Letter # 427 July 22, 1944

New Guinea
Sat. eve.
July 22, 1944
My Sweetheart;
Gosh honey but you are a good looking girl. I have the two new pictures here in front of me.  Never saw a better looking girl in my life.  I mean it too.  One of the boys was looking at the pictures and he wondered what a good looking girl like you ever saw in an old man like me.  They all like your looks a lot.  I sure wish I had you as close to me right now as you were then.  I'd hug you and kiss you and look at you for a while and then - Remember the story of the twenty toes?  Uh huh.  I sure would.  Gotta quit thinking of that.  I'll have myself in trouble.
We took the afternoon off and went swimming again.  I'm surely getting in my swimming this year aren't I?  I like it.  It was real rough today.  Big waves rolling in all the time.  They're fun.  I like to lay and float, letting the waves pick me up and drop me.  Sometimes today they would lift a good fifteen feet.  Look around like having a grandstand seat and then I'd slide down into the trough and could see nothing but sky.  The tough job is to fight out far enough to swim.  No more than get started and a big wave will wash me back to where I started.  Really give a fellow a workout in short order.  I have plenty of excess energy to get rid of these days anyhow.  Nothing but work to use up my strength and you probably remember I never did enough work to completely wear me out. I usually saved enough to take care of you.  I'm loving you. 
No letters today.  I really didn't expect any after the three dandy's I got yesterday.  I think I'll answer
them now. 
Your hope that your letter would find me in tip-top shape is realized.  I'm always in good shape and at present I'm as good as I have ever  been.  Of course I have a few little irritations such as jiggers and heat rash but they are very minor ailments.  I'm afraid I'll never get my chance to go to a hospital and have a nice red headed nurse take care of me.  I've seen a few nurses at the beach that would do very nicely.  No red heads though.  One of them was built on your general lines.  I took a good look too.  Several of them in fact.  She had a bathing suit that didn't seem to want to entirely cover the places it was designed to cover.  A wave slap her and she would very close to flop out.  Get me? 
I don't quite remember if you guessed the date of my first letter or not.  I think I wrote one on Sunday but not sure anymore.  That was the first day out.  The 28th of May, 1944.
I was wondering if you could make out the V-Mail.  I try to get as much on one sheet as I can and I thought it might be too small and close to read.  You say they are legible so now I know I won't have to change my style.  I was also tickled to hear that at least one of the letters written on more than one sheet, came all at once.  You tell me it was one of the sweetest letters I have ever written.  I don't doubt it.  I know if I succeeded in putting half of my feelings about that night on paper it would have to be sweet.  Honey, you'll never realize how many times the memory of that night has comforted me.  You were so darn brave, sweet, and beautiful.  You really gave me a real send off and a lot of sustaining and inspiring memories.  I needed the example you set to give me the courage to go back.  I was really hating to go back.  I'm not kidding either.  You're a wonderful help to me even at this distance. 
I wasn't worrying a bit about the Life Insurance or anything else about the home or business.  I knew you were taking care of everything as well as I could if I were there.  I spend all my thoughts of home on something a lot more important and precious than things like that.  I'm talking about my beautiful wife and sweetheart. 
I hardly expected the birds to like our feeder so well that they would use it in the summer.  I was tickled about it because even one bird had used it.  The idea may yet work out.  As the song goes, We'll have plenty of time for things like that when the lights go on again all over the world.   There are so many things that we are going to have fun doing together around our home.  Of course those sideline activities will have to be worked in between the more important matters such as getting acquainted again, having our reunited honeymoon, and maybe raising that family we have been thinking about.  How's that sound for a good beginning? 
Bye now darling.  I'm loving and missing you so much.  You're my wife.
Your hubby
Norm.