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June 14, 1943
Camp
Wheeler Georgia
Dearest Cass
In the last letter I said I had K.P. today, but I found out that it was some other
fellow, his name is Hilderbrand and I thought that it was me. I thought that they mispelled my name. Pretty good
break for me. If you have a dollar to spare will you send it to me I need it pretty bad. Just send
it in a letter. To be sure you send it right I'll give you my address again.
PVT C. Hildenbrand
2nd Platoon
CO C 11th Battalion
Camp Wheeler GA
In my last letter I said you could come up to stay, but I found out that I have
to be in at 11 o'clock every night but Saturday. On Saturday, I get done at around 6 o'clock then I get a pass
till SUnday night 12 o'clock. If Herby wants to take a nice trip tell him to bring you up here on his vacation with
the whole family. (I can dream can't I). Last week they asked if anyone wanted to join the paratroops. If
we joined they would raise our pay to $100 a month but we would have to finish our 13 weeks here first. When our 13
weeks is up we will be transferred to other branches of the service or stay in the infantry. Right now we are not in
any branch, this is only our Basic Training. Right now I am waiting for the mail, so I'll leave some space to answer
your questions. It's noon 12PM and first mail call, everybody gets some mail except myself and a few others. I
will finish this letter after supper to see if there is any for the day. Well, it is now 6:30 and I did not get any
mail. I thoguht for sure I would get some to-day, and was very disappointed. If I don't get some soon I will stop
writing myself. I sent a postcard to Jimmy so I guess he will drop me a line pretty soon. How is the baby getting
along? All right? Is she still full of pep like when I left. I hope everbody at home is all right with everybody.
If you can can you send me Bulletin every day, it will let me know what's happening around town. I just came back and
I took out 3.75 a month for Bonds. It will be made out to you so they will send them to you. It's now 8:30 and
we just got done for the day. Don't forget that dollar for I need cigarettes and all. If I don't get a letter
tomorrow I won't write anymore. Give all my love to the baby and especially you, for I love you more than
anything in the world.
Your loving husband
Dutch
June 15, 1943
Camp Wheeler GA
Dear Sweetheart
I received three letters today and that made me feel a lot
better. The dollar you sent me came in very handy because I was all out of writing paper. I bought myself a very
nice writing kit with it. When you phoned me Monday I was very excited for I thought something happened at home.
I was very relieved when I found out everything was all right. I was all choked up when I heard your voice and could
hardly say a thing. As you know, you shouldn’t have spent that money to call me up for you need it pretty bad
yourself. But just the same, I could have kissed you to death for it. Being away from you has learned me a lot
for I don’t know how I stand it. Every day I want to leave this camp and go home to you where I belong.
In your letters you say that you think that I don’t love you, but you just wait until I get home. I’ll show
you. All I am going to do is sit someplace where we can be alone and then I am going to hold you in my arms and kiss
you and hug you. And say I love you more than anything on earth. (And I ain’t kidding). I mean every word of it.
As for going out with any other girl, you’re nuts for you are the only girl for me. All I think about is coming
home to you all day for I am very homesick. When I get home I will never leave you for a minute so help me. It’s
so hot down here it almost drives a person crazy. Every day guys are passing out right and left. Today we pitched
tents and cleaned our guns. They taught us how to take our guns apart piece by piece. I’m sorry but I have
to sign off now for it’s time for lights out. I’ll write you the rest tomorrow. If your mother nags
you too much go out my mother’s. She will be glad to have you. As for your silliness about me not loving
you, get that out of your head for I love you so much its driving me nuts not being near you. So good night sweetheart
and god bless you and the baby.
Your
Most Loving Husband
Dutch
PS. I love you and hope to come home soon Kiss the baby for me and tell her I love her too.
June 16, 1943
Camp Wheeler, GA
Dear Cass
I received your letter, the one you wrote before you called me
up, it didn’t have very much news in it, so when you write, tell me everything that is happening every day. As for me,
we were taught all about poison gas. They made us smell each one of them, so that we would know what kind they were.
