"November 1, 1945
My dearest Ellen,
I received three letters from you today and at real long last your mail is coming through on dear ol' schedule. I haven't written to you for a while a few days anyway so I'll stay in the groove as much as possible. One of your letters dated Oct 1 was forwarded to me from Japan with the polite but pertinent advice to inform "my correspondents of my correct address." The other two came here direct and were both dated Oct 20. At last I'm getting mail that is at least recent and now understand what is going on before it is too late to be appreciated. You kept inquiring about mail and I did also but I guess the Post office is at last straightened out. I was beginning to wonder if my mail was getting thru. I'm glad everything is okay back in the states and that Hannie is home to keep you in shape. I'm really surprised that she hasn't had herself a man by this time but after all she has till doomsday so I guess she has no fears of spinsterhood. Poor Hannie, a woman of the world and with no world of her own. I can see from your letter where this marrying business takes in a lot of preparation. I guess you'll have to do it all as right now I'm not in the right place to do anything. As for buying things, incidentals are all right but please don't invest in anything expensive as the prices are rugged and the material very poor due to the war. I like your silverware idea and if you need any financial support give me a buzz.
I'm glad that you are having a good time at Hibernians at last and that the old crowd is coming back. I'm afraid that by the time I get home my feet will not know what music really is. I guess I'll see Arthur Murray he can cure me probably. I'd like to drop in there soon just to see for myself what I am able to do.
Please don't worry about typhoons and stuff as they won't get me banged up for anything so don't pay any attention to the papers. I've read your figures on my bond collection and I see it is beginning to take shape. I guess in a month or two we'll have about 500 apiece or should I say eight or nine. Anyway it's adding up to some thing and that's a lot better than nothing at all. I'm still not transferred and from the way reports are going I guess I'll stay here. Well honey my only means of entertainment is about due and I have got to mush along. I mean the movies --.
I'll write again soon and to my mom soon. I almost forgot.
Love to you
Always
John"
Also on November 1 British intelligence officers announced that exhaustive investigation indicated that Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun had married on April 29 and then committed suicide in a Berlin bunker the following day.
"Nov 12, 1945
My dearest Ellen,
I guess I've slipped up a bit in my writing to you but time varies so much out here. I didn't realize that it's been about a week since I've written to you. I suppose I'll have to pick up a bit or be at the end of scolding by you. As you have probably noticed I'm now transferred to a Casu Detachment but it really isn't bad at all. The transfer it's merely paperwork as I am still at the same old stand doing the same old thing. This Casu is an abbreviation of Carrier Aircraft Service Unit but in reality this unit is an aircraft pool for the fleet. All the work they do now is preserve aircraft and send them back to the states. During the war they serviced all the aircraft for the fleet that was doing all the damage at Japan under Halsey. The outfit is really a hard-working outfit and since I'm still at my old spot I have faced no change. I have good news from Japan and my buddy Webber. He's all right and that stuff about his ship going down is all so much stuff. I figured it was but I was worrying a bit since I wasn't getting any mail from him. I get mail from you faster than I do from Webber or my brother Tom. Weber is about 700 miles from here and my brother is about the same. Both wrote to me Oct 1 and I received their letters two days ago. So you see what I'm up against. Honey if this writing is off key a bit please overlook it as we have no table and my support is my mattress. A lot of these guys in this Casu Detachment came over here with me in Acorn 54 and suffered the same fate once they reached here. It seems good to see them again and now I have both new and old buddys to associate with. Weber by the way is doing all right up in Japan and is expected to make chief in December.
I had aspirations but since this new deal I don't know. I had intentions of going up this month but now I'll have to hold up for a while. I have lots of time so I have no worry. I'm not doing anything now so I'm as well off as any chief except for the pay. Our chow is getting better all the time out here at last and it still has plenty of room for improvement. Oh well I guess I'll never be satisfied as far as chow is concerned no matter where I roam. I'm due for chow about this time honey so I'll have to cut this a bit short. I still miss you and love you as always so keep your chin up. I'm glad you're enjoying yourself at Hibernian on Saturday nites and only wish that I could be around in that vicinity myself. Well kid take care and I'll write again in a couple of days maybe tomorrow.
All my love
Always John
P.S. I just read about the typhoon out here in one of the States paper. Nice wasn't it!"
