April 12, 1945. From Bill to his wife. Letter 5 of 6.

On the day of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s death and mere weeks before the war in Europe would end, Bill writes from base with sunshine on his face from California, pride in his promotion to Torpedoman 3rd Class, and a quiet ache for the wife he misses more each day.

Read on for a heartfelt glimpse into one man’s war-era hope, hard work, and longing for home wrapped in a letter that says as much between the lines as it does on the page. Letter 5 of 6 in this series.

12 April 1945

Hi honey —

Here I am again. Boy the weather is swell out here. Mold sun is out, pretty as hell. No mail for two days. I wonder what the matter? It’s getting sorta lonesome. I don’t mind one day but two days is going too far. How’s my mail coming thru? Good I hope.

Job’s going good as ever. Cleaned the joint up so spic and span that we even got complimented for it by the inspection officers this morning. That puts us in good with the barracks chief.

Passed the TM 3/c okay with 3.5 average out of a possible 4.0. All we’re waiting for is the official notice now. I’ve bought my rating badges all ready and I’ll sew them on as soon as it’s official.

Yep! Torpedomen 3rd class. Boy we’re lucky to fall in this rate edge. Some guys in our barracks have been in more than 17 months with nearly most of it at sea and they’re still seamen 1st. But they are off a ship so they can’t be rated ’till the complement is full. We are lucky. Only 10 months and 3rd class already. That’s going pretty good!

Well honey I’ll let you know when to start adding TM 3/c to my name and it’ll be soon.

Remember honey I love you and miss you more than ever. I really do and am waiting for June to roll around — 

Love + kisses, 

Bill