Volleyball Archives - Moss Letters

30 October 1944

Dear Folks:

Kind of a lazy Sunday morning with not very much to do, so a good time to write you a letter while I won’t have to rush. Church services are in the afternoon. For a while this morning watched some volleyball games and then walked up to the baseball diamond, but it was pretty hot so I came back. While many things aren’t so convenient for us it helps a lot to get some time off and to be able to relax occasionally.

Since I started this I was interrupted and now it is about eight o’clock in the evening. I received three letters just before the show and just now could read them. This was the first mail in four days and I was beginning to think something had gone wrong again. Two of the letters were from you and one from Washington, so I had a boost in my morale. You once remarked Mom how I could write so much, well you are practically the only ones I write to, and many nights it’s a relief to write rather than trying to kill time and thinking about home so much, so I start writing, and when I’m doing it, it seems like I get a little closer to you somehow.

For the first time in several years I played baseball. The battery organized a third team and today I played third base. I guess I did alright although my hands are a little sore from catching the ball. In the battalion we have two leagues, the American (and) the National set up, so there are a lot of games. I’m on the first three graders volleyball team too, but not so hot at that racket. But there aren’t many of us so I have to play.

Of course the news from the Philippines on the water and on land is drawing our attention as it must be yours. I listen to every news broadcast I can, and we can get them from all sides, Australia, Japan, Germany and London. Two nights ago I ran onto a particularly interesting shortwave broadcast while dialing around. Correspondents for UP, INS and AP were transmitting their messages to ‘Frisco from Leyte and the procedure of getting the news to their agencies was interesting. Of course the Japs are claiming victories on a larger scale than ours, and claim Task Force 58 was annihilated off Formosa. The line of rot they propagate is really something to hear. In connection with the war I happened to get a hold of some interesting stuff on (the) Saipan operation and thought you might like to read it. Some of the commentators seem to think the Naval victory may shorten the war a few months and I’m not inclined to disagree. I hope the Philippines don’t bog down into another New Guinea affair and drag on for many months. Those yellow b___’s can live like gophers and it’ll take a lot to dig them out. They use ‘em to haul garbage from camp and when I see them go by on the truck I wonder what they’re thinking about. They are still bringing them out of the hills. About a month ago three of them were seen in a cane field next to one of the batteries and after killing two of them the other gave up. One of them was almost out in two bullets.

Just a few minutes ago I opened a can of beer and even had peanuts to go with it. The PX got a pretty good supply in and after waiting in line for 45 minutes finally was able to buy a few things.

Yesterday went to the dentist and had a small filling taken care of. My gum had swollen a little but wasn’t too sore so I thought I better see what was up. Luckily it wasn’t bad and he didn’t have to drill around too much. My teeth are in good shape now, and contrary to my civilian habits I brush them regularly.

Well I think I’ve run out for this time. Another Sunday gone by and another week on the way. Time seems to be flying for me to and I hope the next year goes as fast as the last one, for then I will be eligible for rotation. And pray that when we get our next furlough quota I will walk up and draw the little slip with the magic words on it. I worry more about you folks than I do about myself and I hope you don’t upset yourselves too much. Well there’s the curtain on another act so, so long –

Love,

20 October 1944

Dear Folks:

A little while before bed so maybe I can knock out a short communiqué. Had a letter from Dick tonight – one of the longest I’ve received from him. He sounded pretty good – but said you sent him some sour letters because he didn’t tell you about his getting hurt. He thought you was a little fed up. His only reason for not telling [you] was to keep you from being upset and we didn’t expect you would receive anything official about it. Well he’s been through a lot more, and he’s a great guy, and I wouldn’t write anything to make him feel as he does. Maybe it was just the way he took your letters.

Betty Hutton’s show is coming tomorrow and it will be something to look forward to. A look at a white woman with shoes on will be a treat in itself. The boys scavenged some lumber and have built a pretty nice looking stage. The seats are dirt filled sacks. Last night at the show it rained in almost cloudburst proportions but it didn’t diter many of the customers.

