Dear Mom, Dad and All:-

     I received your V-mail of June 26th this morning, ten days enroute and was glad to hear Little Joe had recovered from his cold, but you made no mention of how Dick was getting on.  Evelyn came down last Friday and will be here for the week.  We went on a picnic Sunday afternoon with the Baldwins and had a fine time and plenty of hill climbing.  Eve wrote you two V-mails and one to Hamiltons so you should have them by now.  I'm up to my ears in work at the moment with a big job on and everybody pouring the heat on it.  You won't be any happier than I will when we can all get together again for an American meal.  I'll even give you a menu, Swiss steak, mashed potatoes, corn on the cob, coleslaw, pumpkin pie with whipped cream, and coffee.  I haven't had any of those over here.  Potatoes are never mashed and the coffee isn't coffee.  Guess I'd add candied sweet potatoes to that list, too.  George does a whole lot better than I since he has American food and cooking as well as Army rations which are more generous than civilian.  However, I'm not losing any weight so I can't complain very much.  I'll continue on another page.

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    I hope you received the V-mail in which I asked you to pick up any bargains you came across in the household and kitchen line.  If they get as scarce over there as they are here, there won't be any by the time we get back.  The things I mean are some cheap dishes, silver, pots and pans, towels, and the like for everyday use, a sort of 5 & 10 shopping tour.  Use your own judgement and tap my allottment for the necessary funds.  Our wedding pictures are on the way as well as some cards and the like.  Hope you have them before long.  From the letters Eve has received from the relatives she thinks they are grand people and looks forward to meeting all of them.  Neither she nor her folks have any fears about her reception in St. Paul.  Incidentally, if it comes about that the war will be over in the near future we are saving the top layer of the wedding cake to take back with us so we can have a regular wedding reception when we get there.  It's fruit cake so it should keep quite a while in a sealed tin.  If not we'll have it on our first anniversary, if it will keep that long.  It's worth a chance anyway even if it is remote.

Cheerio for now.

Tatch