Author: rick.romine

July 17, 1943

Dear Anne & family:

Anne I received your letter and I thought the envelope and the stationery were very cute.  I am looking forward to receiving another letter soon.

I’ll bet that you and Bobby had a big time at Granny’s.  Am also glad that you were able to have such a nice fourth of July.

Tell your mother and daddy that I have received letters postmarked 29 June, 6 July and 6 July from them.  And what do you think.  I got an RCA Radiogram from Aunt Mary on the 15^th of July wishing me a Happy Christmas and new year.  I think the company was a little late in delivering it don’t you?

Elizabeth those meals you are putting out surely does make my mouth water and don’t you think I am not counting on setting my large feet under your table when I return to some of your good chow.  

Yes Robert it will soon be two years since I have seen you and your family and don’t be surprised if it is two more before I get to return. If only I could talk to all of you and let you know some of the things that are happening and of course which you know I cannot write due to censorship regulations.  As to my making Captain the Marine Corps doesn’t promote as fast as the Army and I think I have been going up pretty rapid for the first two years anyway.  I’ll let you in on a secret my ambition is to make Captain and brother I honestly believe that once I set my mind on doing something that hell and high water can’t stop me.  Also, I will tell you I would rather be a Sgt in the Marine Corps than a Cap’t in the Army.  As to my prophecy as to the unlikely prospects of me not returning for a couple of years it seems they like to get you indoctrinated to the tropics and then keep you for awhile.

I sent mother a fan you can read the letter look at the map and I believe you will be able to tell where I got it.  When I tell you of that trip – well it was living in another world for a day as a matter of fact I have lived in several of them the past 14 months.

They can end this affair any day now and I imagine that the Axis powers are getting well fed up with it all.

Am feeling ok and my eyes are much better.  Funny all I sweat I still continue to be a little on the heavy side.

Hope this finds all of you well and write often.

All my love,

Leo

1^st Lt. L.J. McLoskey

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15 July 43

Dear Folks:

Received a letter from you this morning dated 6 July 43.  I suppose the others you mailed in the meantime are some place en route.  This mail out here is a very funny proposition.  I also received a letter from Aunt Ella, Anne, Robert, Elizabeth and Leota.  You haven’t any idea how that boosts my morale.

Mother I mailed you a package this morning with a fan in it.  I picked it up on another atoll.  I had to fly down to the atoll on business, spend the day and return.  The atoll was named after the father of our country.  It was like living in another world for a whole day.  Will tell you all about it when I return.  The aviator (the pilot of the plane) and myself were the only white people on the island.  It was very mysterious and exciting as well as fascinating.

Tell all the others that I received their letters and that I will return them (I mean answer them) as soon as possible.

Mother, it is very hard for me to read the writing in pencil on the thin paper.  Will you write on it in ink?  Not complaining, but I do love to hear from you and dad and sometimes the mail gets wet and then it is very hard to read and I have been having some trouble with my eyes.  Nothing to be awfully alarmed about except I have to wear dark glasses all the time now as the coral and sun do not agree with them.

Dad if I remember correctly I sent you the other certificate of my first $5000.00 insurance but I am going to check on it and I’ll get the policy number and send to you.  My pay account shows an allotment for two five thousand dollar policies which equals ten thousand dollars.

Robert told me that Oscar Nelson was asking about me.  Well I always liked him to.  You never did send me Galbaughs address and I should drop him a letter.

Dad, by the sound of your letter you sound as if and I know you are as busy as I am.  I’ll bet you were tired after painting the screens and I know mother an you both are working yourselves too much at home but your son is  very proud of you and the home you have.  Leota tells me that the house looks very good with the white trimmed in black.  She says it makes it look much larger.  What I wouldn’t give to be home.  This life is a plenty tough one and making me age I am afraid too fast.  I just hope I am able to keep my sense of humor and my smile.

What did you think of me loosing my cuspidor?  Mother I won’t chew when I return.

Libby’s letter sounded as if you surely did have a grand fourth of July dinner.  Well I am counting on having them with all of you when I return.

Must get busy and censor a stack of mail.  Hope this finds all of you feeling in the best of health and I want you to know that your son has the grandest people in the world and if they were all like you we wouldn’t have these damn conflicts.

All my love,

Leo 

1^st. Lt. L.J. McLoskey

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7/8/43

Dear Folks:

Received the cigars, gum, peanuts and cough drops yesterday.  Thanks a million.  I surely do appreciate them.

The weather is rainy again this evening and it has really been coming down.  Honestly! You people just can’t realize how hard it rains and how awfully hot it gets.

The clipping I sent to you was about me loosing my cuspidor out of my jeep.  It was so small you might have dropped it.  If I am not mistaken I believe that I sent Roberts one so you can look at theirs.

Mother, that surely was a swell snap Leota sent me of you in your Easter outfit.  You surely do look swell. The pictures of the children were also very good and so was the two of Leota.

Suppose you had a big time the fourth of July.  We had a little better chow than usual that evening.  In other words it wasn’t all taken out of cans.

