12 July 44

Sgt Stanley W Safford 39539976

Air Mail

12 July 44                            

Dear Mother:

Heard from Maj. Skinner in England today.

W will go to Camp Kilmer NJ and will embark from there.

Sorry to have you do all of this cleaning etc.

I may ask for the sheet at a later date.

There is also some gem in here.

Put the letters away for me.

All my love,

Stanley

 

July 14, 1944

Dearest Mother:

Excuse the paper and the pencil, but this is all I have left, and I do not want to use all of my ink, as all of my papers and ink are both packed.

We had all of the crates taken away today and there is none remaining and the office is all clear except for empty tables and desks.

We will perhaps be on our way very soon and we are all very glad here in the offices as the longer it drags on the harder it will become for us.

You will soon receive my foot locker with a few things in it.  You will also find a note in the shirt pocket as to the material therein.  Dad may be able to wear the shirts and the trousers which I sent home today in another box.  The jacket should also be very nice for him if he wants to.  He can take the stripes off and shoulder insignia and find it quite warm.

I also sent Mr. & Mrs. Matson a couple small clay pigs since she said that Jon broke the last one.  He should enjoy these for they are quite nice but no more expensive than the last ones.  These are although more attractive.

You perhaps will not hear from me again until after we get to our destination and the first one will be Air Mail Special Delivery.

The entire company is under restrictions tonight and are really raising a rumpus, all or most of them drink and really raising a loud rumpus.  They have already closed the PX on their account and will not let them in again. So they are outside raising a rumpus that will bring the guards here in a hurry.

Well enough for now and more at a later time when I have a little more time.  Do not worry and you all take care of yourselves.

All my love,

Stanley

18 June 1944

Sgt Stanley W Safford 39539976

5^th Auxiliary Surgical Group

Dodd Field

Fort Sam Houston

Texas

18 June 1944

Dear Mother:

Another week has rolled by and it has really been a hot and sultry one and perhaps another week towards our leaving here and the sooner the time comes the more I think that it will rather nice.  We have been here too long and should really have been gone long ago.  I never saw such a large amount of red tape and so many officers getting away with things as we have had here lately.  And the Colonel just sits there and smiles and never knows all that does go on.

I bought a sheet for myself the other day because they called in our mattress covers and pillows and I am not going to start sleeping on the bare mattress yet.  I will take it along with me and may find use for it in the future.

I believe that I forgot to mention receiving the package with the cup cakes and candy.  They were all very good an arrived here in good shape.  The candy had not melted.

I finally got the saber wrapped up and on its way to you, and you very likely will have received it by this time.  The government I understand will ship home things for us from here, so I will have a few things to send home and will but not just now.  We have to wait for our movement orders before we can have it sent that way.  As I understand it, this service is available for all from T/4 up.

Received the letter with Aunt Maibelle’s address the other day, and will now try and take the time to write her.

What did you think of the pictures of the airplanes taken from the windows of ours?  Yes that is me standing by the front of the truck.  I was eating when it was taken.

The unit next door is even more advanced towards leaving than we are.  They are a very highly specialized Laboratory Group and have thousands of dollars worth of microscopes, iceboxes etc.  They have in twenty three officers, 4 Lieutenant Colonels and one full colonel.

I have already been to the swimming pool this morning and it was really wonderful.  We were over about eight o’clock and remained there about an hour.  The sun is again out very bright and the fresh clear water cool which made the whole thing very nice.

Just now received Muriel’s Graduation Announcement and (I) think it very nice.  The picture was certainly or is a very nice one.

In answer to your question about our groups, there are no more in training and if they were to have one, they would very likely take the cadre from our group.

They are training smaller groups now and will use them quite a lot more.  You have heard me speak of Whitney. He was in a station hospital in North Texas, and he thought that they were ready to go several times.  But about two weeks ago they broke them up and are training them all over again at Camp Barkeley and after the completion of that they will be sent out as cadre for other groups.

Major Eskin while in Los Angeles said that he called a couple Saffords in the telephone but neither seemed to claim me.  His wife is staying there for the duration.

Well enough for now and I will write again soon.

All my Love,

Stanley

1 June 1944

Sgt Stanley W Safford 39539976

5^th Auxiliary Surgical Group

Dodd Field

Fort Sam Houston

Texas

1 June 1944

Dearest Mother

I am worse this week than ever before in writing, but I hope that you will understand that we have really been busy here the last few days and there is no sign of it becoming more slack as time goes on.

I am quite glad to hear of you getting the chance to rest a little during Dad’s absence, and you should do it a little more often.  It will do you good.  Give you the chance to rest a little more because I am sure you become more tired every day of the same old thing as I do.

Well we have had our clothing showdown today which means that we turned in a lot of things that are worn and will be issued new for them.  A person never realizes just how many clothes he has until one of these.  I have a huge pile of things to be turned in.  I wonder what type we will be issued?

I received a letter from Jay today or should I say a short note.

I am quite pleased to hear of the grapevine having such an abundant crop of fruit.  Perhaps the Amaryllis could be transplanted into a larger pot for next year.  Had the Cymbidiums shown much growth as yet this season, keep them quite moist.

The weather here has been terribly hot and I just about fall asleep here every afternoon when it gets so warm.

Last night was pay day night and I was kept awake until about thru this morning by the drunks coming in and making their noise.  I hope that will be more quiet tonight.

We have about all of our nurses and are housing them here on the post.  They are as I have predicted already becoming a problem, and will be more of one before we are done with them.

Doc Skinner told me of his plans to retire and from the clippings in the letter he has had quite a long history in the school system.

