Party of Five

On the one hand, nobody ever told me this rule. On the other...you'd think I would have figured it out by now. The "Momma's don't get sick" rule.  (Or wives either) But as I sit here in the complete silence of my own house...silence brought on by computer games being shut down for the night, and children in bed, and husbands still out for the evening...I look around me and realize that Oh My God...what was I thinking taking three days to be sick!?!? It began Thursday, when I awoke with a scratchy throat.  I also slept with the windows open, so I chalked it up to a sinus/allergy thing, I'd work my way through it and I'll be fine. Nope. Friday morning, my voice was gone and my throat was worse.  Super.  It was a "real" sore throat.  I took it easy, did the noodle soup thing...the ice cream thing...lots of water...LOTS of water.  (And I don't generally drink too much water)  Consequently, there were a lot of trips to the bathroom als...

Amidst the letters that our soldier and his sweetheart exchanged while he was serving in World War II, there are a few newer letters from after the war.  Letters exchanged between the two when our soldier had become a civilian and was driving freight truck throughout Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. There was also another letter.   One that was written on September 28, 1950.  It was written to my grandmother from her Aunt Nettie Allison. Thursday Ottumwa, IA 702 S. Moore St. Sept 28-50 Dear Niece & family, I will ans. your letter I rec. & was sure glad to hear from you once again and hope all of you are O.K.  We are all well as usual... ...Paul & I & Pug & Bill went to Colorado Springs Colo. for our vacation & we left on Saturday and came back on Thurs. & Paul went to work on Fri. so I though I would stay home rest of the week & rest & the foreman called me up after Paul got home & said I was being laid off.  I w...

**10 years after he had been reported as "missing" while serving in Germany, our soldier took the time to write down what had happened.  This is his story as he remembered at the time.... April 15, 1955 To Whom It May Concern;      While overseas in the Armed forces I served with Company L. 47th Infantry Red. 9th Division.  On the morning of March 16, 1945 while in action in Rotschied, Germany a group of us were capture by the Germans and taken prisoners.  Without hesitation they began walking us through our artillery fire deeper into their territory.  We marched all day until we came to a place where we stayed for the night.  This seemed to be a prison camp of some kind.  It was something like an old barn with a high barb wire fence all around it.  Inside it had very crude wooden bunks with straw for bedding.  It was while there we acquired lice and bugs, which we carried on us till after we were liberated, causing very raw sor...

What does a wife write when all she knows is that her husband has been reported as missing?  She chose to continue her letters to him even though so much was unknown, and so she also chose to continue writing about the family, his brothers, parents, friends...just as she would have had he been receiving the letters regularly. My Dearest Darling Husband,      This is the first letter Dear I've written for more than a week.  I've just been undecided wether to go ahead and write or not but Darling I've waited just as long as I possibly can.  I feel like you are safe somewhere and I pray my Darling you will receive my mail.  I reckon you have never received any mail from any one according to your last letter which was written March 10.  I suppose Sweetheart you do know what I'm talking about as you know I am not much of a letter writer but oh my Darling I can tell you how much I love you and that is more than anything in this whole world.  Bu...

**I wish that I had THAT telegram....the one she received on THAT day.  The one that read "The secretary of war desires me to express his deep regret that..."   But I don't have that telegram and I sometimes wonder what she did with it.  I sometimes wonder what the emotions were that ran through her as she read the news that her husband of 4 months was now missing in action thousands of miles away, in a country that was being overrun by a man who was obsessed with wiping out an entire group of people. No, I don't have THAT telegram, but I do have this letter that she received soon after...I'll simply let it speak for itself.

**Mail delivery is still wreaking havoc on our newlyweds.  Letters delayed WHEN and IF they were being delivered, made for a very worried bride.  But still she continued writing...a bit of local hometown and family drama, as well as a letter that I found fascinating because it stated the cost of a number of things that were purchased in 1945... March 22, 1945 Converse, Indiana My Dearest Darling Husband,      So honey here 'tis Friday nite again my Darling and as you know we aren't together and I miss you so much.  I just often wonder how many Friday nites will go by before we will be together once again.  I sure hope not too many.  It is 10:00 and I'm feeling not so good and pretty sleepy too.  But the reason it is so late is cause I just got back from Marion.  I took Mary Lewellan over to the hospital to see Bobby.  He was operated on for Masatoey (?) Monday and she called me tonite to see if I'd take her over ...

**World War II timeline: March 7, 1945 - The Allies capture two significant targets in Germany -- the Remagen bridge over the Rhine, and the city of Cologne. March 9, 1945 - U.S. firebombing of Tokyo kills about 85,000 Japanese. March 16, 1945 - U.S. troops complete the capture of Iwo Jima from the Japanese, at the cost of 20,000 American casualties. March 20, 1945 - The Allies capture Mandalay, Burma.  March 17, 1945 Converse, Indiana My Dearest Darling Husband,      Oh honey I miss you so much - I wish you could be here.  Even though I can't make you understand it in my letters, I do love you so much.  If you were here then I know you would know.  I received your very sweet V-Mail letter from you this morning, and honey I was so glad to hear from you.  But was sure surprised to hear you were in Germany.  Guess you are in Cologne aren't you honey.  Anyway I listened to the radio and they said that was where the first army wa...

This week brings us the first of a number of "V-Mail" messages that were sent.  Before email was even thought of, and in the hopes of saving costs associated with shipping THOUSANDS of letters across the ocean, the idea was put into place to send "Victory Mail".  The soldiers would send mail home in the form of letters that were opened and photographed onto microfilm which was then flown to the US via airmail rather than the slower sea-freight.  The microfilmed letters were then printed out from the microfilm, and sent on to the addressee.  Writing space was quite limited on the form that the soldiers had to use (also possibly a way that the "censors" were able to keep things under-wraps that the soldiers wrote home about), but it was a quick and easy for them to write to their loved ones. March 4th, 1945 Somewhere in Belgium Dearest Mother and E.L. Just a few lines to let you know I am o.k. as you might know.  I hope this find you folks the same.  I ...