Capt. T.G. Leske
71st Infantry
APO44
Fort Lewis, Wash.
12-08-42 (postmarked Corvallis, Oregon)
Miss Jane Axtell
538 S. Normandie
Los Angeles, California
(Note – this letter is on Fort Lewis letterhead)
Monday Nite
Hello you delightful screwball! (Shakespeare is twirling in his grave)
This is not a letter but a weather announcement. Its been raining like hell now for weeks. Came down to Salem last Tuesday, stayed there a few days in a sea of mud with tents for islands of refuge with leaking canvas, smoking stoves, and drafts. Am now in Camp Adair, near Corvallis, wherever that is, and have had a continual damp on since arriving. You can have your Oregon mist. Unusual weather – never cold, no snow, light rain. Yahoo!
You said all you need to make you feel content is a fireplace, rain on the roof, a good book, a tall drink. I, too, feel the scene except for me make the good book a blonde, brunette, a redhead.
Am now a traveling dentist. I got a so called mobile clinic which is nothing but a small cottage on a truck. No heat, no light, no equipment, no nothing. Going out to the coast next week and travel from Newport north and then back to Salem again. My lieutenant has one also and he will probably pass thru your home town as he has been assigned the coast from Newport south.
Your haunt(?) is very interesting but I enjoy the other snapshot better once I let my imagination take hold.
Look, I didn’t mean to write near this much so – good night and sweat dreams.
Remember
Ted