We’ve been following the news pretty closely – especially listening to the events in the Philippines and around Formosa. A Jap news broadcast today said they had sunk eleven of our carriers along with two battleships and several other ships. They were painting a rosy picture for themselves and I hope it is all fiction. Such news is discouraging. I wish I could describe for you the great activity here and what I know.

It gets pretty hot here but morale is kept up partially by the fact that we get afternoons off except when something urgent comes along. Baseball and volleyball take up the afternoon. So far we’ve been unable to get PX supplies and we’re pretty disgusted about the fact – especially when other units are enjoying cokes, candy, etc. An ice cold coke would sell for a buck easily.

Well enough for tonight – not much news so I’ll quite for this time.

Love,

26 August 1944

Dear folks:

I just finished a game of volleyball and in this weather that’s pretty strenuous. Now I smell like a goat and will have to take a bath in a Japanese tub that we found. Our water supply for bathing and washing clothes is mostly rainwater. Almost every shack has a barrel with a drain pipe stock in the top. The day before yesterday I was out with the major and we pretty well covered all the island in his jeep. In one area at the southern end of the island we went into some of the caves where the Japs hid out when the Jig was up. There are still plenty of them there and only yesterday 64 were taken prison. We went into one large cave that had been hit with a big naval shell and we estimated there was between sixty or seventy dead ones there. In another we found two who had hanged themselves and their headless bodies were leaned against the wall and their heads still hanging on the wire. But a little time in those places and the stench nearly knocks you out, so we didn’t stick around long.

I was scheduled to see Dick last Sunday on Saipan. I was going to fly over but I couldn’t get away. Don’t know whether I will see him again or not. I wasn’t going to mention this but now that he is well and the same as ever again, I guess it’s all right. On August the 5^th he was injured when a Jap grenade went off near him and he got about a half dozen pieces in his legs and feet and back. He was sent to the hospital, and when I first got news about it I flew over to see him. When I got there he was getting along fine and able to walk in the chow line. He wouldn’t let me tell you about it and so I didn’t write anything, but he wasn’t seriously hurt so I thought is was all right. He was in the hospital until about the 11^th or 12^th and then released. He was a little shaken and damn glad to see me, but I assure you he is as fine as ever and the injury will have no effect whatsoever upon him. Undoubtedly he will be awarded the Purple Heart and maybe he has it by now. He will have plenty to tell you when he gets back. But please don’t worry for he is in the best of health.

Now that the 2^nd class mail has begun to catch up I have papers and magazines all over the place. The box of seeds came the day before yesterday and in good shape and now I can sit around and munch them when mealtime seems a long way off. Danny Gettman brings in armloads of Star Heralds and it’s a job to read all of them, but I don’t mind it. Jack Conklin and I swapped news and he told me Mildred Roberts was getting a divorce—How did it last as long as it did? He had a lot of other news and it’s all interesting. I haven’t received a letter from you for about a week now, but I suppose it will come in with a rush someday. Jack read me a few of his letters and in all of them everyone back there seems very optimistic and sees a bright future for the end of the war. I hope they don’t get too optimistic because there’s a long way to go yet, but everything does look pretty good on the whole.

Well I think I better stop and get ready to crawl in. I hope this letter doesn’t startle you and you won’t worry about Dick, because in all honesty he is fine. Yesterday two fellows left on furlough to the states and I would have given them two hundred dollars for their papers but I don’t think they would bat an eye at that price. I couldn’t blame them. Don’t get your hopes up about me getting back for the quota is so small it’s almost nothing and is more like dangling a piece of meat in front of a dog just to keep him going. Maybe the rotation plan will treat me better although that’s a year away yet. Well that’s enough for tonight, so I’ll just go to bed and think about all of you like I’ve done for a long time now.

Love,

20 August 1944

Dear Folks:

I’ll try my patience tonight and see if I can write a letter in long hand for a change. Maybe you can’t read it around the end but here goes. This is Saturday night again but it just as well be any night I guess. Maybe I can make it to church in the morning if nothing unforeseen comes up. Well I had a little excitement during my tour yesterday. While driving along in a jeep at the southern end of the island, we spotted a Jap running in the bushes and trying to dodge around a burned up truck. We let go a few rounds at him and soon he came out hands up. We stripped him down to his bare then took him to intelligence. He was scared to death and thought for sure we were going to kill him in short order. He was injured pretty badly and flies were all around him. Later we gave him a can of rations and he dug into them as fast as he could. Every time we gave him a cigarette or did anything for him he would bow his head very reverently two or three times.