From what I smelled, I don’t care much for them. About 7 o’clock we had a man from town here to take our pictures
in uniform. It is G.I., so, if we don’t want them, we don’t have to buy them. They will cost me $7.00 if I take
them. If they come out alright, I will buy them and send them to you. As soon as you can go out and see Herby and tell
him to send the money he promised me, for I need it pretty bad. If you can send me some, I will send it back to you “payday”.
So please try and send some to me. I’m not supposed to be writing now, for if I get caught, I will get K.P. So don’t
forget. As for you not being able to come up here, don’t worry about that, for it won’t be long before I am home
again. I just got out of the movies, we didn’t see much of the picture because it was raining, and lighting struck our
power line. So we got a rain-check because they couldn’t fix it. The temperature down here is about 120 degrees every
day, so we were glad to see it rain. Today a fellow got sunstroke and fell over and is in pretty bad condition. I was right
next to him when he passed out. That happens quite often down here. So honey don’t worry about me, for I can take it.
Well I’ll say goodnight now and god bless you and the baby for I love you both beyond anything in the world. If I was
near you I would give you the best hug any women ever had honey.
Your Most Loving Husband
Dutch
PS Today I went to church and signed up to become a Catholic, all right with you ?
Note from WOLF:
FROM WORLD WAR TWO EXPERIENCES OF JAMES TOLBY ANDERSON
"On the 27th of June 1943, we took a train to Camp Wheeler, Georgia where
we arrived around the first of July. At Camp Wheeler, I made friendship that lasted throughout the war and pulled me
through the horrors I would later encounter. His name was Edgar Archbold and he came from Pennsylvania. At Camp Wheeler,
we went through sixteen intense weeks of basic training in the hot southern sun. There I experienced my first taste of death
when a draftee died from heat stroke. That death was hard on all of us but not anything like what was to follow."
Experience of another soldier -- James Tolby Anderson -- that was on the same transport ship to North Africa as Dutch.
June 17, 1943
Camp Wheeler, GA
Dearest Cass
I received a letter this afternoon and the Father's Day Cards at 6 o'clock, so
it took them all about 12 days to get here. When I received the Father's Day cards I was deeply moved, so when I get
home I will try to make you the happiest wife a man ever had. When I do get home I will pay up for all the time I have
been away from you for I miss you like the dickens. You would make me very happy if you sent me a picture of you and
the baby. It was pretty decent of the army to give you $30.00 toward the hospital bill. I will give you something
to fall back on now. As for me going to USO dances, get that out of your head for I am not allowed to get out of camp
yet. Even if I was I wouldnt go to any dances. SO forget about me cheating on you for I love you very much.
Another thing is that I didnt have one beer since the day I left home, isnt that remarkable. Boy, everyday I wish I
could get my hands on a bottle. When I received the cards tonight it made me very happy, and sad too for I wished I
could be home with you. How's the baby? Is she getting any bigger and cuter? How about you?
I bet youre the prettiest soldier's wife going, and Im proud of you for the way you are tkaing things on the chin.
But when I get home everything will be changed. Tonight I went to the Camp library and you should see all the books
they have. I made up my mind to go there quite often and study, for I want to be somebody when I get home and I want
you to be proud of me. SO honey, dont worry about me, for I will do everything the way you would want me to. So
darling, I will be looking forward to your next letter. As it is late, I will sign off with I love you now more than
anything on earth and keep yourself and the baby in good health, for if anything happened to either of you I would die.
God Bless you both.
Your Loving Husband
Dutch
June 19, 1943,
Camp Wheeler, Ga.
Dear Cass:
Well this is my fifth day at camp Wheeler, and its pretty
tough . Today I got my G.I. haircut and its pretty short, buts it’s a little cooler. It’s very hot down
here. It took my last cent to pay for it, but it was worth it. If it was possible, you could come and live down here,
but since you are having another baby, it wouldn’t be such a good idea. I will be here for thirteen weeks of training,
and then I might be transferred to another branch of service [I hope]. I’m sorry I couldn’t send you anything
for your birthday, even a card, for they do not have any at the post exchange and we are not allowed out of camp for ten days.
