25 Feb February 25, 1945

V-Mail
from: Mrs. G. Shonkwiler
to: Pvt George W. Shonkwiler
February 25, 1945
Sat. Nite  11 P.M.
page 1

Dearest,

Spent this morning cleaning house and then gave Ronnie his bath and put him to
bed.  And went shopping on the avenue with Marge.  Then we picked Judy up at
the vet.  He said her tapeworm is all gone now.  It must be ’cause she didn’t
even eat all her meal tonight and she’s been gobbling everything and begging
for more.  Another $2 was spent on her -- expensive dog, but she’s worth it,
and she’s pretty nice (at least she would be if she weren’t shedding hair all
over the house).  Marge and I had a barbecue and coffee for lunch at People’s
store.  Murray was washing windows when we went up to the apt.  Guess I’ll have
him do mine.  Ronnie and Billy were out playing this morning and Ronnie was MUD
from head to foot when he came in, then I cleaned him up and sent him out again
and in half an hour he came back all covered with mud again. -- Poor me!  Guess
they had fun so guess that’s the important thing.

I love you, honey and Goodnight.
Mommy and Ronnie

Addendum
V-Mail
from: Mrs. G. Shonkwiler
to: Pvt George W. Shonkwiler
Sat. Nite 11:15 P.M.
page 2.

My darling,

After Ronnie and I had our supper tonight at 6:00 o’clock, we went to see, [the
movie] "Since You Went Away" with Claudette Colbert, Joe Cotton, Shirley Temple,
and Jennifer Jones.  I’ve wanted to see it for months and tonite [was] the
last night at the State Theater.  It was very good, but it was about a war wife
and children, and guess it hit too close to home and I boo-hooed! thru the
whole picture and at present I have a splitting headache.  We got home about
10:00 o’clock, I hadn’t realized the picture would be that long, but Ronnie
slept from 1:00 until 4:30 this afternoon, so he was wide awake and was such a
good boy.  In fact, he wanted to stay longer.  This is the 2nd time he’s been
to an evening show since you left, so you see it isn’t very often I go out.  I
can’t afford to have a girl in, so I stay home usually.  You mentioned Muriel
in your letter, but she was only with me for a week, so I didn’t profit much,
I’m afraid.  She’s living on the North Side and works for an Art Co.

Well goodnight again, and keep on writing as I live for your letters.
Love, Mom and Ronnie.

Addendum
V-mail
from: Mrs. G. Shonkwiler
to: Pvt George W. Shonkwilter
Sat. Nite  11:35 P.M.
page 3

Darling,
Almost forgot to tell you I got 5 nice V-mails today dated as follows:

1- Feb 15, 2- Feb 16, and 3- Feb 17th and that meant I got the last two in
8 days, which is good service.  I only hope these letters will catch up with
you as soon.  When I read in your letter how one of your buddies lost his eye
and some others that have passed on, I just hope and pray that you may come
thru just as lucky from now on, and I know you will if I can help it.  [Mr.]
Campbell was telling me last night the experts are predicting the latest date
of the end of the war [in Europe] as Oct. 1st and the earliest April 1st.
If a person only knew how long, it would be easier to live thru the next few
long months, but guess we’ll just have to keep our courage up and hope for the
best and keep thinking only of how wonderful it will be when it’s all over.
This is the last letter for tonight so here’s a kiss for you to sleep on.

Love, always,
Mom and Ronnie