Invasion Money

Lieut. Gilbert Steingart

U.S.S. Ocelot, F.P.O. San Francisco

Friday 13 July 1945, 10:45 PM

Dearest Eleanor,

     Hello my Sweet, how is my favorite wife tonight. Today has been another one of those hot, sultry days but now there is a gentle rain coming down and things have cooled down considerably.

     I was a busy as a cranberry merchant in July all morning, but this afternoon, being field day, I had the time to myself. So I censored some mail, read a couple of magazines and then began work on a little trinket I'll try to have done for you for our anniversary.

     The mail didn't bring me any letters but I did receive two cans of candy from Deb, a Dental Digest and a B'nai B'rith Bulletin.

At 5:00 PM I showered and dressed for dinner. After eating I played cribbage. Bet parts of all my letters read the same.

     Our movie tonight was quite interesting. It was "Betrayal from the East" with Lee Tracy and is supposed to be a true story of counter-espionage prior to Pearl Harbor. Anyway everyone got killed off in the end, but the war started anyway.

     I'm enclosing some Japanese invasion money that I picked up the last time I was in town. Because it was in my room, it was never around when I wrote. This money is not negotiable now (thank God) but a peso was equivalent to fifty cents when it was good. Please save the money as the stuff is hard to get. It was given to me gratis but the natives sell the stuff three pesos for a dollar.

     That is thirty for tonight darling. Goodnight and pleasant dreams.

Love,

Gil