November 15
The Dachau War Crimes Trials began - the War Crimes Trial at Nuremberg started several days later. According to https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/us-army-trials-in-postwar-germany:
"Between June 1945 and December 1947 the US Army prosecuted 1,676 lesser war criminals in 462 trials. Some of these trials actually predated the opening of the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg ... Those tried at Dachau included concentration camp personnel and Nazi military and state officials, as well as ordinary German civilians accused of violations of the laws of war. The accused were prosecuted for war crimes committed against members of Allied armed forces in German captivity and crimes against humanity perpetrated against the nationals of the Allied belligerents."
https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/f3a8753a0b3547ee813ca8cd38a4d032 tells us that "the former Nazi concentration camp at Dachau, outside Munich ... was then under the control of the U.S. Third Army, following the German military surrender on May 8, 1945 (V-E Day). The Dachau camp, the site of such great suffering, was being prepared as the central location for war crimes trials in the American-occupied area of Germany and Austria.
The American military occupation of Germany involved a broad legal regime implemented under martial law. Its first objective was to maintain law and order while dismantling Nazi government and Nazi-dominated society ( denazification ) ...
Separate from the prominent, jointly-held tribunals at Nuremberg , the Allies held war crimes trials under their own auspices in their respective occupied zones. The American occupation, centered in southern Germany, would hold its trials at Dachau. By the fall of 1945, about 30,000 arrested Germans were imprisoned and awaiting charges there, including ranking Nazi party members, ranking SS (Shutzstaffel), Nazi SD (security police), Gestapo, and some of the vast number of SS who operated and staffed a massive network of concentration camps.
In more than two years of American military trials at Dachau, from 1945 to 1947, and through 489 cases, 1,672 defendants would be tried and 1,416 convicted of crimes, with 279 death sentences handed down. The majority of the cases would center on concentration camps."
November 17
Charles de Gaulle made a broadcast to the people of France announcing that he was handing back his mandate as president to the French Assembly because of "excessive demands regarding ministerial posts." De Gaulle said he was willing to continue serving as president but would refuse to entrust a Communist with "any post related to foreign affairs."
"Nov. 18, 1945
My very dearest darling Ellen,
As you can see, probably, today is Sunday and for a change I have a day off. It's my first free day for a long time and it's really been a hectic day in fact more hectic than most. I'm sleeping on top of a hill and the altitude makes sleeping very easy and very sound. Never being one to suffer from insomnia I sleep now like two logs instead of one. As a result I woke up late this morning and therefore missed out on chow. I'll manage to live though. I was awake to go to Church which I did as usual and returned to play a soft ball game. Out here we have a softball league and since the season is over they picked an all star team and yours truly was elected to play for them. We played one of the new units and swamped them but good ~ 11-7. After eating chow and taking a shower here I am writing to you and attempting to write listen to a rebroadcast of the Navy-Wisconsin football game. It's a swell game incidentally and perhaps our only diversion from regular routine out here. You see honey we are 17 hours ahead of you as far as time is concerned and we get a rebroadcast out here on Sunday at 11:30 AM. It's usually Army vs -- and Navy vs --. One game at noon the other about 4:30. It's something to look forward to. Incidentally how many letters do you write to me every day, one or a dozen? I am still receiving mail from you dated Aug Sept and October. Your recent mail gets here in about ten days so I'm getting some recent news and not history. How long does it take my mail to reach you? I have often wondered. I got a letter from Aleo and he is sweating out a discharge and is still at Willow Grove. Some guys have all the luck, good luck I mean. I'd swap with him any (time) he wants. I also got a letter from my brother Joe but it was a little old but the point is that he is still in Frisco. I'm glad as now my mother won't be worrying about him and she can at long last relax. My brother Tom wrote me a letter too telling a tale of woe that I can't quite disclose at present. I gave him some of 'Dr Johns' advice, that seems to be my specialty as of late. But seeing that it's Tom I doubt if he will pay any attention to it. I expected that deal to happen to Madeline but not quite so soon. Polocks are all the same and my 'worldly' tours from bar to bar has given me quite a bit of foresight if you see what I mean. Madeline if you will pardon the expression is a lush or a push-over for any guy. She is so man crazy she will wind up a mess if she doesn't come down to earth and stop seeing all these mushy movies. I guess Jim will be heading home soon at least I hope he does. A lot of units are moving out of here but I'm afraid we'll linger around here till the spring or maybe later. As I said before I'm glad you are enjoying yourself over at Hibernians and hope you continue to enjoy yourself. At least one of us is having some fun and I'm glad it's you. I've had good times while I was kicking around the states. Have a good time honey as I really and honestly wish you to. I miss you terribly kid and still love you immensely. I'm waiting to get home to you kid. Thanks for everything and take it easy. I'll close for now and answer Aleo's letter.
All my love
Always
John
P.S. I have a black eye.
Playing ball!"
