San Antonio
Dec.23, 1942
Wed. night.

Excerpt:

Here is something I think is cute and so I am copying word for word.
When God passed out brains, I thought He said trains and I missed mine. When He handed out looks, I thought He said books, and I didn’t want any. When He handed out noses, I thought He said roses and I ordered a big red one. When He handed out ears, I thought He said beers and I ordered two short ones,and when He handed out legs, I thought He said kegs and I ordered two fat ones. Gad ! am I a mess !.
————

San Antonio
Dec. 22, 1942

My beloved wife,
I am still confined to barracks so all afternoon I have been lounging around in bed and reading this months Readers Digest and listening to our radio.Gee, radio is sure is a wonderful invention. A cute piece I just heard was Benny Goodman playing ( 6 flats, unfurnished ). what rhythm.Somebody just played “When You Come To the End Of A Perfect Day “and here is our old friend Gene Autry singig"The stars at night are big and bright-deep in the heart of Texas ” Well he went off the air fast.
Skipping—–
I don’t know whether I should tell you this or not. Coax me– all right I will. As you know, there all types of covering for various parts of the body for the cold weather- like gloves for the hands,pants for the legs, etc- you get the idea- well there is a guy here who has the cutest piece of clothing I have ever seen. It is a little white knitted tube with a bag at one end. Are you catching on ?If you aren’t you should be. It covers a certain part of the body that is not very public.It has a red tip and a string to adjust the sack. The cutest thing ever. Boy am I bad!!!!! But I thought you would be interested.Gotta close now.
I love you truly and always. Teddy TEAM

Dec.21, 1944
San Antonio, Tx.

Dearest darling wife;

Just now I was brought back to the barracks in an ambulance. This PM I had my toe operated on (ingrown nail ) and I do mean operated on.The doctor or sargeant ( Ross ) who is a real chiropodist started out by ordering me to take off all my clothes except under wear shorts . I thought he was kidding-for a toe???. So I did’nt do it. When he came back to the operating room he saw I was stilled dressed and he started to bawl the crap out of me.He asked me how long I was in the Army- I said a month. He said I better learn to start to obey orders no matter what they might be. I said OK OK and got undressed. He laid me out on an inclined table with my head hanging low. Then he covered me up with five towels and he wrapped my right leg in aother towel.Talk about cleanliness.Then he started to stick needles in my toe to deaden it.After I told I could’nt feel a thing , he started to cut chunks of the nail from each corner. I didn"t feel a thing but psychologically(?) I knew it is supposed to hurt so I felt misersble. Anyhow I am all bandaged up and confined -and it gets me out of exercise and KP. Expect a lot of mail because I will have plenty of time to write. Your hubby and lover. Teddy

Dec. 19, 1942
San Antonio

Dearest one—
Just came back to the barracks and have about 20 minutes until the lights go out. At the Post Theatre we saw Gene Tierney and Preston Foster in Thunder birds–plus Popular Science and a newsreel and a animated cartoon spoofing ” Superman” called Super Mouse and very cute,
Tomorrow being Sunday, they said we can sleep late.
Skipping along—-

There are at least 3 Jewish guys here, so I expect to be quite unlonesome,One is named Hirsch, another is Levine and another Silverman and how the 3 of them can swear !!!
I love you like sixty something awful- awfully marvelously good.
Your hubby and flyer lover, Teddy

