( Letter was found at the crash site. ??? are the burnt places...dh
"New Guinea"
July 10,1944
Dear "Pat"
Got your V-mail of June 5 a few days ago, I would have answered sooner, but they popped me into a hospital over June, for the second time in 3 weeks, dut to my old stomach trouble. This lousy boose will kill me yet-ha!So you thought I had forgotten to keep up our correspondence, eh? No sir, nothin' doin', not as long as I'm alive and have 2 hands, even 1 to write with. I enjoy hearing from you and ??? the rest too much to ??? down on the scribble.
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You say you were looking forward to my next letter to hear about the excitement over here in the past few months. Yes, I?ll do my best to relate some of the doings, but we just had notice to the effect that we are not to write much of anything. Boy, they are really cracking down.We came in here one black morning and the fire works were really something. We met little resistance and within a few days the entire invasion was regarded as completed. I was among a group that were the first ones into several main places, due to the fact that I was
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signalman-radioman on our salvage barrage. That?s one of our benefits-being in an amphibian outfit, we ?? take our shallow draft ??? in anyplace and we ??. We hit a lot of clothing food and liquor dumps. We were mainly interested in the latter and proceeded to get ourselves well polluted for about a week. Finally we ran out and settled down to our usual work of resupply.During the first week, I gathered a great lot of souveniers, which were either stolen from me or confiscated for "military ???information reasons", and I have very few left now. Oh well easy come ? easy
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go. I was lucky enough to mark one Jap down to myself. I took him prisoner myself. I took him prisoner ??? he was so sick, I didn?t have the heart to finish him ???suppose I should have, but ?? good to take them to "intelligence" as every - ?? of them squeal like a pig and throw ? info left and right just at the sight of a camera. You tell them you going to take his picture and send it to Tojo and to save their face and family from disgrace (as you know they are not to submit themselves to capture) they run off at the the mouth like a side show barker. I?ll enclose a couple of ?? post cards in this letter.
5 That?s about all I dare tell ? I don"t think any of that will be cut out. ??first as we have come ?? the coast all the way about 1000 miles ???everyplacae that has ??hit since last June, year ago. Yes, this is our 13th month of steady combat service and its about time we had a break. I hope it will be soon.???t?s of luck fella, on that thunderbolt business. I hope it gets to be steady. Thery?re a great ship and have done a stupendous job over here. Without the Air Corps., Some of our outfit would be ??? today. We have a lot of
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Respect for those ?Cloud kids?Well, this has developed into a volume instead of a mere letter, so I had better sign off before the make me mail it in ?? envelope ? ha ! ?
I hear from a good ??? of the fellas, Bill Davis, Don ???< ?B?ke?, Bill Sutherland, Dick G?????, Gene Rose (three or four other intelligible names..dh) Campbell, Oliver M ???, Jersgrave, Bob Fries???, Johnny Beeman, you, and of course ?Little Stew?, who has just returned from a much needed furlough, M??, Good Luck ? Your Pal "Stev???
