Monday

Still no news about our transfer.

Had quite a dream last night, in which a King Cobra and I got all mixed up. Whew! I woke in a cold sweat. Wonder if the nerves are a little on the decaying side. Many times, I have to force relaxation on myself. Funny, it’s not the fighting, but the interminable waiting that gets me.

Oh Well, apropos of nothing at all, the war will be over June 6th, or so Henry says!¹ Am afraid I’ll have solidly disagreed with Henry Ford, but such is the case.

Today has been long and slow. Rained off and on, all day long which it has done since our arrival here. Our clothes still repose on the clothesline from yesterday, soaking wet. Seehorn and Russell went shell hunting and returned with some beauties. Will have to get some myself before returning home. Would make a lovely necklace for the loveliest girl in the world! My wife!

An old friend of mine from C.A.A.B.² who is going up with the 75th, gave me a souvenir of Munda which bears the inscription: “Jap souvenir of Munda, 1943.” It’s an ashtray made of cannon shell and .25 caliber bullet. Quite a piece of brass. It appears to have more brass than our shells but doesn’t have the tooling job. Our workmanship seems much superior.

Sat through the show Thousands Cheer³ and came out soaked. No rain, and you guessed it, rained again. And so bed.

Notes & Commentary

¹ See “Henry Ford’s End-Of-War Prediction”, The Advertiser, Adelaide, South Australia, 21 March 1944, p. 1, col. 9; digital image, Trove, National Library of Australia (http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/48789364 : accessed 26 March 2014).

June 6, 1944: D-Day, the invasion of France.

² C.A.A.B, Columbia Army Air Base, Columbia, South Carolina.

³ Thousands Cheer starred Gene Kelly, Kathryn Grayson, Mickey Rooney, Judy Garland and Red Skelton. Released in 1943 by Metro-Goldwyn Mayer, Thousands Cheer is the story of trapeze acrobat who is in the Army. See http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036432/?ref_=ttpl_pl_tt.