June Letters

Friday
1 June 1951
USS Bataan
CVL 29
294

Dear Jane,

Another day has gone by. Two more operating days left. Then I hope to the US I go. Well, I can hope anyway.

One hop, CAP, which was very dull. Nothing much new about the war and I’ve run out of war stories.

On the 4^th I’m scheduled to fly to Itami. We will meet the ship at Kobe. Wonder why they don’t leave us on the ship so we can go to the States with it?

Today I’m real tired. I’m going to the show at 2100 and then right to bed. I think I will take a nap now. It is 1955.

I’ve decided to buy some presents but not for any particular person. I’ll get enough and then let you decide what goes where. These presents will cost a pretty penny.

As each day goes by I get more and more eager to be with you. There’s a little sex life I want to catch up on. I’m told that, surprising as it may be, you catch up awful fast. That is a terrible thought. It won’t take us long to start our family — Just as long as it takes to get close to you— ha, ha! um! boy!

I love you a whole lot and you know it. Be a good rabbit. You will never regret it because I’ve been and am as good as good can be. Be seeing you soon and talking to you shortly after a pause that will refresh. Hot dog! Bet you can’t guess what it is on my mind.

Believe in me and trust in me and I will believe in you and trust in you.
Mert

Saturday
2 June 1951
USS Bataan
CVL 29
295

Dear Jane,

I really wonder if when I get to Itami I will get orders to the States. I really hope so. Remember how you thought I ran away from you? How you wondered to me if I would volunteer to stay out here longer? Baby, you sure underestimated your power. I hadn’t gotten outside the boundary of El Toro on that train than when I began to think of getting back to you. The thing that has always puzzled me has been your lack of certainty that I really loved you. Maybe I can’t express myself to you personally but in letters I can sit and think about how I feel. You know, I think I was embarrassed to tell you how much I loved you. Why in the world I was embarrassed I’ll never know. Maybe I’m shy and don’t know myself that I’m shy. Strange isn’t it? Maybe I thought that letting you know how much I depended on you and how much I needed you was an expression of weakness. Maybe, of because I wasn’t created physically superior in strength here was a way I could show the steel edge of my courage. Really, all I did was hurt myself more because all I wanted to do was to tell you that I loved you way below the surface of the skin and that my sex desires were only a part of a complete picture. Funny too are the times I lay beside you and desperately wanted to have our sex but because of some off chance remark of yours that all I wanted was satisfaction I did not touch you and this at times went on for at least two weeks — young and as full of vitality as we were. What is odder still is the secret anger and resentment I nourished for long periods of time, not now however, because I thought you didn’t realize how I felt. You were always able to express how you felt but idiodic me I figured that you ought to be able to guess or you just simply ought to know. I must have thought you had a crystal ball or something that could see inside of me. If I never let you know you hurt me by some word or action how else were you to know? Many, many have been the times when I and I alone knew that our squabbles arose from no more than some inner resentment I alone bore. Somehow I expected you to know how deep and sincere my feelings were and yet I would never tell you. Sometimes I wonder what is the matter with me.

Inspite of all that in the past, I’ve been able to write letters which are closer to the way I feel but I believe that if I had never been forced to write like the present circumstances force us to write you might never have known that I dearly love you, that I will sacrifice anything and everything I have to make our marriage last, that I would see myself dead before I would have an affair or sexual intercourse with another woman.

There is more that I believe with every fiber of my body and soul. For me you are the most beautiful and appealing woman that has ever lived. Sex life with you is the most wonderful, actually spiritual, experience I have ever felt. You have more common sense and intelligence than any other woman I have ever heard about. When I think of you I think of a Goddess who is to be worshipped yet who is human and earthy. I think of you as a mother of children who would grow strong in all respects — under your love and training.

With feelings as strong as these maybe, just maybe, you can see the extent to which I could be hurt. Maybe, you can understand my fears and jealousies, you have said I never trusted you and you have informed me that you were my wife, not a kept woman etc. How can you say I don’t trust you when I have placed every bit of my love in your hands to be treated as you see fit?

Believe in me and trust in me and I will believe in you and trust in you.
Mert.

Sunday
3 June 1951
USS Bataan
CVL 29
296

Dear Jane,

This is just a short note to say all is well. I’m packing. I’m on the fly-away tomorrow if the weather permits. We fly to Itami.

