Year: 1942

16 September 1942

Dear Folks:

Received your letters a couple of days ago and surely was glad to hear from all of you.  The day I received your two letters I also received one from Robert, Aunt Ella, Elizabeth, Mary, Larry Adams, and some other officers.

I didn’t receive the package but I am sure I will one of these days.  But, on the other hand I sort of have a sneaking hunch that I may be moving on again.

Am sitting at my command post writing this by a kerosene lantern.  I am now up all day and night every other day for reasons I’ll have to tell you when I see you.

I am enclosing the blank and I did not fill out 3 questions for reasons that I can’t at the present writing and I believe they will understand.  I think it is darn nice of Lambert to pay my dues and by the way, I also received a letter from Leota.  I am going to write Lambert and thank him.

We are working pretty hard and have a little excitement now and then.  Wish I could tell you more but I pray each day that this will soon be over and that I will return to all of you.

Dad, I am glad you are feeling better and take care of yourself.  Mother, you see that he does.  

Am glad you liked your gifts.  I sent Elizabeth three dollars for a dollar a piece for the children.  Would I ever like to see all of you.  I’ll bet Bobby and Bobby McKee are quite the characters in the class room.

Is it ever warm.  I am sitting at my field desk in the nude except my skivy drawers and the sweat is rolling off me.

My outfit is still fine and I maintain I have the greatest group of men ever assembled under my command.

Tell Elizabeth the cartoon she sent me out of the Post must have referred to me.

Hope this find all of you feeling fine and I trust you have gotten the necklaces ok and remember I made them and I’ll tell you all about the shells when I see you as they are very rare.

Love to all,

Leo

Lt. L.J. McLoskey

(The above signature is compulsory.)

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12 September 1942

Dear Folks & All:

Here it is Saturday again and another week has gone bye.  Where I am one hardly can remember the day and the month as they are about all the same.  All it is or amounts to is sleep when you can find time, sweat, work, worry, rain, heat, rust, and be on the alert all the time.

Sorry to hear about Algie and Aunt Mabel.  I do hope they both have a speedy recovery.  It surely is a crime about those children of his.  They are so smart and sweet and well mannered.

Mother, I mailed the package with beads in it for Elizabeth and you.  As your birthday is the 29^th of this month you will have to consider it as your gift until the first of the month then I will send you some money and you can buy yourself a gift.  I sent the children a dollar a piece this week.  I am glad you received the candle stick holders and the bridge set.  Also, I am glad you liked them.  Did my $25.00 allotment arrive at the Monmouth Trust & Saving this month?

Dad, your letters sound as if you are as busy as I am.  When do you find time to sleep or do you do like I have been catch as catch can.

Should be some mail in again one of these days.  It surely is a holiday when one gets mail.  Am glad my mail gets to you as fast as it does.

I just finished reading 72 letters (censoring them) how would you like that job?  It is a tough one.

It doesn’t look to me as if the war will be over this year.  But, I believe it will be by the middle of 1943.  At least I hope and pray so.  The sooner the better so I can get back and see all of you.  Golly!  I surely do miss all of you.

Not much news but a line to let you know I am ok and that I think of all of you all the time and that I am proud to belong to the fighting Marines.

Love to all,

Leo

2d Lt. L.J. McLoskey

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4 September 1942

Dear Folks & All:

Here it is the beginning of another month and the war still at full blast.  Will I ever be glad when this conflict is over so I can return home.

I can hardly realize that Bobby will be starting to school with Anne.  Golly!  If I don’t get home before long Mary Alice will have grown up and Bobby and Anne will have forgotten they ever had an Uncle.

See where Joe Dixon was appointed Principal of the high school.  Was glad to see it.  I always liked Joe.

Received a letter from you the other day but since then no mail.  The service here is not so good.  I only hope the outgoing mail is better.  How often do you receive my letters and how long does it take?

Was glad Margaret and her sister stopped by to see you.  Where did Martha say her husband was or did she know?

You ask why some fellows are able to give their location.  As you probably know by now I am in a combat zone and where I am is rather a secret due to its importance of the U.S. defense.  Why don’t write and let me know where you think I am stationed and I’ll let you know if you are correct.

Mother, I mailed the beads the other day.  It probably will take quite awhile for you to get them as I could only mail them by parcel post.  Hope you and Elizabeth like them and they are made out of very rare shells.

Was glad you took Aunt Ella up to Harry’s.  So she didn’t thin much of their place.

It is now 2:30 am and we have been on alert.  I am at my command post.  Surely wish we could take some pictures and send you some but that is out.

You can tell Mary I might need her sweater yet.  I have been doing quite a bit of flying lately and it gets pretty chilly at 10,000 feet altitude but at the present my combat uniform keeps me warm.  Now don’t worry.  It is just part of my job to do some flying now and then for purposes I’ll have to tell you when I see you.

