It always amazes me how close my mother was to her in-laws, but they were very good to her and treated her as their own daughter. Mom lived with them for a time, and the first pictures of me were taken by Grandpa B in their home, as Grandpa was something of a serious photographer. Some of those photos i will post later. In this letter, Mom was upset at the growing conflicts between some of the soldiers from two different units on the same base, where Dad was stationed in Lincoln, Nebraska before being sent to Pratt, Kansas. There were apparently some actual fist fights, probably due to the high level of competition on the base, added to the beer that was available in the town at night. Dad never had any problems that way but was surprsied at the number of other soldiers who went over the edge so regularly. It was also a time of losses in the Pacific and other places. News of who had been killed or lost in action must have been devastating to families back home. In their letters, both my parents spoke of friends and family who had been killed in action. My Dad worried constantly about his twin brother Eddie, and Eddie worried about him too, especially when they were both in the Pacific later on.
February 1, 1945
Thursday afternoon
My dearest Mom & Dad,
Don’t call the rent squad, it’s just your daughter-in-law writing you good people a few lines. I have been trying to get your son to write a few lines to you, and I have every hope he will write you tomorrow. At the present time, he is at camp. He is also quite disgusted with this camp. As you know, Elwood is in the Eighth Air Force. The Second Air Force is also stationed at Lincoln Field, and they are only out for APO min. There have been quite a few fights, so it’s really safer to stay home at night. I can’t understand “our boys” acting like that. Of all the trouble in the world, and they have to fight over some petty jealousy.
I have met some of Elwood’s buddies, and they are “kings.”
Elwood and I are going to the U.S.O tomorrow night to “cut a few rugs.” Destructive little devil, aren’t I?
There are two other soldiers’ wives right next door to us. One is very Southern. I’ve heard so much “fer to stay,” I say it in my sleep. the other gal is from Brooklyn. Yipe! What an accent (How da ya do, I’m sure, kids!). All kidding aside, they’re both wonderful girls (I must have my joke, you know).
For Dad > Look, handsome, why don’t you surprise me with a nice, long letter? So help me, I won’t say a word to anyone! I’ll even quit wearing red finger nail polish – Boy, what a sacrifice! I shall look forward to my first letter and SOON. In the meantime, behave yourself.
Love,
Bonnie B
About John
About John
John Bolinger was born and raised in Northwest Indiana, where he attended Ball State University and Purdue University, receiving his BS and MA from those schools. Then he taught English and French for thirty-five years at Morton High School in Hammond, Indiana before moving to Colorado, where he resided for ten years before moving to Florida. Besides COME SEPTEMBER, Journey of a High School Teacher, John's other books are ALL MY LAZY RIVERS, an Indiana Childhood, and COME ON, FLUFFY, THIS AIN'T NO BALLET, a Novel on Coming of Age, all available on Amazon.com as paperbacks and Kindle books. Alternately funny and touching, COME SEPTEMBER, conveys the story of every high school teacher’s struggle to enlighten both himself and his pupils, encountering along the way, battles with colleagues, administrators, and parents through a parade of characters that include a freshman boy for whom the faculty code name is “Spawn of Satan,” to a senior girl whose water breaks during a pop-quiz over THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS. Through social change and the relentless march of technology, the human element remains constant in the book’s personal, entertaining, and sympathetic portraits of faculty, students, parents, and others. The audience for this book will certainly include school teachers everywhere, teenagers, parents of teens, as well as anyone who appreciates that blend of humor and pathos with which the world of public education is drenched. The drive of the story is the narrator's struggle to become the best teacher he can be. The book is filled with advice for young teachers based upon experience of the writer, advice that will never be found in college methods classes.
Another of John's recent books is Mum's the Word: Secrets of a Family. It is the story of his alcoholic father and the family's efforts to deal with or hide the fact. Though a serious treatment of the horrors of alcoholism, the book also entertains in its descriptions of the father during his best times and the humor of the family's attempts to create a façade for the outside world. All John's books are available as paperbacks and Kindle readers on Amazon, and also as paperbacks at Barnes & Noble. John's sixth book is, Growing Old in America: Notes from a Codger was released on June 15, 2014. John’s most recent book is a novel titled Resisting Gravity, A Ghost Story, published the summer of 2018
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