I had to work on my salvage certificates this morning, and after I finished that I didn’t have a thing to do. I spent the afternoon making pillow slips out of an old sheet that was brought over from the states. I also wrote a few letters. I was umpiring a ball game and right in the middle of it we had an alert call. We had to go out and dig up 200 mines.
Today is salvage day and I have to take care of it. Not much else happened today. The 3rd platoon & the 2nd platoon played a game tonight and I bet 5 bucks again and won. The score was 7 to 0. I played ball a little and than ran a mile. Wrote a few letters & went to bed.
We started garnishing nets to day and it’s sure a job. Most of the company is working on it. We are going to play the 2nd platoon a ball game tonight and I have 5 bucks bet on the game. Boy what a game it was. We won and I pitched. I allowed only 2 hits and the final score was 2 to 1. After the game I ran a mile, did some exercises, took a shower & went to bed.
We had to clean house today and get our equipment down as light as possible. We will soon be going up to the front and I’m glad. I had to turn in all of our 37 mm guns & ammunition. In the evening or after supper we ran down to the main road with in a mile and then walked back. Later I played chess & fried eggs until bed time.
Dear Mother & Dad;
Here it is Sunday in time for another letter to you both. A told you in my last letter that we were going to play HQ., Co. A ball game today. Well we are but it is this afternoon so, being as we played “C” company a game yesterday I will tell you a little about that game. We just didn’t have it in us yesterday to win. “C” company has a good team and along with the breaks of the ball game, we made six errors, I pitched and lost 4 to 1. I only allowed three hits but like I said the errors just didn’t help none and I made one of them myself. I don’t know but the whole team was off, so maybe we will take it out on HQ Co. this afternoon we had mail call today, and the only letter I received was a letter from “Gee”. The letter had a comical cartoon on it, but she didn’t know how it true it was. Boy have we ever been getting the food to last couple of days. One day chicken and the next day beef, then turn right around and have chicken again today. I doubt if I will ever get to see Paul Wilson, but I don’t think I will be far from Harold Colebert. If you don’t hear from me for awhile don’t worry as I won’t be able to write. I don’t know when I will move but I’m at least glad that we are going to move soon. “Gee” tells me that readers sent you a nice Valentine. I know she would send me one but I never did get it, so I’m just not getting her mail that she is writing to me. Just like the other day I received a Christmas card from Betty McCole’s sister, Dorothy Fuzak, and it was dated December 12, 1942. So you can see the mail is probably someplace, but I’m just not getting it. I seem to be getting all of your mail though, and “Gee’s” too. What all have you and dad been doing? I’ll bet ray an jean were sure happy last Sunday. Don’t forget to send me some pipe cleaners in an envelope once about every two weeks. You cant get them here, and they sure come in handy. Don’t forget now, spend all of the money I sent home if you want to, and I will be mad if you and dad deprive yourself of something when you have my money to spend. I know you both are getting old so have a good time while you can. I’ll be loving you both, goodbye.
Your Son “Chick”
Everyone seem to be going toward the front so I didn’t go to mass this morning. They ran a truck into town but only so many can go. I wrote letters all morning and in the afternoon we played HQ Company a game of softball. Part of the company had to go out and lay a mine field so we only had four of our regular team. We were to play 7 innings but it lasted 10. Pitching yesterday & today I was so tired I couldn’t do anything. they won 5 to 1. I had only allowed two hits for 9 innings. In the evening I played pinochle and then went to bed.
We just loafed around all morning but in the afternoon we played “C” Company a ball game. I pitched and only allowed 3 hits but our team made 6 errors so we lost 4 to 1. It was a good game and the other team got the breaks. Towslee and I went out and bought 10 dozen eggs so we should have enough to last us a while. After mail call we ate a half a dozen apiece and then played a little pinochle.
I had a little typing to do today, I had to get in some requisitions and that was about all. I cleaned about 4 machine guns and then went to eat early chow. We had chicken and I ate plenty. We played Headquarters Company softball and won 10 to 2. I played left field and the only hit I got was a home run. We fried a few eggs and then read some funnies. Good night.
Chick talks more about his diary, how he has never read it. Filmed 2007 at the studios of WILL, University of Illinois as part of the “WWII Central Illinois Stories” series
Today I made out my salvage certificates and turned in my salvage. Out side of that I didn’t do a damn thing. In the evening we played the first platoon softball and we won 11 to 7. Badali pitched and I played first base. I then washed, wrote some letters and went to bed. I need a little while before going to sleep.
