Phil Wood's Letters
Letter #40
At A Time Like This
To Margretta & Gretchen
January 1944
Saturday[1]
Dear Girls
There are all sorts of things a fella thinks of at a time like this – if he gets time to – wondering just what it really is all about – wondering at a social system, set of beliefs that is strong enough to get men to give up their lives for ideals that are so vague – aims that area actually so far away from what we know as reality. And yet a society that is too weak to provide for its own poor and starving in times of depression. I like the way of life that America has to offer[2]
Footnotes
[1] Date unknown. Written on the USMC stationery characteristic of Phil’s Camp Pendleton letters, and similar in tone to the introspective winter of 1943-1944.
[2] This letter breaks off in mid-sentence; it is not known if Phil intended this musing for mailing or if it was sent home with his effects.