My dearest wife Adele, 12-18-42
Greetings from the Lone Star State of Texas . Again I feel bad-I was supposed to wire you as soon as I got to camp but that is quite impossible as no facilities are available so all I can do is write and hope you will understand, as I know that you will which is one of the million qualities which makes me love and adore you.Let me know if you received the telegram from Pine Bluff, Ark. and also this letter. We arrived at 10:45 AM after a long ride, but enjoyable. We had all the comforts and conveniences of a king.We were issued papers and had inspections and it was well after 12PM that we first had something to eat. But good-roast fish, lemonade and three layer cake with frosting. The weather here is just like mid summer in Rocheater, and we all came in with our overcoats and even woolen underwear. Everybody expected to catch cold because of the difference in temperatures.In Richmond, Ind.we moved our clocks back one hour.Wed. about 6AM wewent through Pittsburgh And 7:30 thru Steubenville(Remember)In Arkansaw 12somewhere we had to stop suddenlybecause 2 mules were on the tracks. The railroad crew had to go out with picks and shovels and shoved them clear.In Camden, Ark. we stuck our heads out of the car windows and bought peanuts from some Mexicans.This place is 9 miles from San Antonio .Tomorrow we assemble at 7:30 and go thru processing.Took a good shower- feel very tired but very clean.
Joke(?) Did you hear about the moron who cut off his finger so that he could take shorthand?Definition-A diaper is a super duper pooper scooper.
Closing with all my love from an inspired and unbeatable hubby who loves his dear wife madly. PS-NSY ( no smoke yet )Regards to all , Teddy

Dearest Darling you,

Well its morning now and I am still in the guardhouse. Time is 9:30 AM. As I told you previously I was to work from 8 AM to 4 PM on super. However one of the guardstook sick at 7:00 AM and I had to relieve him. So I slept all night long and got up and worked from 7 to 8 AM. Now I am off again until 12 noon from which time I work until 2 PM and then I am through. So instead of working 8 easy hours , all I will work is 3 hard ones guarding on the outside. Not bad, eh?

I just came back from breakfast. We had cold yellow corn meal, cold fried potatoes, fried eggs, cold & hard toast, and rainwater coffee. A very lovely meal indeed. Right now the 2nd relief (my shift) is waiting for 10:30 AM when we will eat again. That’s all we do is eat.

Last nite after the U.S.O. show the officials held a surprise bed check and found that about 150 men were A.W.O.L. and right after they declared that no more passes of any kind would be issued to any cadets until further notice. That cuts out my N.Y.City trip I planned for tonite or tomorrow - oh well!

All the boys around here got paid yesterday, but I won’t get any money until January. Now all the guys want to play cards for money - but not me! No kidding, I’m not!!

I must go because I am going to the latrine and when you gotta go - well you know!

Closing and love & kisses from a hard-working and hopeful husband to a faithful and beautiful wife that i love very dearly.

Your husband, Teddy

P.S. No Smoke Yet T E A M

Dear Dele!

Another day and more activities. Last nite I got a good nite’s sleep and I felt fine until the work details were handed out at roll call. I was picked to work on taking down tent covers again as I did yesterday. We worked all morning tearing down big canvas covers on square wooden tents while the freezing winds nearly blew us off our feet. It was really terrific. Then we ate at 11:30. At 1:00 PM roll call another great thing happened. First I must explain that every day 32 men are picked for guard duty. They work 24 hours straight, 2 hrs on & 4 off. Well at the roll call when the guards were assembled they were 2 men short - only 30 - and after the other special details were picked out there remained only 2 stout souls in the lineup. A guy named Joe was the other one. So the both of us were very politely asked (ordered) to fill in the remaining guard places & we very politely (?) obliged. I wrote you previous about the guard duties when I was on it last Monday and Tuesday, remember? So at this present moment of 9:50 PM, I am seated in the guardhouse at the desk while one skimpy bulb burns dangling from a snaky black wire and one of the guards slumbers gently on one of the six cots to my left. My jb on guard will not be half bad because I was picked to be a super-numerator - in other words, a fireman. His job is to keep the fires burning in the guardhouse & in the 3 tents where the guards sleep. He is supposed to be on duty while his crew is guarding. There are 3 crews of 8 men, 1 super & Corporal of the guard. The guards sleep in 3 big tents and the 3 corporals & 3 supers & 1 sargeant of guard sleep in the guardhouse. Anyhoo to make it easier, and you know me, I called the other 2 supers together and made a deal. It went to this effect. Each super would normally have to work 2 hours, sleep 4, work 2, sleep 4, when his crew was guarding. So I says boys - why don’t we get together on this thing and I’ve got it fixed in such a way that we don’t break up anyone’s sleep with that on & off business. I said we have 24 hours to work & 3 guys to work it, why don’t each guy work 8 straight hours and let the others sleep through. Naturally all 2 of them agreed and so it was unanimous. One would work from 4 PM to midnite, the other from 12 to 8 AM and one from 8 AM to 4 PM. I talked to one super about the difficulty of working the 12 to 8 trick and I put it to him in such a way that all he could say was “Oh no that’s OK, I’ll work it, it doesn’t bother me.” So there - one super is working now until 12 - and I am soon going to sleep and get up about 7:30 (a pleasure) and get to work from 8 to 4 - just like Kodak - speaking of Eastman’s there is a fellow out with me in my barracks who i knew at Kodak - not bad eh. Also speaking of Kodak - I had enough of that 12 to 8 trick business & so I was glad when one of the other supers asked for that job.

