Jan. 10, 1944

 

 

Dearest Gram,

            I am deeply sorry to hear that you have not recovered yet and hope by the time I will see you that you will be up and around in good shape. I received your fist letter today and knew that you must have had a very good reason for not writing any sooner because I know how you are very good at writing letters.

            This week we have been having out X(10th) Corps Tests and our final test was Saturday morning at 4 o’clock in the morning  to 10:30 AM. Ike were complimented on our problem that morning by the General Harry J. Collins himself. Ike had been running our test out in the woods with three inches of snow on the ground when he came out and said our squad was the best he had seen in action and that we had the guts and ambition and wanted us men to go through maneuvers and battle together. My outfit is now in the 2nd army instead of the 3rd which means that we will go across almost anytime after furloughs. I graduated from Mechanics School and will receive a large diploma with a big rainbow and the signature of Maj. Gen. Harry J. Collins very soon so I hope to have those stripes very soon in fact maybe before I go home. (I hope)

            Gee Gram, I miss you and dad a lot. Just the night before last I dreamed that we were together again and that we had invited uncle Will and Aunt Nettie over for dinner and when we started to eat and you wouldn’t eat because you were afraid the water pipes would freeze over to the apartment. It was a crazy dream. Gram and I got the underwater and it came just in time. My Brother and I had a wonderful time together. We went to Tulsa and spent the holidays with Mr. and Mrs. Cole. They treated us well.

            Mrs. Cole has her father staying with her. He is very old genl. and reminds me very much of Pop Peabody. He is writing a Peace Treaty for after the war and says he will have it finished very soon and then will send it to Washington D.C. Mrs. Cole took us for quite a long ride and showed us around the town and then Sunday morning she took me and Gustavo to church in the car. Wasn’t that nice? She couldn’t find enough to do for us.

            You probably wonder why I sent you the telegram with Christmas greeting in Spanish. Well, it was like this. They won’t let you send just a Christmas or holiday greeting alone. You must have a message, so I fooled them and sent the Holiday greetings in Spanish. My furlough will start anywhere from 15 of Jan. to 5 of Feb. That is as definite as they have told me.

            Please tell dad to write. His letters are swell but I don’t tell him so because he has just been writing me Telegramitas. It is getting late so I will close. Tell dad I will write to him tomorrow.

                                    Lots of love   X

                                                Mike