By the way, my buddies have thought of a new joke. Since the Doc dispenses all the condoms, (rubbers) to help prevent disease some one thought up the wonderful joke of throwing a couple of packs in my foot locker while I was packing but not looking. I found two of them but God knows what else the practical jokers thought up. I thought I’d better tell you on the spot rather than waiting and trying to get that lead balloon type joke to get air borne when I unpack in your presence. Ha, some joke, it scared me.

Tomorrow or the next day I will write some plans I have if I land in S.F. or San Diego or Seattle. Why can’t you meet me at the dock if we go to SF? But you see we need some coordinated plan so we will both know what the other is going to do if a given eventuality happens. More about this later.

Love you very much. Hope you understand a little of #295. Anyway I really do love you and only you.

Believe in me and trust in me and I will believe in you and trust in you.
Mert

Monday
4 June 1951
USS Bataan
CVL 29
297

Dear Jane,

The fly-away day. From the Bataan to Itazuki, near Fukuoka. On the date line above I put Bataan because each day as I finish a letter I set up the date and number for the next day. I wasn’t sure I would be here today. The weather is bad between here and Itami so here we stay for the night.

I am SDO so I can’t carouse in the bar. I’ve been standing in the bar to handle our difficult people, if they get difficult. “They love us where-ever we go.” Boy have we established a reputation for ourselves where-ever we go clubbing. Never have I seen club-officers, waitresses and regular patrons so glad to see a group of people crawl back in their hole as they have sighed in relief as the Bataan pulls out to sea. Actually, the fellows aren’t bad they just get drunk and noisy. So now when we visit bars we have a duty officer to protect our interests.

I sometimes get a glimps of why other services don’t like Marines. I must say at least one of us gives them a bad time every night. I have noticed though a similarity in the people who argue and get mad at us. Very rarely do we get a rise out of any Army or Air Force boy who is in a tactical unit in Korea. We have developed a mutual admiration society. Not only that but they get loud, noisy and slightly drunk like we do. We have operated close enough and long enough with other tactical units to see with our own eyes the good job they have done. The people we do get in trouble with are the Army’s and Air Force’s rear echelon personnel. The Army and Air Force tactical personnel also get into trouble with them — at the club, of course.

Marine rear echelon personnel are not of the same type as other services. Our rear echelon people are refugees from a tactical unit or they are headed for one. We have therefore very few “plank owners” ie, personnel who stay in Japan forever and ever and [corner] the rooms at Rest Hotels, transportation, good living quarters or servants.

I think I am going to get relieved — 6 of us including Yorg — at Itami. If so, I will end up with 10 months plus and 107 missions. The whole bunk of us have at least 100 missions. I really will feel sorry for those who are going back to K-1. But I left on 15 August and they left on 24 August. Maybe now you will see that getting out as early as I could will pay off with more total time with you. I hope so. If so, I’ll never let you hear the last of it, particularly, that slug in the face you gave me two nights before I left. Now don’t think I’m bitter about that because really I understood and I hurt inside too. But I’ll tease you no end. Ha, ha! Remember I love you a lot more than a slug in the face. by you for going over-seas. I tried to express the way I felt in a letter a few days back. The only thing that would drive me out is fooling around with other men and then I would leave not because I didn’t love you but because I couldn’t stand the hurt. Now that I’ve had all this time to think about us, I’m going to do my best not to hurt you by anything I do or say. I’ll never again tease you about your love; now I know that was cruel. I’ll never question your love again. If you would treat me the same way I sure would like it.

Soon as I learn more about where I’m going I’ll write soon.

Believe in me and trust in me and I will believe in you and trust in you.
Mert

Tuesday
5 June 1951
Itami, Japan (I hope)
298

Dear Jane,

This is the new typewriter. I hope it is a good deal. I think it is ok, but now I notice that the ribbon seems to be worn out but I just fixed it by winding it back, I think. It cost $64.00. It was at the Osaka PX. They had Smith Corona, this Remington and one other type. This has more gadgets and the lightest touch but now it seams to be quite heavy. What is the matter with this ribbon. When I worked it at the PX it was fine. Wish you were here to see what is the trouble. Can it be that Cameron, Scrooge Cameron is stuck again? My God, will these tragedies never cease. No, I just can’t believe that I’ve had it again. It can’t be, not $64.00 down the drain. Why? oh Why do these things happen to me? The last typewriter I paid some $139.00 and you know what a bum deal I got on that one. How stupid can I be? Do they see me coming? Say, that was a Remington also, wasn’t it? What magnetic power does Remington have over me? Now, I’m beginning to rationalize again. This one cost only a third of what the last one cost. Maybe when the next time comes up I won’t buy one at all. That seems to be the only way I keep from getting stuck.

