August 12, 1942 - Dear Audrey

Jan Palson

12 Aug 2026 — 5 min read

Big Guns! Casemated 12-inch gun at Fort Ruckman. Source: Wikipedia

When things are darkest and the task insurmountable...

This letter will start today and will finish tomorrow. He just doesn't have anything nice to say about Battery H. Apparently, it's a fitting punishment for traitors. Anyway, if one side is bologna, what's the other side? In the next few days, they'll know who's getting deployed. Nerve wracking. Not to mention laundry piling up. He does have some new books to add to his already busy life. And fingers crossed for tires. Nothing is easy these days. Check out the new drastic dim-out driving violations posted in the paper below. It includes jail time!

Original Letter

Click for Transcript.

Transcript

For some context, check out War Updates below. It includes The Daily Evening Item from Lynn, MA. (local to Fort Ruckman), and Mom's local Connecticut paper, the Hartford Courant along with the Hartford Women's Page.

Research, learn, and support this work. Go to: Newspapers.com

August 12, 1942

Bat H - 9^th C.A., Fort Ruckman

Dear Audrey:

Here we go on my daily flyer to my little obligation. I’m wondering what you are doing tonite. I’m hoping you are sitting home with my picture in your lap just dreaming of me. Chances are you spending the evening in some beer joint with some dead-beat. Spending the poor guys money too. When my money was gone you got rid of me. You got the Army to draft me. What a life you pick for me. I wouldn’t put my worst enemies in this man’s Army. If they want to punish those two saboteurs to hard labor, the two left over from the original eight of which six were electrocuted, well they could send them over to Battery H. Over here their life would be so miserable and unbearable that they would soon be wishing they were electrocuted with the rest of their pals. The motto seems to run something like this around here: When things are darkest and the task insurmountable, Battery H is the one for you. Well now that is a silly opening for a letter. What am I thinking of to write along like that? What goes on inside my brain to induce me to write like that? Are these the things that you think of when you read one of these screwy letters? Do you wonder what in the blazes you married? You do!! Hm! I feel for you.

I’m glad I didn’t marry such a screwball. I married the nicest and the sweetest girl in the world. A ray of golden sunshine. A flower among a lot of weeds. You stand out like a rose would here at Ruckman. The nearest thing we have to a rose is a red steam shovel. But that is changing the subject and the subject is my wife. That is the subject I like best. If I only took to trigonometry the way I do to that little girl it would be a cinch. I wish they would give me a chance to know my wife. They are always telling us to “know your enemy” but all I want is my girl. To h-ll with the enemy. I will take care of him when I meet him and I hope I never do. In another couple of days we will know who is leaving this month. I heard the husband of that girl you use to work with in Gilchrist's is leaving. I think he said once she intended going wherever he went. The lights went out last night before I could finish so I’ll try some more now. I have a few minutes after breakfast. You know Army pancakes are heavy. One is plenty and if I eat two my stomach feels as if swallowed some lead sinkers. And I thought I had a rugged digestive system. Some of the boys stow three or four away but they aren’t much good until the afternoon because they can’t move fast enough. If I remember correctly the other side of this paper is just a lot of baloney so I intend to keep this side up and let it go. If I take time to read it over I won’t mail it and then I’ll have to start a new letter.

I’m so discouraged. In spite of all my efforts to do otherwise any washing has piled up on me. Right now I don’t have any clean undershirts and only one more clean pair of running pants. I’m in a bad way. If that happen to me before I would just go out and buy some. I could go a month like that. On top of that it looks like rain today and any experienced laundress like myself (ahem) knows that my snowy white clothes won’t dry in the rain. Oh well, I don’t need underwear and if I have to, I can go without socks. I took a couple of books from Brownie and they look pretty good but I don’t think I shall have time to read them. One of them is about Nazi Germany over the past seven or eight years which should prove interesting. I spoke to Uncle Ed and I put a buzz into Betty’s ear concerning some tires. Homer’s father has quite a few second hand ones and of course they have been keeping it quiet. Maybe they will loosen up with a couple so keep our fingers crossed but don’t expect too much. Well this is all the time I have left so darling I’ll close. I love you very much.

Love

Leonard