08 Oct October 8, 1944

Letter
from: Mrs. G. Shonkwiler
to Pvt George W. Shonkwiler
October 8, 1944
Monday, 11:00 P.M.

Darling. This won’t be a very long letter, as I’m trying to get to bed before
midnight if possible.

Ronnie and I have had quite an exciting day.

This morning I put the finishing touches on the papering of the bedroom.  It
was all done except for a space beneath the windows.  This done, I cleaned the
house a bit, and we had lunch, after which Ronnie went to bed.  The phone rang,
and of course it was Edith who asked me over for dinner.  The Dawsons from
Florida were going to be there.  I tried my best to talk myself out of it, but
I couldn’t win, so I said we’d come.  She also invited Eleanor, but she didn’t
want to go, so I <? alibied> for her.

Just after Edith called, Lil DeYoung

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called, and asked me to come over for some coffee, etc.  She said Vita Campbell
and Ben’s mother (from Oklahoma) would be there, too, so I accepted.  I got
there at 3:15 and left at 4:30, came home for a few minutes and left for the
Hayes’.  What a day!  It’s the first day Ronnie’s been out since he got his
cold last Thursday.  He’s been well since Saturday, but it’s been so cold out
lately (about 38 degrees) so I didn’t dare take him out right away.

Vita said she had a letter from you about 2 weeks ago, and she wanted me to say
"hello," and of course Mrs. DeYoung wanted to be remembered to you also.  Ben’s
mother certainly is active.  She must be well over 70 years old, and spoke of
building fences, chicken houses and papering walls and ceilings and whatnot.
Mows her own (excuse me I was going to say she mows her yard, but I remember
she said she had a man who did it for

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her every two weeks).  She evidently lives all alone out in the country
somewhere in Oklahoma.  If she does all she said she’s marvelous, I’d say.
Hope I’m that active at her age.  She’s quite a talker.  Ben must get it from
her.  All in all, it was a nice visit.  I probably wouldn’t have gone, but as
long as Vita was there, I went, because I do like her very much.  She’s so
straight-forward and unaffected and sweet.  We had cake and coffee at 4:00,
so I wasn’t very hungry when I had dinner at the Hayes’.  She had a very nice
dinner, too, consisting of: beef roast, gravy, sweet potatoes, green beans,
rolls and jelly, fresh plum pie and coffee, and she had enough for a change.
She would have when I wasn’t hungry.

We had quite a lively discussion on politics, as Mr. Dawson is for Roosevelt
and Ernest for Dewey.  We also got into religion, too, of course.  Mr. Dawson

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mentioning [mentioned] that he liked to play a game of poker once in a while,
which he said, he s’posed Ernest and Edith’s religion wouldn’t approve of, etc..
It was quite interesting to hear Edith keep trying to change the subject when
she thought they were on the losing end of an argument.

I also heard a good story about Hitler going to his barber for a shave, and his
barber said, "Why Herr Hitler you don’t mean you want me to shave off your
mustache?"  Hitler replied, "Yes, I’m going to America and I wouldn’t want to
be mistaken for Dewey!"  Just to be fair, I’ll tell one on the Democrats, too.
This is it -- Churchill and Roosevelt were at the Golden Gate [Pearly Gate],
and instead of waiting in line, walked right up to St. Peter and said, "Let us

in."  St. Peter just kept on writing in his book and waved them to the end of
the line.

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They came back and said, "St. Peter, let us in!"  He waved them to the end of
the line again.  Churchill turned to Roosevelt and said, "I’ll kick down the
gate, Franklin, and you pay for it."

I s’pose you’ll get a big kick out of that one, especially if you’re not in
favor of Lend-Lease.

By the way, I’m going to register tomorrow, so I can vote!  Need I say more?

You know the Corporal we met while at Dawson’s?  Her daughter, Francis’s
husband?  He’s been discharged with the help of some Colonels, etc. (friends of
his).  He has a job (civilian) for the Navy, inspecting 29 different navy bases
or something to that effect.  Of course, he’s 40 yrs old.  Mrs. Dawson also
said that it was thru these same officer friends of his that he’d been taken
from Blanding to work at this Selective Service Board where he was stationed
when we were there.

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It’s pretty nice to have a <? drag>, isn’t it?  Where is yours?

He must be a lot older than Dawson’s daughter, as I didn’t think she looked
anywhere near 40.  Do you know how old she is?

The Dawson’s wanted me to say "hello" to you and wish you luck, etc.  I was
surprised to hear Mr. Dawson was 66 yrs old.  She’s 59.  She said she was 22
when she married, so they must have been married 37 yrs.  I guess Francis could
be over 30, at that!

They asked me if we waited long for a bus to St. Augustine.  I told them over
an hour and that we finally got a ride in with some soldiers.  She said when
they got home they had a houseful of company.  She added quickly, that they
were unexpected, but I’ll bet that’s why they didn’t ask us to stay and didn’t
want to tell us at the time.  Sure sounded fishy, but then they weren’t.

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indebted it to us in any way, so it was their privilege, I guess!

After I came home tonight and had put Ronnie to bed, I went to the drugstore,
[and] bought some wine-colored dye and dyed our bath mat and seat cover (they
were getting so faded and I couldn’t afford a new set), and also dyed the rag
rug I had in the bedroom the same color.  My hands are also deep red color.
I’ve tried everything to get it off, but just won’t come off.  I’m a sight with
these hands!  Maybe when I shed skin, I’ll become natural color again.

I haven’t had a letter from you since Oct. 3rd, so hope I’ll get one tonight,
as I’m on edge and get nervous when I don’t hear from you.  Must be love!  If
it is, I’ve got it bad!  This long-distance love is the bunk, isn’t it, honey?
Oh, well, someday, I hope we

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can make up for lost time, and we can laugh, love, argue, make up, and plan a
rosy future again.  It seems so far distant that I sometimes keep wondering if
it was meant to be!  All we can do is hope and pray for the best.

Well, it’s now 12:10 A.M., and I must get a little sleep, as I’m going to wash
woodwork, iron clothes, and lots of things tomorrow, and should get up real
early.

Good night, honey, and here’s hoping for a reunion of the three of us real soon.

Letter-441008 Mon Feb 17 13:28:07 2025 3

Love and Kisses
Mommy and Ronnie

P.S. Did I say this was going to be a short letter?  How do I ramble on?