July 11 & 14, 1941

Dear Stan;


Tick, tock and now its "I Want Out of My Way."  Shh don't wake me.  No- it's not that- just Guy Lumbardo on Lady Esther Serenade.  It is such beautiful music.

You know if you do come home in the early part of August I might even begin to like the Army.  & Especially when they give you l l l l l l l l l l day leaves.  Looks like days and days- doesn't it.  Well it is.  Are they riding you hard these days or is it all what its cracked up to be.

Uh um (translation- YES) I did see Hummy last Friday.  Why don't you two get together on this civilian clothes problem- I'm afraid you both have a mania for them.  I have a marvelous idea- wouldn't it be swell if you could come home one week and Hummy the next then it wouldn't seem like years and years.  I'm afraid I am just rattling tonight and not making sense- But my one track mind is trailing and wondering, hesitating and stopping on all kinds of dreams.

Stan- I am truly sorry to hear about your brother's wife's death.  I do hope it doesn't hinder his recovery too much.  Why do things like that have to happen.

Pardon me- but I just took time out to chase some buzzing bee out of my room.  You think I wasn't scared.

I am just enclosing this picture and won't say a word about it but "Guess Who?"

Tom Lett has acquired a southern accent from Va. and now writes in a foreign language- but he hasn't a thing on us'ns at home.  We have an honest to goodness southern for a bookeeper- so if I suddenly start dropping my r's don't blame me.  Our office is one mad mess- everyone looks as though they have just emerged from a plaster shower.  As if they hadn't.  One almost expects the ceiling and such other overhead material as we now have to crash down on our heads at any moment.  [she drew a small picture of her at a desk and ceiling falling on her]  Yes, I'm just an artist at heart.

Ah yes and with bugs chasing and ceilings falling- I will leave you with this pessimistic thought say Good- nights, pleasant dreams happy days and Good night.

Sincerely

Mary Rose

Dear Mary Rose:

The picture certainly did turn out just fine, even though they are a bit lop-sided.  Thank you very kindly for sending the set.  I'm going to take a flock of pictures as soon as possible and send you the better ones.

Lt. General Ben Lear (our boy) is getting quite a bit of publicity over the golf course incident .  The article which you sent, however, made no mention of the beautiful damsels being in shorts.  An Associated Press writer, in an article appearing in the Post stated that Ben is the type of General our Army can do without.  So much for our golf playing boss and may he remember that soldiers in trucks just have to whistle at such landscapes.

By this time you have probably seen Hummy in the office.  Most all of the fellows that didn't go home over the fourth are now spending this week end at home.

One of the fellows brought his car to camp with him and we may breeze home one of these week ends.  It is also rumored that we will get a 10 day leave the early part of August.  There is however nothing authentic about this report but even the officers are talking about it.  So maybe it will come true.  Think of it 10 days.  Maybe we'll both be able to get more sleep on the next occasion of a visit.

My brother's wife died and was buried Thursday.  I haven't heard how my brother took it but I'll bet he really broke down.

Well, time and paper are clamping down on me so I'd better close and be on my way to the little cot in the corner where I'll listen to a little music and drowse slowly to sleep.  Goodnight and many many pleasant dreams.

As Ever,

Stan


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Side Note:  I wasn't sure about this "Lt. Gen. Lear" so, I wikipedia-ed it...here is the story below:
-Mike

"He was commanding general of U.S. Second Army from October 20, 1940 to April 25, 1943 and was promoted to temporary lieutenant general in October 1940. As such, he was responsible for training a large number of U.S. soldiers during World War II. He became known as a strict disciplinarian.
It was in the lead-up to these maneuvers that Lear acquired the nickname "Yoo-Hoo". He was playing golf at the Country Club in Memphis, Tennessee in civilian clothes on Sunday, July 6, 1941, when a convoy of 80 U.S. Army trucks carrying men of the 35th Division rolled past. The troops in the passing trucks subjected a group of women in shorts to a series of whistles and "lewd and obscene" catcalls. Lear had the convoy stopped and told the officers that this conduct was unacceptable, and they had disgraced the army. Lear's punishment was to make every one of the 350 men in the convoy march 15 miles (24 km) of the 45 mile (72 km) trip back to Camp Joseph T. Robinson, Arkansas in three 5 mile sections. This they did in the 97°F (36C) heat. Many men straggled and a number collapsed. There was storm of public criticism of Lear's action from people who felt that the soldiers had been harshly and collectively punished when they had done nothing wrong. The commander of the 35th Division, Major General Ralph E. Truman was well-connected politically, his cousin being Senator Harry S. Truman, and some Congressmen called for Lear to be retired. However, to Army eyes this was not a case of sexual harassment but of indiscipline, and no action was taken against Lear.^[2] The derogatory nickname "Yoo-Hoo" stuck."