20 Jun June 20, 1945

Letter
from: A. Shonkwiler
to: PFC George W. Shonkwiler
June 20, 1945, Wednesday, 11.30 p.m.
Noteworthy: $0.69 dinner for Mother and child.

Hello Honey,

How are you tonight? A wee bit lonesome for Mommie -- I hope!  I know she’s
lonesome.  Guess folks don’t realize when things are going normally that they
have something precious. It takes a bit of worry and heartache to appreciate
the good things in life.  Oh dear, I’m getting sentimental and you don’t
like that, do you?

I spent part of this a.m. sprinkling and the rest ironing.  All this
sprinking I’m doing should

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give me some flowers and vegetables -- I hope!  The soil is so clay-like
that I doubt whether I’ll have much luck. I wish I’d dug my garden outside
the fence like I did last year. At least I had a good crop then.

No letters from you for a couple days now. How I miss them. There I go,
giving myself away.

Edith called today and invited me to attend Joan’s graduation exercises
and the PTA reception following.  I said I would, but as yet, have no one

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to care for Ronnie, but I suppose either Mrs. Page or Dixon will. I suppose
I’ll have to buy the gal something, but I don’t know what.

Ronnie and I went out for dinner tonight. We ate at the Parkway restaurant.
The meal wasn’t so hot, but was only sixty-nine cents for both of us, so
I shouldn’t complain.  We had pea soup, pork tenderline, french fries,
mixed vegetables, lettuce, salad, coffee, milk, ice cream.  The mixed
vegetables were terrible, (out of a can, of course). I should complain
when I <? s’pect> all your food comes out of

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cans.

After dinner, we went to state theater to see "A tree grows in Brooklyn",
and "Remember April" with Gloria Jean.  Both very good. I had read the
novel of "A tree grows in Brooklyn", and it followed it pretty closely
for a movie.

I meant to enclose the August 17th letter last night, but forgot. So hope
I remember this time.

Ronnie was so good in the show tonight, although he did have to "go" once,
but that seemed to be his way of intermission. I had to pay twelve cents
for him tonight, so

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you see he’s a big boy. It’s a gyp, however, as I always hold him on my
lap. However "all children must have tickets", they told me, regardless.

I must owe at least twelve people letters, and some I have owed for months.
See how you disrupt my other correspondence?

While I was at the show tonight, a girl from Rockford had been here and
left a note. Just my luck, and I’m home practically every night otherwise.

Guess I lost out on a lot of local gossip.

Well, darling, as I

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 have no particular news to convey, I’ll say good night, and add a nice

long kiss, and hope someday soon it will be a reality.

By now, sweetheart, and I hope you will never have to use my letters as
evidence that I once loved you, as I want to always, and only you can
change my mind.

 Good night, your loving wife and son,
 Alyce and Ronnie