The Letter

My Dearest,

Still continuing my “write a letter to the one you love every day and tell her how much you love her” campaign.  Hope you like it.  I love you very, very much my darling.

The sea is a bit rougher today and a few of the follows are seasick.  You’re salty hubby’s stomach is doing a few variations too.  It doesn’t bother me too much though.  One fellow aboard has been laying on the deck ever since leaving port.  He’s too sick to stand up so he thinks.  I remember when I was on the Rodman that I had to drag a kid out of his sack who had been there three days.  When he found out he was still alive, he was half cured already.  Lippy tells me he is very susceptible to seasickness and asked me if I knew a good remedy.  I told him the shady side of a country church was a sure cure, but I don’t know whether he appreciated the humor or not.

This is the first time I’ve been North of the Equator for a year.  Can’t tell a bit of difference when I crossed the line though.  A favorite joke of the not so old timers is to tell the new fellows there is a visible line of different colored water running around the Equator, and have them look for it.  I still have not been initiated a Shellback so it looks as if I’ll be a Pollywog to the end of my days.

We had ham and eggs for dinner today and if there is anything better than ham and eggs, I figure it’s more ham and eggs.  The eggs were slightly burned though which made them very poor eating.  They have an awful taste and odor when they are burned.  Had some mixed canned fruit and bread and butter also.

I’m hoping that I make the next list for flight training but it will be two months yet before it comes out.  If I don’t make that I’m going to try to get some advanced radio training.  I’ve put in a lot of active sea duty and I figure the Navy owes me a little training—If I can get it.

Hope everything is going well with you my dearest although it’s been so long since I have had a letter from you that almost anything could have happened in the meantime.  Don’t imagine my next liberty will be any picnic but maybe I can get a few drinks and do some shopping.  A malted milk would really taste good.  I intend to draw about 50 dollars from my pay as there are several things I have to buy.

Well, I’ll have to close for another day my sweet.  I close with all my love and with the hope that we will be together again soon.

Your Own
Morris

The History

The first Prisoner of War camps in the United states had opened in 1943.  Thousands of Axis POWs were held in the U.S. in accordance with the Geneva Convention.  One of these camps was at Camp Knight near Oakland, California.

One love story that came out of the POWs held at Camp Knight was highlighted by the East Bay Times in 2008.  It can be found at https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2008/09/18/pows-found-paradise-in-east-bay-camps/

The Letter

The History

The USS Waller continues steaming towards a return to the Pacific War Zone.  Working a mid-shift, Radioman 1st Class Morris Anthony found time on this day to write two letters to Helen.

In this first letter, we see the anxiety that comes from the long wait before the battle.  An experienced combat veteran by this point, Radioman Anthony knew what lay ahead.  During the heat of battle, training takes over as you focus on the critical tasks at hand.  But, the routine of camp or shipboard life, permits time for the mind to think about what’s ahead.

The concern may have stemmed from a nighttime air raid between November 17 and 18, 1943.  The USS Waller was part of a force screening U.S. transports and supply ships when 10 Japanese torpedo planes attacked at 0300 on the 18th.  The Dictionary of American Fighting Ships described the battle:

Flares and float lights dropped by the Japanese planes lit up the scene with an eerie light. Destroyer gunfire sent tracer streaks across the night sky, and one “Betty” spun into the sea off the port bow of Pringle (DD-477). Another attacker, roaring in low and fast at 0330, flew into a veritable hail of flak and crashed, trailing flames into the sea astern of Conway (DD-507). The torpedoes launched by the doomed aircraft failed to hit their mark and sped off past the American ships. Two minutes later, however, another “Betty” drew blood from the American force by torpedoing McKean (APD-5), which later sank. When the smoke of battle had cleared, Waller picked up eight Japanese aviators. [1]

The Letter

SOURCE:

1. Dictionary of American Fighting Ships Online. https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/w/waller.html

The Letter

Sweetest One,

Hoping to get mail off the ship tomorrow tho I don’t know whether it will be possible or not.  At any rate I won’t be getting any.  I love you Darling.  We’re having beautiful weather.  A brilliant moon and a sea of black and gold.  Doesn’t it sound romantic?  It would be with you.

Nothing unusual going on.  We’re all plugging along the best we can.  I noticed in the press last night they have discontinued rationing on several kinds of meat.  That must simplify things quite a lot.  It must be quite a battle buying chow everything is rationed.

Guess you know I’m looking forward to having some breakfasts with you later on this year.  Golly I miss you Sweetheart.  You know about that, don’t you?

Had pretty good chow tonight.  We had bologna, cheese, chili, beets, grapefruit juice (tinned) and tinned pears.  We do all right for chow most of the time.  I would like to see a banana again though.  Do you ever get them in the states now?

Guess we had a pretty nice time of it before the war didn’t we?  Will probably never see times like those again but with you I will be very happy regardless of how things are.  Of course a little money makes life run more smoothly doesn’t it?  I now have $250 dollars on the books but I think I may have to draw about $50 of it.  I’m going to need a little money soon.  I’m not counting it as savings though but am saving for the day when I return to the states.  Then we will have some money to travel on or whatever we want to do.  Do you think we would have much trouble getting Pullman reservations to K.C.?  I suppose we would.

Must say Goodnight now Darling.  I love you and I send you an Ocean of kisses.

Lovingly Yours
Morris

The History

In the 1950s, a pre-folded and gummed (the glue on envelopes) paper that self folds into an envelope for air mail would be called an aerogram.  This was done to limit the weight of the letter eventually saving fuel for the aircraft.  In the latter days of World War II, air mail was the quickest method for many Sailors to communicate back home.  To compare the value of sending these letters home to Helen, it cost 1 cent more to mail this letter than to purchase a Phillies cigar from the ship’s store.

The Letter

Since Morris Anthony typed this letter, it is presented in its original form to Helen.  The above photograph shows how it would have arrived to her folded into its envelope form.

The History

Late-April found the USS Waller at anchor in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.  Compared to the stress of warfighting and sailing the south Pacific, the crew while enjoying some well-deserved rest and relaxation.  The evening of April 29, Radioman First Class Morris Anthony went to the movies to see “Bedtime Story.”  “Bedtime Story” was a 1941 film starring Fredric March opposite Loretta Young.  The film was what would now be considered a “romantic comedy.” [1]

Continue reading →

The History

The USS Waller, a Fletcher-class destroyer, was launched from the Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company in Kearny, New Jersey on August 15, 1942 and departed New York on November 31 for service in the South Pacific. [1]

Radioman 1^st Class Morris D. Anthony reported onboard the USS Waller on September 17, 1943. [2]  The veteran sailor, having served on escort duties on the battleship USS New York and on Destroyer Squadron 22 operations on Waller’s sister ships was a good match for the destroyer which had quickly become a combat veteran.  Through the end of 1943 and into 1944, the USS Waller was taking part in operations throughout the Solomon Islands.  During this period, the USS Waller was clashing with Japanese destroyers pressed into service as transports and supply ships.  This use of destroyers to resupply garrisons in the Solomon Islands was known as the “Tokyo Express.” [3]

Throughout the rest of the USS Waller’s participation in the Solomon Campaign, she shelled multiple enemy positions.  The USS Waller had turned to make a port call at Pearl Harbor in early 1944, to give her crew much needed rest and the opportunity to receive mail.

Continue reading →