10:15 P.M. Tuesday 5, December, 1944Hello Darling,
Are you happy tonight? I hope you are. I wish you had been with me tonight. Excuse pencil, please, my pen went dry and I came away and forgot my ink. Anyhow, the reason I missed you so much more tonight is that I went to a very funny show. I can’t remember it’s exact name – it was The Ghost of Sir something or other with Charles Laughton, Robert Young, and that cute little tiny gal actress. I nearly died laughing. The other feature was “The Gay Desperado” with Leo Carrillo, and Mischa Auer and some other guys. I didn’t care for the last one much but we were kept entertained. Lt. Toffenetto and I went together, and believe it or not, honey, your old man was flirted with tonight by a cute little usherette in the theatre. Now don’t get ideas. I did everything I could in a nice way to discourage it by telling her I was married, showing her my ring to prove it and even the pictures of you in my billfold. Told her that I was going to be a pappa in about a week. She flattered me by saying that I looked much younger than Toffy and he’s only twenty-two. Had either Toffy or I been the long eared and pointed nose type we would have had ourselves a partner tonight. But you know me – all I do is look and talk if I’m spoken to first and Toffy is the same.
The radio is playing a record of Bing singing Going My Way. It’s beautiful and it reminds me so much of you, my sweetheart.
Zola, I love you so much. I realize it more and more every day. You’re the sweetest angel in the world and I’m so lucky to be your husband.
I hope this letter doesn’t depress or worry you. While I was with Tommy I argued with him several times on to treat a wife. Of course, he doesn’t do anything bad, but he persists that it’s better to keep a girl guessing a little on the what they don’t know won’t hurt them idea. I can’t believe that. It’s true that there are many girls who will take advantage of a man if he makes them absolutely sure of him, but if that
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self. You’ll be a glorious mother without even trying so don’t try to hard. I need you well and happy more than anything else. When I think of being a father I get a feeling like a stomach full of feathers. It’s going to be so heavenly. I’ll try so hard to be a good father.
I’ve got a great deal to do tomorrow so I must quit. I’ll tell you tomorrow night as much as I can about the City I am in. Don’t forget for a second how truly much you mean to me. My heart and soul belong to you my darling, you are so very, very perfect.
Your adoring husband,
Dewain
The movie Grandpa referenced is “The Canterville Ghost” and the “tiny gal actress” is Margaret O’Brien. It would be fun to have a 1944 night and watch the movies Grandpa watched and listen to the music he listened to. I would love to have Grandma’s responses to these letters – especially this one about Grandpa’s experience with the usherette.
The next letter in the sequence is the very first one I typed – I’ll copy it into a new post and then my next letter is a V-Mail from 12/26 in Luxembourg, the day after Christmas and 4 days after the baby’s birth (which we’re celebrating tomorrow!!!)
Happy Birthday Dad! We love you!
I love this! It’s crazy to hear Grandpa’s words when he was younger than any of us. (How old was he?) It’s one of those things where you can’t imagine your grandparents (or your parents) for that matter to ever be young! He was such an excited daddy! And I love hearing about his experience with the usherette! I agree. I’d love to hear Grandma’s response. Do we ever know what happened to those letters? Didn’t Grandpa keep them?
Melanie said when she copied the letters, she didn’t copy them all because there were so many. So, there may be replies in some uncle’s house somewhere. I think the letters were supposed to be sent around and passed on when done. Maybe we’ll have to start bugging all the dads and uncles (and moms and aunts) and see if anybody can unearth them. I’d love to have copies of all of them to put on the blog.
Oh yeah – and Grandpa was born 7/16/1921, so he’s 23 at this time . . . just a kid!
It’s wierd reading these letters, Grandpa had such a distinct voice that I can almost hear him saying these things to Grandma, it’s like a monologue in my head… then that reminds me of my dad, who tries to sound like grandpa… lol
I know exactly what you’re saying. I’m hearing Grandpa all the time – I can remember him saying some of these same phrases when I knew him. I guess it’s a good way to remember family. I can’t wait to get to Grandma’s letters again.