June 12, 1943
Saturday morning,
Dear Folks:
I was very sad to hear the news about Grandpa. Even though I had been expecting to hear it at any time, it was still bad news to hear. It was too bad that I couldn’t have seen him before he left us- He was a grand man and I was terribly proud to be his grandson. We will all miss him a lot because there aren’t very many men like him.
The news didn’t reach me until Friday because we were in the field again. The mail had a tough time catching up with us. I suppose I will receive some news this morning about Tom’s baby. In Dad’s last letter he said the baby was expected Tuesday. I’ll be waiting anxiously to be hearing all about it. Evidently sending word be telegram is almost as slow as air-mail letters- you see the telegram has to be read by brigade and then passed down through different offices. They are afraid someone might go AWOL if he received bad news by wire. So every wire is read to ensure against that. But id you had telegrammed I’ll probably get it today.
Tom will probably be worn out by the time the ____ arrives. They tell me these expectant fathers go through a lot of worrying.
I know that grandpa will get a fine funeral as he so ______ deserved. All of you must have been tired from all the excitement. By the time you receive this let’s hope you are back to normal again.
Have
you received the note about breaking the frame of my glasses? I dropped them in
the field and they snapped. I am having one of the fellows going into town get
a new frame for them. He will bring them back Monday. I think I wrote in too
much of a hurry as it isn’t really necessary that I have a new pair now. So if
you haven’t gotten them you needn’t other. I am getting a pair of G.I. glasses
from the medics in a couple of weeks, which I can have as extras. You see I
didn’t think of being able to get a new frame in
Last week I had quite a lot of fun riding around in a Jeep. We have one assigned to us in the field and I used it quite a lot. They are lots of fun to ride and really give you a joy ride.
I’ll leave now and catch the outgoing mail. Let me say again how sorry I was to hear about Grandpa and I am remembering him in my prayer.
Sincerely,
Joe