We didn’t get any needles here yet, but it won’t be long. Every day I’m here, I get lonelier and lonelier
for you and the baby. If they would let me go home tomorrow I would be out of here in ten minutes. When I get home again,
I ain’t going to leave it for one minute [honest to god]. Well, how is everything at home? Are you writing any
letters to me, I didn’t get any yet? The only time I have to write is after supper for they don’t give us a minute
to ourselves. So please forgive me if you don’t get a letter every day, but I’ll write every day, don’t worry about that. How is everything, did you get to
the doctor yet? So please write. How is the baby, did you take her out my mother’s yet? If you weren’t going
to have a baby, you could have come down here and live; I could come home every night at 5:30, that wouldn’t be bad
at all. So write soon, will you. I love you very much and miss you [honest to god].
Love
Dutch
PS I love you, and take care.
June 20, 1943
Camp WHeeler GA
Dearest Cass
Well, today is Sunday but we are not allowed to leave the barracks as we are on
the alert detail. Yesterday, when they called us out, they took us up and gave us a couple of shots. So today
my arm is pretty sore. Right now the fellow next to me got a package from home, and I am helping him to eat it.
Our sargent told us that on Thursday we would go on a hike amd that we would stay out that night and pitch tents. That
will be pretty good. Just now I receieved your letter dated June 18. Thats pretty good service. On the back
of your letter you put SWAK. What does that mean? And when are you going to send me them pictures? I am
looking forward to seeing them. I will get the pcitures I had taken next week. I hope they turn out good.
If you come down to see me are you going to bring the baby with you? If Betty comes with you it would be all right,
for I am dying to see her. This Army life wouldnt be so bad if I was close to you and the baby. But the way it is now
I am longing for you every second of the day. Every time I write a letter it makes me sad, thinking if I was home how
much happier I would me. Boy, I hope this war doesnt last long or I'll go nuts. In today's letter
you wrote that you liked my last letter very much. What I wrote was the real thing for it was no Bullshit, I
meant every word I wrote. When I finish this letter I am going to write my Mother for I only sent her a card since
Ive been here. Well, it is now chow time, so I will write you again tonight about what I have done this afternoon.
Your most loving husband
PVT Dutch
PS I love you and I love the baby and I think I am the luckiest man in the
world to have a wife and daughter like you two. So pray that the war will end so I can come home to the both of you
or three of you.
SWAK -- SEALED WITH A KISS
June 21, 1943
Camp Wheeler GA
Dear Cass
Today I was very disappointed for I did not receive
any mail from you. The only thing that came was the cake and candy, but I would sooner have had a letter than that. Why didn’t
you write? For I write whether I have time or not. The box you sent me was very nice, but you shouldn’t have sent so
much, for the ants down here are plentiful and you know how cake draws them. Well things down here are pretty much the same,
so I don’t have very much to say, as I don’t have a letter to answer. The eats down here are pretty good. The
water down here is pretty warm, but we drink quite a bit of it. I am very glad when night comes, and I can get a cold bottle
of soda. When you come down here you will see how warm it is. When you write me, tell me what you are planning to do when
you come to see me. What are you going to do with the baby? Please tell me everything you are doing so that I don’t
have to worry about you. Well as I have no letter to answer I will sign off with, that I love you too much to be without you.
So hurry down here and see me, for I am counting every moment of the day. And I can say that I will give you the best days
you ever had down here. So until I see you sweet-heart. Take care of yourself and the baby.
