Pvt. W.D Johnson Jr 34945847
G Co 26th Inf.
APO # 1 c/o Postmaster
New York, N.Y
Feb 22, 1945
Germany
Dearest Mom & Dad:
Mom, just received your letter of Feb 5th and yesterday your letter of Jan 30th. Also today I received a letter dated Nov 5 written to my first salt water address. In it you told about a ride with Paul and Alma and about Rip meeting up with his old friend Al Cowart in England. That tickled me what he said about the perfume. Did he ever send it? I enjoyed the letter even tho it was almost 4 months old.
The weather froze up again last nite but it was a lovely day today.
I’ve been getting mail like a top lately. The V-Mail doesn’t seem to come quite as fast as the air mail. For instance my last air mail from Louise was post marked Feb 14 and it got to me Feb 21st – seven days. Your most recent letter of Feb 5 (V-Mail) came Feb 21st – 16 days.
Folks, I’ve been wanting to send home one of my first division shoulder patches. I’ve been trying to think to put one in a letter to Louise, but always forget. I wrote her tonite and enclosed some clippings so in order not to make her letter too fat I’m enclosing this one for you to give her to keep for me. It’s been in all the action with me and has lost its shiny look which is why I want to keep this particular one as a souvenir. So please give it to Louise to keep for me.
I’m supposed to do a little writing as a sideline for the Co. now and then. I told Louise all about it so to avoid writing the tale twice in one night, you all remember to ask her how I came to be nicknamed “Ernie”. Of course, its right down my alley and I’d do the Army much more good as a publicity writer or something of the sort as a regular thing. But the Army, like a woman, is wonderfully and fearfully made and it would be too rank a violation of rigid precedent to put a G.I. to doing that to which he was suited. My only regret is that while I was being mis-fitted, I couldn’t wind up in some branch like cooking or blacksmithing or welding so that I would have an extra trade in my quiver should the need ever arise. As it is now I will hardly be able to leave the Army with the feeling that my time wasn’t pretty well wasted and that I learned little that will ever be of much future benefit. This is not a gripe, tho, as there are millions of other doggies who are getting the same break, and I’m a thousand times more fortunate than the youngsters who have neither a trade nor an education and are wasting the impressionable, formative years of their lives here acquiring habits and ideas that might easily be most detrimental to their future development. If there’s any good that can come out of war, I’ll be standing around eagerly for someone to point it out to me!
Fortunately I am able to avoid thinking seriously most of the time and have developed the necessary apathy toward the better things of life to enable me not to expect them or be disappointed in not finding them here. The unhappy soldiers are the one’s who cling desperately to that which they know and understand. Consequently they find the things here (which they don’t understand) too terrifying. I read something which (modestly) I quote as being something of my attitude: “To live is to meet Life eager and unafraid – to refuse none of it’s challenges and to evade none of it’s responsibilities; but to go forth daily with an adventurous heart to encounter its risks, overcome its difficulties, and seize its opportunities with both hands”. I found that quotation from John Oldham in a little booklet Eliz. sent me. I think I told you about it and how much it has meant to me. Anyhow, I get a lot of fun out of this from time to time and we have some wonderful guys in our outfit.
I’d better get to bed as my guard hitch comes up again about 1 or 2 am so I gotta get some sleep. I’m feeling fine so don’t worry about me. Just keep on praying and have faith and everything will surely work out okay. And, Dad, how about another letter from you?
I wrote Macey the minute I got his address from you. I hope the war ends before he has to hit the line. But if it doesn’t I feel sure he’ll make out okay. He’s got the stuff and the proper mental balance to make a good, sane soldier. He’ll probably get wounded a time or two also but don’t think too much about that as its all a part of the infantry. You get good medical attention and those clean sheets sure look good when you get back there!
So don’t worry too much, honies, and take care of yourselves. I think your chillun all value their parents and their home as they never did before so you all keep the home fires burning and we’ll all come sailing home before long. Here’s lots of love to you both and, as Tiny Tim said “May God bless us every one!”.
Love always, David