Hold on to your hat. As accurate as it can be at this time it seems six of us are going to be relieved. Four came out on 14 Aug and two out on 15 Aug. The only group that came out in Aug in the squadron is the one that came out on 24 Aug. Now, hear this. Capt Miller, skipper of the USS Bataan sent a dispatch here and requested that if any Marines are being relieved he would like them to go home with the carrier and be present at the Bataan’s home coming ceremony and party in San Diego. Now the powers that be seem to think this is a good idea. At the moment discussion is going on as to how to put the idea into action. The Bataan is due in San Diego on the 25th. Baby, Pink Ears, can you get away at that time and meet the ship? We may be crowded with in laws but shucks we could get off by ourselves quite soon. I know my parents would under stand. Supposedly the ship will dock at about 1100. As to the details I can write them later if the deal goes through. The Bataan is due in tomorrow to off load the squadron at Kobe. Tomorrow night the squadron is throwing a party for the ship’s officers at the Takarazuka hotel. The day after tomorrow the ship sails for Yokosuka for some reason. On the 13th it sails for the States. If I am on it I can get off at Yokosuka, send a wire, make a phone call or do something to let you know what is going on. Boy, am I getting carried away with th thoughts of you and our little home. Love sure produces a lot of anguish.

The trip to Itami was uneventful. I woke everybody up a 0600; we ate, went to the field and took off about 0810. About 0930 wen landed. We got quarters on the base. Then I went to the Osaka PX and the Daimaru. I bought this debatable bargain and a couple of dollars worth of stamps for Karen and Kaye. I just couldn’t find Roger’s lens. If I were only a plank owner here I would have been able to find out what and where things are. I have tried to find it in Osaka, Kobe, Sasebo, Tokyo, Yokohama, Yokusaka and several little towns around these centers. I also tried at Kyoto and Nagoya. I hate to fail on something like that but I don’t feel too badly because I did try. I plan to buy some presents but not for any particular people except kids stuff. When I get home you can choose which you would like to give them. It will be sort of a consolation prize. Anything that is worth getting is not too cheap. This is contradictory to what most people think. Prices have risen in Japan also. There is one thing we have done well in Americanizing Japan and that is in charging a lot for things. I took some pictures yesterday. Today I tookd some more. I’m not as much of a camera fan as I believed a few months ago. I kind of figured I was not a steady camera enthusiast. Just think, I might have had a couple of hundred dollars of junk. My experience in buying stuff in China has helped me a lot, toned me down. I remember only to well the $400.00 of stuff we have in that chest. I have done my best to impart my past experience to others but they are still buying like mad fools. They too will learn.

I’m going to the club tonight. Wilcox and DeLong got promoted to Major. Wilcox came with us on the fly away. He is buying drinks for all of us. Have to get in on the free Chanapaign. However, I remember the last Champaign party. I was out cold in about forty-five minutes. It will be a long time before I forget that exciting evening. The party for the ship ought to be a good one also. These going home parties are the best of all.

Well lovely, wonderful one I can hardly waite until tomorrow to find out what the scoop is. I love you and only you, the best of all possible women. Incidently, don’t think I’m just throwing these compliments around carelessly. There's not another woman in the in the world who deserves them. Damn it all, I mean what I say. They only trouble is the words seem so hackneyed and those casual lovers who don’t mean what they say also use the same words. Just you have faith that I mean what I say and believe me you won’t get hurt and you won’t regret it.

Believe in me and trust in me and I will believe in you and trust in you.

Mert

P.S. The ribbon just doesn’t work very well.

Wednesday
6 June 1951
Itami, Japan
299

Dear Jane,

I guess it is the real thing. We actually have a dispatch from the Wing which detaches us and sends us home. Our orders are being made up. I’m to go aboard the Bataan tonight. Tomorrow we go to Yokosuka and then hot damn we sail for home on about the 13th. Scuttle but has it that we will arrive on the 25th. Now comes the problem.

If you can drive to San Diego, I sure want you to. Now don’t think you will hurt me a lot by not coming. Of course it will make me sad but I will live. As far as I know now the ship will dock late in the morning. As the arrivl date nears the papers will probably know oi the exact place and time. You could find out from the newspapers. Call an SF one up and ask them.

