boy gave me some tea a while ago but I haven't used it till tonight. Just plain tea with sugar (but it's good.) I've got some fig newtons that I bought at the PX which ought to go good with the tea) We are supposed to get a ration of 16 bottles of beer in a day or two. We pay $1.00 for the beers - 12 oz. bottles - which is very reasonable. The only objection to the thing is that the issue is too infrequent. We are supposed to get 2X bottles in a month. As yet we have no ice but an ice plant that existed in a small town near us is about to be put into operation again - for our use - so we may be able to get a hundred pounds or so every couple of days. We can improvise an ice box and keep our beers, tea or anything else cold that way.
How I wish I could be at home to hear Giles talk & comment! Your account of his reversing his words makes me laugh. "Hopper grass," "sharpner pencil" and "for sakes goodness" - they sure are twisters. And I guess you had better be good to him & not put him off all the time. You can't treat him like you treated me sometimes. We're both going to demand more attention when I get home or else we'll set up a restricted area "For Men Only" in the house.
I am glad to hear you bought that $150 worth of bonds in January. I hope we can keep that up and have a nice little swag when I get home. I sent you $120 at the end of January and if you can add a little to that we can get another $150 worth this month. If my captaincy comes through in another month or so I should be able to send home about $30 or $40 more each month. I think a captain gets a base pay of $200 per month. Plus $90 for quarters plus $20 for foreign service.
I am surprised that you wonder where I am in your letter? Surely you have been reading the news and can figure out about where I am in the Philippines - especially if I am not where Sunny is. So make a guess in your next letter. Irene & Elizabeth know where I am as Irene mentioned it in her letter that I got today. Of course you won't kno where I am exactly. But I am not near the Big City but up where we came in originally. We headed in the opposite direction from the boys who made for the Big City. We didn't go far as we ran into the hills & mountains and the Japs are well dug in up there. And it's going to take a lot of digging to get them out. I hope to get down to the Big City in a few weeks but far from what the news has been it looks like the Japs are demolishing a large section of it. The dirty bastards. We'll raze Tokyo when we get there.
What have you been reading besides the newspapers, etc? Did you finish "Valley of Decision"? Perhaps you mentioned doing so in the letters I have not yet received. No! I have not received the pictures you sent me late in December. I sure am anxious to get them tho. Keep 'em coming.
I am glad to hear that Em's spirits are up again. I guess she gets the itch to get around some and if the opportunity doesn't come her spirits drop. It sounds like Evie is getting old with rheumatism. She ought to cut her social schedule in half or more & give herself more rest. I expect part of the trouble is the fact that she keeps driving herself too much. How's old John been? Is he still doing a lot of work for Ingall's? Or was it Disco? Has Harry gone back to TC&I? And how does he like it? I expect he got a much better salary than that which he made when he left over three years ago.
Puddin' - I love you dearly & am looking forward to all the back mail that has yet to catch up with me as well as the letters you are going to keep sending me. I am looking forward even more to the day when I can lie in the divan with you & talk & talk & muss you up with a lot of kisses & hugs & stuff.
All of my love, dearest
Your own Emil.