"Awase AF
November 20 1945
My very dearest Ellen,
I guess it's time to write again to stay in your good favor. It's just after evening chow as I write so I have a full belly of food, spaghetti incidentally, a good cigar a couple of cans of beer cooling and Jack Smith of radio fame is crooning to me via the recording machine in the radio station on the island. He is doing all right to be sure and I am enjoying it quite a bit. Just before chow we played a softball game, a league game and won 1-0 after a lot of tense action. My work here is still at a standstill so I'm putting in most of my time flying around the island. It really is different than all the other islands in the Pacific as it's so green hilly and cool looking. The south of the island is really messed up from the war and new construction on camp area airstrips etc. Outside of two or three spots the north is its own regional self. There are a mess of Japs still hold up in the hills of the north but they cause no harm as the area is out of bounds and MPs keep everyone out of the area. It's full of Okie villages and rice paddies right up to the side of the mountains. It's really nice from the air. We also spotted a prize of war in the shape of a Jap plane that was shot down and crashed into the top of one of the hills. The island itself is quite large about 20 x 70 miles but in an airplane it seems quite small after flying back in the states. In a comparison it's about as long as from Buzzards Bay to Provincetown if you can visualize it. It's about the same latitude I guess as Washington or Philly but it gets really cold here at night and two blankets are really a necessity.
This coming Thursday is Thanksgiving and we are all going to get a holiday. Turkey and ham will be the menu and we have rations for 700 men. We all should get plenty as there are about 200 of us here at the most. I guess someday in some year I'll be able to have a holiday at home for a change at least I really hope so. We have scuttlebutt around here that the units are breaking up as soon as possible so things shouldn't be too bad. One consolation is that they can't keep us out here forever. A lot of guys I know are going home most of them from the South. I guess that marrying young stuff pays off sometimes.
By the way honey if you get two of my letters at the time don't get confused as I forgot to mail the last one I just found it here in my portfolio. So now you'll be able to have news and history at the same time. Well honey I'll close for now and get ready for the show "Up in Arms" with Danny Kaye. I'll write again in a day or two so till then I'll say so long for now and I still love you and miss you.
Always
John"
The website - https://www.otrcat.com/p/jack-smith-show - tells us that
"Smilin' Jack Smith was the star of the Jack Smith Show, a popular 1940s musical variety show. Smilin' Jack, also known as "The Man with the Smile in his Voice," earned his merry monikers for his expressive voice, which brimmed with such enthusiasm and old fashioned glee that audiences could hear the smile on his face as he sang.
Jack's show occasionally hosted famous guest stars. Dinah Shore, Margaret Whiting, and Ginny Simms were among those invited to sing along with Smilin' Jack. The fifteen minute show was a popular radio staple of the decade; the singer himself remarked, "[The Jack Smith Show] was on for eight years, five nights a week -- eventually you heard it."
Smilin' Jack Smith was one of the most famous crooners on 1940s radio. "
Here is a link - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuplFDCLZUE - to a song by Smilin' Jack Smith.
I loved Danny Kaye in White Christmas and on his weekly TV series. He was the first UNICEF ambassador and won numerous awards.
"November 23 1945
My dearest Ellen,
Well here I am again a little ahead of time but nevertheless here I am. I got some pictures today so I'm going to send them along to you. Some are of me others are shots of the island. There not bad so you draw your own opinion. The pictures of myself seem to have me in a grouchy mood but I'm not really mad at all. Please forward me your opinion. I got three letters today - two recent Nov 14 the other an oldie dated Sept 28 I think. It's my first mail in three or four days. I'm glad Hibernian is so good and please don't worry about Peggy. As for Hannie I guess there is no hope at all. Who knows maybe she will latch onto that Joe from Haverhill if she takes enough time. Another thing please don't worry about me falling out of love with you as I love you too much for that. I'm glad it's this way as a lot of these guys are getting "Dear John" letters from the girls back home telling them they are sorry they can't wait so they marry someone else instead. It knocks these guys for a loop no fooling. About you I have no fears although you have plenty of reason to do so. Thanks again pal. Well yesterday was Thanksgiving and everything went according to plan except that it rained. I'm so used to laying around now that it's become second nature to me but the eating was good for a change. Well honey I only intended this to be a short letter so I'll close out now and write again real soon. If this writing is kind of shaky blame it not on beer but on my shaky table.
