WW2 Chapter 47 - A Letter to his Father (November 18, 1944)

Letter of November 18, 1944

11/18/44

Dear Dad,

     Have received, in the last several days, your letters of Sept. 29th, Oct. 16th, 23rd, and 27th.

     The other day, one of the guerillas [native fighters] showed me a rifle that he had made -- from a pipe. The firing pin was controlled by an elastic. It was made for standard 12 gauge ammo.

     The dress of the Filipino is steadily improving. The G.I.’s are responsible for much of this -- thru various trade agreements. Their clothing consisted largely of goods made from a type of burlap. Thru Japanese arrangements, a dress or shirt could be had for 500 pesos ($250). Their pay was 1 peso per day (50c). They wear no shoes; -- and the little boys wear no pants -- just a “shirt” -- but their modesty seems to be a thing of the past, anyway.

     Am now in possession of a Filipino bolo knife -- traded it for a suit of underwear, and C-ration biscuit. Haven’t yet tried to shave with it. They are used mainly for cutting coconut, bamboo, and such -- and for disposing of Japanese.

     Have unfortunately lost my engineer’s knife (combination screw driver, can opener, punch, bottle opener, etc.). It had been extremely useful many times.

     We have had no packages for many months -- since we were in Hawaii -- so naturally the knife you sent hasn’t been received.

     Was issued another new pair of shoes -- those others certainly didn’t last long.

     The natives have been supplying us with a reasonable amount of bananas. They are much smaller, and not so tasty as those on the outside -- but they’re good.
~~~~~
Much love,

Franklin

Poem by Franklin's Mother

Interestingly, during the war, Franklin's father reportedly had a small ice skating shack moved from Lake Elise to a large field across from their house on South Street. After working at the Bristol Company during the day, he would often spend nights there keeping watch for possible German warplanes flying overhead. Remnants of the concrete supports from the original structure, probably put there by his Uncle Will, can still be seen along the northwest side of Lake Elise.