7/23/42 Oak Park, IL.
From: Cyrus Stafford
To: Lt. Emma Stafford, A.N.C.
Dearest Daughter:
This is your birthday letter. Many wishes for a happy day. If you receive this letter after your birthday, you will know I thought of you on the 22nd of August and wondered just how you were spending the day.
When I hear reports over the Radio of happenings in Northern Australia and surrounding islands, I feel sure that you are busy.
Several nurses living in Chicago have returned from Bataan by way of Australia. I wonder if you met any of them.
Tom Gerrity’s wife and baby are visiting Cy and Marty in Mississippi. Little Tom is a darling.
Robert Fulton was reported missing after Java Sea battle.* He was an officer on the Houston that sank. In a letter I received from Mary, she said his wife and little boy were with them. They have not given up. Just hoping he was taken among the many, that the Japs claim they took as prisoners.
God be with you till we meet again.
Yours ever, Mother and Dad
*Cy’s mother’s maiden name was Laura Fulton. I believe Robert Fulton was a nephew of hers. He did survive the sinking of the Houston. See: https://news.usni.org/2014/08/22/nightmare-night-uss-houston-went; and http://www.usshouston.net/stor/fulton/fulton.htm.