Love to you
Always
John"
"December 1 1945
My dearest Ellen,
I'm a little late and kind of behind schedule as far as my correspondence with you is concerned but my alibi is impeachable. You see I've been studying something fierce and finally took my test for chief. As far as the test is concerned I did good and my mark should be good. The test was a competitive affair and the man with the highest grade makes out. As far as I am concerned there are six openings so I guess I should do all right. If I don't I figure the guy that makes out must be a genius or better and deserves it. I'll let you know as soon as possible how I made out. I'm really hoping for the best and I am not the least bit prepared for the worst. I'm counting on making out as my blues are a mess as is my pea coat and most of my uniform. The dampness is rotting them away and with the rats lending a hand here and there, there is now a lot of tailoring and patching to do prior to my wearing them. My only alternative is to make chief so that I'll be able to save the expense. Enough for that for the time being so let's get on another subject. Did you get the pictures that I sent you and how did you like them? I'm doing the best I can to get some good pictures from out here but it's pretty tough. All the guys are money mad and anything you want you have to pay for but good. Those pictures I sent you once cost 10 or twelve bucks a set they are down to practically nothing now. I'll see what I can do by putting my puss in front of every camera on the island. The results may and again may not turn out favorable but I'll give it a try anyway. I see that Christmas is drawing nearer and nearer and I expect the Bing to commence groaning White Christmas etc. pretty soon and again I'll be unable to be around. In Willow Grove I managed New Years at least but I guess I'll miss out on both this time. Maybe some day I'll be able to take root again in Uncle Sam's backyard and challenge anyone to try to budget me away from there. Oh happy day! But that's just wishful thinking as far as I'm concerned so I'll let it go bye or else it will drive me to drink. By the way, speaking of drink I'm now doing all right as far as beer is concerned and my boys are complaining that I am putting on too much weight if that is any indication as to my being. I really don't know if I am or not but I really don't worry much about it one way or the other. I'm afraid it will take me a week to finish this letter as the lights keep going out on us around here. Since I started to write they have gone out about six times. It's the usual procedure around here. They overload the circuit and blow the fuses. The poor electricians are getting fuse happy changing them so frequently. It's pretty aggravating as a poor electrician has to go up the side of a steep hill to perform his task and being kind of heavy he is naturally short winded and doing that four or five times a night is enough to get anyone on the glum side. I'm glad I haven't the job or else I'd be slightly berserk or in the brig for lack of patience or overwork on my part.
I've received a couple of letters from you the past week or so and I'm glad your still writing regular. The mail is a slow proposition out here. Sometimes we get mail right away but lots of times we have to wait and it piles up on us. No matter how it comes makes no difference as long as it gets here sometimes. I still have faith in Uncle Sam's mail service even though it is unsteady. I'm glad you sent me the advertising or should I say the advertisement on your silver purchase. You be the sole chooser of the cutlery wares and I'll abide by your decisions. You have good taste and whatever you choose I know I would like.
My writing seems to be running uphill a bit so I guess I had better begin to straighten it out real fast or else I'll be writing uphill in a diagonal fashion. We got a new radio today out of one of the planes and can now get the states and stations on the West Coast quite plainly. It feels good to hear them "alive" instead of rebroadcasts via the record manner. We pick up British programs also probably from Singapore or thereabouts. I doubt if they are from London although it really sounds like it with their lousy jokes and puns and that accent. If I keep listening to it who knows maybe I'll develop one myself, an accent I mean. They have some gal singing "Lover Come Back to Me" which is indeed very appropriate at this writing. I'm glad to hear kid that you are back in the good graces of your Aunt Hannah once again and that she still thinks I am the cream in her coffee. I know I have one friend at least in this wicked woild. By the way honey how is the weather back there? I guess it must be really cold about now with a little snow to make it complete. It's really getting cold around here with the temperature down to about 40 or fifty degrees. It's really cold out here at night and I mean cold. We could use long drawers now out here but our heavy jackets are a good substitute. We have finally got hot water in our showers at long last and it really feels good to get some hot water on my poor little body again. I guess when I hit the states I'll get a steam bath to get all the dust and stuff off of me. I don't know when we will get stoves if we ever do but if it keeps as cold as now will need them before long. The winter is yet ahead of us and colder weather is expected so we had better get some thing but fast.
Well honey I'll close for now. Tomorrow is Sunday & I have to get up for Mass as usual. I'll say a prayer for you and me just for luck and another that I make chief which at present is my primary goal. After chief I don't know what I'll strive for whether it will be admiral or president. Maybe both and settle for a wife and family which I figure is my God-given destiny in life. I love you dearly Ellen and hope I can get to marry you really soon. Please be patient as there is nothing to do but wait. I miss you a lot and hope you miss me. I'll have to close now and write a letter to my buddy Weber up in Japan. Loads and loads of love from me to you and I love you so much.
Always
John"
There must be a letter missing - there are 2 envelopes dated December 4, 1945 but only one letter.
