letter from the front

by colin d fox


May 2nd 1944,

Dear Patricia,

every letter so far I've told you about the guys in my unit; the things we've gotten to know abou each other and the things we've shared since we all ended up over here. I've told all the guys about you too. They've seen your sassy pictures and made all the jokes about you in your rita hayworth dress sipping your coca-cola through two penny straws like a movie star. LIl Johnny from Detroit keeps asking me if you have a sister, though not quite as tall; as he puts it ' not a little sister, but a REAL LITTLE sister!'

Frank Tellero says you remind him of that gal who does the public service movie-reels for buying war-bonds; i told him that if they had you up there all dolled up on screen trying to sell bonds, that Roosevelt would run out of war-bonds to sell soon enough!

I hope your mother is well and your aunt Gladys, I never did thank them both enough for the letters they've sent and the prayers that Gladys has her whole church say for our safety over here. I hope Mr.Wells is doing good and that his cough has cleared up. Say hi to that cute little sister of yours and tell her that she's gotta be careful or she'll be breaking hearts all over the borough once all the boys get back home.

I guess I've covered everything else so I can skip to the main thing. The truth is, honey, I ain't never gonna be coming home to you. I've made a decision and nothing you or anyone else says can change my mind. Here's what it boils down to. What we have is the best thing that ever happened to me. When I met you I was a skinny little half-kraut kid from Hoboken with a crooked tooth and a few memorised corny lines to try to impress you with. But you saw beyond all that and you liked me for who I am and not the typical guy that most dames would fall for. And that made me happier than I ever though I could be. So happy in fact, that I don't ever want to ruin it. What we had was too perfect to last. And now, here I am , what seems like a million miles away, in a Europe gone crazy! Here we are writing letters to each other and sending pictures and sharing our lives, the little tiny moments that make up our days. But that's not real.

We're not together, sharing the drudgery and the hundred little annoyances that each day of reality brings. I picture you when I close my eyes and you're beautiful, smiling, in love with me. In reality you gotta have up times and down times, good times and bad times. And that would just kill me, Patsy, that would kill me more than any Nazi grenade or bullet could ever do.

I'm not coming back cause I dont ever want us to grow old together. I dont want to see your bad moods and bad days or you to see mine. I dont want to see you in sickness or you to see me grow old and feeble.

I love you, Patsy, but I don't want to lose you as you are. I had to tell you as you won't hear from me again or see me again. What we have means too much to me to let it go on and become a joke, a tired shadow of what it was.

Goodbye baby girl,

Your Jerry