"Dear Mom..."

[Dogdaddy]

The artistic ability he had is something I'm proud to say is a talent Dad passed on to me...at least as far as his cartooning is concerned. I spent several hours Sunday (his birthday) working on the WWII scrapbook I am creating in his honor. I really can't tell you guys how wonderful it is to read all these 65 year old letters home he wrote, but I'm sure M1 knows the feeling of "contact" with a departed loved one that is experienced each time we work on projects like this.(I would never ever begin to compare this scrapbook with Marion's huge tributes to her Dad, but she knows what I'm trying to say, I'm sure!) I didn't really understand until now just how many foreign places he got to see (among other things), but the list is long for 18 months overseas during WWII. There are letters & envelopes from Pearl Harbor( I know that isn't a foreign port! ) , Manilla, Guam, Peleliu, the Figi islands, Ceylon, India, Australia and a few others that I can't remember right now. Something else of interest: I have more than 100 letters he wrote between 1943 and 1946 and he only mentions Germany or Germans one time. To the men who were fighting the war in the Pacific, Europe was a million miles away and they were entirely focused on defeating the Japanese. Dad mentions that he re-enlisted for The Duration plus 6 months. In a letter dated August 3,1945 he writes: "The scuttlebutt here is a rumor that the Armed Guard is being transferred to the Marine Corps, so the next time you see me I may be wearing a different uniform. I guess that won't be so bad". Dad of course had no idea about what was about to be dropped on Japan, and the rumors he mentioned might well have been a reality had the Japanese not surrendered. By that time all the servicemen like my Father who were in it for the duration would have been expected to take part in the planned invasion of mainland Japan. All I can say about that is GOD BLESS HARRY TRUMAN!!