March 1, 1942

March 1, 1942

Dear Mom & Dad:

What a birthday! The most exciting & eventful one I’ve ever experienced. Everything happens to me – t’was, on one hand, a very happy day, & on the other hand, a very sad one. In one short & concise sentence this is what happened. I had corporal stripes pinned on me, & I lost my gal – all on the 27th.

Lets talk about the “loss” part first & get that out of the way. While I was having chow on Friday, Reschlin (my pal who works here in the post office) handed me a letter from Marian; well I of course brightened up quite a bit as is natural, & put it in my pocket to read when I got back to the barracks. When I got to the barracks I opened it & glanced at the first sentence – went like this – “I don’t know why it should be so difficult to tell you what I have to say – but it is.” Right then & there I knew just about what to expect in the next sentence. “I’ve met someone else.” That’s the whole story. The rest of the letter went on to say the ol’ stuff about – can’t we please still be friends – thanks for the very lovely Valentine – I’ll send back your club pin. It seems she just couldn’t change or fight against the dictates of the heart, so it’s all over. I guess now I’ll have to enlist for overseas duty. Oh don’t worry I’m not that broken up over it. I admit I was quite shaken when I first read her letter & all during that day, but you know me – I can take it. I’ll write her back & be very pleasant about the whole thing as tho it didn’t mean much to me – that’ll fix her. I think its kind of unfair for a guy to have to lose the decision when he hasn’t even had a chance to compete. Oh well there are plenty of other mermaids in the sea.

And now about some good bit o’ news. Yessirree, I’m now sporting a couple of shiny new chevrons on each arm. Makes me feel pretty proud & important. I didn’t know about it until I went on duty as C.Q. on Wed. night. I came in the office & Wheeler the Btry. Clerk called me corporal & when I asked him why the monicker he showed me the order. He was typing it up that night & it came out officially on Thur. Pretty nice little gift from my Uncle, don’t you agree? That now means that I am a $54 a month man instead of $36. I believe in civilian life that would be classed as a fairly substantial raise - $18 a month.

Did I tell you about the furlough situation? Can’t quite remember whether I did or not – so much has happened lately. Anyway I can’t plan on a leave for a while yet. The reason – I’ll quote the Adjutant “Too busy to spare you now but your next will be a ten dayer.” So I’ll just save my money for awhile.

Gee, before I run out of space I want to thank you for the money & the nice card & telegram. Dot & Arlo sent me a couple bucks too. I’m going to subscribe to the Reader’s Digest with theirs & I’ll save yours for furlough. When I come home this time I plan to stick around the house a little more. Let’s hope its soon.

Love, Cpl. Dip