SvcMen WW II Letters FULTON COUNTY, INDIANA HANDBOOK Service Men, World War II, Letters 1944-1945 SERVICE MEN, WORLD WAR II, LETTERS, Contd. __________ LETTER FROM MALCOLM KESTNER [Editor’s Note: - Malcolm Kestner arrived in Attu, Alaska shortly after the Japanese had evacuated the island, writing this letter on Jap stationery which was left behind by the enemy.) Dear Mom and Dad: I imagine you are wondering already where I got this exta thin paper. Well it’s wrting paper that the Japanese use. The envelope is the kind of envelope they use too. After you finish reading this, have Genevieve take it to school and show Miss Fultz and the rest of the faculty who are interested in such things. It’s never warm enough to go outside without your coats on, and there is snow on the ground practically all the time. In the summer you can easily get a sunburn but you still have to wear your coat. We live in a tent which is boarded up on all four sides. There is no window in the tent but we have electric lights. We have a little coal stove in the middle of the tent which furnishes plenty of heat. The dance band I’m in plays at different places all over the island once a night and sometimes twice a night. Besides playing in the band, we all are on a working party every morning. There is a show on every night at the theatre but they are all the shows which we have seen in the states; although its something to pass the time away. With lots of love, Malcolm [The News-Sentinel, Monday, January 3, 1944] LETTER FROM RAMOND HERRELL LETTER RECEIVED FROM PRISONER OF GERMANS (Editor’s Note: The following is a letter received from Pfc. Raymond L. Herrell, son of Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd D. Herrell of Route 3, Rochester, who is a prisoner in a German intenment camp.): Dear Folks and Family: This finds me alive and well and doing the best I know how. Hope it reaches you all well and doing the same. The weather is fair. I haven’t received but the one letter and three cards. Thanks to all. SvcMen WW II Letters I got a letter from Mary yesterday. She’s doing good. She’s been telling some of the things you write here, so please keep writing. You need not answer this if you think it’s best not. How is Rena and family? I’ve never heard how they are doing. If you should happen to see her and family tell them I sent my regards. Tell all friends hello. Love to all, Ray [The News-Sentinel, Monday, January 3, 1944] FOURTH LETTER FROM JEAN WALBURN (Editor’s Note: Mr. and Mrs. Harley Walburn received this letter recently from their son, Sgt. Jean Walburn somewhere in China.) Sgt. Jean Walburn Dec. 16, 1943 Dear Dad and Mom: Your medicine is going to be spared a little farther apart for a while at least. I’ve been pretty busy. It took me two days to write Odetta a short letter. I didn’t do much, but was busy. Anyway, it’s gotten so that I can’t write just anytime. I wrote Letha and Betty tonite, oh yes, Keith’s too. I got two packages from Keith’s today. One was nothing but writing paper, and the other contained many envelopes, soap and cigarettes. The guys sure did smile when they saw all that stationery, as I guess it won’t last long. Ha! They have been dividing their candy, so stationery is no exception. Anyway there’s more stationery coming. The only trouble is that my table drawer broke today under the weight, Ha! I guess you need some young folks to bring company home on Sundays. Ha! Do you miss getting Sunday dinner for us, when Safford’s kids, Ned, and the rest came home with us? I guess Keith and I didn’t appreciate it so much then, but now we know. I wish I could come home to that again, but am afraid it won’t be quite the same, but we’ll recapture all that we can, and remember those other times? They can’t be taken away from us. I like to think of those days at home. They make me forget that I’m so far away. The time passes quickly then too. It’s odd that it doesn’t make me feel blue, but I guess I haven’t been away long enough yet. I’d like to come home though, don’t forget that. There is so much of the world to see and I’ve seen only little corners here and there, but I’d give a lot just to have a place, in the states, to call home. Everything isn’t perfect in the states, but one would think so to hear the guys talk. I’m sorry Dad that I couldn’t send you a nice gift for your birthday, and I guess maybe the letter wasn’t so much. Next year I’ll make it up to you. I think you’d have liked something from China, but there is so little one can buy here. The war has caused such high prices and not much to be had. I regret it as much, or more than you do. Things are so different here that there isn’t a day goes by without learning something new. Some days I don’t look for the new things, but it’s only because I don’t look. The other day I saw a large hog tied between two 10 foot bamboo poles leaned against a building. The hog’s feet were sticking in the air and he was kicking to beat the dickens. It’s owner had left it that way, and as soon as it had quieted down would carry it to market, several miles away. Two men carry hogs that way for quite a distance. One day I saw a man pulling a large hog on a two-wheeled cart. I have seen men driving hogs to the market, on foot. It’s odd, but I never saw a man with more than one hog. Another odd thing to see is a person leaving the market with a piece of meat tied to a string. That’s the way they buy meat here. They don’t wrap it in paper, just tie a string around it and go merrily home, swinging their bacon. Ha! They don’t seem to mind the flies, nor the hot sun. Meat is so expensive that the average person can’t afford more than a pound at a time, and more often it’s less. The usual method of cooking meat is in a stew, and eaten with rice. The Chinese don’t cook rice as long as we do. I’m not sure whether it’s because they want to save what pitiful little fuel SvcMen WW II Letters they have, or whether they like rice half cooked. Their stoves are such crude affairs. I don’t see how they can cook anything. They build their stoves out of dried clay brick, and all it is a pit with sometimes a piece of metal over the fire. The coolies can’t afford coal, and charcoal is awful expensive too, so they use dried grass and any piece of wood they can find. Talk about war prices, I was talking with a Chinese who is renting a room in the nearby village for his wife and daughter while he works here. The one room (and meager it is too) costs 200 Chinese dollars a month. The rental price was at one time something near 5 Chinese dollars a month. I must quit now and go to bed. Your son, Jean [The News-Sentinel, Tuesday, January 4, 1944] FOURTH LETTER FROM JESSE J. CALVERT Dear Mrs. Fultz: Received your most welcome greeting card yesterday and was very glad to hear from you again. Mail received over here is very slow. Sometimes it is about two weeks between letters from my wife even though she writes every day, but when I do hear from her I usually get six or seven letters at a time. England is very much like you read about in books. The buildings and villages are very quaint, but picturesque and the people are rather quaint too. They are friendly though. I have had the pleasure of visiting London and enjoy seeing places I’ve read about and never expected to see. Such as London Tower, Westminster Abbey, House of Lords, House of Commons and St. Paul’s Cathedral, but I still think there is no place as good as Home in the U.S.A. Thanks again for the Christmas card wishing you Joy and Happiness in the New Year, as ever, J. Calvert [The News-Sentinel, Tuesday, January 4, 1944] LETTER FROM JIMMY BALL Dear Mom and All: Christmas Eve., 11:00 P.M. As I can’t be with you in body I’m there in thought. I had a pretty good Christmas tho helped open some of the boys gifts listened to the President and Christmas carrols. Then to top it off my crew and I drank a gallon of milk. Tomorrow we are all going in and have Christmas dinner with my pilot and family. I got Willodean’s letter and your letter and papers also the cookies and candy.