June 4, 1944

Sunday

Went to church this morning and enjoyed the services. First time in the present chapel which is well fixed up. One of the congregation had found some orchids on Noumea1 and put them on the altar. Very beautiful.

Wrote letters and went to the line for a little while in the afternoon.

Spent the evening on letters. Answered those I received for the day from Dad, Mom, Bonnie and Guyneth. Bonnie is so good to me about writing and I live from day to day for her letters. Thank God she loves me. Everyone’s so very good to me. Read my Bible lessons and prayers and went to bed.2

Notes & Commentary

1 Noumea, New Caledonia, about 1,250 miles southeast from Stirling Island.

2 Two years earlier, RM3C Jay William Jenkins was a rear gunner on an SBD Dauntless of VB-6 (Bombing Squadron Six) of the USS Enterprise (CV-6). He was among those dive bomber crews from the USS Enterprise who destroyed three Japanese aircraft carriers and disabled a fourth at the Battle of Midway on 4 June 1942. He was among the 176 United States Navy, United States Marine Corps, and United States Army Air Force aircrew killed at the Battle of Midway in achieving victory over the Japanese force. He was the brother of one of Wayne’s sister-in-law’s sister’s husband. The war touched everyone in some way.

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