Letter or Postcard – Letter
Sender – Ralph Peterson
Recipient – Phyllis Peterson
Postmark Place – St. Petersburg, Florida
Postmark Date – 28 Feb 1943
Letter Date – 27 Feb 1943
Text:
My dearest wife,
Yah! Yah! It’s me again and I just bet you aren’t glad to hear from me. Don’t you ever say that you aren’t glad to hear from that little blonde Dane. Well, I am going to try and write you every day and I want you to do the same. It sure is going to help me a lot to hear from you. You can write two a day if you want to. That will be okay. Oh yes, if the baby wants to write you can let him write, too. Maybe he is a bit too young to write yet. I think I will be home in time to make him smile the first time. That’s all I would ever ask for – just to see you holding our baby. That will be the happiest moment of my life, and boy I hope it happens soon. I got my second shot today and is my arm ever sore. I can hardly raise it up. I have one hell of a time saluting these officers around here with that sore arm. We also got our first exercises today. They were only about three hours long. I took it alright, but a few of the guys were almost ready to drop. Yesterday I took a radio code test. If I make out alright on that one I will start school in about three weeks from now. I will find out about that tomorrow. I just got back from a show on airplanes. It sort of makes you familiar with all kinds of them. I guess I can sign up for an Air Cadet, but if you want me to I will stay on the ground in the Signal Corps. That’s probably the safest place anyway, if I have a chance. I wish you would tell me what to do. I feel so damn lost without you around. Well tomorrow is Sunday and I don’t know what we are going to do, but we can’t get a pass to go uptown to buy anything so I guess I will sleep, but I will write to you anyway. That’s all for now so will close with lots of love honey, from Ralph.
PS – I am going to write to your father, too.
Notes: This letter makes it a bit more clear that the baby had not yet born, because Dad is imagining a baby boy. The reality was my sister Bonny.