I can’t think of much to write about. We are getting somewhat stabilized here now and the garrison routines are coming back. We have two volleyball courts constructed and several teams have been organized in the battery for a playoff. My game isn’t so hot but I get in once in a while.

Dan Gettman brought in a slug of Star Heralds a few days ago and we talked about your visit with his mother. He’s a typical valley Russian but a pretty good egg.

Hope I can see Dick in the next few days and swap mail with him. He probably has quite a few.

I wished I could think of something more to write but can’t seem to tonight. So I’ll stop this and get ready for those “cool clean sheets” and that “late Sunday morning sleep”. (Yes, I’m kiddin’).

Love,

10 February 1944

Dear Dad:

I just received another of your inimitable letters and it came at a most welcome time. My head is still going round like a merry go round. I have been very busy the last few days and just now has the volume of work begun to slacken off a little. But working like this makes the time slip by almost unnoticed. When I realize how long it has been since I’ve eaten a Moss meal, I appreciate that fact, more than ever. But maybe that’s because I’m older. I can remember when I couldn’t wait another day until I was old enough to have a bike and then later on to drive an automobile. But now here I am having gone through both and wondering what I’ll be doing when I’m forty or fifty.

I think if I take another look at your letter I can stretch this one out a little longer. Every time you say something about the cold weather and the snow, I have to pause and remember that in some places there actually is weather like that. Every afternoon around three the office knocks off for a little volleyball game on the big rambling lawns that are near our area. We’re getting pretty brown from it and we feel pretty good after sitting down all day. Last night we gathered together our best forces and had a game with some Hawaiian civilian boys and took a good beating. We played after supper with the little gathering there. It reminded me of a twilight softball game like we used to have. There was a few good-sized ‘wahines’ there together with some men playing poker on a little grass mat. They sure take life easy and are so darned good natured and hospitable. They’re pretty fat and look sloppy but you overlook that. The boys beat our pants off – they can hit a ball from any angle.

Dick and I went out together on pass last Wednesday and looked around for the shells but couldn’t find any this trip. But we’ll get them. I bought Mom and Nancy each one of those handkerchief affairs they wear over their heads and better get them mailed tonight. Dick and I are very lucky to be so near to each other but I think your summarizations are pretty correct. What did you think of the Marshalls episode? Boosts your morale up for a while and makes you a little more optimistic. There is a lot of talk around in the papers of troop rotation and furloughs but I don’t put much faith in any of it. All of it is so contingent upon other things that is seems pretty remote. Guess I’m getting used to waiting. I know what the deal on the bond allotment is. I had an allotment for that amount and it was automatically stopped in favor of a new plan so that represents the money not applied on a new bond. Hope you received the sixty bucks instead of the usual thirty-five.

Most of the civilians at home get a pretty good tongue lashing from the fellows – and especially the strikers. Boy what they wouldn’t do for them. I guess that shows that they didn’t realize what a swell place the ‘old country’ was until they had to leave it. Any little old corner of the states would satisfy most of us. But this business of laying off work sure raises the hair on us when we hear of another fifty thousand or so because they can’t get enough to have all they want. I think the situation is pretty lopsided too. Everyone whether he’s over here or back there is in the same kind of job and if he has to take bad breaks that’s just tough.

Well I’m going to do some studying for a while and the evenings are very short so I’m going to throw in the towel about here. The friend in Washington sent me another book a few weeks back and it’s full of interest so got to get busy on it. I have a little room by myself now and can setup books and spend a profitable evening with them. I think your sentiments are the best in the world although they aren’t expressed in the language of Longfellow, which is the least important part.