"Dec 6 1945
My dearest Ellen,
Hello again and thanks a lot. I received your Christmas box yesterday and was very glad to receive it. It arrived in pretty good shape so you needn't worry. I like your foresight as they things I need and are more appropriate out here than anything fancy that you could have sent out to me. I hope my mother follows your example and does likewise. The undershirts you sent came in handy as they are hard to get and they bolstered my diminishing supply. As for your sending me Air Mail stationary I suggest a hint or two so I am obliging right now. I got a letter from you today also and you seem to be short on mail from my end. Well kid I've been writing pretty regular to you but I guess the mail must be held up somewhere. I figure you will get a big batch of it one of these days. Let me know when you receive my pictures as I am kind of worried. I used three envelopes to send them and they still seemed heavy to me. The mail clerk didn't say anything when I turned them in so I guess they got thru all right. Well honey I finally made chief and it is retroactive to Nov 1. So since November 1 I have been a chief in this man's navy. I don't do anything now so I guess I'll have to wait for a transfer before I get any real stuff to do. It's the best racket in the Navy so I guess I have no worries now for a while. My next move will be to get a little higher if possible. Who knows someday I may be an admiral - I said maybe so don't take me too seriously please! I didn't work this afternoon as they are fixing the field and there is no flying so they don't need me around at all – as if they ever did. We have a chiefs club out here and before and after the movies at night we go down to the club and chew the fat. Of course we have beer but since it isn't rationed to chiefs we haven't the hankering to drink it all up. All the club is is a tent with an ice box and a few pictures – Varga girls of course – plus a parachute and a few coats of paint. It's really nice as far as this area is concerned and we are always attempting to fix it up better. I met a couple of guys I used to be with at St. Louis. They came out here on an LST and are going back. All the chiefs and regular Navy men are going to be reassigned at Guam and will not get to go back to the States at least not right away. As for my returning to the states you know as much as I do about (it) so you see where I stand. As it is now I just got out here and with all these guys getting discharged all the men out here are needed – for what I don't know. Maybe things will change after the first of the year who knows. Well honey I'll close for now and will keep thinking of you.
All my love always
John"
I hadn't heard of Varga girls before so I looked it up. The website - https://www.vargagirldesign.com/whats-with-the-name - tells us that
'The ‘Varga Girl’ was introduced by artist Alberto Vargas in 1940 and quickly became a monthly staple of the original men’s guide to style and all things decadent, Esquire Magazine.
During World War II, U.S. servicemen made Vargas part of living history when they chose to adorn their aircraft, ships, and even uniform jackets with Varga Girl images, copied from the pages and calendars of Esquire magazine.
These sexy, vibrant images portrayed women for the first time as both pretty and powerful. Far from an exploitive ‘pin up girl,’ Varga Girls were modern art that empowered women as they kept the US economy alive by working in factories and munitions plants during the war years.
Vargas’ legendary watercolours were truly a celebration of women born of respect and admiration.'
I am inserting a representation of Varga Girls - they look like pin up girls to me.
There is an envelope postmarked December 11, 1945 but there was no letter.
"Dec 12 1945
My dearest Ellen,
How goes the battle on the home front? I'm sorry I haven't written but I've been very busy out here for a week or so and have had a lot on my mind for a while. I didn't forget you honey but every time it came time to write to you something would come up to cause me to neglect you for another day. I've received a few letters from you in the past week but they usually come two or three at a time about once every four or five days. In your letters you say that you aren't receiving any mail from me as of late but I can't quite understand it. The last letter I got from you was postmarked Dec 1 and you still hadn't received any mail from me. It's being held up somewhere as I have written quite a bit during the past month and what with the pictures that I sent to you, you should be getting a mess of it soon. Please let me know when you receive the pictures I sent to you as I'm really beginning to wonder if they ever did get thru to you or not.
I didn't get transferred as yet but I expect it in a day or two. It won't be home so you can stop your wishful thinking for the time being – just another unit on the island. It seems all these guys are going out on points and that no relief is coming our way. Not that I rate any at the present time but it just throws a burden on a few guys. I'm not jealous of the fact that these guys are going home as they have earned it as far as it goes. My day will come sometime I hope. I've worked harder since I made chief than I ever have out here before. They are painting and really doing a cleanup on the planes we have so everyone lends a hand. It's all done now so I guess I'll relax for a while. It rained for about a week straight out here and got really cold and damp all the while. The sun has been out yesterday and today so maybe the cold wave has passed us over. I see in our local news reports that New England is really cold about now what with gales and storms and cold waves. I hope you brave it all right. I still miss you kid and think about you. I guess no matter what goes on out here I still have a thought or two for you during the day wondering how you are making out and what you were doing. So you see you are still on my mind. I love you a lot and I'm still looking forward to the day when I'll be able to see you again. I'll close out now and write again in a day or so. I love you as much as ever and will
Always
John"
There are two envelopes postmarked December 14, 1945, but there is only one letter.
My father mentioned men going home on points. So I looked it up and found the following information on https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/points-system-us-armys-demobilization.
"When Germany surrendered to the Allies on May 8, 1945, the US Army suddenly faced an enormous new task. The biggest field army in US history had to transition into an occupation force, and hundreds of thousands of American soldiers in Europe had to redeploy halfway around the world for the expected invasion of Japan. Since the US Army had a surplus of troops for those two missions, it also had to equitably identify and discharge millions of men who had fought in Europe.
