Lucile has been spreading Christmas cheer to Johnnie. On December 3, 1944, he wrote back to let her know that he had received her packages and had sent her some Christmas money.
My Dear Darling,
I received two letters from you today, also a box of nuts from your Mother. I am going to write her as soon as I finish this to you and thank her. I hope this finds you well in health and doing alright back there at home. Business must be picking up where you work being that you are training some more girls to run the machine. Am I right? I sent you a hundred dollars yesterday. I am sure you need it being that you won’t spend the checks you get every month. I am sending this to you to buy things for yourself and that’s just what I want you to do with it. Honey, I hope you have a good Christmas. All the packages I have received in the last week is making it not so bad here for me being that I am so far away from home. The day I get back home and being with you once more will be a present for me for life. And to prove to you a lot of things. I haven’t heard from Irwin in a good while now. Do you know whether Vergia or Edna ever received the letter I wrote them? I guess by the time you get this letter Nell will have the baby. I bet it a girl, Ha Ha. But I hope it’s a boy. That’s what we need to take care of us later on in years. Don’t you think? And I guess she and Bob was thinking the same things. I am glad to hear Earl got deferred for awhile. I guess Earl knows what he is doing about getting married. The way you say they carry on about each other. No reason why they shall not make a go of it. Of course, him going in the service makes a lot of difference. Well honey, I will have to close for now. I miss you a lot and I love you a million.
Always, Johnnie. God bless you.
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Nell and her husband Robert |
On December 4, 1944, Johnnie wrote a V-mail to Lucile, sharing news about Forest Tubbs—a fellow soldier and friend from Shelby, Tennessee. Forest was heading home, a casualty of battle after serving 13 months with the Fifth Army in Italy. A mortar blast had left him with 10 painful pieces of shrapnel embedded in his body. Forest’s actions included fighting in the Battle of Rome and seeing combat on the Gothic Line for which he received the Combat Infantryman Badge, the Good Conduct Medal, and a Purple Heart.
My Dear Wife,
Just a few lines to let you know I am well and hope with all my heart that this finds you well and OK. Honey, you remember Forrest Tubbs? The guy I had a picture made with him? It’s a small picture I sent you a good while back. Well, the last time we were up on the front, he got wounded and he wrote me from the hospital where he is at the present and said he was going back to the States. He got hit two or three times. One place was in the hand, so bad he said that he was sure that he wouldn’t be able to use it right any more. I really will miss him. But I guess he’s lucky he wasn’t hurt as bad as he was. He sure seems to be happy about going back home. Who over here wouldn’t be? Well honey, I guess this is all the news for this time. So, I will close. God bless you. I miss you a lot and I love you a million.
Always, Johnnie
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Pfc. Forest Tubbs |
Amid war, simple acts of kindness carry immense weight. Johnnie wrote Lucile on December 7, 1944 and shared how a family friend had sent him a package. As he wrote, he conjured images of loved ones back home—a practice likely repeated by countless soldiers seeking solace amidst the distant battlefields.
My Dear Darling
I received two letters tonight, one from you and one from Dot. Sure was glad to hear from you. I was beginning to think you was sick and wasn’t able to write. Say, in this letter from you, you were telling me about how your jaw was swollen from having a tooth pulled and that you had another one to come out. You better take care of your teeth or before you know it, you won’t have any, Ha Ha. Yes, my teeth are OK now. I still have them all and had them fixed up while I was back at the hospital. Of course, I can’t take care of them over here like I should, but when I do have time, I do my best to take care of them. You say Dot and little Carol are spending the night with you and Nell. I can just picture all of you together in the front room and I guess Dot is cutting up like she always did when I was home and she came to see us. And you curled up in a chair watching her take on, Ha Ha. Say, in Dot’s letter she said Nell was smoking. I guess all three of you still hide them when Mom Stacks comes around, right, Ha Ha. I guess Nell will be a mother by the time you get this. Has she had any trouble lately? Tell her I’m pulling for her. Honey, a couple of days ago I received a package from a Mrs. A. E. Green who lived there in Atlanta. She lived on St. Louis Pl. I guess she’s a friend of Dad and his wife if I remember. I think they wrote me and told me a friend of theirs was sending me a package. Anyway, I wrote and thanked her. That was pretty nice, don’t you think? A person sending a package to a guy she doesn’t even know or anything about him. Say, those pictures I sent of me and a buddy of mine sometime ago, did you ever have them painted? If you did you never wrote and told me. I would like to see a picture of me just before I came into the Army, and look at it, then look into a mirror and just see how much I have changed. I know I look a lot older than my age. Well honey, I will have to close. Tell Doc and Mom Stacks I said hello and the kids also. And God bless all of you. I miss you a lot and I love you a million.
Always, Johnnie
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Lucile’s sisters, Dot and Nell Stacks |
Johnnie wrote Lucile a letter on December 10, 1944, sharing news about a box of pecans his father had sent him. While he appreciated the thoughtful gesture, Johnnie secretly wished it had been a box of candy instead.
My Dear Darling,
Just a few lines to let you know I am OK. I hope and pray that this finds you in the best of health, and the rest of the family the same. I received another package today from Dad and his wife. It was a box of pecans. I wrote and told you about receiving a box from your Mother, didn’t I? Well I wasn’t expecting any more nuts and I thought this box had candy in it. But I got fooled, Ha Ha. I wouldn’t mind so much nuts if they were already shelled. I am getting pretty lazy, aren’t I. Well, as you know I never did go for nuts much anyway. Getting them was something different though. I have just got back from a church meeting. I really enjoyed it. Something I never thought much about as you know when I was back home. I hope I am not too late. I am going to have to make this short this time because there nothing to write about this time. Tell Doc and Mom Stacks I said hello. I miss you a lot and I love you a million. Always. God bless you.
Johnnie
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