Letter Home 06-10-1944

Saturday 2100

06-10-1944

Hello Darling:

This has been a long day of card playing. I played cribbage all day long practically, and lost about a dollar. We did have one lecture, but outside of that we did nothing.

The reason we had such an easy day was the weather. It started to rain yesterday evening, and it has been raining ever since. Not very hard, but very steady.

Tonight we went to eat at 5:45, and found the kitchen all closed up. They changed the meal hour from 5 to 6 to 4:30 till 5:30 so we were 15 minutes late. No one knew anything about it till too late, so they caught a lot of us short. We managed to fill up on bread, cheese, peanut butter, jam and water.

Some of the boys are trying to make some coffee in their hut, and it looks as if they are more apt to burn the hut down. They have a fire in a can with sand in it. Then they put gasoline in the sand, and light it. From our hut it looks like a real blaze. Someone just hollered that they had gasoline burning all over the floor. Oh well, such is life in New Guinea.

Last night one of the boys brought in some mail, and he had about 8 letters for Baker and I. Both of us were all set to enjoy them till we saw the names on them.

There is another Baker and Banes here, and all that mail was for them. We did not get even a post card. It would not have been so bad if we hadn’t thought we did have some. You should have heard Baker after he saw they weren’t his! He has had one Vmail letter since he’s been here, and he was really disgusted.

I think I will go crawl in my sack. I am awfully tired from the rough day we had.

I love you sweetheart very much indeed –

Love George?

Letter Home 06-05-1944

Monday 1015
06-05-1944

Hello Darling:

We went on a little cross country yesterday morning, and did not get back till this morning. The weather socked in here while we were gone.

Gee I feel shakey this morning. It must be the lack of cigarettes or something. We haven’t been able to buy any for about 5 days. The monthly supply has not been dished out yet I guess. There are very few guys that have any. I am not the only one that is bumming them here. Everyone is.

I miss my pipe and tobacco on occasions like this. I packed both in my foot locker, and I probably won’t see it for moths. For that matter we don’t have much opportunity to get tobacco here. Maybe some day you could find a pipe and some tobacco to send me. I would no doubt get it for Xmas the way they handle the mail.

I have to go up in the tower this afternoon. I am supposed to help direct traffic I think, but I doubt if there will be anything for me to do. The regular personnel in the tower will do all the work. They just want an officer in the tower for a fall guy in my estimation.

The boys are playing cribbage, and cussing the cards. We all had a new pack that the Red Cross gave us when we left the states, but they don’t last long. All of them are dirty and sticky now. Everyone is usually sweaty when they are playing, and the whole place is so damp is the cause of it I reckon.

Another nice thing this hot damp weather does for us is deposit a beautiful green mold on our shoes and any leather or wood we have. I have a cap and my low cut shoes here, and the other day I took a look at them. They were loaded with mold. I suppose if we wore them often it would not be so bad, but we never have any occasion for that.

They got a new gang of pilots in today. Not P-47 pilots however. They are having a lot tougher life than we are. It is so crowded that all the huts are full, so these boys are living in tents. It does get to be a rough war at times here.

Evidently some of the boys have not been censoring their mail. Or else forgetting to sign their letters in the lower left corner of the envelope. They put up a notice about it the other day. I imagine they have enough enlisted men’s mail to take of without fooling with ours.

I think that’s the news of the day darling – Except to tell you that I love you – but definitely.

Love George?