Loving you more than ever
Dutch
PS I love you
June 22, 1943
Camp Wheeler, GA
Dear Dutchie
Well, guess what I received from Betty's [illegible]. There were [illegible]
and one was from your grandmother. She also sent me a dollar with it. I guess I must rate with her. AT the
end of it she put "With love from Roy and Grandma." Not bad, eh? Boy, it sure came in handyt for I didn't have
one penny. Last night, all I did was go up to the Camp library and read. That is the only place where you
can get a cold drink of water. So I am going up to the PX to get a cold soda now. So when I come back I
will finish this letter for I always wait til around 1:00 o'clock before I finish my letter to you. So if anything new
turns up I can let you know. Well, I just came back and it is now 11 o'clock. I went to the movies here in Camp
and after that I got a hot dog & soda. I go with some fellow from Lusserne pennsylvania and he is a very nice fellow.
He was a coal cracker before he got in the Army and he doesn't drink. We both share our wealth with each other.
That seems to work out pretty good for he always has some money. As for Mitchell, he is in another barracks and we don't
see each other much. So does that ease your mind a little, darling? Sweetheart, please don't worry about me going
with other girls and not coming back to you & the baby for if you only knew how much I love you and miss you. Right
now I wouldn't give two shits if I upped and walked out of here. But I'm in this thing and I'm going to make the best
of it until this damn war is over. I know you wouldn't want me to do a thing like that anyway. It will be a godsend
when I can hold you and the baby in my arms again. Well, the second week will be over pretty soon & it will be no
time my basic training is over. Then I may get a furlong. WOn't that be swell. Boy, I can hadly wait.
Well honey, I have to get to bed, so don't forget I love you only and get them silly ideas out of your head. Don't forget
about Thursday for I won't be able to write on account of us going on a hike and camping out. I was very happy today
when I received those four letters so keep it up. Well goodnight darling and as I go to sleep I will make believe you
are next to me and Oh boy, what I wouldnt do if you were.
Your loving husband
PVT Dutch
PS Did you go to the doctor's yet? I love you.
June 23, 1943
Camp Wheeler GA
DearSweetheart
Well, how is everything? Do you still love me and miss me? Well today
is Wednesday and we all hard a hard day. This morning we got up at 5:30 AM ate breakfast and cleaned up our barracks.
The we went out to target practice. We learned how to fall on the ground and how to lay. It is altogether
different the way I lay here and the way I used to lay with you, but we will get back in practice as soon as I see you.
Right? We are learning how to aim and hold our rifles. This afternoon we went out for gas drills.
Thye had us smell all the poison gas they use in warfare, so that we would know what kind it was. I'm telling you them
gasses sure is rotten. The rest of the time we had lectures and marching. Tomorrow we go out on our hike, and
we will stay out all night, so honey I won't be able to write to you, but if I can I sure will, so don't be disappointed
if you don;'t get any mail. The officer told us today that in our last two weeks we will hike and camp out for 10 days.
Won't that be something. I hope its not true. I received two letters at 12 o'clock today, but I did not
receive any tonight so if you could I would like to have a letter one in the morning and one in the afternoon. You asked
me if I got the dollar you sent me on Father's Day, I should have mentioned it honey but I forgot. And I think it is
swell for all you are sending me. I know now that I am the luckiest manon earth to have a wife like you honey.
I mean it. You also asked me what I go up to the PX for. Honey, the only reason I go up there is because
all the fellows go there to get sodas. As for girls being there, there ain't any. So you see, I don't go up there
for that. When you visit me I will show you around, then you can see for yourself. You also said that you miss
me very much, well that goes to show you how I feel. I guess we were meant for each other. Don't you think so?
Every night before I go to sleep I look in the dark and think of all the fights we used to have, and all the quarrels and
how the next minute we would be loving each other up. If I was with you now I wouldnt tak time to fight with you.
All I would do is woo with you and (censored). Well that goes to show you how much I love you and miss you.
Your loving husband
PVT Dutch
PS I love everything about you and the baby too.
Robert Bodine, unknown and Eric Hildenbrand
United States Marines
June 25, 1943
Canp WHeeler GA
Dearest Cass
Well I just got back from our hike. It is now 5:30PM and we were [illegible].
