Monday, June 18, 2012

A Long Ago Letter

  I was going through some old photo albums when I came across this letter:


                                                                                               Ye Olde England
                                                                                                September 1944
Dear Audrey,
    Well, well, wipe the surprised look from your face, and take on a gay, carefree mood.
    Of course, you don't know me, but I do know you. Reason - “Jake”. That's the name Milton goes by over here. After having received a certain picture of you in a bathing suit, we (the fellows who live with Jake) noticed him drooling and swooning. Then we all took a look at your picture. You now have sixteen lovers. You're jus our lil' pinup gal No. 1.
    I know you will receive, (nope, I guess it's spelled receive) this letter in the same spirit as it's being written. Gee, if we can't have a laugh occasionally then it isn't much fun living.
    A letter like this isn't approved by Emily Post, but it is out of the ordinary, and doing things “out of the ordinary” really suits me.
    Jake didn't notice me copy down your address, so he won't know a thing about this until you tell him. But will you leave us fellows have a little fun with him? We'll heckle him good if you will. Here's the goods. Send another picture and label it  To the fellows I love of hut K-3. It's all for the war effort you know. Heh  heh, just appealing to your patriotic side.
    Again, I ask you to take this letter in fun. I'll really appreciate an answer to this, even if you reprimand me for being fresh.
        All in fun. Earl.

      That old letter brought back so many memories of the Second World War. We may have been engaged in fighting the enemy, but it was a different kind of war. There was so much patriotism and hopefulness that this would be the war to end all wars.
      When my father enlisted – you couldn't keep that 43 year old war horse at home – he had to be in the center of things. He loved being in the military. He loved the young men he trained. To him, they were like the sons he never had.  Stationed in Gulfport, Mississippi, he was in charge of  “Guadalcanal” an area at the camp where he trained soldiers to endure the hardships of jungle fighting. He worked their asses off, but he was right in there, side by side, struggling through the swamps and wild terrain. Those young soldiers had nothing but admiration for him because he never asked them to do something he couldn't do.
     We had rented a cottage in Long Beach and every Sunday my father would invite three or four young soldiers from his regiment to have dinner with us. We all swam off the dock and did a lot of crabbing just for fun.
      Every weekend there were different faces. At fourteen, I was having the time of my life, surrounded by all these handsome hunks. Of course, my father warned them that I was off limits.
      Then one weekend a young soldier named Milton was on the guest list. We hit it off immediately. He was a bit older than me, but I loved his warm, brown eyes and quirky smile. We swam away from the rest and I found myself underwater kissing him. When we broke to the surface he was blushing.
      “I – I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that, but you were so tempting. Your father would kill me.”
      I assured him I was fine with the kiss and we'd keep it between the two of us. I never saw Milton again but we did correspond until the war was over.
     Which brings me back to the letter I received. What a simple time it was that those lonely soldiers wanted me as their pin-up girl. Most soldiers wanted pictures of Betty Grable.
      I wrote Earl back and declined his offer. I didn't think it would be fair to Milton because, through our continuing correspondence, he began thinking of me as his girl friend.
     It's funny how war changes people in subtle ways. We become closer to those in service. Today, every time I see a soldier in uniform I walk over to him or her, shake hands and profusely thank them for helping to keep our country free.



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