Letter 38    From Fort Monmouth, New Jersey

(United States Army stationary)
 

Ft. Monmouth, N.J.
14 October 1943

Dear Mom, Dad and All:-

     We're all snug in our beach home now and quite happy with the place.  I imagine Eve's already described it to you so you have an idea, anyway, of what it's like.  I'll take some pictures of it and send them on to you.  We buy our groceries at the commissary and it sure saves us some money.  Bread is three (cents) a loaf, beef 22 (cents) a pound, pork 23 (cents), chicken 38 (cents), bacon 25 (cents), and other prices correspondingly low.
     The fellow and his wife we are staying with are okay, too.  The have a 1941 Ford convertible coupe so we can get back and forth to the Fort okay.  I guess if it wasn't for that we'd be in a single room, as all the houses near the bus lines seem to be rented for the duration.
     It was sure good to see Eve after a months separation.  I sure didn't know her right off, after her Americanization.  She and her uncle met me at the subway and she wore the corduroy dress and black hat.  Wow!  Sure shook me.  She sure looks like a million in the new coat, too.  Her aunt and uncle were delighted with her, too, her uncle being especially proud of her.  We had a fine week-end there, and are going up there again this Saturday for a bit of a party.  Eve is going to stay a couple of days as her uncle is going to have an operation or just a rest in the hospital next week.  There's something wrong with his legs.  Nothing serious, though.  Since we may be leaving here in a month, Eve thouqht, we might not get back this way again, so she'd have a few days with them while there was a chance.  I still don't know where I'll go from here.
     This is some mixed up letter, but I've been listening to "The Aldrich Family" while I'm writing.  Eve is writing to her mother on the kitchen table.  The other couple has gone out for a walk.
     Our address here is 1129 Ocean Ave. Long Branch, N.J. You can write to us here instead of at the Fort.
     I got my ration books yesterday.  There was one shoes coupon on it, good until the 30th of Oct., so, of course, Eve was tickled, because she wants a pair of brown shoes.
     Well, I've about reached my limit so I'll sign off for now.  We're both very happy now that we're together again and hope to stay that way for quite a while now.  Hope you're all okay. Tell Jerry to write to Eve occasionally,
Pete, too.

Cheerio for now.

Love.

Thatch




Photo from Fort Monmouth, NJ of Bob Mattison, Edward, and Louis Davis. Edward had travelled from England to the U.S. with these two men and they were all stationed at Ft. Monmouth
Army Photo of the men that attended the Officers Basic Military Training Course that Edward was in - Sept. 11, 1943