August 3, 1944

I don't know the reason why Paul was in the hospital. From earlier letters, he had injured his ankle in a practice jump. Unfortunately, none of the snap shots mentioned in this letter were in the envelop. This letter was written the day before Paul's 22nd birthday.

April 16, 1944

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As an aside, my father wrote on the envelope the date when he received these letters. From Europe to the South Pacific, V-Mail took about one month. In this present age of the Internet where an email takes seconds to minutes to be delivered, can you imagine waiting 30 days for a one page shrunken letter?

To learn more about V-MAIL click the wikipedia link below:

V-Mail

April 8, 1944

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Text of the letter due to the difficulty in reading(even the original):

Dear Joe,

Your V written Mar 15th arrived a few days ago but the first paragraph was the only one legible. The rest of the letter is blurred due to some error in developing or printing. I can, however, make out the last sentence saying you received my letter acknowledging the receipt of your package.

I'm anxiously awaiting the arrival of your airmail letter. I'll assure you Joe, any film service you get is better than ours. My roll has been gone for a month now. It'll eventually get here though and that is the best means of getting them developed since you can't send any home that aren't censored here.

Things here are pretty much the same. All routine stuff and I feel o.k. except for a bad tooth the dentist can't decide what is wrong with.

I sent Justine a letter asking her to buy mom something for Mother's Day. The P.X. took orders but prices didn't fit my cash on hand. So long and good luck.

Paul

To learn more about V-MAIL click the wikipedia link below:

V-Mail

February 16, 1944

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To learn more about V-MAIL click the wikipedia link below:

V-Mail

January 2, 1944

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To learn more about V-MAIL click the wikipedia link below:

V-mail

July 30, 1943

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A.S.T.P. - Army Specialized Training Program

O.C.S. - Officer Candidate School

The terms 'problem' and 'gliding' refer to field training exercises. I believe the soldiers used these terms so their letters would not be censored. The name of a solider might have been modified slightly to avoid being censored.



Click the link below for the Wikipedia article on the M1 Thompson submachine gun:

Thompson submachine gun

July 22, 1943

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A.S.T.P. - Army Specialized Training Program

O.C.S. - Officer Candidate School

The terms 'problem' and 'gliding' refer to field training exercises. I believe the soldiers used these terms so their letters would not be censored. The name of a solider might have been modified slightly to avoid being censored.

Click the link below for the Wikipedia article:
Glider training

Click the link below for the Wikipedia article:
Army Specialized Training Program

May 31, 1943

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T.O. - Tactical Officer

O.C.S. - Officer Candidate School

The terms 'problem' and 'gliding' refer to field training exercises. I believe the soldiers used these terms so their letters would not be censored. The name of a solider might have been modified slightly to avoid being censored.

Click the link below for the Wikipedia article:

Tactical Glider Training

May 11, 1943

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This is a very interesting letter. The terms 'problem' and 'gliding' refer to field training exercises. I believe the soldiers used these terms so their letters would not be censored. The letter mentions a Steve Hockay, but I believe this is Steve Bockay. I do not know if this was intentional. Again, the name of a solider might have been modified slightly to avoid being censored.

April 28, 1943

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In this letter, you briefly hear Paul comment on Joe not receiving his promotion in rank. My dad relayed the following about his war days. During the war, a soldier would gain rank almost automatically. However, commanding officers were hesitant to do so, as with an increase in rank, the probably of moving to a different company increased. In order to retain his men the commanding officer would withhold the promotion. I will discuss this in more detail in a posting on my blog: Where I'm From Is That What Makes Me at a future date.