Letter or Postcard – Letter
Sender – Ralph Peterson
Recipient – Phyllis Peterson
Postmark Place – Red Bank, New Jersey
Postmark Date – 26 May 1943
Letter Date – 25 May 1943
Text:
Dearest wife and baby,
How are you tonight, sweetheart, and little Bonny girl, too? I hope you are feeling well and are lonesome for me. Are you? If you are as bad as I am then you are pretty bad, but I don’t suppose you like to hear me talk about the same old thing in every letter so I will try and cut it out. No letter from you today but I’m figuring on a nice long one tomorrow. I will get one, won’t I? I hope so, anyway. Promise me one, won’t you honey? It started out to rain again this morning but cleared up around noon. The rest of the day was nice. Tonight it has turned cool – cool enough to have a fire in the stove. We had our first drill out in the woods this afternoon after school. For two hours we had to run drill. Run through woods and wade through water. When we got through they sent us right back the same way we came, so tonight I am kind of tired. Also scratched up somewhat from the bushes. One thing that was nice was there was some wild strawberries around. Boy, did they taste good. I suppose you will be having some up there pretty quick. Right now as I am writing to you a bunch of guys are around my bunk and we are talking about cars. Boy, is there ever a lot of lies going on, and I am telling my share of them. Before you start talking about cars nobody seems to have any but as soon as it starts everybody has the best and the newest ones. I bet I have had about fifty cars the way I’ve been talking. I have been keeping up my side. That present I sent you came back today. It had come back unwrapped so I have to tie it up again and send it again but you will get it within the next two or three days. It will be wrapped up better next time. Tonight I will have time to write to Alvin after I get this one wrote. I think it is about time as I got one from him last week. I think I had better close, honey, as if I don’t I won’t get one wrote to Alvin, so this is all for now. So until tomorrow all my love and kisses to you and baby girl from your daddy.
PS – I think I will time to write to your folks, too.
Notes: Needy Ralph to start with but he realizes it and stops. I can see him stopping to enjoy wild strawberries and I can see him BS’ing about cars with the guys. Pretty sure by this time he had only one car, a 1932 Chevrolet Confederate Coupe with a rumble seat I believe he purchased from his older brother Clarence. I think that was the car he drove Mom around in when they were courting.