Notice of Change of Address This is to advise you that my correct address now is:
1st Lt. William P. Hearn Jr 0-1695797
1st Auxiliary Surgical Group APO #517
New York, N.Y.
Hi! Please give the new APO number to anyone who might be interested. We arrived safely in England, though I find it hard to keep in mind. I continue to feel as though I’m still in the northeastern US. The country generally looks peaceful- and beautiful- but I’m going to have to learn all the British airplanes now. I guess I’ll write you a letter one of these days when I catch up on my sleep (5000 miles of traveling is quite a trip- with the Army). Remember me to Toots + Willy + everybody.
Love B
Hi,
We haven’t had any specific censorship instructions yet so I won’t tell you anything except that we are approaching the end of a boat trip, which has been remarkably smooth most of the time. Starting about 24 hr ago the ship has done some of the fanciest rolling I have ever seen. At breakfast today, Janson fell out of his chair + slid halfway across the dining room while dishes flew off tables + shelves + most of the milk + coffee poured off on the floor + sloshed back + forth + a number of biscuits went rolling side to side. Afterward the waiter said he’d give us some more coffee “as soon as he could find the coffee pot”.
The trip has not been unpleasant, but a loaded troopship is something to see. Janson + I have been running a dispensary which is an agreeable break in the monotony.
I’m mailing this on the boat on the chance that you might get it sooner that way (but I doubt it).
Love B
Saturday afternoon
Hi,
Please excuse me if I don’t write to you every day. For one thing there is very little to tell you about, and for another I don’t think the mail is being sent out regularly.
We don’t do much now but sit around + read or talk or play poker or solitaire. It’s probably a good thing I never learned to play poker. On the train coming here Titus won $300 one day + then the next thing I knew Durno had collected $400. Of course they don’t all play that way- only majors + colonels can afford to. I spent several hours in a game of hearts (no money) but otherwise I have confined myself to solitaire.
There’s a fellow from Baltimore here who knows Mr. Batson. He isn’t sure, but he thinks he has met “Batsy”. What in the world is Batsy’s first name?
I see by the paper that you are having right snappy weather there, too. We have the stove going now + it is very welcome in the morning. This is certainly a gorgeous day, as most days have been since we hit the East.
Last night we went to the movies and saw the “Phantom of the Opera”. It has gorgeous technicolor and very nice music in it. And I don’t think it is as creepy as the old Lon Chaney version. Tonight we will probably see the “Fallen Sparrow”.
(Later)
We did. It’s not a bad picture.
The boys here at this post all act as if they were going to a football game. I never heard so much whooping + hollering as there was around here this evening. It’s wonderful.
I’d like to know how much vanilla ice cream disappears here in day. In the evening the PX’s, of which there are many, sell it, by the pint, as fast as they can pass it over the counter + drop the 20 cents in the cash register. A gallon must last about two minutes in one PX. It’s no wonder civilians can’t get it.
That’s about all I can think of to tell you except that I don’t enjoy this incarceration a bit. I don’t enjoy being separated from you at all, but being so close without being able to see you is tantalizing. Someday I am going to come home + stay a long time. I’m mighty near to being homesick here, which I never was in Texas. Distance lends enchantment only up to a certain number of miles, apparently. Home is far more enchanting when it is within visiting distance. However, I can imagine that from the other side of an ocean, it might very likely be doubly enticing.
Sunday morning
The guy that invented the “SERVA carton” for cold cereal ought to be given the Legion of Merit or something. They use those damn stainless steel trays here, the ones with six depressions of various sizes + shapes to hold the food. They make very efficient radiators of heat, being capable of cooling scrambled eggs on a chilly morning faster than any other known device. Also the depressions are only about ¾ “ deep, which is no good for soup + cereal. But these boxes, in case you haven’t seen them, are made so one of the broad sides opens + they are lined with wax paper so that you can pour milk into it + eat right out of the box.