Love,

31 January 1944

Dear Folks:

Your letters lately have been so newsy and interesting that I have felt obligated to answer them immediately, so before my supper gets well settled maybe I can catch up (on) one more letter. Recently I had a change of station and during such times the censor cuts the letters up quite a little—so much that I couldn’t get the initiative to write. But now that we are settled I can write with maybe a little more interest. Dick called me up last night to find out when I was off so we could meet each other and it looks like next Saturday will be the day. We certainly are lucky enough to be able to see and talk to each other so often. And while we’re out, we’ll pool our talents (?) and try to find the shells, and some that you will like no end. And then payday is very soon now so we’ll feel pretty much in the mood to shop. Also today received the Free Press, and three yesterday so I’ve been busy with mail. It only takes a few minutes to read the darn things but they are certainly welcome. I also read about putting the pictures in the paper. Sounds like a pretty good idea and the paper will be more interesting. As I said yesterday was a big day for mail – received a law book from the friend in Washington. One I have been wanting and written by Lawrence Vold who is a professor at the University of Nebraska. I heard Miller and the other boys talk about him and I know him by sight.

Now that I am on Oahu and will have the opportunity to go to a dentist, I hope soon to get the bridge. And I did receive the money order, and in good time too. While I’m on the subject of Oahu maybe I can get together a few more items about the place. (The censor cut out the rest of the page.)

…you pick out every nationality and every combination too it seems. But with so many servicemen the streets are packed and every store and stand does a gold rush business. There are many places I hope to see including some museums, buildings and other natural beauty spots. I wish you could go with me down Kalakua Avenue that runs along Waikiki and watch the boys ride the surfboards, and forget the howling cold winds you are probably now having. Each afternoon the office crew plays a little volleyball and we’re all getting pretty brown from it. Our office is a Japanese tea house in a garden set in a little valley. The walls are set with sliding panels so that the sides can be opened up completely or completely closed. There are no hinges or windows in the place. I understand the building was imported from Japan.

I wrote a couple of days ago to the Colson’s and Carroll’s so you can breathe easier now. I’m glad I’ve got it done too. I’ve read about the treatment that Gramp is receiving in a Reader’s Digest of a few months ago I believe. Your sentiments about the ultimate value of these new discoveries in view of wars is indeed to be doubted. Tonight a USO troupe from the mainland with Allen Jenkins is here. The ones from the mainland or the ‘old country’ are darned good but the local productions are pretty old. Well it looks like I’m stalled for now so here’s the end of this. Had a letter from Patsy yesterday too – I sent them a picture and they liked it quite a lot.

Love,

25 January 1944

Dear Folks:

I’m so far behind in my writing that I hardly know what to write to start off. Recently I’ve had a change of station and that has meant a lot to do and little time to do it in. I suppose you have been wondering what has happened and maybe worried a little, but as a matter of fact I think this place is a better deal than before. Now I am where I can see Dick pretty often and call him up once in a while. Last Saturday I called him to make arrangements on a pass day, so Sunday morning he came around and we went to town and spent a civilian Sunday walking around the beach and looking at fish in the aquarium. He’s looking good and seems a little more talkative and lively than ever before. We heard a good band in the afternoon – Claude Thornhill. We talked about a lot of things and one of them was Phil. From what he told me there’s a little difficulty some place and I’m a little worried about him. I can imagine what you feel and know you wonder what to do about it. Also in Kate’s letter she mentioned it but made me promise that I would say nothing to you. I would be sick too if he should quit school to do what he has in mind, and I would do everything to keep him from it. Fellows on the outside see only one side of this military life and never hear of the other. I wish I was around to help you out. My spirits will drop a good deal if I hear that he has quit and taken the other road. I hope it isn’t as bad as I fear.

Around the lighter side – I have a new APO number now 958 and I’m on Oahu. Having visited here twice before on pass I was broke in a little and knew a little what to expect. The big city is a cauldron of fast moving traffic and big crowds of people hurrying to get someplace. With the…..cut out by the censor. Every bar, theater and café has a line in front of it with people waiting a long time for a little service, and it’s hard to escape the crowds no matter where you go. It’s hard to imagine that there was a time when everything was plentiful and all you had to have was the dough. But with all this activity we were moved into a quiet secluded cool spot that makes me forget once in a while that there is a war going on. This would be the spot for you Mom with the big trees and numberless shrubs everywhere. Adjacent to our area is a large open lawn space with a baseball diamond and volleyball court. Each afternoon we put in a couple of hours at volleyball and absorb a little sunshine. Yesterday while we were out the ‘Mars’ – the new flying boat that recently flew to Brazil and back – flew very low overhead and gave us a real idea of just how big it really is.