The latest dope I have gotten it will be some time before I return to the mainland.  Guess they figure my men and myself are made out of steel or else they figure we are rugged like our blitz buggies.

We are gradually getting in better shape each day on the atoll but still life isn’t any bed of roses.  I have gotten so used to ants and insects crawling on me that I don’t even pay any attention to them any more.  All of us kid each other and as a whole we are folly in spite of what we know the future has in store for us.  I try to run my outfit as a family and of course I am the father.  I call all my young lads son and part of the time they call me pops.  When I have to be military I really can and all my men know when I am joking and when I am serious.  As you know we can’t be serious all the time.

Was it possible to have any fireworks at all for the children?  I don’t imagine it was but was just curious.

My goodness that storm you had must have been a bad one.  I always liked “Rusty” Williams and I know the community will also miss him.  Monmouth has surely had its share of deaths recently.

Did Aunt Ella get the shells I sent her?  Golly I sent them over a month ago she surely has them.  I also sent Prof. McClenahan at the college a box so he could use them in his Geology class.

I am feeling ok and I hope this finds all of you the same.  I try not to worry to much about all my responsibilities.  Although I will admit some nights when I have a chance to get a little extra sleep I have a hard time sleeping as I keep wondering if I have done all I was supposed to during the day and if I could ease the burden on my men any or how I could make their living quarters more cozy.

  Glad you liked the magazine.  I thought it was quite a compliment to have my outfit represent the Marine Corps in it.

Write whenever you have time and again thanks for the cigars and the other merchandise in the box.

All my love,

Leo

1^st. Lt. L.J. McLoskey

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1 July 43

Dear Folks:

Will drop you a line to let you know I am ok and that it begins to looks as if they have forgotten me and my men on this atoll.  Even to the extent that none of us had had any mail for quite a spell.

The flys and mosquitoes seem to be getting worse.  I don’t like them in the tropics as they carry some very bad diseases.

Suppose that Anne & Bobby are having a great time in the country.  Wish I could be with them.  I believe I will need a little rest when all of this is over.  Maybe all of us can take a little trip together.

Am anxious to hear what you thought of the magazine and my outfit’s pictures.

Dad, I can see how you want to get away from everybody and everything every so often.  At times I feel as if I would go insane.  Will tell you and mother all about it when I see you.

My dog is getting along just fine.  She surely is a wonderful companion and a good watch dog as well as a good mother.

Will close for this time.   Hope I hear from you soon.

All my love,

Leo

1^st Lt. L.J. McLoskey

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27 June 1943

Dear folks:

Today is Sunday but here on this atoll it is just another day.  As we have our services on Friday today seems to me as if it should be Tuesday.

Received a nice letter from Dan Frain which I answered pronto.  He will probably be over to see you one of these days.

Received your letter of June 15^th the other day and I am always glad to hear from you.

You ask if it gets cooler here in the evening.  I would say only about 2 degrees and two degrees isn’t very much.

We have now had a continuous rain for quite a spell and what I mean a rain.  My shack is about to float away.  All I am now wearing is my skivvies and even going barefooted.  It rained so hard that even my trench coat started to leaking so I had to place it in my dry locker to dry out.

I will send Robert a check the first of next month for his birthday, wedding anniversary and Mary Alices birthday.

Did I tell you that I received a letter from Algie’s children that attend Harding school.  Be sure and let them know that I received it and that I appreciated it.  Tell them I will try and answer one of these days.  It seems as if I am more busy every day.  Will I ever be glad when this is all over.

I now am getting some of my men a little rest and recreation.  Hope to get all of them some before too many months roll by.

This makes the sixth letter I have written to you this month and I will always try to write twice a week.  At times there won’t be much I can say except that I am ok and that my men and I are getting along ok.

I imagine that the Bolin funeral was quite large.  I surely do feel sorry for Merle.  I dropped her a line but as yet have not heard from her but I realize how she must feel.

My dog Radio is getting larger by the hour.  She insists on sleeping under my bunk.  Hope she doesn’t decide to have her litter under it.  I think I will tye her up to her dog house in a few days.

Hope that this finds all of you in the best of health and give my best to all my friends.

Why didn’t you put a picture of me in a blitz buggy at the college?  I don’t remember the picture you referred to.  Be sure to save it so I can see it on my return. 

Must close now.

All my love,

Leo

1^st. Lt. L.J. McLoskey

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19 June 1943

Dear Folks:

If it is as hot in Monmouth as it is here you will need an ice box to cool yourself off with.

As tomorrow is fathers day I am enclosing a five dollar bill dad and it is for you as it is impossible for me to get you a gift here.  Hope you have a pleasant day and I am sorry that I cannot be with you.

It looks to me as if we are now starting to close in on the axis and it should be over within the next two years.

The last few days I have really had the trots and what I mean the running trots.

You should have the magazine by now.  Be sure and let me know when you receive it.

What did you think of me loosing my cuspidor?  My men built me another one out of a huge shell and presented it to me.  Believe me I have one swell group of men.

