10 January 1945 - Holland

Sgt. Stanley W Safford 39539976

5^th Auxiliary Surgical Group

APO 339

c/o Post Master

New York  New York

Holland

10 January 1945

Dearest Mother:

After a few days of running around all over the country and seeing all of the shows within a radius of several miles I will sit down and write you a few lines.

Sgt Ryan returned from the provinces, as we call them, with a mental breakdown and very much in need of a rest so we decided to see a lot of the sights.

First of all I want to tell you of a very nice picture we saw in our travels entitled “Rhapsody in Blue”[1], the life of George Gershwin.  They held the world premiere here and it was attended by full houses at all showings and the audience really enjoyed the picture.  A general attended the night I went. We have seen quite a few other shows and find that most of them are about the same old type.

A couple days ago I received a full handful of mail, the first in some time and will now have to answer all of them.  Received also a box from the Matsons and Miss Mosher, each including film.  Miss Mosher also sent a book and stationary and a very nice Christmas card.  The Matsons box also included some “Yardley’s English Lavender” soap.

Received a card and note from Cousin Gertrude telling me of her going to Florida again.  One from Joe, Aunt Dell, Muriel and Whitney.

Yes I remember when Ruth Wilde[2] was at our house on their return from Arizona.  Have they sold their sand business?

I found your Christmas card a very beautiful and entirely different one and I really think it very nice.

Yes it will be quite funny to see you in glasses but if you need them that is all there is to it.  Joe has mentioned this doctor several times.

Your day at the races certainly sounded quite interesting.  We shall have to go upon our return home.

Your telling of the delivery boy playing the piano sounds quite interesting.  A person would really be surprised at the number of boys who can play something of that type.  I am going to take something up on my return.

I really appreciate your Birthday message in your letter of December 5 and hope I can live up to it.

I am looking forward to seeing the points of the pictures and you perhaps will like some of them also.  You have prints made of the ones you wish at my expense.

The weather here has been quite cold with snow and ice.  They are skiing nearby and ice skates are being used quite a bit.

You may have some pictures (Studio) of me coming up soon if they turn out well.

Louise Ingles mentioned Bernard entering regular grade school.  News to me.

About all for now and I will write again soon.  Enclosed find a clipping and some more stamps.

All my Love,

Stanley

CODE: LIMBERG (=Limburg)

 

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[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhapsody_in_Blue_%28film%29

[2] Ruth Wilde was Stanley’s cousin. Their common ancestor was Isabella Griswold who married 3 times.  Ruth is also Clarences sister.  They were born to George Henry Wilde, grandson of Charles H Wilde who was the 2nd husband of Isabella, while Stanley was issued from her first marriage to James Hartwell through their daughter Cora. Isabella later married William Henry Matthews who survived her and with whom she had 2 sons: Ralph and Elmer Matthews.

December 26, 1944 - Holland

Sgt. Stanley W Safford 39539976

5^th Auxiliary Surgical Group

APO 339

c/o Post Master

New York  New York

Holland

December 26, 1944

Dear Mother:

Surprise! Another note just to let you know that I am still here and so far am enjoying myself a great deal while I have the opportunity.

Today Sgts Kupfer, Olson and myself started out after lunch and saw a little of the town and again I saw some things which I had not seen on previous trips.  We stopped in at the Red Cross doughnut and coffee shop for coffee and doughnuts which were delicious since it required an overcoat outside and also my new scarf which I find quite comforting here.  There was ice on the canal and ice on all the small puddles which remained there all day.  After the coffee etc we went further and discovered they were having a concert with a choir and they were having a concert with a choir and soprano soloist, so we had to take that in also and found it quite enjoyable and a lot of good music which has been my first since leaving the states.  After the concert we came back and had a snack made up of our Xmas presents.  We had not had enough gadding then so decided to take in another stage show and found it very good and a lot of good amusement there.  We are now all back and have settled down to letter counting etc.

I wrote a letter last night to Mrs. Tedesco, Nelson and Whitney who is now in France somewhere.  My letter writing is all caught up as the mail I have received of late has been very little.  In fact none of us over here have received any great load.  We have received our package tho in fairly good order.

You know that while I was in bed I received the same care as is routine for the other ward patients which included 240,000 units of penicillin divided into a total of 12 shots plus a lot of sulfa every 4 hours (q 4h). You can figure up the cost in civilian life at 20,000 units per shot.  Amazing the things they do here.

Well this is about all for now and I will write again soon.  I expect to have the time.

All my Love, your son

Stanley

Enclosed find an article you may be interested in.

October 10, 1943

Sgt Stanley W Safford 39539976

5^th Auxiliary Surgical Group

Dodd Field

Ft Sam Houston

Texas

October 10, 1943

My dear Mother:

It is raining outside today and it is beginning to dampen down the dust and wash the dust from the beginning to smell and look a little better.