Next, you could drive down to LA the day before the arrival and stay with your mother. Then early in the morning of the day I arrive you could get up and drive the last 100 miles to San Diego. This travelling routine is something you can plan better than I. San Diego is a Navy town and not a good place for a wife all alone waiting for her husband to get off the ship. Many unpleasent things could happen, at least that has been my past experience. If you got to the dock I will be on the ship. We would find each other in the crowd, maybe soon and maybe a little later but we would find each other.

Next, the in laws. Naturally you must ask them to come with you. But make sure you go in two cars., ours and one of theirs. Who knows where I will have to go and what I will have to do when I get here. Perhaps they will prefer to stay in LA. but perhaps not.

Next, I will have to check in at some Marine unit in San Diego to get my orders endorsed. I may be ordered to SF Dept. of the Pacific. That will give me two or three travel days back to SF. We could ride back together. This deal is only tentative. I will have more when I mail letters at Yokosuka.

Next, plan to stay over-night in San Diego. If you know the day I arrive you can get a reservation some place. If not we can find some place. The problem will be: how soon can we be alone together. With ten months of abstinence behind me I won’t fool myself into thinking that sex will not be on my mind but plenty. Also I will just want to be with my own Pink Ears. How can we gently suggest that it might be best if they returned to LA before dark or the traffic got heavy or something,

You might as well pack for a week or ten days depending on what happens. Naturally, we would rather be on the long end of packing rather than on the short end. The annimails will have to be taken care of. Also, it would be kind of bad if you left all your helpmates with a big job on their hands at Stanford but I think they ought to let you have some time off., or something. I hope my arrival coincides with the slack in your office, but if not the hell with it — ten months is ten months. I doubt if I could live through the ride from the dock to Los Altos. I don’t see how you could want me more or as much as I want you. Your all I have and I must say that I learned it the hard way, ten months plus or separation. Separation may make the heart grow fonder, but I think I loved you this much all along but I took you for granted and never really stopped to think what you meant to me. Ten months of pain sure let me know I was missing you.

THIS is all the preliminary dope i have for you now. The letter or phone call from Yokosuka will give you all I know about what is going to happen and when.

Tonight is the sihip squadron party at the Takarazuka Hotel. It ought to be a good one but I’m going to go in plenty good condition so I can get on the ship tonight. I’m riding back to the ship with the ship’s officers.

It is plenty hot around here. They tell me Korea is hot and smelly. Well, it was plenty cold also.

Believe in me and trust in me and I will believe in you and trust in you.

Mert

Thursday
7 June 1951
USS Bataan
CVL 29
300

Dear Jane,

Believe it or not I am on the Bataan headed for Yokosuka. We get there tomorrow morning about 1000. On the 13th we leave for San Diego. We expect to get there on the 25th and dock about 1000. That us the hot scoop as of now.

I wonder if you can make it at that time. There ought to be a lot of publicity so you should be able to get all the details from the papers.

If you reserve a room some place make it an air conditioned one if possible. Your letters sound

as if it were hot in California. There’ll be a hot time in the old town on the 25th believe you me. 12 in 24 is still the goal and I feel that I can reach the goal with no strain at all. We’ll get two birds with one stone. The pressure will be relived and maybe we can get a baby in the oven. There ain’t no holding me from here on out.

By the way if there are any last minute mix ups I will call your mother to find out what the deal is. if I can’t reach her I will call my parents to find the scoop. You know where I will be so you will have to do all the maneuvering to effect the rendezvous.

Late last night I got eleven letters from you and one big sging sign advertising your birthday. Are you angling for a present? If you are you are very lucky that you sent the notice because I had forgotten. How can I forget such things? When I get to Yokosuka I will have a lot of shopping to do. You statement also came. I’m glad to see that you are keeping track of everything. As usual with us things will be as tight as ever.

Chow is in a few minutes so I’m closing this because I don’t have anything else to write. As always I love you mucho. I can’t believe that you could possibly think otherwise. I just know you love me.

Believe in me and trust in me and I will believe in you and trust in you.

Mert

Friday
8 June 1951
USS Bataan
CVL 29
301

Dear Jane,

We have arrived safely in Yokosuka. The plan is to leave on the 13th and arrive in San Diego on the 25th about 1000. Boy, do I hope my one and only rabbit will be waiting on the dock. There was a time when I thought it would be best for me to arrive home and meet you in Los Altos. Now, I figure I never would last out the travel time in the states.

Still there is no sample of the fish line for Jensen. None of the stores know what the card had on it. It was just a card with no evidence on it to show what kind of line was wound around it. However, I will buy some more line and just guess and hope that it is what is wanted.