We have a new chaplain and he held service for us yesterday.  He is a young man and is going to be ok.  You know we leathernecks call the chaplains and Padres “Holy Joe.”  Every person in the corps has a nickname.

Received a letter from Beaulah the other day.  Tell her I will answer it as soon as I find a little time.  They still have me on the go all the time.

Thanks for the stamps and  also for giving me the data on the 2^nd Nat’l.  Also, thanks for the newspaper clippings.  Dad, you are getting to be quite the lecturer.

Mother I am glad that you still have the spirit to have clubs and go to clubs that is what keeps you and dad so young looking.

Isn’t Roberts birthday some time this month, or is it July?  Let me know.  You never did send me Ada’s and Homer’s address.

Hope that this finds all of you feeling fine and write to me as often as you can as I am always glad to hear from you.  I must close now and get my nose stuck into some technical manuals.

All my love,

Leo

Lt. L.J. McLoskey

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6/13/43

Dear folks:

I received your letter dated June 7 43 this evening.  Very good service.  Wish it was all like that.

Also, today I received a letter from Libby telling me of the death of Harold Bolin.  It surely was a great shock to me.  I just finished writing Merle.  I surely do feel sorry for her.

It is now raining and what I mean really coming down.  Surely is welcomed by us because as I have written before we depend on all our water from the heavens. 

Mother we rearranged our shack today.  We put our cots in a different corner.  It helps because one gets very tired of looking at the same thing all the time and it looks very much as if I will be here for quite a spell.  However I am getting a little rest and recreation for some of my men in the near future but they will come back to me.

Have I ever got a headache this evening.  Have had a great deal of reading to do today.  I still refuse to wear glasses although I wear my dark ones all the time.

I am just not in the mood for writing this evening but wanted you to know I am thinking of all of you.

All my love,

Leo

1^st Lt. L.J. McLoskey

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1^st Lt. L.J. McLoskey

6/11/43

Dear folks:

Just a line to say hello and let you know that I am feeling ok and that my men are the same.

We had a very nice church service this morning and we all sang hymns together and had a wonderful time.  The Chaplain is a young man and very nice.

I am enclosing a clipping out of our newspaper which I thought you might get a laugh out of.

Hope that the flooded areas have subsided and that the farmers in the lowlands will still have time to get their crops in and harvested.  We will need plenty of food products to feed all the people when peace arrives.  

Dad, I expect you are glad that Memorial Day is over for another year.  Mother, I want you to take care of yourself and get some rest.  Both of you try to do to darn much.

Not much news and I have to hurry this one along as I have a very busy day ahead of me.  It surely does keep me on the run.

Mother the Colonel says for me to tell you that we are about out of mints, the ones in the can.

All my love,

Leo

1^st. Lt. L.J. McLoskey

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6/6/43

Dear Folks:

Received your letter dated 27 May 43 yesterday and thanks for the stamps and also the clippings from the newspaper.  The floods must be very bad.  Oh: yes I also got a letter Dad from you dated 10 April 43 that was mailed in Springfield, Illinois.  You had addressed it to the First Fleet Battalion instead of the First Defense Battalion.  Also, I got mail from Leota, Robert and Elizabeth.  Believe me we all look forward to receiving mail.

You know Leota is going to make a swell wife for some fellow and despite the age difference I have my eye on her as I don’t believe Elizabeths sister Mary will ever marry anybody.  Oh: well I won’t be back probably for two or three years yet.

Mother, I think it is darn swell of you to be helping the Aunts clean house.  Not many sister-in-laws would do it and Dad tells me you have their home looking very nice.

I think you are doing the correct thing by buying property.  Lets see that makes three now doesn’t it?

Look now if you need any of the money on deposit at the Trust & Savings you just go ahead and use it.  Maybe some day I will be able to repay you for all you have done for me.

My men and I are all in the best of health and I hope we continue to be as fortunate as we have thus far.  My pen ran dry so the reason for the difference in the ink.

According to the clipping the college had pictures of various men in the service.  Did they have mine and if so which one?

Let me know if you get the magazine that I mailed to you.  

See Mitchell Holliday had the McKinnon boys funeral.  How is Mitchell getting along?

It continues to be very warm here and we are fortunate that the battalion hasn’t had any more illness than they have.

Will surely have some experiences to tell all of you when I see you.  My only wish is that I could at least get home for thirty days before the final push as I believe it will really be a wow.

So Bobby stops off to the grandparents and gets his candy for himself and his chums.  I am glad he does stop.  How I miss that little devil.

Not much more news but I wanted to let you know I am still alive and kicking.

All my love,

Leo

1^st Lt. L.J. McLoskey

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30 May 1944

Dear Folks:

Enclosed find a check for twenty dollars ($20.00) to the church for a war bond.

I won’t write much today as I am awful busy on something I must get finished by noon.

I am ok and I hope this finds all of you the same.

All my love,

Your son, Leo

Cap’t L.J. McLoskey

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