I hope we don't have many more of these trips for the ground is very hard to sleep on. Eight fellows and myself were
put on guard duty for the first time. I had the worst shift of all, it was from 2:30 to 3:30 AM. We did not haVE
any light so I bumped into many a tree and it was pretty scary walking in the woods all by myself. We walked about 10
miles and many guys fell out and were taken to the hospital. So you see, this is the very best outfit in any service
of the US. You really have to be in good shape to stand it. The Officers said "We were just starting and we're
taking it easy on us. So I am just waiting for the real stuff to see if I can hold up. Well honey, I received
three letters tonight. One was from my mother and father telling me Eric & Rudy were all right and telling me how
much they love the baby. She said that all the neighbors were telling her how pretty she was. She also said she
looks like me in every respect. But I think she looks like both of us. Don't you? Why don't you send some
snapshots of her and yourself? I asked you before to send some to me. but you never mentioned it in your letters.
So please send some, for I would like to see my family and show them to the fellows. We get paid next week "I hope"
and when they have taken everything out, it will leave me with $18 dollars. So you won't have to worry about me spending
it on other girls for I wouldn't look at another girl for you will be the only girl in my life as long as I live (honest to
God). In your letters you are always mentioning things about other girls, I don't want to read that sort of stuff.
Just tell me about yourself and the baby. That's the only thing I am interested in. In your letter you said you
caught your hand in the wringer. You were pretty lucky you didn't hury yourself pretty bad. Gosh, us husbands
have to worry more about home than this war, and that's the truth. More accidents happen at home than at the battlefield.
Sp please honey, watch yourself, and be more careful of yourself and the baby for if anything happened to either of you I
would die. I did not get my pictures yet but I expect them soon. I will send them to you as soon as I get them.
You never told me whether you went to the doctor's yet. As for you coming down here, I hope you can get the money
and if you can make it I wish you would bring the baby if possible for I would like to see the both of you more than
anything in the world. It isn't that hot that it would hurt the baby any, for the baby isnt going to hike 10 or 20 miles
is she? It's only bad if you are in an upper field without shade. So if Betty comes with you, try to bring the
baby. We will have general inspection tomorrow and I have to oil my rifle , put my laundry together, make my bed, clean
my shoes, take a shower, shave, straighten my locker and fix my pack for tomorrow and a lot of other things. In this
Army you never have a minute to yourself. They don't even give you time to write letters. You think I'm kidding
you but I ain't We never evn got out of camp yet. Tomorrow we get some more shots, and I can't understand how
Richard threw up and all for they don't even bother me. I just hate to see the needle going in, that's what scares me
most. I still have to get about 6 more shots before I'm through. Honey, when you go out to my mother's will you
ask her to send me some money and Herby. I will send it back on payday tell them, for I am here without a cent, I don't
even have cigarettes. So you know how bad it is. Well, sweetheart, I have to get my work done and
tomorrow I will write you some more news. So don't forget that I love you and the baby more than life itself, and I
hope you love me the same. Please try to send me a letter in the morning and one in the night, for that's all
I look forward to. So sweetheart, take care of yourself and the baby, and no more wringer jobs, please.
Your loving husband
PVT Dutch
PS Send pictures now. Kiss for you, kiss for the baby. XXXXX
Millions.
Rudy Hildenbrand
June 26, 1943
Camp
Wheeler GA
DearSweetheart
Well we got another needle today and so far, none of them hurt a bit. I
hope they're all the same. Well we just got through GeneraL Inspection. Some of the boys did not pass so they
get KP for Sunday. On Sunday I usually play cards but I dont think I will this Sunday for I dont have a penny to my
name. Next week we get our first pay and I will need it. After I write this letter I will write my mother and
ask her to lend you the money to come to see me. I also have to write your Grandmother and Aunt Emma thanking them for
everything. I got a letter from Jimmy and he says where he is stationed now is a hellhole. He says they have to
be off the streets at 11:30. He says he is a supply clerk at the hospital. He says they are making a man out of
him and he says that before he went in the Army he weighed 121 lbs and he is now 143. Not bad is it? He also says
he wouldn'y mind the Army so much if he were only near home. I guess we all feel the same. Today I signed up for
pilot training and I hope I make it. If my IQ is good, I will be accepted, so I hope it's good. Don't you?
