Dearest Marge,

            Honey I’ll answer your letters tonight.  I just came back from a 48 hour pass and I had 3 letters so I’ll answer all three.  You said in the one you heard from me.  It must have been about 4 weeks that I never heard from you or anyone either.  Boy I’m really glad to hear from you.  I’ve gotten a good many letters since I got here and I don’t know for sure how many.  After they were all straightened out they covered the whole time but they were all mixed up arriving here.

            Chet and Deets are still here.  Merle Foalston was left in the States.  You said something about him in one of your letters that I couldn’t make out.  Write and tell me more.

            I had some fun on my pass.  The only thing it didn’t last long enough.  I went to Birmingham.  Three of us went there.  I think it’s the second largest city in England.  You might try to figure out where we are but you couldn’t because you can go from one end to the other in about a day.  The transportation here is good.  The trains are a lot more on schedule here than in the states.

            We went to Stratford for a few hours too.  That’s the home of Wm Shakespeare.  Oh yes.  I was in St. James Church there too.  Can you picture that? Better not tell Mom that or she will think I’m sick or something.  Since I’ve seen Shakespeare’s home I can see why he wrote all he did.  Some place.

            Boy today was really a dreary day.  I don’t think the sun ever shines for a full day here.  It’s trying to rain now.

            We stayed at a Red Cross dormitory in Birmingham.  It cost us about a quarter for a bed.  Sheets too.  That’s something rare in the army.  The only thing that I didn’t like was that you couldn’t get away from the Army.  There were soldiers everywhere you went.  I was in a Canteen where there were soldiers from about 12 different countries.  Most of the people treat us swell but some are pretty hard to understand.  I saw a few places that had been bombed but most of them were being rebuilt.

            I’ve been getting the Journal now.  It takes just about a month for it to get here.

            You asked me to tell you how many days I was on water.  I can’t tell you the exact day but it was too darned long.  I hope it doesn’t take half as long to go across the other direction.  Boy land really looked good though.  You will have to wait till later to find out.

            One English custom I don’t like is beans on toast for breakfast.  They have a lot of funny ways but I can’t think of any right now.

            Honey when are you going to send me your picture?  I wrote about two weeks ago and asked for it.

            If I was home now we could really have some fun.  How is gas rationing since it was cut down again?  What you need now is one of these English coal burners.  Then you could drive all you wanted if your tires didn’t wear out.

            Honey I’ll have to close this before long, there isn’t much more to say.  I’m O.K.  Honey, don’t forget to take your medicine.  Maybe you will get real fat again.  Ha Ha.  Be good and I’ll have to be.  Boy I wish I could see you real soon.  I’d really be happy then.  Honey I’ll write more next time.  I love you and always will.  I’m waiting till I can be with you.  Here’s all the love in the world.

Love and Kisses                                                           Your’s forever,

                                                                                                Ralph