Went into town yesterday and had dinner at a very nice cafeteria and after that went  to a show which I thought very good and you very likely will think the same when you see it.  “Johnnie Come Lately”[1] with James Cagney.

I have seen two shows in the past week, which is more than I had seen in the previous two months.  The other one I speak of is “The Constant Nymph”[2] (the one you had seen) which was very good.  Mrs. Tedesco and myself went to dinner at an Italia place here and after that we went t the show.  In all we had a very enjoyable evening and the dinner was very good even tho I did get some of it on my shirt, which I had just put on clean that evening.  Gladys was planning on going to dinner with us but we received the news that her house had burned down the night before so she called and said that she would be unable to come along.  Fortunately I had not as yet given her the little Redwood vase or it would have been gone and she said it would be something for her to start again with.

Enclosed you will find a money order for twenty dollars which will be part payment on what I owe you.  The balance will come later and my next check will be a little larger anyway.  I am sorry that I am so tardy in paying you.

I received a letter from Ray Coates a couple days ago.  He was home on furlough from the 1^st to 15^th September and is now stationed at Camp Mystic[3] which is about 15 miles from here and he has been asked to help organize the Special Service office there by the lead of Special Services in this area.

It may turn into something good for him.  It is a camp for convalescing patients.  We now have about 400 of them here at  FSH.  They are keeping them in some of the large barracks.

Also received a letter from Alvin Whitney now T/5 and he had also been home on a furlough.  He as always had a lot of interesting news and he is planning on coming down one of these week-ends.

Today I received a letter from Marshall and he is starting back to school now and he speaks as tho he were not too happy there because of the attitude of the people etc.

I certainly feel sorry for him in his present position.  He certainly wrote a nice long letter and as always in his style quite nice.  I am about the same as yourself when it comes to looking ahead I never plan on anything because if I do I am very apt to be quite disappointed.  And as every day goes by my patience become quite stronger and I live with the thought in mind of keeping busy and waiting.  I suppose that is why I work so hard here and why I am always on the run.  Yes, I can well understand what you mean that perhaps is another reason why I do not have to go to town and get drunk.  I keep myself busy all the time and don’t allow myself to become idle.  That is also a reason why my money goes so rapidly.

I wanted to more or less surprise you about the Sgt’cy and I did nothing other than put the return on Jay’s letter the same as yours.  It did not coma as a surprise to me tho, and I have earned it where a lot of them did not.  And I have been told that it is a shame that I can go no farther.

As for the OCS, I have just about given up hopes and the reason is that they are really having a shake-up in the schools and are changing things quite a bit.

So maybe it won’t ever come my way.  But when I give up hopes it will come.

Major Grubin here in P&T Office says now that Major Skinner can have the job when he gets back, and he will go on DS to the hospital to study, so maybe it won’t be so bad after all.  He is a pretty good person even tho he is a Jew.

The dog operations were just experimental and I did not exactly approve of the last two since it is giving the dogs a lot of pain and they are very slow to recover.

We are expecting to start wearing the wool about the fifteenth of October although nothing definite as yet.  The nights here have been quite cold and we have to wear a field jacket in the morning to keep warm.

This last week they took twelve men from us to use on a train of trucks going to San Francisco POC.  They will be used as guards and will have a layover of three or four days in California.  Of course I never get in on anything of that type.  Only Mexicans and the rest of the louts get that type of thing.

Well the afternoon draws on and I still have some work to do on some more lists and be glad to get them done for we have been working on them for three days.

John Langstadt is in Denver and he expects to be leaving soon.  I well have to write him also very soon or he will get away.

I am wondering if Dad had any luck deer hunting or if he came back empty handed.

How is Aunt Nina getting along.  Has she had her operation yet?

Well I close giving you all my love as ever,

Your son,

Stanley

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[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Come_Lately

[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Constant_Nymph_%281943_film%29

[3] Camp Mystic is a summer camp for girls on the South Fork of the Guadalupe River three miles southwest of Hunt in central Kerr County. It was established in 1926 by E. J. (Doc) Stewart, former head football coach at the University of Texas, who had founded Camp Stewart for boys in the same area two years earlier. Camp Mystic, known originally as Stewart's Camp for Girls, provided facilities for outdoor activities and instruction in roping, marksmanship, music, painting, and drama. In 1937 the camp was purchased by Mr. and Mrs. Gilespie Stacy and in 1968 was owned by a group of investors that included Stacy family members. The camp has remained in continuous operation since its founding, except for the years 1943–45, when it was leased by the federal government as a convalescent camp for army air corps veterans of World War II.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Frank R. Gilliland, Kerrville, Texas: A Social and Economic History (M.A. thesis, Stephen F. Austin State College, 1951). Kerrville Daily Times, February 25, 1968.

