Dear Elly,
Your letter came in yesterdays mail call after I already sent mine the day before and I told you why I had not written. Dont worry about me I’m doing fine Twitchum lays off me but I see him watching close in case I make a mistak don’t worry I ain’t gonna make any I’m gonna act like his trained monkey. I sure do miss you and the kids and I suppose Lizzy P is growing. I have read your letters til the edges are getting raggy but don’t you worry about me I’m just a little lonesome is all. They feed me good here and when your bellys full you can put up with near anything. Don’t worry about me tho I’m just fine. Things here are speeding up. Today we got issued our.30 caliber rifles and bayonets and we have to memorize the model numbers-1903 & 1905. Every day I go to physical training, bayonet training and a class on military history who ever would’ve thought I’d be back in school again at my age but I am and next week we start first aid classes and articles-of-war classes and of course there is always close-order drill for hours and hours every day. They say all that marching teaches discipline and thats important in a military organization but now I reckon I know why they call this
Dear Mr. Parker,
By now you are becoming acclimated to Marine life while we at home slowly become acclimated to the idea of our country being at war. We here in town are being propagandized more and more now that America is actively in it. It seems there’s a new sign each week encouraging us to do our part, the latest one a picture of Uncle Sam shushing us, saying, 'A slip of the lip can sink a ship.' It seems incredible to believe there could be spies working among us in a place as small as Whitney.
Every organization from the Boy Scouts to the Jane Austen Society is sponsoring a scrap drive these days. To my chagrin they have even taken the Civil War cannon from the Town Square to be melted down as scrap iron. I raised a formal objection with the Town Council-after all, posterity must also be served-but of course their attitude was one of righteous patriotism, thus I was overridden.
Norris and Nat MacReady have volunteered to organize a Civil Patrol and be air raid wardens. They patrol each night to make sure everyone is in off the streets by ten and all blackouts are observed. Frankly, after all the years they have spent whittling on that bench across the street I thought they had grown into it!
I am making it a Saturday ritual to go out to visit Eleanor immediately after closing, since the days are longer now. Also it helps that we get an extra hour since 'War Time' has gone into effect to save on electricity. Your wife and I always have a pleasant visit and a game or two of Chinese checkers. I take the boys books which occupy them while I’m there. They are looking healthy and robust, and Elizabeth is content and growing weekly.
I have put in a little Victory Garden but I fear I am not blessed with a green thumb like Eleanor. But I shall struggle on with it and perhaps get a tomato or two. Eleanor has volunteered to teach me to put up vegetables. I didn’t want to hurt the poor child’s feelings, but I’m afraid I’ve been behind a desk too long to be handy with collanders and sieves. Still, I shall try.
The butcher shop is acting as a collection depot for wastefats. The billboard there claims one pound of fat contains enough glycerine to make a pound of black powder, so we are all saving our bacon drippings for that cause.
Yet another new billboard has been posted in the town square right beside the MacReadys’ bench. On it is listed the names of all the local boys who have joined up. Your name is listed on the right column between Okon, Robert Merle, United States Navy, and Sprague, Neal J., United States Army. Thankfully none have a star behind them yet.
Franklin Gilmore is working out fine at the library although he occasionally shirks when it comes to dusting the top shelves which he thinks I never check.
I hope this finds you well and tolerating the rigors of military life with a minimum of discomforts. I shall look forward to hearing from you only if you may spare the time, which I’m given to understand is at a minimum during basic training.
My best to you,
Gladys Beasley
Dear Will,
You’ll never guess who come over here today That pretty young Lydia Marsh from down the town road. Come up the road while I was planting my
Dear Miss Beasley,
Thank you for your letter and it sure was full of news I didnt know all that was going on back home Elly must not go to town cause she don’t tell me about it. I read some of the poems and they were intresting My favorite was When a Man Turns Homeward by Daniel Whitehead Hicky. I picture it would be like that when I can come back home to Elly and the kids and we will close the door and leave the world like a kitten outside…
Dear Elly,
This has probly been the worst day since I left home. The whole company is pretty upset the whole base really. You probly heard about it on the radio how this lieut. Calvin Murphree had a platoon out on bivouac and sent them under the barbed wire on their bellies while he was strafing (that means shooting shells over their heads) and he went berzerk and started shooting to kill and he killed one private named Kenser or Kunzor or something like that and wounded two others before somebody stopped him. A man expects to get shot at when he reaches the front but not in boot camp by your own officers. Oh God Elly I miss you so much tonight green eyes. I got out my book of poems from Miss Beasley and read my favorite one to make me feel better. It’s about a man coming home through the moonfall and a woman is waiting with a candle. Only four weeks and one day and basic will be over and I should get leave and be able to come home…
Dear Will,
Everything is good here except for how much I miss you. Miss Beasley she comes every Saturday after work when the library closes early. She brought me a spelling book and is helping me work on my writing so my letters are better. We play Chinese checkers and guess what else she has done. She has started the milk truck coming out here to pick up our milk and the price is up to 11? a quart and 30? for a pound of butter and eggs up to 30? a dozen too and the driver takes them all for me…
Dear Elly,
I shouldn’t have written that last letter when I was in such a rotten mood. I dont want you worrying about me you got enough to worry about with the boys and anyway I’m better now and things are going along fine. Did good on my first aid class test but I drew KP this week and I dont care for that much. Rifle practice every day and you know its a funny thing about some of those backwoods boys that cant read and write they can take apart a rifle and put it together in the dark. Me and Red (that’s what I call my buddy Otis) do good on that too…
Dear Will,
I wonder what your doing tonight. I been listening to the radio and they been playing The White Cliffs of Dover and I wonder if you’ll be shipped to England…
Dear Elly,
