Phil Wood's Letters
Letter #48
Expect To Go, Sooner Or Later
To Margretta & Gretchen
3 March 1944
3 March
Dear Girls,
Got a package – Valentine – from Uncle Ham & Aunt Kit containing one (1) foxhole pillow. The thought was wonderful; I wouldn’t be without it for the world – except in combat. Nine-tenths of all things put up especially for servicemen are useless, but expensive.[1]
That is really too bad about Cy – I feel the same as Weyer about it – the boys around me more or less expect to go, sooner or later – or are mentally prepared for it, anyway. But you think of your state-side buddies as being secured where you last saw them – Yale or Swarthmore – and half expect to go back and find them there – I was very fond of Cy.[2]
All my love – I wish I could be home for a week or two, then back out here – but I must be content with your pictures.
Your Phil
Footnotes
[1] “Foxhole pillows” – horseshoe-shaped pads designed to fit inside a helmet for easy carrying – were marketed as ideal gifts for servicemen. Combat troops generally found them to be extraneous impediments, but Phil seems to have enjoyed his in camp.
[2] Little is known about Cy outside of a reference to a visit in May 1943. He appears to have been a civilian friend living in San Diego, and the implication here seems to be that he has died. “Weyer” was perhaps a mutual acquaintance.