US Army Chief of Staff General George C. Marshall had anticipated this herculean task and charged the Special Planning Division in July 1943 with devising a system to determine which soldiers would occupy Germany, which soldiers would transfer to the Pacific, and which lucky soldiers would be sent home to their families. Marshall, who had served as General John J. Pershing’s Chief of Staff during World War I, witnessed first hand the Army’s demobilization failures after that earlier war. Following the Armistice of 1918, the US Army’s rapid and disorderly demobilization left it woefully undermanned. After World War I, moreover, American divisions had been sent home as entire units. During World War II, however, this was not a viable option since older divisions included many soldiers who had arrived overseas as replacements in the final months of the war.
It was imperative that the Army find a way to send soldiers home in a prompt manner based on objective criteria. Otherwise it risked provoking widespread protests from restless soldiers overseas who had no enemy to fight. Soldiers’ resulting frustration with the Army could have lasting significance for the American public’s support for military spending after the war.
After soliciting feedback from commanders around the world, the Army ultimately devised and implemented a system called the Adjusted Service Rating Score. GIs more commonly referred to it as the point system. Under this scheme, every US soldier was awarded a number of points based on how long they had been overseas, how many decorations they had received, how many campaigns they had taken part in, and how many children they had.
Points were awarded according to the following formula:
- One point for each month in service in the Army
- One additional point for each month in service overseas
- Five points for each campaign
- Five points for a medal for merit or valor (Silver Star for example)
- Five points for a purple heart (awarded to all soldiers who were wounded in action)
- Twelve points for each dependent child up to three dependent children
The system was announced in September 1944, and as soon as the war in Europe ended, soldiers in that theater began calculating their point totals. They added and re-added, desperate to find a way to reach the total of 85 points needed to return home."
Example of the points chart:
My father knew he wouldn't be going home soon because he knew he lacked points.
"Dec 16 1945
My very dearest Ellen,
Hello again after a pause of about three days. I'm still the same as always and am abiding my time listening to Phil Spitainy and his females giving out with 'Rhapsody in Blue' and their hymn for the week 'Holy God we praise Thy name.' That 'Rhapsody in Blue' is one number that really sends me in about fifty different directions but not in the sense that bobby soxers use. It's one selection I've always enjoyed and when they swing into the theme of the number boy I can be expected to swoon in my own select way. I really enjoy it an awful lot. Remind me the next time you see me to get a recording of the number for my enjoyment and may be yours also. The hymn they sang is my favorite and it recalls thousands of pleasant memories both old and recent, – at least as far back as a year or so anyway. I remember singing it as a mere child in grammar school at First Friday and Sunday benedictions and also at the missions they held for the benefit of we poor young innocents. Not especially that we needed it to mend our broken past but mostly I believe to form our future and from the benefits derived from the mission sermons to strive to lead a good and righteous life.
Enough of that for now let's write about you. I received three letters from you this a.m. and they contained the snapshot you took of the herd i.e. Hannie Peggy and Rita and also your own charming self. I don't see where you have changed at all as you are the same as I remember you back in July. Rita and Hannie have changed. Hannie most of all. I guess it must be that I haven't seen her for such a long time. Miss Rita is at the age where she changes just about every month or so until she reaches sixteen or eighteen. She is really growing up but fast. I am being transferred to another field tomorrow and will commence operating on some stateside objective as soon as it is possible. Please don't build up false hope and get funny ideas that I will be home soon as that is beyond reason. All I can do is my best which out here it doesn't seem to do any good at all. I love you so awfully much and miss you so much that at times I get desperate but that I found out doesn't do any good either so all I can do is grin and bear it as best I can. I'd still like to know if you got my letters as yet plus the pictures. I'll close out now for a day or two till I get settled at my new location. So long kid and take care. All my love
Always
John"
Phil Spitalny according to https://case.edu/ech/articles/s/spitalny-phil
"composer, conductor, and clarinetist, was born in Odessa, RUSSIAN EMPIRE (in present-day Ukraine), to Jacob and Rachel Spitalny. He attended the Odessa Conservatory and toured Russia as a child clarinet prodigy.
His family immigrated to Cleveland in 1905, and Spitalny played in and directed local bands in Cleveland and Boston, including a 50-piece symphony orchestra in one of Boston's larger movie houses. He conducted his own orchestra on radio, in hotels, and on recordings and made a successful New York debut in 1930. In 1934, Spitalny organized an all-girl orchestra, which made its debut at the Capital Theater in New York and performed on the radio program "The Hour of Charm" beginning in January 1935."
