Jabbering Hens

Sunday 30 July 1944

Dearest Eleanor
     It is less than 10 hours since I kissed you goodbye and I'm already beginning to miss you.
     The train ride back was very quiet except for the jabbering of a couple of old hens behind me. However in spite of them, I dozed off for a little more than an hour and felt quite refreshed. I came aboard at noon after visiting with the watch officers at the clinic for a few minutes.
     Not a thing to do all afternoon but walk around the ship and visit with some of the officers in the ward room. I did have lunch aboard. A little more salad than the base mess. Steak with French fries, string beans and apple pie a la mode for dessert made up the balance of the meal. It is now almost six and time to eat again but I am not a bit hungry.
     Sweet, I'm afraid that we will be shoving off the same day that you are planning to return to San Diego, so our next meeting will be in the form of a real reunion.
     Kiss my girls Linda and Norma for their Daddy because he is going to miss them and you so much.

Love,

Gil

The ship--USS Ocelot--1944

On Watch

Tuesday 18 January 1944

1900 o'clock (7:00 P.M.)

Dear Eleanor,

    Good news--will be home Friday night.  I'm on "watch" tonight.  When you're on watch on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday night you get 72 hours leave.  Watch means that you're on duty all night but probably nothing will happen.  We have a nice bed and the corpsmen take care of it.

    Bob Hope and his troop are on the base tonight, and I can hear the broadcast over the public speaker system.

    I finally got all my papers taken care of and began work this afternoon.  I started with what we call the "carriage trade," a commander.  Today, I visited with the men at the auxiliary clinic on the other side of the base.  Things are very quiet now because there aren't many ships here.  They come and go all the time.  When they're here, patients must be taken care of and in a hurry.

    Everyone here says I'll have a hell of a time getting back to the base by train or bus on Sunday night.  Men begin to line up at 4:00 P.M. and all they talk about is getting back.  I'll probably have to pick up a "junk heap" soon.

    Note my address on the envelope.

Love to all,

Gil

Clipping from the Evening Outlook 

  

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