February 20, 1944

Sgt Stanley W Safford 39539976

5^th Auxiliary Surgical Group

Dodd Field

Fort Sam Houston

Texas

February 20, 1944

Dear Mother:

It has been quite a while since I wrote you so will try an get another on its way.

The weather turned quite cold a couple days ago and yesterday morning it was raining when we got up and is still doing so outside mow on off and on streaks.  As usual everything is quite muddy and therefore we get a lot of it inside.  I chopped a good pile of wood the other evening but it is about all gone now.  That seems to be about all we do here is keep wood in the stove and then we are still cold.

The wedding the other evening was a big success and everybody who is anybody was there.  Brigadier General Beach of Brooke General was there with his wife, mink coat and all, and there were several full colonels there and a lot of Lt Colonels and Majors.  There was also a Major WAC and a Major Nurse in attendance.  The bride was very beautifully gowned and the “Bride’s Maids” also wore civilian gowns.  The Lieutenant was quite nervous and white as a sheet.  The only reason for myself and the six or eight others of the enlisted men’s group going was merely to be seen there and other political reasons.

Someone here has the idea that they would like to have a bivouac to the “Gulf of Mexico Coast”.  They would either fly there or take trucks and are already laying elaborate plans for going, so we may end up by going on our bivouac there.

The new officers are already being called for.  We have lost four of them already.  They as a rule are a bunch of dopes as far as personality goes.

I had not been to town since my return trip so know no news of there.

You certainly do not have to think that you have to pay for my coming home.  Don’t you think that I enjoy coming home myself?

So you can just forget all about the money end of it.  It wasn’t all that expensive.  I still owe you for part of the last money which I borrowed.  I also intend on paying for the pictures of myself.

How is the rose doing which I transplanted?  Also what are the rest of the things doing, the cymbidium and all?

Have you heard from Aunt MaiBelle since we were out?

Was very sorry to hear of Aunt Nina getting a cold.  She certainly has one thing after another.

It is very nice to have the other Majors back here again.  Major Skinner is always nice to do things for.  And Major Grubin keeps us in tears all day with his pranks. We are starting an Officers’ Training Program tomorrow and that will keep us on the busy line for a while.  They are always on the run to the office here for some reason or the other.  They borrow and run off with things faster than we can keep tract of them.  One pleasure I get out of it is that they treat all these new officers about like the enlisted men, and some of them are quite insulted when they are treated so.  Major Grubin told one of them here that the job he had been given was going to cease when he was through using him in his Tng. Program, and then he could forget being an office and then he could forget being an officer and be a doctor again if he knew how.  The Capt. did not like that any too well.  They gave us some new identification tag chains the other day.  They are something new which the army is issuing and are supposed to be sterling silver.  They are quite nice looking and I was very much surprised to get them.

They are certainly cleaning out the post of all men who have been there any great length of time. Freddie while in the Library is going to be leaving soon and Sgt Elkins has been transferred to the Student Nurses course at Brooke General and will still have about two and a half months to finish.  He is so much happier where he now is.  He was getting quite tired of the Service School.

I have not heard from John Langstadt for quite a while.  Received a nice letter from Ray Coates the other day and he is still at camp Mystic rehabilitation center for the Air Corps.  He is coming in some evening soon and I will see him then.

My subscription to Time magazine has started and I am already behind in reading that but hope to catch up soon.  I have been very busy the last week and very likely will have a little more time next week.

How is Muriel’s pen working? I am going to get myself another one when they have them at the Post Exchange again.  I will send it home for you to keep for me.

I wrote Jay a letter the first part of the week so that he would not become offended because I did not write him as soon as I got back.  It is nuisance having anyone like him to be afraid of stepping on their toes.  He will, chances are, write me back a card with a couple lines on it.

Well it hardly seems a week since I got back here, yet it seems ages ago that I was home.  I can not cease to thank you for the wonderful time you showed me while home.

I have run down now so will finish now sending you all my love.

As ever,

Your son,

Stanley

Lt. Martha Smith Weds Lt. Ewing

San Antonio Light, 19 Feb 1944, p4

The Post Chapel at Fort Sam Houston was the scene of the wedding Thursday night of Lt. Martha Amelia Smith, Army Nurse Corps, Brooke General Hospital, daughter of Mrs. Claude T. Smith Sr. and the late C. T. Smith of Oakland, Calif., formerly of Westminster, Md., to. Lt. Robly Brewer Ewing Jr., medical administrative corps, Army of the United States, of Los Angeles, Calif. Lt. Ewing is the son of Mr. and Mrs. R. B. Ewing Sr. of Siloam Springs, Ark., and is stationed at Fort Sam Houston. Chaplain James H. Martin officiated.  Sgt. Fred McGown, organist, played the nuptial selections and accompanied Mrs. Jack Cobb Moore soloist.

The chapel was decorated with greenery and white blossoms.  Adorning the altar were vases of white gladioli and ferns flanked by tall wrought iron candelabra holding white tapers.

Groomsmen were Maj. Merton B. Skinner, Capt. William H. Falor, Maj. Ralph O. Christensen and Maj. Hoyt S. Kuhns[1], Lt. Joseph O. Redline served as best man.

Bridesmaids were Lts. Lesley Gaye Baker, Merle Henley, Margaret Shaughnessy and Elizabeth Katherine Brocktruk, Mrs. Joseph Edward Job, sister of the bride, was the matron of honor.

The bride was given in marriage by her uncle Col. John C.Woodland, of Fort Sam Houston.  She wore a gown of white mousseline do soie over taffeta. The full skirt extended into a long cathedral train. She wore a long veil of bridal illusion, caught to her head by a pearl coronet. Her bouquet was of white gladioli and ferns

Following the ceremony a reception was held in the officers’ s club. In the receiving line were Col. and Mrs. John Woodland, uncle and aunt of the bride; Mrs. Robert Christy, sister of the bridegroom, of Ada, Okla.; Col. and Mrs. Elmer D. Gay of Fort Sam Houston, and the wedding party.  After a short trip the couple will return to their station.

Transcribed from the “San Antonio Express”, 18 Feb 1944, p 11, San Antonio, TX – also found in the “San Antonio Light” 18 Feb 1944,p19

 [1] Hoyt S Kuhns (b. 6 Dec 1910 – Nov 1986, Terre Haute, Vigo, IN). He is listed as a dentist in a 1947 in Polk’s Terre Haute City directory