July 1, 1943 (Rolie Iverson)

July 1, 1943

Thursday night

Dear Dip:

I don’t really know where to start in this letter. No doubt I should first inform you that your letter of the 14th June arrived to me safely today. ‘Twas quite a surprise and yet I had expected to hear from you some months back.

After continuous and frequent requests for information leading to your whereabouts from some of the other boys I was rewarded in that Dick Bennis sent me your present address. Through some coincidence the two of your letters arrived here today. In other words had your letter not arrived I would be writing this to you anyway. However I doubt very much if the tone contained herewith would have been quite as soft. I was more determined than ever to more or less read you off for having been so lacks especially when you acquired the new position you now have. After all that’s good news and surely something to write about. Lee did write and give me the entire low down, but it just didn’t seem right having to come from somebody else other than you. The elation you must have experienced when the final outcome was certain no doubt kept your mind occupied along other channels than letter writing and justly so. The news when it did arrive to me was so good I felt like a heel myself for not being able to send my message of congratulations to you, for your address was still unknown to me. I have it now and I have put you on the pan enough here so I day “Belated Congratulations”. For sure the club average has really hit the pay dirt.

Rolie, splitting wood at a Kins Club picnic.

Lee wrote some time ago relating your extraordinary meeting on the West Coast. He also stated that between the two of you, you were well under control most of the evening. All I could do was to visualize what actually took place and know that it did. The both of you made about the same report pertaining to the evening convincing me that better I should have been there too. Been ages since I hung one of those on but can see several coming up in the distant future. In fact it has been over a year since I have had a bottle of Coke. Slipping you say? I’ve gone beyond that stage long ago.

From the tone of yours and Lee’s letters it appears that you don’t expect to stay around there much longer. No Doubt you are anxious to get around some just to have had the experience. You can’t beat it and I certainly wish you all the luck in the world regardless of where your next move is. For my part I hope I can stay put for a while, shall I say until I head for home, perhaps quite a while.

Yes, what you heard about me is correct, I am located somewhere in South America. My work is proving interesting and much to my liking as well as falling in the line of my abilities. So far I feel that I have been more than fortunate and have my fingers crossed. That is the extent to which I am at liberty to tell you of myself. Several of my past letters have been cut up so I shall take more precautions from here on. When writing next don’t ask me too many questions for more than likely I will have to disregard the majority of them. Makes it tough on both ends.

I had a letter from Sykes this week. Through some misfortune and before I had even read it, it became lost and has not been found yet. I know about what happened to it and never expect to retrieve it. Therefore if you have his present address I wish you would forward it on to me. In the meantime don’t hesitate so long next time before dropping me a line.

Best of luck wherever you may go.

Rolie