Sgt. Stanley W Safford 39539976
5th Auxiliary Surgical Group
APO 339
c/o Post Master
New York New York
10 November 1944
Dearest Mother:
Have before me her on the table you
three letters of the 11, 14 and 17 of October which I received upon my arrival
at headquarters where I am at present, and am quite pleased to be here for a
short time since the weather was none too good where we were in the field.
I saw the first snowfall of the season the other day and indeed it made a beautiful
change in the country. Everything was
all white and the falling flakes were quite large, about the size of a quarter.
Was quite surprised to hear in your V-mail of the 11th that my
mail has not been going thru. I am going to send this regular mail and see if
there is any change in the delivery of this.
The reason for us being in Headquarters is that our hospital has
finished in our last location and until assigned another we will be here in the
warm building for a change. We had quite
a time of it the other evening with our tents.
About four in the morning a strong gale came up and I mean a strong one,
of several miles an hour. It blew our
tent down and did we have a mess. It was
raining so the water came in and soaked several of the others beds etc. The tent blew down on me so therefore saved
me and things from the water. Anyway we got up and fixed it and returned to bed
for the balance of our sleep.
Enjoyed very much your enclosures of
jokes and stories in your letter of the 14 Oct.
I really enjoyed them and always look forward to them.
Very sorry to hear of Dad not being
able to go hunting. Hope he had better
luck on second trip.
Regarding the films. I can get them developed here but for better
service I will send the negatives home to you for prints. I have some here now which I will soon send
to you. Rolls of undeveloped films would not go thru at all. I am allowed to take pictures almost any time
when I have my camera, which I quite often leave at home, and then is of course
when I want it the most. Pictures of war damage will not pass the censor at all and they are not fond of
you taking them and will prevent it if possible. I have therefore taken none, and besides they
do not interest me to any great extent.
Received a letter from Dorothy Kinsfather telling me of her
college etc. She is taking Spanish and Chinese, can you imagine such a
combination? Also a letter from Mrs.
Matson. I understand Dorothy is very interested in marriage, so I can not quite
connect her pursuing languages and wanting to get married at the same
time. Quite a person. Mrs.
Matsons’ letter was quite interesting as always and she tells me they have
sent a couple packages. I wish you would
discourage so much attention my way from so many people. I feel obligated to them.
I am quite pleased to hear of the
popcorn etc being on the way. I surely
appreciate it. You can charge my request
things to me. You can forget the
powdered milk since the chocolate can be made with water. The tea I am quite sure will be
satisfactory. I am able to get all the
necessary sugar.
Jay Elmont[1] in his letter received yesterday
tells of being out to dinner so I guess he now owes you a dinner again. That is getting to be a vicious circle, isn’t
it?
In regards to your questions about
our teams. We have had quite a set back recently. Col MacIntyre is having to return to Headquarters and we are going
to get another surgeon. We are all quite
disappointed at the Colonel having to go.
Otherwise our team was a big success.
We done a lot of surgery and the Colonel has done some beautiful work.
We were not at Calais since that was practically British. Some of our teams are at all the prominent
places along the front.
Thanks a lot for the second copy of
the poem. I have the other copy here and
will take your advice and carry this one in my wallet.
Anita Ringley
mentioned Yvonne’s
noninterest in “North Eastham House”. Do not
blame her. Have you ever heard of
Grandfather Matthews will as yet?
Well all for now, and I will start
writing more often and different ways.
The envelope is German.
All my Love,
Stanley
NOTE from the transcriber:
ARMY NINEH = probably Army Ninth… That is where he was in actuality so that
fits.
[1] Found a
passport picture f Jay Elmont on
Ancestry.com and the 1930 US census lists his occupation as “Artist - Music and
Radio Field”; and the directories have him listed as an act director, living at
421 W 8th Street, Los Angeles in 1917- as a decorator, h2139 Branden in 1918 – Manager Gillette
Safety Razor Co, r815 O’Farrell in 1920 and 1921 h2139 Branden
The California Death Index shows he died on 12 Dec
1946, in Los Angeles.(he was b 1 Jan 1883 in Ohio).Passport lists a David
Elmont as his father (b NY)
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