Did I tell you that both my watch and our alarm clock have started to run fast since we came up north? The watch must gain nearly a minute a day and the clock at least two minutes. In S.A. I didn’t have to set the watch oftener than once a month (after the weather got hot) + the clock maybe once a week.
The toll-house cookies came the other day and were in an excellent state of preservation. I’ve had so much to eat in the last couple of weeks that I’m getting fat again, I think.
Well, I have to go see Bob Layton pretty soon, so I’ll sign off for the present. Take care of yourself + Toots + Willy.
Love B
Thursday evening
Dearest,
Please believe me. I certainly felt sorry for you. Imagining myself in your place did nothing to cheer me up. The Army has surely given you a couple of tough breaks. If it makes you feel a little less downtrodden, I can tell you that I know of at least two other wives you were caught the same way you were, except that one lives in Providence + the other somewhere in Massachusetts. Which made it worse for them.
I hope Bob got home as planned. That as least brightened up the end of your day. But I’ll bet he’s only half as glad to get home as I would have been, (if I had had access to a 24 hr pass) I’ve been dreaming about you every night- which is unusual. I got your Monday letter today. It seems to take mail about as long to get here as S.A. , but I’m afraid air mail wouldn’t help this time. Hang on to the pillow until I send for it. The pipe arrived yesterday and is very nice. We’ll see if it’s breakable. They won’t take it back now, anyway- it’s been smoked too much. The brownies were wonderful- much better than any you sent to S.A. – partly no doubt because they were fresher, but I think also you did a better job cooking them.
After eight months at the FSH Country Club, I’m just beginning to feel as if I was really in the Army. The morale around here is something to marvel at. Janson + I went to the movies tonight (“Destroyer”) which included “The War #10” + a newsreel, + the boys found so many things to shout about that there were lots of times when you couldn’t hear the show. This is the marchingest place you ever saw. There are squads + platoons + columns going every which way all the time, but the guys don’t look as if it was just a painful job to get through with as little effort as possible. They do it with a certain amount of style, + like to show off, and when they are not marching at attention they are apt to sing. It’s very encouraging. My noisy room-mate had a detail this afternoon, so I slept from 1:00 to 5, which wasn’t too bright- I don’t want to go to bed now. First time I’ve been really caught up since before we left Texas. So that will be all for tonight. Remember me to Toots. Regards to Willy.
Love B X
Monday evening
Dear Marty,
Did I really see you yesterday? It was wonderful, but doesn’t seem real. Sort of a dream with a bad ending. I hope it can be repeated, so I’ll believe it really happened. However, I won’t be able to get out as planned. Maybe Saturday night or Sunday, it can be fixed up. I’ll call you, if so. I’m OD tonight, as usual. There have been two patients in + judging from others experiences, I wouldn’t be surprised if that was all for the night. I slept wonderfully last night, but I seem to be as sleepy as usual again tonight. Looks as if it would take awhile to catch up, if I ever do. This snappy weather makes it more noticeable too. Not having seen a real rainy day since I was home last. I hardly appreciate it properly but I do agree with the permanent residents that yesterday was gorgeous. See! I almost forgot. I’m not supposed to talk about the weather, but since we were both in N.Y. yesterday, I guess I can’t do much harm to talk about that weather.
It’s funny. I hadn’t seen you for two months, but being with you yesterday was such a natural state of affairs, that it didn’t seem remarkable at all at the time. Now that it’s over, I realize how wonderful it was. You fit like an old shoe, you see. I don’t appreciate it until I lose it. Isn’t that nice?
I read about the fire in the morning paper + it’s a good thing that (a) you didn’t wait to take the 10 o’clock train + (b) the express company got my foot-locker delivered (if it was ever there). Eventually, I guess, Broad St. Sta. + all it’s appurtenance will burn down + after a couple more fires (20 yrs apart) they can build Penna. Blvd. where the Chinese Wall used to be.
