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Today we see two letters written on the same day from G.I. Harry Lowell in New Guinea to his sister Eva in San Francisco – one “business,” and the other personal.
New Guinea
December 16, 1944Dear Eva,
Please have some nice flowers sent to Tillie and Hilda on their birthdays, January 11th and 12th, and be sure to have the cards sent with them.
Enclosed you’ll find a money order and the cards.
If ten dollars aren’t sufficient for two pretty bouquets, please lay out whatever the difference is and I’ll reimburse you by next mail.
Thank you!
Love,
Harry.P.S. Please advise me of Bertha’s birthday in your next letter. I think it is in September.
New Guinea
December 16, 1944Dear Eva,
Today is one of those days on which I get the urge to write a lot of letters. If anything exciting were happening here I would be able to write more letters. As I live a rather colorless life, however, I can put in my letters nothing more interesting than gripes, pipe dreams, weather conditions, etc. I do hope this latest apology for my rare letters sounds plausible to you.
I received your air mail letter of November 18, and after reading it, came to the conclusion that your handwriting is getting to the point of illegibility – (not that I have any room to talk). I suggest that we found a society or club that’ll carry on the custom of cryptic correspondence. You, Hilda, and myself will be the originators of said club; shall we call the club “Knights of the Dainty Pen”? (Any suggestions for an appropriate name are welcome.)
Now that I am through insulting, I’ll turn to the news; I’ll leave a little space below in the event something interesting happens while I write this letter:
You see, my letters are bound to be uninteresting. I finally decided to enroll in the Armed Forces Institute and am taking a correspondence course at present. There are about sixty or so courses available and I plan to fill the time between now and the end of the war with going through all those courses (It’s a long war!)
The course I am working on now appealed to me at the time of course selection; I thought the subject would be very interesting and educational and furthermore the title of the course suggested the course to be more or less a snap. It’s “Waterworks and Sewage Plant Operation.” (Sounds simple, doesn’t it?) Well, the course includes: Principles of Mechanics, Hydromechanics, Pneumatics, Chemistry, Sanitary Chemistry, Sanitary Bacteriology, etc. After completion of that course I should make an expert “Latrine Orderly,” don’t you think?
I can see it now – right next to such trademark slogans as: Body by Fisher, Fixtures by Westinghouse, Design by Schiaparelli, etc., will be my trademark, outstanding in reputation: “Superior Latrines by Lowell!” (Thank you.)
One of the other reasons for my becoming so studious all of a sudden is that I want to get used to a good system of studying which will be most important to me after the war. In view of the strenuous program in my postwar plans, my system of studying must be a fast and efficient one, so that I can get enough sleep during this “Spartan existence.” In case I did not tell you, I plan to attend the Davis Agricultural University. I hope Hap Williams [?] of the Triangle Produce Co. can use a good man for night work; it would be a nice setting, indeed, because the University is about half an hour’s drive from Sacramento. I would appreciate any suggestions and comments that you have in reference to my plans. As far as dissuading me from my intentions, there is no use doing so.
As Lt. Col. Good, my commanding officer, would say: “This is the way it’s got to be, there ain’t no other way!” (unquote) (Ain’t I the one, though?)
“Knowest Thou the Land where the Coconuts grow…..? I have been here for almost a year and it’s been nine months since I ate a coconut. I bet there are a lot of people in this world who would like to have some coconuts and cannot get them. On the other hand there are very many people over here that would like to get some fresh milk and can’t get it. Probably some dairy strikers in L.A. are pouring hundreds of gallons of milk out on the streets; but most probably all surplus milk is being dehydrated – and that doesn’t do us any good, does it?
(How did this last paragraph get into this letter, anyhow?)
I am enclosing negatives of three snapshots; get enough prints made to distribute. I would appreciate your sending me two prints of each. I hope you haven’t forgotten to heed my request for 6-20 films. (Modest, that’s me!)
That’s quite a solution you have arrived at in regards to staying away from the Army Nurse Corps; rather dramatic, isn’t it? However, I am glad you are heeding my advice. (But don’t resort to that drastic measure you mentioned if you can help it, ha, ha!)
I saw the picture “Dragonseed” the other day and I thought it was very good, indeed. I also saw another pretty good picture, “Saratoga Trunk.” How was the performance of “The Merry Widow” this last time? What have you been doing in regards to diversion lately? How was the opera season?
How is Paul? Let me know what he has to say about my postwar plans.
Well, that’s all for today, sister. Give my kindest regards to all.
I remain your loving brother,
HarryP.S. I hope you have a nice Christmas.
In this letter we see that Harry missed his calling — he should have gone into advertising! In addition to information about Fisher in the link above, there is a PBS documentary called Body by Fisher.
Soldiers seem to have had access to the latest movies. Dragon Seed came out in 1944, and according to IMDB, Saratoga Trunk came out in 1945, the year after this letter was written.
In addition to the references to popular culture, Harry throws in a take-off on a quote by Goethe from Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship: “Knowest Thou the Land where the lemon trees bloom…” which he will quote again in a letter almost a year later (see October 13th post).
Perhaps the “drastic measure” Harry refers to is that his sister will be getting married in January 1945.
In the letter we saw in the October 27th post, Harry wrote about his post-war plan to lead a “Spartan existence” as he earned a college degree. He did not mention the idea of studying agriculture at Davis or to go back to the Triangle Produce Co., where he had worked in summers and after high school graduation before joining the army. I always had the sense from Harry that he had no desire to have anything to do with his California relatives’ business. However, at this time, he and his sister were considering all possibilities of making a good living so they would be able to bring their parents to the United States after the war, and to support them once they arrived.