CO. C. 735^th R.o.b

A.P.O. #5942

Co/o Postmaster New York, N.Y.

2⁰⁰/pm Oct. 14,^th 1944

Somewhere in France.

My Darling,

Well Pheety here I am again writing you with all my heart & letting you know I’m well & fine. I’m hoping your’e feeling good as I am.

I’m still reading your letters over again Darling & I get a thrill each time I read them. I just can’t get over how excited I was last nite when I got them. Youv’e made me so happy I keep wanting to cry. You remember every little thing I used to do[,] don’t you Darling. You say you loved all those cute things I did[,] but Pheety you do things just as cute. I always liked to have you steal kisses when wer’e walking down the street, that’s about the sweetest thing you do. And the way you pout when I take or eat something of yours. You were always wanting to be loved, I couldn’t sit down and write a letter but what you’d want a kiss every five minutes. [Edited for content] Your’e so cute, no wonder I love you no matter what happens. I can’t blame you for being jealous like when we used to go out, if you carried on like I do I’d be the same way. Remember how I felt the nite I walked into the Singer Shop & saw you flirting with that Larry. That wasn’t so bad but when I heard you were out riding with him I had a fit. I just can’t stand anyone having anything to do with my Pheety. She’s mine & I want them to leave her alone. Won’t it be swell when we have our own little house or apartment with our own furniture. It will be our first home [Edited for content]. Oh boy! I’ll chase you all over the place. – I can have my beer in the ice box & a bottle of wine under the bed. I can buy you some pretty clothes & a fur coat so we can fill your closet up. You’ll have to be the banker & help me save our money. I’ll be so glad to get back on the road & bid in #90 the hot shot so I can be with you more often. If we live in Cleveland then I’ll work passenger, but if we live in [Bellefontaine] I’ll work freight. – I’m sure I won’t drink much when I come back cause I’ll be so used to going without it over here that I’ll be out of the habit. Anyway to have our own home I’ll have to work steady & keep away from the bars. You’ll have to help keep me away from them too my Darling. – One thing, I’m not going to lay off like I used to, that was awful. I wanted to be with you so much I didn’t want to work.

Well to let you know how wer’e living, we took over a large French Chateau (MANSION) & outbuildings (huts), which the Nazi’s had been living in for four years. I’m not in the mansion myself but I’m living in one of the huts the Germans built, they sure are nice. They left all their nice bunks, tables, chairs & inner-spring mattresses. They also left something else in the hedges in front of the chateau, mines & booby traps but wev’e taken care of that. The rest of the area seems to be clear of mines but I’m not getting off of any paths just the same. They wrecked the water and electric facilities but wev’e got [the] electricity to [start] & hope to have running water soon. Wer’e getting our water from a French neighbor’s well & swiping apples from his orchard when we get a chance. The Chateau has modern wash bowls & bath tubs and it sure must have been an elaborate place at one time. Personally I like my hut the best, there are only two of us in it. We have more privacy where those in the Chateau are as many as ten to fifteen in one room. We have our two comfortable bunks, a double clothes closet, a large table, two chairs & a swell stove. We also have electric lights in our hut. We wash our face & shave in our steel helmet and heat our water in a swell container on the stove. We were living on rations but theyr’e cooking our meals now. – I took a bath in a little stream the other nite & boy was it cold, but I felt swell after I got to my hut & dried off. This is sure a lot better than I expected cause for awhile we were living in pup tents, sleeping on the ground & wading [in] this awful French mud. I keep hoping & praying that Vane has it as nice as I have as the Folks say he’s somewhere in France. Just think, he may be close to me. I was praying his outfit was here policing up but they may send his outfit to help reenforce the units on the [Siegfried] line. I thought sure the war would be over before either of us got here. It may last into 1945 now the way theyr’e going. We haven’t any way of getting news yet so I don’t know how the war is going. All I keep thinking & caring about is getting back to my Baby. I can just imagine how swell it’s going to be after being over here perhaps a long time & seeing you for the first time. Remember how wonderful it was to see each other in New Orleans over a short period of time, just imagine how it’s going to be when I get back from over here. We won’t know how to act Pheety. And maybe again it won’t be near as long as we think, Let’s pray the time will be short Darling. It wouldn’t be so tough if I were single but I’m so used to having my Pheety around pestering me for kisses & more kisses. Boy I really loved that & what I wouldn’t give to have you here in my hut right now. Oh what I wouldn’t do to you wouldn’t be worth mentioning. – Well Pheety it’s about supper time so I’ll close this letter & start another one after chow. I love you Darling more & more each day & I want to say your love & your letters are keeping me alive. If it weren’t for you my life wouldn’t be worth living so til you hear from tomorrow here’s all my love and kisses. The kisses are there but you can’t see them.

Goodnite my Darling,

Love Your Dumplin