You mentioning Dad’s teeth reminds me of my teeth and the time I have had from them and about them.  Ever since the OCS examination (last one) I knew I had a couple cavities so asked Major Kuhns to check them and he found one in the upper R3 (will enclose a Dentist form later).  After he got in he found a small one in the next tooth. Neither one of them were very large and can not be seen from the front.  He then took an X-Ray of the lower one and found a small cavity there.  While in Xray I asked him to take a picture of one of my left lower wisdom teeth which ha(ve) become quite slanted.  So he did and the picture was shocking.  The roots of the tooth are almost straight back and the tooth in impacted.  I decided to have it pulled and made the appointment but had to cancel because of the big Service Command Inspection we had the following day.  So will some day have Major Grubin remove it.  He tells me it may mean a couple weeks in the hospital. So when we get over I will have a lot of time for such things since it is not bothering me any.  A picture of it is like the drawing here

Yes, Sgt Rapp’s wife has been here for about three weeks and I am invited over to dinner this Sunday.

I have been going to go up here and play at golf with one of the boys here but have never gotten around to it.  Doubt if I will at this stage.

I am still and was quite surprised to hear of getting the money in from the Income tax.  You may use the money to pay yourself whatever I owe you for telephone stock etc and deposit the rest and buy some more stock when and if it get(s) lower.  You may soon get so much each month from me in an allotment which I will send you the details of later.

One of the new officers we have here is from S F and is about 6’8” and wears a size 14 shoe.  He is certainly a card and tells me that he thinks that he will not make a good soldier.  I asked him what he thought of me as one.  He told me that he thought I was a very good one and was quite the person here. Ha ha.

As for your coming down, I see the same picture as you do regarding the unpracticability of the whole thing.  It of course would be very nice and I would enjoy it so very much. But to my way of thinking it would be more trouble than it would be worth.

Enclosed you will find a few pictures you may like and I will have a few more of them here if you want some of them.  There are also a couple of the Galveston bivouac which may interest you.  Will send more of them later to avoid making this letter too heavy.

 Heard from William Orum, often longed to hear from him.

Well enough for this time and will write again soon.

As ever

Your son

Love,

Stanley

May 24, 1944

Sgt Stanley W Safford 39539976

5^th Auxiliary Surgical Group

Dodd Field

Fort Sam Houston

Texas

May 24, 1944

Dearest Mother:

I am writing a little prematurely this week but I believe I may have something of importance to tell you.

After such a long time our unit looks as tho it were finally going to become very much alive and on the move soon.

We received orders of preparedness three days ago and expect the readiness date at any time.  We are to be prepared to send an advance detail to POE on the 10 June which of course means us here not too long after.  Our full complement of nurses have been assigned to us and are now on their way also officers to fill t/o I know a lot more about dates etc but will not mention them now.

General Donovan called our bivouac off and told us it was unadvisable for us to have one at this time.

We have been given a foot locker (for) our records and I have instructions for the burning of others when the final word comes.

I am going to send home quite a few things and reduce my belongings to the minimum as I will have very likely some office things to take care of so will not have room for too much. And I would rather have you send me something later.

I am merely going to get ready and if this is real I will be prepared and will not have anything too much to worry about at the last moment.  There will be a lot of them with everything to do in a very short time.

What I have told you of course very inside information, and will not be repeated until we are actually on our way.

In regards to the code.  I may refer to a rather unanswered question in the third paragraph of a letter, or make a statement on some subject which you may be interested in.

Well you can find the answer in the designated paragraph. If you have any additions let me know.

Our own Colonel will not know where we are going until we get on the boat.  Get yourself a good map and from time to time you will have a chance to look things up.

Well this is about all for now so look forward to my next.  Excuse the writing as I am in a hurry and on office time, so will have to get on to other things.

Will also write more plainly the next time.

As ever,

Love,

Stanley

21 May 1944

Sgt Stanley W Safford 39539976

5^th Auxiliary Surgical Group

Dodd Field

Fort Sam Houston

Texas

21 May 1944

Dearest Mother:

Again it is Sunday and another uneventful week (has) rolled by so therefore is not too much to tell.

I went to see “Song of Bernadette” this afternoon and thought that it was an excellent picture and you should not miss seeing it if you have the chance.  It, of course, was slightly religious, but not too much that way.  And what surprised me was that there were several Catholic nuns in the audience and I did not know they ever went to theaters of any kind.

Well the “Fourth Auxiliary Surgical Group” has arrived at their destination and I will tell you when I find out as it is of great importance since there is one allotted to each full active army in the field. As I mentioned before there are already three in the European area.  It is also quite significant of the number of American troops we have there. An Army may have as many as 400,000 men.

The weather has been quite changeable here of late and hot as can be one day and raining cats and dogs a couple of hours later.  Last night was a good example of it.  It was unbearably hot yesterday and last evening but when I went to bed all of the curtains on the tent were up and I had only one blanket over me. About three thirty this morning a very cold strong wind came up and I barely had time to put the curtains down when it started to pour and I do mean pour, with a heavy wind to accompany it and was still going strong a half hour later but when it stopped I do not know as I want off to sleep.

Received your letter of the 16 May and also the papers with the pictures, yesterday.  Say, how did my pictures get in there with them?

I recognize quite a few of them.  It is really surprising to find out how many there are that I know.

I will have to write Nelson a letter now that I have his address.  I hope that this one will be a more permanent one for him.  Did he receive the Schick injector blades which I gave you to send to him?

We are having quite a time about our nurses and as you know we only have four of the great many we are supposed to have and there seems to be no signs of getting any in the immediate future so the WD tells us as there is a great shortage of them and we may not get all of even when the time does come around.

I wrote a short note to Jay today in answer to his letter of two weeks ago.

I received a letter from Enid Norris, guess Lawrence and Nathan did not escape the draft.

Well I have run out of news by now so will close send(ing) you all my love and telling you to take care of yourself.

Love,

Stanley