Here is a link to Phil Spitalny and his All girl Orchestra playing Rhapsody in Blue -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ix5i2n1E_r8
We used to sing Holy God We Praise Your Name every morning in high school - I always loved this hymn - maybe because it seemed such a robust song. My favorite hymn was Hail Holy Queen Enthroned Above - I remember singing this around the house. I also loved Latin - one of my best SAT scores was in Latin. I was so disappointed when the Mass started being said in English after Vatican Council II - I had started high school and was learning Latin - I was finally able to follow along the Latin in my missal when they started using English - what a bummer!
"Dec 21 1945
My dearest Ellen,
Hello again from Okinawa this time from Yonabaru Airstrip or airbase to be technically correct. I was transferred down to here a few days ago expecting to throw myself into some real work but like everything else I am still cheating the poor government out of my pay. After asking for a transfer from a Awasu airfield where I was doing absolutely nothing I wind up down here doing a lot less. They assigned me to a maintenance crew as chief in charge and when I went to do a small job I found out that I was the only one in the crew. What a deal! The officer in charge is a swell Joe and doesn't like the chiefs to work so he sends some other poor Sad Sack to do my job. He's going to get a crew together when we merge with another line crew. These crews are getting smaller by the day as all the guys are going home for discharge or on a reenlistment leave. I'm afraid pretty soon I'll be all alone out here. How would you like to live in Okinawa in the near future? It may happen as they are putting up a permanent base here and have plans for civilian housing etc. It will take a little time. I guess they'll be advertising soon for construction men to come out here to live and work for $3000 a year and up depending on their skills and drag. The only danger is the typhoons and they only come in season – at least I hope so.
I'd love to see the ads they put out inducing men to come out here. Once they get built up I guess it will be the most beautiful island in the Blue Pacific even surpassing Pearl Harbor. Maybe when I get a chance to marry you I'll kidnap you and take you out here.
Honey I've finally discovered what has happened to our mail situation. They collect it now and hold it till they get a great pile of it and send it out by ship. Sometimes they save for two weeks. You see our transportation by air is pretty limited and only high priority stuff is taken out by plane. Maybe when the ship hits Guam or Pearl it gets flown the rest of the way. I guess that takes care of the mail situation as far as your concerned but as for me I get it pretty regular from you. I received three letters from you, one a Christmas card, yesterday the 20th so all in all it got here in 10 days which is really swell considering all the handling it gets in order to reach me. Keep up the good work honey!
Thanks for the Christmas card and I hope you get mine pretty soon. Your card had a real pretty verse and I must commend you on your choice. It seems you have a knack of picking out cards with a beautiful verse to match each occasion whereas I am the bum who grabs the first one he sees or the biggest, signs it and send it on. I guess it must be your maternal instinct or some thing but whatever it is I like the results and I love you.
I also got your pictures and the snow really does look good but you can have it all. I was noticing 'your family' and I see Miss Ryan very unconcerned whereas Miss Callahan is in a 'mugging' mood. You haven't changed at all although the coat makes you look rather buxom if that is the proper word. You had better look out or Rita will wind up bigger than you and you'll be the shrimp in the family. If I can get some more shots I'll send them to you.
I haven't heard from any of my brothers or buddies for quite a while so I haven't any news to pass on to you at this writing. I guess they are standing pat awaiting developments that never seem to come around. As for the pictures that I sent you well 'Lazy Manor' is my old ex-home now and don't let Okinawa fool you. It isn't the least bit barren as Jim will tell you when he gets home. As for the natives we see them all day long but not in such, shall we say intimate poses. No one bothers them much around here so you have no need to worry over poor little me. As they say in the song of a few years back 'I'm saving myself for you, just you, no one but you.' As far as oomph is concerned well you can see for yourself; really though some have and some have not. As far as babies are concerned maybe someday we'll fool them, that is if you want to fool them. I guess that's where I really ought to be back there married and raising a family – oh well someday I hope real soon we'll start our family. I guess we have a lot of time to catch up on so we'll have to have a couple of sets of twins to start off with, then we'll proceed at a one a year rate for four or five years. I guess in five years we'll be caught up with all the others around time. Then we'll see if your poor mother kids you when you sit down to write a letter. If she only knew what was in this letter I'm afraid she would collapse. So you see honey as soon as I hit home I'm a family man so be prepared.
Will you please take care of that foot kid after all you're going to support me when this war is over so you can't be a cripple with a bad foot or otherwise I'll starve. You wouldn't want that would you? Well kid I'll close out for now and write to my poor mother who hasn't heard from me for a while. So take real good care of yourself and please remember that I love you always and always – I really do. That's all for now so take care.
