World War II Letters: Twin Brothers

Posted on October 22, 2011 by John
 Dad and his twin brother Eddie missed each other all during the war and each worried that the other might not return home.  Eddie already had a child, Ronnie, with his wife Marge, and Dad was expecting his first child in March of 1946.  Years later both their families lived in the same duplex, where the brothers continued to look after each other and remained close until Eddie’s death in the early 1980’s.

Even after the war officially ended, there was still sniper fire in the Pacific, alluded to in this letter my Dad wrote in September of 1945.  Renegade Japanese soldiers remained for months on Guam, where sniper fire, though much reduced, was still a threat from some wooded areas and caves.

Sept. 12, 1945
Guam
7:10 P.M.

Dear Mom and Dad,

     How are the best mom and dad in the world getting along?  I hope you are both OK.  Have you talked to Bonnie lately?  When you call her again, tell her I said “hello.” I sure do miss her.  Do you know how she is getting along? If she is having a hard time being pregnant, I know she won’t tell me.

     I wrote to Jess and Bee, and to Eddie the other day.  So far, I have received only one letter and got it today.   It was from Bonnie, one that she wrote on August 9th!  That’s over a month ago.  Boy, was I happy when I received it.  It’s such a sweet letter.   Maybe now my mail will start coming to me regularly.  Boy, Mom,  I know how you feel about being asked to send me things I need, because you told me when I got home the last time, so would you please send me that Pop-Ade you had in the fridge?  It’s terribly hot over here, and believe me, a good drink like that would really be wonderful.  If you don’t have it anymore, please don’t go out to get any.  I know it is hard to get.  I asked Bonnie to send me a couple of tee-shirts, a mirror, and a set of guitar strings.  Oh yes, I’ve been trying to remember what it was I wanted.  Would you get me one of those transparent cigarette cases that George has at his cigar store?  I guess that’s his name.  Anyway, it is one of those cases that you put the while pack of cigarettes into.  The top comes off the case.  I had one, but I’ll be darned if I know what I did with it.  It’s nice to keep cigarettes in, because it’s so very humid here, and the smokes stay fresher longer in a case like that.  That white case with the gold finish you gave me, Dad, I left at home this time, because it’s too good to bring over here.  I don’t want to use that case until I become a Mason.  I remember you used to carry that case to the lodge, and I want to carry it too. 

     I’m going to try to save $50 here.  It won’t be easy, because I’m sending almost all m money home to Bonnie.  If I can save it, I’ll try to send it to you.  It will be coming out of the money I’ve allowed myself for rations.  Please don’t tell Bonnie that, or she’ll make me quit sending her $100 a month, and I know she needs it.  I can surely do without candy and stuff in order to save about $5 a month extra.  At that rate, it’ll take ten months to save the $50.

     I have a higher point average in this squadron due to my other tweleve months over seas.  The average for this squadron is 45 points, and I have 48.  I sure hope I can be home when the baby is brought into this world.

     I had a swell dream about Eddie last night.  I dreamed I met him here, and we spent a whole evening together.  No one will ever know how much I miss Eddie.  I’ve worried so much about im since you told me what Jack Ralph said about Eddie’s ship being attacked by the Japs.  Now that the war is over, I’m not worried so much.  If something were to happen to one of us,  I had prayed it would be me.  Now I know Jack Ralph was wrong about Eddie’s being wounded, thank God.

     I guess I’ll close for tonight.  There isn’t much I can write about this place, except to say that I think I told you about the Jap sniper here in the area not occupied by Yanks.  Well, a negro fellow went in there day before yesterday and never came back.  He was found shot dead in the area, where evidence of a Jap camp was also found.  I figure I won’t ever need to go in that wooded area, as I’ve never lost anything there and have no business there anyway.  If two men travel together in that area, the Japs won’t attack them, because if if one is shot, the other will kill the Jap.  We’ve all been trained to react instantly.  But a guy who goes there alone is sure to be killed.  A Jap will pick a spot where he can see anyone coming his way and will lie there for hours without even moving.  He lets the enemy move and give away his position first.  Anyway, don’t worry.  I won’t be going anywhere near there.

     Bye for now.  Be careful.  Write soon.  God bless and watch over you.

Your loving son,
  Elwood

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 View all posts by John →
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