One present you can get me sometime is a writing portfolio, if they are mailable. It should be one that will hold paper and envelopes of any size + shape (not one with a built in tablet or a tablet that must be a certain size), and one that will make a suitable support for writing on the knee. Some of the guys have rather nice ones of heavy canvass, but I’ve never see such a one for sale. They usually seem to be awful fancy things of embossed leather for $5 or more, or else they are like this one found in the PX today- perfect design, but made of cardboard- 30 cents. The CQ on duty here tonight is from Lewiston, Me. He certainly talks beautiful.
They have plenty of movies here, but so far I haven’t found a suitable opportunity to go. I am either too sleepy, or I have something else to do.
I made a very nice connection after I left you yesterday. Undoubtedly, I could have stayed with you a little longer, but it would have been shaving things pretty close. As it was I had time to eat supper- not that I was hungry, but I managed to stuff down a liverwurst + cheese sandwich just to be sure I’d last until morning. I lasted, all right, but it’s too much like getting up at Dodd Field in February. I got three letters from you today including the income tax thing + Toots’ letter. Also another income tax thing that wants to know the date I filed my return last year. I am going to tell them to ask you if they must know. Keep the home fire burning. I hope I can see you again in a few days. I aim to call you tomorrow evening, anyway.
Love B
Friday evening
Dear Marty,
It’s a long way from Texas, because here I sit and almost shiver. One of these days they may let us traipse into New York for the evening + most of the night. Or they may not.
They have kept us fairly busy today with "processing”- that is having our teeth looked at again, having our pictures taken again, checking equipment, filling out questionnaires, etc., etc. And those who have been helping with the administration have been working day + night almost. When this is over we may be able to get out once in a while or we may not.
We have a fairly decent mess here with regular Army prices (70 cents a day). They greeted us on arrival with a wonderful dinner of steaks + everything including ice cream for dessert, + since then the meals have been tolerable to good. There’s nothing wrong with our appetites in this bracing eastern air.
I sure did sleep the first night here. You know how I usually turn off the alarm practically as soon as it starts. But that morning, the first thing I knew Oscar Turner, who lives a couple of rooms away, was holding the clock by my ear asking me how to turn the damn thing off.
My roommate until tonight was your old friend Maj. Barrett, who is very entertaining until you get tired of him (which I wasn’t). But they moved him up to live with the high command + sent down Capt. Minder, a new one that nobody likes. Apparently he doesn’t like us much either, because he dropped his stuff in here + we haven’t seen him since. Half of the majors are in this barrack, along with Lt. Janson, Barreras, Borzilleri, Calabrese, + Matthews. It’s all purely accidental including the collection of troops, who don’t associate with each other any more than with others. Altogether, except for Minder, it’s a very congenial group.
Maj. Charley Hoffman is next door. He lives in Plainfield + is planning to go there if + when possible, and I hope to go with him if + when he does. It might not workout though, because those who live in “the immediate area” will get first crack at passes. I don’t know just where the area ends, however.
The scenery here is very pretty, especially after the Texas mesquite. They have real trees and they are wonderful. And you can walk through the weeds and not worry about chiggers or ticks, or rattlesnakes, or coral snakes, or copperheads, or scorpions or anything else. Also there aren’t mosquitos, apparently, which surprises me. And the only people who talk Texan are in the Army.
This APO number is temporary but you use it. If we leave here I think mail will be forwarded with very little delay. At any rate it won’t have to go to Texas and back. Regards to your Ma + Pa + Toots + Willy.
Love B
In an attempt to share the wonderful letters between Gammie & Pop Pop, or Mother & Daddy, or Dr. WPHearn Jr. & MBHearn... I have created this blog.
Disclaimer: This was 100% my mom's idea. That being said, I think it could prove to be a great platform to read the letters and share your thoughts. I will try to keep them in some kind of order but I make no promises! :) I hope you all relish these letters as I have. Each usually begins and ends as a love letter (my favorite) and inbetween is a mishmash of daily routines and events. With each letter and some help from Google, I learn something new. Hopefully, you will love them as I do.
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Notice of Change of Address This is to advise you that my correct address now is: 