By the by another of my room mates from Rochester, one John Drago, applied for & got a 72 hour leave. He left at 4:00 PM and should be home around midnite tonite. He will look you up. By the time you get this it will be old stuff so skip it (p.s. he’s a jerk)

I haven’t been able to get mail call lately but the boys tell me I have a special delivery lette & 3 others. So I will get them in the morning. I am looking forward to the package also. I wonder what’s in it.

Honey how about me calling you up on Saturday about 7 or 7:15 PM. OK - well for God’s sake stay home. Don’t let that militariasm scare you dear, it’s only me!

Tell me about yourself. Are you still as beautiful as ever? How is your driving coming along? Are you still gorgeous? lovely? stunning? electrifying? (hot stuff?) What about this Defense thing you are taking? Give me the dope, lowdown! I mean give me the lowdown?!?

Tuesday got a haircut by the barber here & tonite I got a shave. I’m having a problem with shaving. I still haven’t been able to use my electric razor!!

Honey do you know that just about half of the young guys out here are married & very happy just like us. And most all of them have wedding bands. Boy did we start something! They all have their wives & sweethearts pictures with them & they show them all to me. I wait until I have seen every one of them - then I pull out that gorgeous pic of you and flash it at these wolves and you should see all of the guys shrink back into their corners when they get a gander of your super-excellence & uncomparable charm and undeniable feminine superiority!

You are really terrifically wonderfully beautiful and I love you sooo. Mmmmmmmmmmmm!

Tonite at 7:45 PM we had a 2 hour stage show in the mess. Some U.S.O. outfit entertained. It was very interesting. We had a girl singer & accordianist (1 person), a girl dancer (not tap), a hillbilly act & a funny master of ceremonies who was also a magician! Very good - remark: Rochester, N.Y. - “Cemetery with lights”

Closing with unbounded love. Will write more when time avails!

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x ooo ooo ooo

You hubby, Teddy

T E A M P.S. N.Y.S.

Dearest wifey!

Ho hum what a life. This AM about 6 I rolled over on my back and stared up at the ceiling and everyone around me was jumping around and moving and shivering and so forth. I couldn’t imagine how anybody could move, using my disposition as a criterion. However I was soon up and dressed and out. Just my luck we had a tough day. We marched hard all morning long. What else helped the situation was a terrific wind which was blowing and which continued all day and even tonite at 7:45 PM is more turbulent than ever. This AM I received my second shot in the right arm for typhoid & right now my arm is sore. After dinner we put in a tough afternoon putting a new canvas cover on a square wooden tent. The job itself wasn’t too bad except that it was very windy and those December winds coming in over the ocean aren’t warm.

Another thing, this AM when I came in at 3:30 AM I had to make my complete bed over in the dark. I asked my pal to do it for me before I left for New York but he either forgot or something.

Well anyway the bed started me off - 2 hours of sleep was next. A sore arm - freezing weather and hard work and so all day today i was off the beam - a real grouch. You know what I mean.

Enclosed find 4 pictures (?) of me I had taken last nite. Throw ‘em out. Also an Air Corps Emblem - exactly like the ones I wear. Save it.

Rec’d a letter from Uncle Lee today and it was the first mail here. I have not yet obtained any mail from you. But I’m not worried - I will close with 978% of love from one who adores you very deeply.

Your grouch husband, Teddy

P.S. N.Y.S.