WW2 Chapter 68 - Banana Trees and Foxholes

Letter of March 10

3/10/45

Dear Dad,

    All your pictures have been swell. You've certainly had considerable snow. Liked very much that one of the recording instrument.

    Kind of miss having the Filipino girls working about the wards. They spoke "correct" English, and their attempt to adapt American slang was often rather amusing. Then, too, they wore dresses -- some of which were quite pretty.

    This hospital is spoiling me -- now we've even had an orange.

    Would like to have some American bananas -- even after all those I had in the Philippines. Banana trees are an unusual tree -- they consist entirely of giant leaves -- the largest are perhaps six feet long, and one and one-half wide. It used to get pretty damn cold at night -- and terribly much so when you were wet, or it was raining -- which was practically all the time. I'd cover myself with these leaves -- and it's surprising the amount of "heat" that could be obtained from them. Also used grass -- but I was always too tired to cut it. Course it hardly does much good when your foxhole fills with water. There were nights when I bailed with my helmet, and still couldn't keep the water out -- and it actually overflowed. Then there were other nights in those goddamn rice paddies, where we couldn't dig foxholes.

    They certainly give MacArthur a helluva lot of undeserved credit and publicity. Wonder if he knows how much the soldiers dislike him.
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    Never know quite what should be said on these occasions -- so I'll just say, Happy Birthday Dad!

Much love,

Franklin