Authors

Mary Metcalfe

Document Type

Personal Letter

Transcription

[Transcription begins]

P. S. This letter has been written on many different days as you will find out. Hope it is not too confusing. At last finished this letter on Jan. 14th.

Dearest Mommie,

Well, here we are finally en route. We have been on our way for five days now and so far I have not missed a meal. The first few days I felt not so good at times but I have managed to keep going. The trick is to keep eating so you don’t get seasick. This is a bit difficult to do since we have only two meals a day. I eat at the second sitting which is at 9 o’clock and at 7 o’clock.

You should see the setup we have here on the ship. There are 24 of us in a cabin about the size of my room. We sleep in double decker bunks. I have the top bunk in a corner right in a port hole. I keep a blanket draped over the port hole to keep the draft off of me. The girl who sleeps under me is Isabelle Messenger. She is very attractive. Her husband was in the air corps + was killed in June. I don’t know the details. She is such a nice girl. Right across from us is Sally Peters in the top bunk + Nancy Orr in the bottom, both attractive girls. Nancy’s father is Princeton ’12. She lives in Chicago + the Asa Wallaces are her cousins.

Isabella’s + my suitcase + musette bags + helmets are under her bunk. The space between our two sets of double decker bunks is about 6 ft. by 2 ft. In this space is a wash stand, a little cabinet on each side of the wash stand, a waste basket, a suitcase stand, a few slippers + other odds + ends. The water is turned on in the morning from 7:15 to 8 + in the evening from 5:15 to 6. In this small space there are always at least six of us getting dressed, washing, brushing teeth, + trying to put on make up. It is really very funny + you wouldn’t believe it was possible if you didn’t see it. In the cabin we have a lavatory with a bath tub in it. I have had a couple of nice hot salt water baths in it. That water in the bath tub is always on. I had no idea that a hot salt water bath could feel so good.

I just discovered that Sally Peters is from Hampton, Va. That is where Mrs. Love is from. Sally says her brother was quite a beau of Lucy’s.

Frances Reyburn is in this same cabin but on the other side from us. She was quite seasick and stayed in her bunk for the first few days.

On Christmas Eve day Phil, Tibby, Helen Wilbur + I went to the movies in N. Y. They went to Radio City + I found “This is the Army” so I saw that since I had already seen the other. We shopped a bit, went to where we had some eggnog just to get a bit of Xmas spirit. After dinner Helen + I went over + were fortunate in getting box seats to “Winged Victory.” It was very good. Then we went to St. Bartholomews to the Xmas eve service. It was packed + jammed + very difficult to see what the church even looked like. Christmas was like any other day. I never did feel a bit like Christmas all during Dec. It’s too bad my box didn’t get to me. I had hoped I could put the contents in my foot locker. I imagine the package was sent back home again. I hope it gets to me someday. In your next letter you might let me know what I did get for Xmas.

There is a Mary Nichols in our cabin from Kansas City. She knows Julia Tomlinson, Henrietta Lammert, + the Wittigs. She also went to Vassar, ’28. She is very nice, not very attractive looking.

We were some fancy looking group when we were ready to go. All of us in full regalia. We wore overcoats, steel helmets, pistol belts on which hang our canteen + first aid kit (we carried our mess kits in our musette bags), + our gas masks we wear on the opposite side from our musette bags. Take a look again at Mrs. Bagnell’s pictures of Muffie + you can imagine what our group looked like all lined up + marching off.

While I think of it, tell Grannie that I am wearing my St. Christopher medal on the silver chain I bought for my dog tags.

From what Jack Huyler said I thought that I might run into Coulter but so far I have not. I may run into Bill Weld somewhere along the line if he is right about what he said.

Mary Payson, Virginia Force + Maggie Cassell are with us but in different cabins. Most of my Allerton House friends are not here but we expect to meet them again soon; you ought to call up Mrs. Force. I think it is J. L. Force on Clemens. Virginia always seems to gather more information than anyone else.

Both Xmas + New Years were non existent as far as we were concerned. On New Years Eve we were all in bed + asleep. We have one distinction however of having left in 1943 + and not landing until 1944.

As I told you in my cable I am visiting London. It is a bad sight to see damage done here by bombs. Isabelle Messenger, Jane Philips, Marjorie Williams + I went to see “Time to Dance” a musical comedy. It was very amusing. You should see us try to find our way around in the black out + a black out here is no joke. There is no light + it is almost impossible to find your way places knowing nothing about the city.

You will be interested to know that I have gone into Clubmobile now. I have no idea where I shall be from time to time, and when I find out I cannot tell. Censorship is very strict both on my letters and on any coming to me. If my letters don’t seem to tell you as much as you would like it is because we must be so careful not to say anything we shouldn’t.

You will be glad to hear that in Clubmobile we wear a visor hat just like the one to my striped suit with the slacks + jacket. The color is RAF (1) blue, a very pretty color.

The underground system here is wonderful. It is much simpler than N. Y. Everything is marked so plain that you can’t make a mistake and get on the wrong subway as I did in N. Y.

Sally Peters + I hope to be together in Clubmobile but we may not be. Jane Phillips, Marjorie Williams, Jan Diefendorf + Pat Blaisdell are also in Clubmobile.

I can just hear May saying “I told you so” when I tell you about our experiences with bedbugs on the ship. About every other morning Isabella + I would wake up with a few bites. We seemed to have more than anyone although a few other girls got one or two. The girls almost had hysterics though on the second or third morning when I took my sheet off my bunk to shake it out. As I went to put it back I looked on the mattress + saw a couple of little black things + exclaimed “I wonder what these cloves are doing here.” Sally Peters said “What do you mean cloves!” As you no doubt have already guessed, they were rat tracks. I am glad to say we never did see any mice or rats, but then we never saw the bbs. there was no question about their being about.

Well, you never know what experiences you will run into next.

Write me all the news. You might send me Davie’s address. If you hear of anyone over here find out their APO numbers + I might be able to find them.

I shall write as often as I can. It will not be so newsey as before since I can’t say as much. So far no mail has caught up with me. I imagine it will be along soon.

Lots + lots of love to you and everyone.

P. S. Had a few permanent curls at the back of my head, yes-today, so now I am all set to get out in the field, also bought some WAC field shoes today. (We are going to learn to make doughnuts + drive a truck in a few days.

(1) RAF is Royal Air Force of Great Britain.

[Transcription ends]

Download

Share

COinS