March 28, 1945

Dear Billy:

I received your letter of March 19^th this morning.

Since you have received some of my old letters from last July, you will probably be receiving the package which I sent you last July while you were in England and which, as yet, hasn’t reached you. The stuff in it will certainly be in some mess after travelling around for about nine months.

That girl on the bicycle, with her dog in the basket on the back, certainly must have looked cute. It’s a wonder the dog wasn’t scared to death but I guess he’s used to it. It’s too bad you don’t have a movie camera. I guess you could really get some nice pictures. When this war is over, I’m going to buy a movie camera. I certainly have wished I had one lots of times. Then again, it will come in very handy when you, Heltie and I go on our trip out west.

We had a very nice trip up to Boston on Sunday. The weather was ideal. We brought a friend of Heltie’s up with us. He used to be with Harold up in Boston, when Harold was there before he went south two years ago. He went overseas with Harold’s old outfit. While over in Africa, he had malaria and when that cleared up, he developed arthritis in both his legs. After being in practically every hospital in Africa, he was brought back to this country. He was hospitalized for about six months and was finally discharged from the army. He is now getting his Master’s degree in English up at Columbia. Harold had lunch with him on Saturday and he said he was going home for the Easter Holidays. He lives up in Utica. When Harold told him we were driving up to Boston the next day, he said how much he would like to go along, so Harold invited him to come. He was very nice and it was more than interesting to hear of his experiences overseas, although some of them were anything but pleasant. He stayed at a hotel in Boston on Sunday night and left for Utica Monday night.

While in Boston, Heltie took us over to the non-commissioned officer’s club and showed us around. It is really furnished beautifully. It seems that various and Sunday business people took care of the furnishing of it. It is in a four-story building and the club occupies all floors but one. On the first floor they have tables, a bar where they serve beer, soda, sandwiches, etc., on the next floor is the lounge and on the next floor they have pool tables, ping pong tables, etc. The boys couldn’t want a nicer place to spend their spare time.

By for now, honey lamb. Let me know if you want anything special.