# OT - Dad's letter home from the war



## John P (Sep 1, 1999)

I though some of our WWII modelers might be interested in this. My grandmother saved all of Dad's letters home from the service. I haven't read them all, but I browse thru the box every once in a while. Unfortunately they're mostly from his stateside traning in 1943 and '44, and very few from his deployment in the Pacific. So there isn't a lot of Combat action.

But I laughed myself silly when I read this one - Gram always had a nervous condition in later life, and reading Dad's letters, I think he gave it to her!

Imagine being a mother, getting this letter from your son:



> 17 June 1945​ Oahu​
> Dear Mom and Pop,
> 
> Well, here I am – yet. Still doing my long range Jap hunting from the sheltered little island of Oahu. Boy, I’m not so mad, but pretty _damn_ mad! If I’m going to be overseas, why not give me something to shoot at more often? Gee, I could spend the rest of the war over here and still never pile up any combat time. Oh well, I’m getting paid for it so I guess I shouldn’t complain too much.
> ...


And this one, sent 6 months AFTER the war while he was still serving out his enlistment on Okinawa. (Please excuse the typical period bigotry. I present this warts and all).



> 26 March 1946​ Okinawa​
> Dear Mom & Pop,
> 
> Here I am again, only quite tired, to say the least. Bret (his wingman, Hal Barbrett) and I picked up a 38 foot cabin cruiser yesterday, over on the other side of the Island. So today we decided to bring it around the island to our side. It’s about 75 miles of open sea and reefs. It was raining when we started out, then when we got out about an hour the wind came up and the seas started to get rough, and I do mean rough. The waves were breaking over the cabin, and we were having trouble staying off the rocks. But we made it in 5 hours, all safe and sound. But if you could have seen us riding those waves and bouncing around the Pacific! Once, we hit the reefs with a thud, but we went on over OK.
> ...


 *Dad got the Luger from a Japanese officer he killed. Why did a Japanese officer have a German gun? My research on the gun shows it was one of 3,000 made by Mauser for the Dutch East Indies Army. I assume the officer got it from there.

I love that completely casual last paragraph, OBTW, Mom, I crashed again. :lol:


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## Steve244 (Jul 22, 2001)

um, what did dad do after the war (besides have you?)?


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## John P (Sep 1, 1999)

Stopped having adventures, thankfully.

Apart from flying, his main interest seemed to be being a machinist. So that's what he did for the rest of his life - worked in machine shops, big and small.


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## Jafo (Apr 22, 2005)

JP, thanks for posting that. it was a good read. also thanks for NOT editing it.


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## Parts Pit Mike (Jan 3, 2001)

Yes JP Thanks for posting!


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## Just Plain Al (Sep 7, 1999)

We have a similar box from my Grandfather (ground pounder in Europe) showing the same nonchalant attitude. Coming from a multi-generational military family, I'm still amazed. Sure did grown 'em with big sets back then.


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## Seaview (Feb 18, 2004)

Just Plain Al said:


> We have a similar box from my Grandfather (ground pounder in Europe) showing the same nonchalant attitude. Coming from a multi-generational military family, I'm still amazed. Sure did grown 'em with big sets back then.


 
You ain't kiddin' about that, Al; no wonder we call them "the greatest generation". Gee, and the kids these days think THEY'VE got it rough.
Anyway,JP, about that Luger; are you sure it wasn't a Japanese issue Nambu pistol? There were definite similarities.


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## Roguepink (Sep 18, 2003)

John -- thanks for sharing! Your pop seems one helluva guy. Another crash landing, never mind, love and kisses... :lol:


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## John P (Sep 1, 1999)

Seaview said:


> You ain't kiddin' about that, Al; no wonder we call them "the greatest generation". Gee, and the kids these days think THEY'VE got it rough.
> Anyway,JP, about that Luger; are you sure it wasn't a Japanese issue Nambu pistol? There were definite similarities.


Nope, Luger, I know the difference, and I still have it. Dad took it from a Japanese officer he killed that was trying to kill him. How did a Japanese officer get a Luger? My research on the serial number shows it was one of 3,000 that Mauser built in 1939 for the Dutch East Indies Army.


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## Seaview (Feb 18, 2004)

Yup; good old dependable Mauser certainly got around. I once owned a Mauser "broomhandle" pistol that was used by a member of the Chinese Nationalist army, which I bought from a Flying Tigers veteran's widow.


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## MonsterModelMan (Dec 20, 2000)

JP,
Your dad sounds like quite a guy...love the casualness of his letters...your grandparents must have loved to get those types of letters from him...

If he wasn't involved in some sort of adventure...I'm sure they would have worried more!

Thanks for sharing those!

MMM


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## roadrner (Jul 21, 1999)

JP,
Thanks for sharing those great letters. Just shows how immortal we think we are in our younger years.  Great stuff! :thumbsup::thumbsup: rr


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## John P (Sep 1, 1999)

This one cracked me up - it's from when he shipped out from the US to Hawaii. Must have been his first sea voyage.



> 24 May 1945​ Somewhere out in the​ damn ocean!​
> Dear Mom and Pop,
> 
> Well here I am, but don’t ask me where. All I can see in any direction is water. Boy, there’s a mess of it! I go to bed at night, the boat is in the water rockin’. I wake up in the morning, the boat is in the water rockin’. I go to eat breakfast and stagger all over the damn boat trying to get to the door. I wash my face if I can ever catch up with the water in the basin. I try to eat soup, but every time I dig with my spoon the soup’s on the other side of the bowl or in my lap. I put three spoons of sugar in my coffee before I hit the cup. Brush my teeth? Whew. I get going fine, then comes a nice lurch – I have to pull the brush out of my ear. Oh, I guess it really isn’t so bad, only one minute I’m leaning against a pole, the next I’m laying on it.
> ...


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## The-Nightsky (May 10, 2005)

Thanks for sharing that john. It was most enjoyable.....But why were the kids shooting at each other? proto- Gangstahs?


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