As soon as I find out any more about it I will write you & let you know. Well how is everything at home? How
is the baby? How are the fights with your mother coming along? How is your father? Is he still on the water
wagon? How is Joey and all his girfriends? Well I can't think of any more to write about except that I love you
and miss you very much and when I come home I will pay up for lost time. So sweetheart, write and write twice a day,
don't let your mother holler at you for writing to me for I don't think it is right for her to do so and tell her I said so.
Your loving husband
PVT Dutch
XXXXXXX
millions
PS I love you and miss you. Kiss the baby for me.
WOLF ; A Chip and a Chair
June 27, 1943
Camp
WHeeler GA
Dear Sweetheart
Well today is Sunday and I don't have a thing to do. I got up around 10
o'clock and straighened up my things. Then I read the Sunday papers till 12 o'clock. Then we ate our dinner, they
give us a very good dinner on Sundays. That's one thing they give us -- good eats. After that I went around and
watched the fellas play cards. I couldn't get in it for I was flat broke. Anyway, I did not have much luck in
cards since I have been in the Army. After the card game I borrowed .25 cents and went to the movies. We are supposed
to get paid Wednesday and I hope we do. Well we go out on another hike Tuesday and its supposed to be longer, but I
hope not. So don't be disappointed if you don't get a letter for Tuesday for if it's like the last time it will be impossible
for me to write. Well, things have been going pretty bad here; we hardly have a minute to ourselves, our sargent and
corporals have us on the go all the time, and they think we should know everything before they even teach us. After
we have supper, which ends our day, they make us drill on our own time. So the fellas and I are pretty much fed up on
them. one of these day's one of the boys or I ,is going to knock them on their can. I guess these southern boys
don't like us northerners, for we are all from Pennsylvania. Well, we don't like them, so that makes us even, but they
have the stripes and they can make it pretty hard for us. One time they called out my name to see if I was there and
me and this other fella named Hildenbrand both stepped out, but they wanted this fellow named Hilderbrand and as I was getting
back in line the corporal asked me what my name was and I told him Hildenbrand. As I turned my back, he said What a
hell of a name. He thought that I would not hear him but he spoke a little too loud and pretty near, everybody heard
him. So I turn around and said"I Like it." Then he said I"Don't like it" and I said "no, I didn't." (Boy, was I
pretty mad then.) But the sargent heard us arguing and asked what it was all about, so I told him. Then he tells
me to shut up and I told him ,Like Hell I would. He then said "Well, I'll come you down, you'll go down the kitchen
after supper and I told him I would, for according to the rules of the Army you have to do whatever they tell you too, but
after you do it ,you can go and see the Company Commander. That's what I was going to do but later on the Sargent come
up & told me I didn't have to go. Well, later on this Corporal comes up to me and says "Weren't you supposed to
go to the kitchen" and I told him the Sargent said ,I didn't have to go. Well, that burned him up, and he says "Well,
you go down the kitchen." And I said", hell I would." Then he said "I'll take you down the brig" (That's
the guard house.) And I said OK, let's go. Then he got real mad, and threatened he would take me up the Company
Commander's office ,and I told him that's just where I wanted to go. As we were going out the door, he again ordered
me down the kitchen ,and I told him like hell I would. Then I went over to the sargent and told him the corporal ordered
me down the kitchen. The the sargent told the corporal that I didn't have to go. The Corporal was very mad then
,he said What's the matter, can't I give any orders around here. The sargent then told me to go in the barracks, after
that I don't know what became of the situation for I didn't hear anymore about it. They knew they couldn't do anything
to me, for I would have gone to see the Company Commander & they would have been in the wrong. Well, that's just
what it is like down here, they think they can shove us all over, but our time will come after training is over. Well
darling, that's enough of that. Am I still the only man in your life? Do you still love me? I love you very
much and you better behave yourself.