I am waiting for the weather to clear up and then I will take pictures like mad. I just remembered that I am supposed to take two of every view. Up until now I hadn’t so I better get hot. I also intend to buy some film in the PX so I can have more views.

Today I went shopping. I bought a lot of stuff. I hope it is better than the China stuff I bought before. Yes, I bought you a birthday present but you can have your pick of the whole batch. I intend to do more shopping tomorrow. Since you have first pick I won’t tell you what I bought at all then everything will be a surprise. I don’t intend to spend more than $50.00. That should be about right considering our still precarious financial position. Some day, just some day, we may have more assets than liabilities. Happy day.

I have just about given up on Roger’s lens. They just aren’t around. I think you would have to be in one spot a long time in order to work yourself into the inner circle. I am getting him a consolation prize. I think a flashy silk tie, maybe with a naked woman on it. I’ve already gotten Dad a snazzy one but there is no woman on it. Maybe I ought to get him one with a woman on it. After all he may not be too old to dream and perhaps he isn’t as old as one might think. Maybe I will get Dick Peacocke one. It would be his type— Rover Boy that he must be. I guess he is still in Ventura. We might drop by and see him.

Baby Pink Eared Rabbit I loves you, I loves you and only you. My thoughts don’t even wander from you and the biggest dread I have is that my thoughts might wander just a tiny bit. So far my thoughts have stayed on the straight and narrow. My body never has and never will wander from you.

Believe in me and trust in me and I will believe in you and trust in you.

Mert

P.S. If I don’t meet you on the dock or there abouts I will call first your mother and if I get no results I will call my parents. If still no go I will call the McCalls— Uncle Mark.

Saturday
9 June 1951
USS Bataan
CVL 29
302

Dear Jane,

I am writing this letter this afternoon. I want to get it off later today when I go in to the beach. I figure if I repeat the same information in each letter you surely will get one in time for you to get to San Diego on the 25th. We sail on the 13th and arrive in San Diego on the 25th. We are due to dock some time around 1000. Get all the dope you can from the newspaper. The ship is sending a representative by plane to take care of all the news releases and preparations for the home coming ceremony. So there is a lot of last minute details you ought to get out of the papers I just hope you can get off to go to San Diego. I’m still thinking of sending you a telegram to get you prepared. You see as of the present moment we are not supposed to send that information by phone or wire. By the time you get our letters the information will be of no value to a possible enemy but I hope you get the letters in time to make arrangements to be in San Diego. Oh, happy day. The more I think about it the more I think I will send you a telegram saying for you to prepare to meet me in San Diego on the 25th. That will give you enough information to at least get started for the trip and then a few days before you actually leave my letters should reach you giving this info which is the best I have to date. Don’t get excited and upset. Just be prepared for a fouled up situation. The only thing we can do is struggle through.

So far today I have done nothing. All I’ve done is eat lunch. I think I will go down and get a cup of coffee. I am really getting to be a coffee drinker. I’ve had as many as ten cups day. That is quite a bit for anybody. Coffee must be habit forming. I also smoke a tremendous number of cigars. You will meet a coffee drinking, cigar smoking wreck.

I have found out what was wrong with the ribbon. Some one had put it in all twisted so naturally it got all snarled up. Now it seems to be ok.

Lots of love and stuff. Man alive am I getting more and more eager to be with you and you know what doing. Never have I been under such a pressure. I think I will go nuts if I don’t get with you but soon. All I think about day and night is loving you. I can actually feel you and your caresses.

Believe in me and trust in me and I will believe in you and trust in you.

Mert

Sunday
10 June 1951
USS Bataan
CVL 29
303

Dear Jane,

Yorg, Kapsch and I went to Tokyo today. I sent a telegram saying I would be in San Diego on the 25th. That should be enough for you to start preparations on. The letters I have already sent should arrive right after the telegram. It still stands, the 25th at 1000.

Low and behold, I found Roger’s lens. It costs 19,300 yen. The exchange rate is 360 yen to the dollar. I found the lens and didn’t have the time to get a tax exemption chit but still this price is about $35.00 less than what he would have to pay in the States. I also got Jensen 300 yards of silk fish line. I hope it is what he wanted but if not that is life.

By the way, I would prefer if you came to San Diego alone but if our parents are coming we will just have to make the best of it. We will just have to make some kind of an excuse to get away together quickly. Remember you are to reserve a room for the night of the 25th. Never have I been so hard up for a little sex than I am now. I wander around all day long thinking about it. I must be a sex maniac.

