TRANSCRIPT
V-MAIL DATED 4-18-44
Dear mom,
Just a few lines tonight to let you know I’m allright and I’m still somewhere in Northern Ireland. I haven’t been in any devilment since I’ve been here and I like it fine.
I received a letter today from you and sister that was marked March 30th and really was glad to hear from you and I hope you’re feeling much better now.
I would like for you to send me some candy every time you get a chance to. (I’d like about a five lb. box.) It is hard to get here. I think you can only mail 5 lbs. so that’s why I put the amount. I don’t want that much all at once.
My fountain pen is really a good one. I filled it in N.Y. and it’s still half full.
Well I’ll close for now hoping to hear from you real soon. Hope every one is allright at home.
Your loving son,
Earl B. [*]
[*] Readers will recognize that Earl’s middle initial is D, and not B. This is because Earl is attempting to use his middle initial to gradually spell out where he is stationed so that his family knows where he is – something that would usually be censored in such letters. This is the same method that Earl talks about in his letter to his mother on 3-28-44. Earl eventually spells out “Belfast,” as in Belfast, Northern Ireland.