29 August 1944

Sgt. Stanley W Safford 39539976

5^th Auxiliary Surgical Group

APO 339

c/o Post Master

New York

New York

29 August 1944

Dearest Mother:

After a silence of a short time and a move for us I again will attempt to write you.

Received your letter acknowledging the receipt of my first one to you and also receipt of the cablegram which I thought would beat the letter.

I am sending to you as a Christmas present a couple small silver pieces which I hope you will be able to make use of.  And I do pray and hope that they reach you in good condition, because they have certainly been through a lot, and will add interest to wherever they are used.  They are antiques that you will like and let me know as soon as they arrive.

I really thought a lot of the piece of poetry that you sent me entitled “My Prayer” and hope that I do not lose it.

Back to the antiques again.  I have the history on them which I will send you later.  Aunt Nina should really (be) quite envious of them.

In answer to your question about the Christmas presents.  So not send me anything at all other than film or writing paper (air Mail) since that is really all that I need.  I already have too much to carry and anything other would be just something to carry around with me.  I appreciate you wanting to send more but circumstances prevent much else at the present time.

The other day we had some very delicious Kippered fish and Hovis bread[1] in the evening and it was certainly delicious and a great change.

I hear Catherine has erased Roberts bill once again. She has certainly done that often enough.  Some people are certainly the forgiving type.

Well all for now and more later when I have the time and the place.

As ever,

Your son,

Stanley

PS: you can also send tooth brushes and paste.

NOTE from the transcriber:

The code does not seem to be working – at least not for me – but there is a possibility here…  Could he have been trying to spell CHERBOURG?  Your call…  Sure would love to figure out the other messages I have not been able to decipher

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[1] The brand began in 1886; the Hovis process was patented on 6 October 1887 by Richard "Stoney" Smith (1836–1900), and S. Fitton & Sons Ltd developed the brand, milling the flour and selling it along with Hovis branded baking tins to other bakers. The name was coined in 1890 by London student Herbert Grime in a national competition set by S. Fitton & Sons Ltd to find a trading name for their patent flour which was rich in wheat germ. Grime won £25 when he coined the word from the Latin phrase hominis vis – "the strength of man". The company became the Hovis Bread Flour Company Limited in 1898. When the abundance of certain B vitamins in wheatgerm was reported in 1924, Hovis increased in popularity. - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hovis