I guess I never did tell you about the ship squadron party that came off the other night. There was a free steak dinner and free drinks for the guests. It cost me $8.60. There was also a skin show — a strip tease by a whole bunch of girls. Strange as it may seem I saw you up there and did it make me angry. Why were you stripping in fromt of all those guys? Whenever my thoughts turn to sex I think only of you. What I want to know, is it normal for a guy to have such a fixation on one woman. Of course a trip tease didn’t do my emotions any good at all. I must say my dreams of you were the hottest things on record.

Two more days in port and away we go. My shopping is nearly done. I think I will spend a little more than I had anticipated. Lately money has been flowing like water through my hands. This must cease. I just hope I get enough things so you can sort out what to give to whom. I haven’t paid too much attention to the selection. It better come out ok.

You know I love you a whole lot and when I get near you I will rape you but good.

Believe in me and trust in me and I will believe in you and trust in you.

Mert

Monday
11 June 1951
USS Bataan
CVL 29
304

Dear Jane,

I finished my shopping. I haven’t figured what it cost yet but it will be around $70.00 which I guess isn’t too bad. I do have a little surprise for you. Bet you wish you knew what it is. Ha.

I’ve been taking pictures quite steadily. I doubt if they will turn out very well. The weather has not been too good for pictures. There was a lot of guess work in figuring the settings to use. This all doesn’t make for good pictures.

Liquor is cheap over here so I am buying our bar stock. Over here the stuff is less than half the price at home. For about $51.00 $15.00 we will have the best bar in Los Altos.

We are still planning to sail on the 13th. We are still planning to arrive on the 25th. I hope you meet me at the dock alone so we can rush off to the rabbit’s nest you will have reserved. For months now Jr. has been talking to me and begging me to take him to Clit. If the 25th doesn’t hurry and roll around I will be out of my head, more than I usually am.

We are now tied up at a dock. There is no long boat ride to the beach. It really is a pain to be anchored out in the harbor. You have to waite for a boat every time you want to go. Getting back to the ship is hardest, particullarly if you have been having a pleasant evening at the club — as we usually do. Parties aren’t so hard on me now that I have Doc McCabe’s hang-over cure. It is a five pill treatment but in no time at all you feel well and have perked up considerably.

My accounting books are in good shape. When I get home I intend to integrate all the stuff at home into them. Then there will be a form for you to fill out. All you will have to do is to put numbers in the blank spaces. When you stop working outside, in addition to running the house you will be the family accountant. I know you will resist this idea but you will have to put up a strong fight to get out of that little job.

By the way, your letters have been so sexy I’ve almost done it just reading them. I sure do like those letters every once in a while. It gives me the idea that you feel the same way I do. Maybe I will be the raped rather than the raper. If so I will just relax and enjoy it.

I love you with everything I have. Believe in me and trust in me and I will believe in you and trust in you.

Mert

Tuesday
12 June 1951
USS Bataan
CVL 29
305

Dear Jane,

I’m writing this letter early today so I can get it off the ship and in the mail before we leave some time early tomorrow morning. I’ve decided that this will be the last letter because If I wrote them on the ship on the way back they would go right along with me and arrive at the same time I do. I’ll tell you personally anything worth telling. I figure the trip back will be quite dull and full of urgency about hurrying up and getting there.

The deal still stands. Leave on the 13th and arrive on the 25th at about 1000. There is one more way I have fixed up for you to get the last minute details. Capt. Joe Kapsch is coming home on the Bataan also. You can get last minute details from his wife. He is a regular and she has contacts from which she can get the details and Joe says she will know exactly where and when the ship will be. His wife’s address is as follows: J.R. Kapsch, 429 E. Broadway, Costa Mesa, California. They have a telephone but you will have to get the number from the book. Her name is Francesjane (all one word). She will be at the above address untill the 24th. If you can’t reach her at the above address you might get her in San Diego by calling Jackson 8695 which is Joe’s mother’s home. Anyway no matter what arrangements you make there will be difficulty so don’t get excited.

This morning I bought a whole bunch of liquors for our bar. I really got a good buy. We will have all kinds of after dinner drinks now. It will be quite a job to carry the stuff off the ship. Carrying the stuff on the ship is all sort of illegal but is done on the QT.

Well, this is the last letter until I see you in person. Be a good rabbit as you always have been. Be seeing you my baby Pink Ears.

Believe in me and trust in me and I will believe in you and trust in you.

Mert