9/6/44 France
From John Shaw to Nena Shaw
Hi Honey:
Only a few days since I wrote to you last as I have time will do so again. Have not received any mail for the past few days but suppose it is on the way. By the way did you ever get that $50 I sent you in July and $40 in Aug. You have not mentioned it in any of the mail I have received, so would like to know. We have not been paid for Aug. as yet so have not sent any more home.
We have been doing very good with the people here.* They have brought out coffee they have been saving for 5 years, in celebration and it sure is good–more like back home than what we have been getting.
Say, how about sending that camera I had down at Crowder with all the film you can get. I think by the time it gets here there will be a lot of pictures I will be able to take and if it should not get here it would not be too much lost. If you do send it better put it in a wooden box so it won’t be smashed.
Well there is no news so will quit for now. Remember I love you.
Yours John.
*Author’s note: At this time, John’s battalion was camped at about 30 miles northwest of Paris. “We spent three days at Evecquemont helping the townspeople celebrate both the liberation of Paris and the memory of the French dead of the First World War. We made a provisional trucking company which made a trip to Belgium to transport infantrymen in their pursuit of the fast-retreating Germans. Some of the more reckless officers and enlisted men violated orders and visited Paris, fraternized with the liberated Parisians, and forever bragged about it. C’est la guerre!” Source: “92nd Chemical Mortars” by Lt. Col. Ronald L. Martin, Cml.C.