Always
John"
"Dec 24 1945
My dearest Ellen,
Here it is Christmas Eve and I'm still a long way from home. As far as spending Christmas with you is concerned my batting average is pretty low. This is the fifth Christmas that I have known you and have only seen you on one of them that one being the first. I remember it very well what with my narrow escape in the automobile and all and the look in your eye when I gave you a present that I spent hours trying to find a few days previous. Oh well maybe next Christmas will be different than these past few at least I hope so and I know that you do too. I have to make them up to you as I've sort of neglected you. I am going to Confession this afternoon and to Communion tonight at midnight Mass. The Mass is to be a solemn High Mass sung by the boys out here who formed a choir for the occasion. It will be the first Solemn High Mass ever said on the island so it should be quite an affair for all concerned. Out here it doesn't seem like Christmas at all even though the boys have made sprays & wreaths and set up Christmas trees in very good fashion. They spent a lot of painstaking work making big 'Merry Christmas' placards that they have nailed up on the highest spots in the various camp areas just to keep in the real holiday spirit. We have had Carols galore over the radio plus Christmas shows that are replayed from transcriptions that were pressed a few weeks ago just for the occasion.
I guess if everyone did get in the full Christmas mood there would be a lot of sad characters as most guys or should I say all consider Christmas as a time to be home with the family and having a good time. It also means Midnite Mass and an early rising Christmas day to see what is really in store for you; it's a happy look on kids' faces and the general good fellowship of everyone as a whole. You can see what I mean when I say that Christmas will be celebrated out here the same as at home but there is a lot of things missing that really make Christmas a real Christmas. Nevertheless we'll do the best we know how and hope that everything turns out all right. I'm sending you two shots I got out here but as luck would have it I'm in neither of them. The first one is a group shot of the guys I was with prior to my transfer the second is a shot of our camp area. The day they took the group shot was the day I made chief so I took the privilege of sleeping in for the A.M. You can add them to your collection and they will remind me of these fragile years out here. Well honey I'll close out now and go to chow as it's just about that time. I'll write again soon.
All my love
Always
John.
P.S. It may be Easter when you get this as the mail situation is snafu. They only send it out once every two weeks now. I guess we will be forced to return to the pony express era – Love again"
"Dec 26 1945
My dearest Ellen,
At the rate that I am writing you should be receiving an ample amount of mail to keep you settled for a day or two if not please acknowledge by your earliest mail. I'm not completely out of inspiration as yet but if I keep writing in this dim light I'll run completely out of eyesight. I haven't been to work for four days now due to the Christmas holidays and the fact that I have haven't anything to do when I get there. Well honey I went to Communion and midnite Mass as I told you I would and it surpassed all my expectations. The chapel for the night was a big PX or ships store made from a Quonset Hut. In case you don't understand a Quonsett is one of those half round buildings you see in books or magazines. This one is one of those large ones commonly used for storage sheds. It was beautifully decorated with tinsel and ribbons and had a big tree, Okinawa grown, nicely decorated and placed on the side of the altar. The biggest discomfort was the lack of seats but that didn't really matter as the Mass was to beautiful to think about such paltry inconveniences. With everyone standing the place was mobbed and at the consecration it was almost impossible to kneel down. We had three priests and a mess of altar boys plus a choir and a Red Cross girl to sing for us. The choir was real good singing the Agnes Dei, the Kyrie as they have only been in a group for a matter of weeks. The priest singing the Mass was young and good looking and had a real nice baritone voice and I know all the women old and young would go crazy for him back in some parish in the states. It was really swell. All in all Christmas turned out to be all right and although the real home spirit was lacking enough free beer was floating around to provide a pretty reasonable substitute for all concerned. As for me I had my share of beer but never even got a faint buzz out of it. Maybe it was because we had a platter of white turkey meat on the table that I almost finished alone. Most of the other guys got a real glow on therefore with a full stomach and imported spirits I guess they enjoyed themselves as best they could. How are things at home? By the way I heard two 'Command Performances' over Christmas that were really good. These are shows put on by the Hollywood boys that broadcast overseas so are not heard back in the States. The best was Crosby Hope Shore Sinatra Frank Morgan Judy Garland in the affairs of Dick Tracy. It was really swell with Crosby as Tracy, Hope as Flattop, Dina Shore – Tess Trueheart Tracy's girl, Frankie as Shakey, Frank Morgan – Vitamin Flintheart. Dear Judy as Snowflake and Cass Daley as Gravel Gertie. I'd like to hear it again. I'm sending you another shot of me and another guy who just made chief. He's going home tomorrow as his term is up. Don't let my high forehead fool you as the camera was below us and pointing up. Well honey I still love you with all my heart and miss you more than you know. I'll close out now as my eyes are getting sore.
All my love
Always – John"
This picture is not Christmas but it is Mass in a Quonset Hut.
Here is a link to the Command Performance -https://archive.org/details/CommandPerformance450215DickTracyInBFlat.
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