Tell Mrs. Jay’s I got her letter and I’ll try and drop her a line one of these days.  Be sure to give my regards to all the family and friends.

I pray each day that the Lord will return me safely to all of you and that all of you are in the best of health.

Love to all,

Leo

Lt. L.J. McLoskey

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28 August 1942

Dear Folks & all:

I hit the jack pot this week as I got all the newspapers & mail you had sent to San Diego and Unit #400.  So I have had quite a time reading all the news.  I also got letters from Robert, Mary and you that were postmarked June (the early part).  Oh! Yes Homer Van Tine also dropped me a letter.  He told me he had just finished painting your office.

Surely would like to see all of you.  I miss you a great deal and my thoughts are continually going home wondering how all of you are and what you are doing.

Oh! Yes tell Elizabeth I got her letter and enjoyed it very much.  I know with her other duties she doesn’t have much time.

How do you like the way my buddies are pushing those slant eyes around?  I’m telling you that the Marines are a well trained, hard fighting group of boys and men..

Life is about the same here: work, work, and more work.  Sleep when you have a chance and you are continually battling the heat and rain along with everything else.

Mother I’ll get the beads mailed some time this week.

Now we are out of tobacco of all kinds (that is chewing & cigars.)

Remember I love and miss all of you.  I hope this finds you feeling fine.

Love to all,

Leo

Lt. L.J. McLoskey

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24 August 1942

Dear Folks & all:

As I have a few spare moments I will drop you a line to let you know I am ok.

Received a letter from you today. It is the first mail I have had in two weeks.  As far as that goes it is the first mail any of the men have had in two weeks.  Surely was glad to hear from you.  You can’t realize how I look forward to hearing from you.  Mother You ask me if where I was at was beautiful.  Not it isn’t.  It is just like no mans land.  But we each have a job to do and do well to end this horror.

Guess you have noticed what the Marines have been doing.  You see they are the crack troops of the world.  Although I am in the combat zone you needn’t worry because I’ll come through ok.  I am sure that God is with me and my men.

We are out of stamps temporarily but I can borrow one from some of me men to mail this.

My suit is in the Quartermaster storeroom in Pearl Harbor.  I sent it and my mens winter clothing to be stored there.

Am glad you liked the kimono and Dad the ash tray.  In addition to that I sent you a pair of candle sticks and a bridge set.  I also sent the kids a bridge set and they were mailed the day I embarked from Pearl to where I now am so you probably won’t receive them for a few weeks yet.

Glad the children like to be with you. Maybe you think your son wouldn’t love to be.

Hope this finds all of you in the best of health.  

Tell Beaulah she needn’t have any fears as there are no women not even natives where I am located.

How long does it now take my mail to reach you?

Love to all,

Leo

Lt. L.J. McLoskey

p.s. On your last letter you put in care of Post Master Los Angeles it is c/o Post Master, San Fransisco.

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19 August 1942

Dear Folks & All:

It is now 11:15 pm so I will drop you a note before I catch a few winks of sleep.

Thanks a lot for the stamps.  They are very hard to get a hold of down here and I know that air mail must reach you sooner than the regular mail.

Haven’t had a word from anybody for about eight days.  But I will receive a bundle of mail one of these days.  How long does it take my letters to reach you?  I suppose that they vary because I am in rather an isolated place.

It won’t be long now until Bobby will be starting to school.  Golly!  It doesn’t seem possible.  The first thing I know Mary Alice will be starting to school.

We haven’t had much excitement for about seven days.  But we can expect it almost any time.

Mother I am sending in a few days two strings of beads.  You keep whichever one you want and give Elizabeth the other.  I made them myself from shells I picked up where I am and I might add the shells are jewels.  They are very rare and I hope that you and Libby will like them.  They will no doubt be slow in reaching you as I will have to send them by parcel post.  I now have them packed in a clean sock soaked with my after shaving lotion to give them a good flavor.  If you like them I’ll try and make some more in the few odd spare moments that I have.

All I can tell you is that I am ok, working pretty hard, have a large responsibility on my shoulders but then I guess I am capable of handling it.  Did you receive your bridge set and candle sticks as yet?

Give my regards to all the neighbors, the rest of the family & friends.

Mother, I know you and Dad will think it is a funny request but I would appreciate it if you could send me a lb. of chewing tobacco.  We can’t smoke after dark and it does settle ones nerves to some extent.  I would also like to give some of my men a plug or two.  I have some fine boys under my command and I will do all that is humanly possible to do for them.

I will close for this time and ask God in my prayers as I do every evening for a safe return home for me and my men.

Love to all,

Leo

Lt. L.J. McLoskey

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14 Aug 1942

Dear Folks:

The other day I received 13 letters at once.  Boy! Oh boy did that make me happy because where I am now mail is plenty scarce.