Rebecca J. Herring, "CAMP MYSTIC," Handbook of Texas Online - http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/xvc01 -  accessed January 31, 2012. Published by the Texas State Historical Association.

May 28, 1943

PFC Stanley W Safford

5^th Aux Surgical Group

Dodd Field[1]

Ft Sam Houston

Texas

May 28, 1943

My dear Mother:

It seems that time flies by faster than I want it to when it comes to the subject of getting my letters written.  I just finished typing the last of next week’s schedule and I am very glad to get that off my mind even if I have had to do it after hours.

And by the way I hope that you will soon see a change n my return title or address. So watch closely.

Well today there was a couple new bookkeepers added to the force here.  And one of them is a Jew and he has replaced another one of the bookkeepers here which is a very nice person but he has received another job out of it.  I had better not have much to do with him because he is sure not very well liked much less by myself.  He is one of the refugees from Germany.

My classes have been very good so far, if they can be used as an example they will all be very good.  Today I went up to the hospital in the sedan with the captain.  I had some forms which I wanted to get and the captain had o see someone.  About all I have to do to go somewhere is to call a car which sits out front all the time.  You see we are so far out that they take anybody anywhere any time.  We have three Ford Sedans here and two trucks.

The old colonel is due back this evening.  We sent a car up once but the train is late.  He has been back to Washington pulling the strings.  He is going to be transferred out of here and more than likely be made Brig General.  He has been in about twenty eight years.  He has no use for the outfit and made the remark that he wanted to get out of it.  We now have two majors, two captains, one first lieutenant and three second lieutenants.  None of these MC (medical Corp) (MD) seem to know anything about the management of anything and the lieutenants know not much more.  There is no more management in this place that you would find in a barnyard.

And the Sgt that one of the lieutenants brought here and made 1^st Sgt knows nothing at all, it has turned out.  That is what they get for bringing in an artillery man into the Medics and then expecting him to do wonders.

I and John Langstadt took some pictures in town the other day and I hope they turn out well for I have really not had any good ones of myself taken.

I was very pleased to receive your letter the other day as I always am.

Quite surprised to hear that Leland and Marie are still around.  That shows how much they think about you.  They don’t even bother to drop you a line as tho you cared and yes I suppose he is leading quite a life with that woman of his.  And I wonder just what Florence wants or will have to say?  It would be just about like he to think of staying there for dinner or something.

Quite a joke about Richard Minus shoes etc.  Yet is cost me 2.00 to get mine fixed in town here.

You mention the amaryllis as to whether to plant it out in the yard.  Something should be done with it or it will become root bound in the pot or you may put it into a larger pot with good rich soil in it.  And you are right about it not needing planting so deeply.  I was thinking of the other amaryllis. You notice how shallow it is in the pot.  I had hoped to be able to see the flowers but I saw them at Joe’s once.  And the black Calla is very odd.  They are quite different and something for every collection.  Speaking of the amaryllis again, it would probably be better for it is a larger pot.  There it could be moved much easier, and also could be used as a house plant while in bloom only.  They make very beautiful potted plants and they do require nice light sandy soil.

Well I had better be closing now and going to bed. Good night

Once again I start and this time I will finish for I am very much determined to do so this time.

My days have gone by so fast and it seems that I never seem to get everything done that I intend on doing.

There is a new arrival at the group who is a male RN (registered nurse) and he is a very nice individual so yesterday after the rain I went up town with him and we had dinner, walked around down in the Mexican quarter for a while and I saw some of those very beautiful blue blown glasses and I am convinced that I am going to send some of them home because they are so beautiful if only to look at.  Would you like them?  Also ask Aunt Nina her opinion on how she likes that type of thing because she may get some one of these days.  We went prowling around in a couple of these stores and they certainly have some very beautiful things.  Or if I don’t get them here I am going to get a three day pass and go to Laredo and more than likely get some things there.  You will very likely be very much surprised to get a huge box of things some day.

We are getting a new officer every day or so, majors and captains and so far they are all quite nice men and very easy to get along with and very agreeable.

It rained here Friday and most of Saturday and a good half of yesterday, but it did clear up yesterday afternoon but it rained again last night. But today it cleared up and the sun came out and made things terribly sultry and they seem to hang on all night and get worse the following day.  Then it will cool off and then get worse the following couple days.

Alvin Whitney said that he would come down one of these weekends on a three day pass and we would be able to get together.  I will enjoy seeing him again as I see few of my friends because most of them are gone by the time I get up to the Service School.

Altho I did talk to Sgt Elkins today over the phone regarding some film which I would like to get for my group.

Well I shall have to close now for it is getting late and I will have to go home.  I am sending this air mail because of the delay.

Your Corporal

Stanley

You may change the title on next letter.  I wanted to surprise you.

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[1] http://www.airfields-freeman.com/TX/Airfields_TX_SanAntonioNE.htm