Letter Home 08-19-1944

Saturday
08-19-1944

Hello Darling:

It is early in the morning for me to be writing, but I missed last night. We had a double feature at the show, and it took till 11:15 to finish. By the time I got back to the house the lights were out. I have to fly this morning, but one of the boys in the flight is just going over to eat breakfast, so I think I have time. It is 8 o’clock now. Ten o’clock last night to you. You are probably thinking of going to bed about now. Wish I were with you.

I hope you aren’t too surprised when you get the money I sent home to you yesterday. I haven’t heard what you may have had to say about the $450 I sent before, but you seemed to think the $270 I sent from Frisco was quite a bit, so no doubt the other was a bigger surprise. Well yesterday I topped it all with $1000.00. I don’t ever expect to be able to do that again, in fact I am still not quite used to it myself.

I have to fly – See you later. I love you darling – lots and lots!

Well here I am again an hour and a half later. Things were slightly SNAFU (Situation Normal All Fouled Up) and we did not fly. There were 3 flights there, and we had a time even getting enough planes for one. A lot of them were out for inspections and plug changes. Lots of fun, but no flying.

To get back to this conversation about money – filthy subject isn’t it. I don’t mean to dwell on it so, but I though you might expect a bit of explaining. Anyway I won most of that $1000 playing poker. And I’ve also got 3 money orders for #100.00 each that I think I will have Hayes endorse to you and just send them in this envelope. They can only be transferred once, so I won’t even bother having them endorsed to me. I will also have to mention this in another letter in case this one gets lost. I will keep the stubs so I can send you the serial #’s on them if such a thing does happen. You can perhaps mention receiving both of these amounts in a couple of you letters too, so I will know you got them.

Now I suppose I better say something about my winning such a number of pickets for the fence around the hut? That was very unusual for me (or anyone) to win that much. I was just extra lucky. Usually no one wins more then 3 or 400 bucks. And every one of them is still ahead of the game. For instance Hayes (who lost the 300) has sent home over $2000 since he has been here, and Ford has won quite a bit, and so on. And I do not intend to be losing a lot of money myself, because I won’t have it to lose. I keep just a little to play with each month. If I win – fine! – I send it home. If I lose I won’t lose much, and then I can wait till the next month to try my little bit again. For instance right now I have $50 in case I play again. If I lose I quit, and I will still be way ahead.

This is not changing me in any way as far as my getting gambler’s fever or anything either. All of us over here kind of lose our sense of value of money, because we can’t spend any, and it is also in this Dutch money. It is almost like play money. For $50 I get about 100 of these cigar coupons. If we had American dollars we probably would never have very big games. Also, it doesn’t matter to me if I play for small amounts or large. I just like to play cards. Nearly any kind for that matter. Also I never expect to play very much poker of any kind when I get home. Then I will realize what money means and I will have you, xo I won’t have to look anywhere else for entertainment. Naturally I like to win like this to give us something to start on when I get home. Especially since I have no idea what I will do for a job. In case you have to support me I may at least hold up my end for a short time at any rate. (Just kidding darling.)

I am not out for blood in these games either. I hope I win, but it doesn’t matter. If I don’t have any money at all when I get home I will have you (and that is worth more than any amount of dough), and we will get by somehow. Just being with you will make me happy, and I intend to do everything in my power to make you happy too.

This had been quite a long discourse on gambling and money. I hope I haven’t left you with the impression that I’ve become so mercenary that I can think of nothing else. Rather I hope I’ve made you understand how I feel about the whole thing. How about it? What did you make of it?

By the way if you or the folks, or the folks in Detroit need any money of have use for it, don’t hesitate to use it. Nothing would please me more than to see you get some enjoyment out of it. It doesn’t mean anything to me as far as using it goes. You don’t have to use it on necessities either if you don’t want to. Spend it foolishly or anyway – like buy yourself some shoes for instance. This is probably the only time I will ever feel that I have enough to even think of satisfying my darling’s fondness for shoes. Again, I am kidding, or did you know that already.

I guess I won’t have to mention this subject again. I’ve covered it exhaustively I think. A much better subject for conversation is my love for you. That is reall great! It doesn’t seem right to crowd such a lot of love into such a small space, but I am out of paper again. I love you!

Love George