Letter or Postcard – Letter
Sender – Ralph Peterson
Recipient – Phyllis Peterson
Postmark Place – St. Petersburg, Florida
Postmark Date – 22 March 1943
Letter Date – 21 March 1943
Text:
My sweetest wife and baby,
Well here is number two for today and if I get a letter from you after mail call tonight I will write you another one. When I don’t get one from you I just sit and worry what’s wrong. While I am worrying I pick up a pencil and start writing to you. Maybe you don’t like me to write you all my troubles, but I have to tell someone and I don’t think you mind, do you? If you have any worries, I mean besides me, just sit down and write me about them. And also every time you write tell me all about our baby. I mean how fast it is growing and all that. Yes, I even want to know how many times you have to change her in a day. That may sound funny to you but I miss you like the very devil, and not getting a letter from you so long has really got me down. After every letter I feel a hell of a lot better, so when you start writing again just write two or three a day to make up for the time that I have missed getting them from you. Don’t get mad at me for writing like this but I am kind of worried, and not getting one from you as long. This afternoon I took it real easy. I went to sleep at one and didn’t wake up until four. Then it was raining like the devil so I’m going to finish this and go to bed early tonight. Oh, I did do some work about an hour ago. I washed out some clothes of mine that were kind of dirty. I wrote a letter to Harold Button this forenoon, so that’s another load off my mind. Tomorrow is my last day of basic training. That will be one big day for me because we have a rifle range test and our gas mask drill. After that I will be put on the alert as they call it down here. It is just a period of three to eight days that I will be waiting to get shipped out to school. This is all I can think of to write now as there isn’t much to talk about. The kid from Wild Rose just came in and is reading the Argus. The guys from Waushara County sure get a kick out of that paper. Tell your Ma to keep sending it. I will have to close now with love and kisses to the dearest wife in the world, from your soldier Ralph.
PS – Let me know when you go back to your folks’ place. RP
Notes: Note sure how much Dad thought Bonny would have grown in a week.