Was glad you got the package.  Well I mailed you another one just before I sailed the last time.  Also, I was glad the bank got the allotment.  One will be coming through each month.

Got some letters from Elizabeth, Robert & Mary in the group I received yours in.  Write and write often because sooner or later I’ll get them.

Yes, I think it would be just as well if you clipped out interesting items and sent to me because I haven’t received the newspapers yet so I would discontinue sending them.

Do you realize it was just a year ago today that I enlisted in the Marine Corps to serve our country.  Although it tore me away from home and my friends I still am happy to say I was prepared when the country needed me.

Thanks for the pictures of Mary Alice.  She surely has grown.  She looks more like Bobby than Anne to me.  Just think Bobby will be starting to school in September.   He will have to settle down a little then.  Golly! I am glad he is full of pep.  At least that shows he is all boy.  He will have to go some to be the student Anne is. 

Mother a little about my life which I’ll try and get through to you. I live in a dugout.  We have no vacation at all.  It is a 24 hour proposition 7 days a week and you catch sleep when you can.  It is hotter than blazes and rains practically all the time.  I also sleep under a mosquito net.  I live with the Colonel for reasons I’ll have to explain when we are all together again.  Food is not like one gets at home but not bad.  As to clothes you wear shorts, kakki, dungarees, skivvies anything that is dry when you put it on.  I both shave and drink the same water out of the same barrel that being rain water.  It isn’t bad at all.

Be sure to give all my regards to the family and friends.  Don’t worry I am getting along ok.

Love to all,

Leo

Lt. L.J. McLoskey

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6 August 42

Dear Folks & All:

Arrived at my new destination ok as you probably have already denoted on the outside of the envelope.  My new address is:

U.S. MC Unit #535

c/o Postmaster

San Fransisco, Calif.

Surely would like to let each of you know where I am and etc.

I am going to send my green uniform home as I don’t believe I’ll be needing it for some time and as it was quite expensive I want to take good care of it.

All I can tell you is that my new station is something that one dreams about and reads about but just can’t realize exists until you see it with your own eyes.

One nice thing about it I am kept quite busy and the time passes quite rapidly.  Now you needn’t worry and I’ll write to you as often as I can.

Just before I sailed from my last destination I sent you folks and the kids a little gift.  I hoe you get them ok and that you will like them.

You know it seems just like yesterday when you used to say run over to Mr. Mortons and get a loaf of bread.  I miss you and miss all of you.  But we have a job to do and by Golly we are going to do it.

Mother, thanks for praying for me and my boys.  I also do the same and ask the Lord that someday we will all be united again.

Dad you and Mother and I will have plenty to talk about when we see each other again.  Hope this finds all of you well.  Give my love to all.

Love,

Leo

2d Lt. Leo J McLoskey

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28 July 1942

Dear Folks & All:

Haven’t heard from you for quite a spell.  Suppose I will get a whole bunch of mail one of these days.

I wrote the kids this week.  Still haven’t much to say except that I am kept quite busy.

The allotment will get to the bank during the first seven days of August.  I checked with the paymaster.

I guess you had better quit sending the papers as I haven’t gotten any as yet.  It would be just as well if you cut out the clippings you think I would be interested in and send them with the letters.

Will be having a change of address within the next few days.  Now you needn’t worry as I am getting along ok and I’ll give you as much information as the law allows later on.

Am feeling fine—I still am not loosing much weight.  Feel like a mullion.

Yes, Mother I feel the same as you do.  I will be plenty happy when all of this is over.  But until then we must keep our chin s up and I know everything will come out ok.

It is very hard for me to keep track of the date and days so if I miss some of the birthdays please let me know.

Sent you a package the other day.  Please let me know when you get it.

Must close now as I have some paper work to get caught up with.  Hope this finds all of you feeling fine and be sure to give my regards to all the family and friends.

Love to all,

Leo

Lt. L.J. McLoskey

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15 July 42

Dear Folks:

Received a letter from you this week and news from home is always welcome.

Dad, that was quite a picture of you and Mr. Barnes.

The letter I received was the one with the picture & you and mother had both written.

Regarding the deposit for the bank.  It will be sent by U.S. Gov’t check in the amount of $25.pp per month.  If you haven’t heard anything about it by the end of the month be sure and let me know so I can check on it.

I imagine I will get the rest of the mail that has been sent one of these days.  Most generally the fellows get a stack of mail all at once.

Incidentally I sent you a cablegram, did you ever get it?  Also, mother I sent you some flowers before we sailed did you get them?  Yes Mother I have some of the boys with me you met in San Diego and they are all very hard workers and I am glad they got to serve under me.

Now don’t worry about me as I’ll get by o.k. and I’ll drop you a line as often as I can.

Be sure to tell all the family hello and I miss all of you.

Love to all,

Leo

2d Lt. L.J. McLoskey

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