Well, I won a new fountain pen
today, so I thought that I would
try it out. I did not exactly win
it. I won the right to purchase
it. Our rations this month contained
one fountain pen for our platoon.
We drew to see who would buy it
and I won. It is a very good pen,
an Eversharp. The price was on it
said $12.50 but I only had to pay
$5.65. It is the only time I ever won
anything worthwhile.
Wednesday was Independence Day.
We celebrated the occasion by staging
a parade to impress the Germans
in the pouring rain. First of all we
had a revue in a field with mud
up to our ankles. Some two-bit
general passed out a couple of bronze
stars and then we passed through
town. None of the Germans seemed
very much impressed however. I guess
they just figured that we didn't
know enough to get in out of
the rain.
We finally got a little entertainment
the other day. Glen Miller's AEF
Band played in a town near here
and we rode over to hear it. It
was really great. The band was
directed by Ray McKinley who used to
have his own band back home.
2
They really put on a great show
playing all our old favorites and
most of the latest songs which
we heard for the first time. The
whole thing lasted about one hour
and a quarter. In that time I was
home.
Jack Benny is playing all this
week in Nuremberg which is about
a 2 hour ride from here. One
lucky man is allowed to go each
day from our outfit. That really
burns me up. Our vehicles are
sitting around all day doing nothing.
All that they would have to do
is fill one up each day and drive
to Nuremberg. At the end of the
week everyone would have seen
the show, but no, we send one man
per day. Can you figure it out?
There is still no news about redeployment.
The division is definitely occupation. However,
we still, don't know if they are going
to shift the men in it around or
not.
Please send a package. I could use
some razor blades (if you can get them)
and how about some of those Pocket Books.
There should be some new ones out
that I haven't read. And. of course food
of any kind.
Your Loving Son
Oby
P.S. I sent $100 home pay day.
Description
Describes writing to try out his new prized Eversharp fountain pen that he won in a platoon lottery. And then, after a rain-soaked 4th of July where they staged a parade for the local townspeople who were less than impressed, the highlight of his week was going to a nearby town to hear Glenn Miller's AEF band led by Ray McKinley. "In that time I was home," he wrote.
After Glenn Miller disappeared in December 1944, Miller's Army Air Forces and Army Expeditionary Forces bands played under the direction of other members. I could not find an AEF recording with the director dad mentioned, Ray McKinley, from July 1945. I did find one recorded earlier in the year directed by Jerry Gray and include it below. The very first song after the intro was "In the Mood."
Hearing it played in this context, all those years ago and giving him the first feeling of being "home" since the war started is kind of a nice connection to it opening the family video with this song and picture of him in uniform, now with the home he built with our mother decades later. Music and memories go way back. (included family video below)
He also requests that his parents send "Pocket Books" if possible, that there were likely new titles he hadn't read.
Pocket Books were inexpensive pocket-sized paperbacks. Sold for 25 cents at newsstands and drugstores. They were often mailed to soldiers overseas to pass the time between duties.
I included some pictures of what these looked like. As well as some background here. During WWII, books were considered an important part of the war effort. American publishers, librarians, and writers organized national programs to supply reading material to U.S. troops overseas, including millions of specially printed Armed Services Editions. Promoted by the Council on Books in Wartime, reading was seen not only as recreation for soldiers but as a symbol of the intellectual freedom the Allies were fighting to defend.
