Letter or Postcard – Letter
Sender – Ralph Peterson
Recipient – Phyllis Peterson
Postmark Place – St. Petersburg, Florida
Postmark Date – 3 April 1943
Letter Date – 2 April 1943
Text:
Dearest Phyllis and Bonny,
Here it is the second day of April and I am still quarantined in. I will be put back to work about next Monday or Tuesday, at least I hope so. If nothing else happens I will be shipped out sometime next week. There is still 65 guys in our squadron so I will get to go with someone I know. After tonight the eleven of us in quarantine will be the only ones left in our hotel. The rest of them will be moved to another hotel. It is a beautiful day down here. I am writing this letter on the porch of the second floor sitting on a soft bench in the shade of a palm tree. It really is swell up here now. The only thing to make it perfect is to have you and Bonny right beside me. That’s the reason I would like a picture of you and our baby. It would make me feel more like a Daddy. I didn’t get a letter yet today from you, so I will wait until tonight and finish this. Maybe I will have a letter from you then. I just got back from getting the mail. When I seen I had a registered letter from you I’m telling you honey, I couldn’t hardly open the letter. I was so darned scared that something that happened to you or the baby. When I opened it up I was quite a little relieved, but I’m still awfully worried over you still being sick. About this furlough business…I can’t get one until I get shipped to school, which will be about a week from now. Of course if it is absolutely necessary I can get an emergency furlough. If you need me at home for something you have your mother send a telegram down here saying that you are real bad. If it is possible it would be a lot better if I waited until I get shipped to school. With all that company you had there’s no wonder that you aren’t more sick than you are. That’s an awful pile of people to have over a few days in the condition you are in. If it could be quieter you would feel a lot better. Gosh, honey, take good care of Bonny and yourself as that is the only family I have and I don’t want anything to happen to you. If anything did happen to either of you I guess I would kill myself. I got a letter from my pal who was shipped out last week. Bill Pick is along with them. They are in Camp Lee, Virginia, not much closer to home at that. I’m sorry about not answering that telegram, but when I got it I was almost broke and now that I got some money I can’t get out to send one. I sure am in one hell of a fix. This is about all for now, as I can’t think of much more to write about. Until next time, lots of love and kisses and God bless my wife and baby, Ralph
PS – Take care of yourself.
Notes: Some more of the strange “young Ralph” hyperbole and change of speed here. “I guess I would kill myself. I got a letter from my pal…”