Your loving husband
PVT Dutch
PS I miss you very much. XXXXX millions.
HILDENBRAND
June 28, 1943
Camp Wheeler GA
DearSweetheart
Tonight I have just about enough time to write a letter for they had us drilling
till 9 o'clock. The lights go out at nine & and I am writing out on the front steps under the light. Well
things are getting tougher every day and Jimmy wrote and told me that Basic Training is the toughest, and I believe him.
Well, it is now 11:15 pm and the sargent made everybody get up out of bed and come out to the latrine (toilet). Somebody
put a lifeboy soap wrapper in the toilet and he made everybody get up and look at it (pretty nice sargent, huh?). Well,
take it and like it. I got your letter after supper and it doesnt have much news it in. What was the trouble between
Tony and Mildred? Did she give him his ring back? He's a pain in the neck anyway, don't you think so? Well
how is the baby. Is she sitting up yet? How about her teeth, is she cutting them yet? What color is her
hair, is it curly yet? Write and tell me if she has changed any or how about them pictures, you didnt tell me if you
sent any yet. How is Carl Jr. You didnt tell me how everything is getting along with him (or her) You don't
tell me very much in your letters, why not? Did you see my mother about borrowing the money yet? I wrote and told
her about it. So next time you go out ask her. Boy its so lonely down here without you, all I do is hope that
I will get to see you soon. That's the only thing that is keeping me going. When I get home again we are
going somewhere there are no relatives and live in peace with you and the babies. Won't that be swell. Darling
I love you very much and I want you all for myself, so I hope this war ends soon so we can be together again.
Your loving husband
PVT Dutch
PS I miss you. XXXXXXXX millions
June 29, 1943
Camp Wheeler, GA
Dear Sweetheart
I received your letter at 12 o'clock today and I was very glad to get it.
I also got a card saying "You're in the Army now." It was from my cousin Eleanor, you remember her. I wonder how
she got my address. Oh, I just remembered I sent them a card. Well, I guess that answers that. So they had
a good fight at [illegible]. That must be some family. I can just think what my father thinks of them. I'm
glad you took the baby out there for I know my father and mother are quite crazy over her (who wouldn't be). I bet they
give her everything as she grows up. So darling you can just imagine what I think of you and the baby. We are
now on our lunch hour and we will be going out on our overnight hike pretty soon. So darling, I'm squeezing this letter
in by the head of my hair. Wait until you see how brown I am. Boy, Well darling I have to finish now or
I won't be able to mail this so be good and take care of yourself and the babies for I love you too much to let you get sick
or anything.
With all my love
PVT Dutch
PS Don't forget about the pictures. I love you and miss you very much
and a million kisses and hugs from your daddy.
June 30, 1943
Dear Dutch
Well how are you? I hope happy and well. Well how do you
like the ARmy? Are you being a good boy?
This is your cousin Eleanor dropping you a line hoping that you
will do the same when you have time.
I bet you miss your wife and the baby. It really is a shame
that you, of all persons, should have to go into the ARmy. But there is nothing that I or you can do about it.
Marianna was down your house Wednesday and she wrote letters for
your mother. I believe she wrote one to you, if so you should have it by now. How is your mail progessing?
I guess just fine, with your wife writing to you everyday. I'll be writing to you whenever I receive a letter from you.
From today on I'll be on vacation until July 12th. I was
wishing I could get away for a couple of days but I guess I'll be staying at "Homestead Park" At least I hope I get
one day's swimming out of my vacation.
Marianna will be writing to you soon so I guess you can be expecting
a letter from her soon.
Well Dutch this will be all for now so if you have time to write
drop me a line.
God Bless You and take care of yourself.
As Ever
Your Cousin
Eleanor
Cass and Marianna? and Baby
Copyright James A. Hildenbrand 2009, 2010, 2011
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