Sgt. Stanley W Safford 39539976
5th Auxiliary Surgical Group
APO 339
c/o Post Master
New York New York
Marseille Area, France - 18
July 9, 1945
Dearest Mother:
Have here your letters 27, 28, 29
which I have received recently since my last letter home to you.
Have here your acknowledgement of the
money order of June1. Another one is enclosed in this letter ($50). I had intended to ask you if you had ever
received the two sheets of Dutch stamps which were mailed some time ago. I do not recall you ever mention them.
I gather that Maibelle would in due time get tired of her relatives if she moved
up there so near to them.
Yes, I have been told all about
Muriel’s new school and perhaps it will be of value to her, but my idea of
models is not very good. Most of them do
not have too good a reputation.
Yes, the 9th Army
headquarters is on their way home. We no
longer belong to them tho.
Yes Neuhaldensleben was the nearest Berlin I got. I was there on
V-E Day at an Evacuation Hospital which took care of a lot of the returning
Prisoners. They were all very
interesting to talk with. They took care
of several hundred of them.
Regarding our group here we know
nothing other than hearsay and that has always been the same. Washington has no idea of what the nurses
really are.
 |
| The Edmond Dantes cell in the Château d'If |
I can well imagine the Jacaranda tree
from the rear porch and think how beautiful it must be. One would be very nice in front. Two would be too many. It of course would be a lot of work to
prepare the curb for one of them or anything else.
Yes I remember the boy who used to
mow lawns around there. He seemed a very
nice there. He seemed a very nice
boy. I believe once before you mentioned
him being in the Merchant Marines.
I can well imagine the horse races
and everyone out there blowing their money.
I quite often think of the last races we were all to at Ponoma.
Remember?
I wrote a letter to the Dutch family
the other day. I also had their address
here with me. Thanks for the other one
you enclosed. I got the stamps from
them.
Glad to hear of my mail making such
good time after my arrival here.
Yesterday I returned from a trip to
Marseille, and the Island “Chateau d’If”[1] (deef)
which is not far from the harbor. We
took a small boat out and spent about three hours there. The Island s where they kept Edward Dantes (count of Monte Cristo[2])
and also the Man in the Iron Mask [3]along
with several other notable people in French history. The Chateau was built in 1524 and has been
used for a prison up into the 1800s.
Sorry to hear of you not being able
to get all the cherries you wanted. I
will look forward to the pie tho.
Back again to yesterday trip. The water was beautiful and around the island
it was a beautiful green. A very
delightful and cool breeze was blowing which made the boat ride very
enjoyable. On our way back we stopped to
see “Valley of Decision” the new
Greer Garson picture. Enjoyed it very
much and think she done a wonderful job of acting.
You perhaps are suffering under a
false picture of where I am. You have
the area night but this is certainly not the Riviera o what I thought the Riviera would be if it is. Most of that is further east along the coast. The army certainly could not have picked any
place any nearer like Injo Kern[4]
than this. And conditions here certainly
are none too favorable for a pleasure resort.
We can see the water from here but nothing ever comes from there other
than dust. Look on a mop and you will
see what I mean.
Well all for now and I hope you all
in good health. Enclosed you will find
seven more negatives and the money order.
All my Love always,
Stanley
[3] Contrary
to common belief, The Man in the Iron Mask and Marquis
de Sade were not prisoners at the château
[4]
Inyokern, California - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inyokern,_California