I did receive the packages from Colson’s and Carroll’s and I will answer them with a little letter if I can first find time to answer my ’must’ correspondence.

Tonight the open air theatre the local USO put on a variety act affair that to me was very boring and corny. The big part of it was hula dancing and that’s pretty tiresome by now. But there were girls in it so we had to go. Mentioning the Carroll’s, another change has taken place with Shirley now taken out of circulation. So she married a soljer? I hope she got out of the usual Carroll rut and picked someone with a little better prospects. Duane is pretty lucky to stay in the States and been near his wife and get home once in a while. If I am here much longer when people ask me…..(cut out by the censor) where I am from I will say the Hawaiian Islands, and strolling around the better sections of the big city that idea doesn’t sound bad.

You have been doing a good job of writing – all of you – and I especially liked your commentary on the Christmas holiday. I could visualize the whole affair and know having Stevie and Kate and Tom with you must have made the celebration especially happy. You can’t imagine how much Dick and I would have given to have been with you, and when we get back to the next (Christmas) it will have more meaning than any before. Everything I did as a kid and in school and later in Lincoln seems like a short dream I had last night after eating too much before going to bed.

I have the books with me after carefully packing them for the trip and I try to find time to study every day and I hope in the near future I can put things on somewhat of a schedule. Being here perhaps I can get a taste of things more urban. This month there is a symphony concert of 65 pieces and I want to hear it so darn bad. My experience with the Nebraska symphony is now a most valued experience and a cherished memory. The University of Hawaii is also here but probably I can’t do anything about that. Well I think I’ve said my speil for tonight and I hope you will forgive me for not answering as I should. Watch Phil and I hope everything works out to a happy solution. I’m glad you liked the picture – I thought it was pretty good too. Well goodnight – the time seems endless before I will be home.

Love,

Mom:

Advise Reader’s Digest of my change of address

1 September 1943

Dear Folks:

Although I just wrote you last night I guess another letter won’t be wrong after I laid off for a while. After recall we usually manage a volleyball game with teams from the other offices, then follow it up with a shower before supper. Now that I have showered and ate, I feel pretty good and ready to relax or get in a bridge game tonight. With the abundance of avocadoes on the nearby trees we usually have one for dinner and supper, although I can’t remember ever eating one in the states. Well the school kids are starting school again and everyday the little Japs etc trapaise by on the road on the long walk home. They look about the same anywhere I guess. I saw a class of small children at the Catholic parochial school and what a variety of brands. From the whitest to the blackest and shades in between.

Tomorrow is my day off and while I’m in town I think I’ll have the photographer work on me. Perhaps I can make the pictures suffice for Christmas presents. My friend in Washington is sending me a book—she always writes regularly and I consider her a very close friend.

I hope my allotments are arriving regularly and in the right amounts. Being so far away from the War Department offices we have many cases of incorrect and delayed allotments and I wouldn’t want to have them get messed up. Handling these things, together with other personnel work is the job that I am in, and I think it is one of the most desirable jobs in the regiment.

My Reader’s Digest came yesterday but it immediately starts the rounds in the billet and so far I’ve just read the jokes and shorts.

And of course the first of the month is that day that we are rewarded for efforts, payday, so I suppose the dice and cards will see plenty of action tonight although our billet seldom gets away from the bridge games long enough to try their luck.

I guess I’m like everyone else in enjoying the Free Press and especially the comments about the servicemen. Now perhaps I can keep track of those monkeys that made high school and after, the clutter of mischief and fun that those years were. I think I’d rather see Bill Emick more than any other one fellow. I wonder when you were digging around among the stuff I left you, came across my old model planes. You know I get a hankering to get out a bottle of glue and wood and start on another one. I guess the gas model is pretty well beat up, but I wouldn’t be surprised if I someday patched it up again, even if my glasses are an inch thick.

I heard a broadcast of Winston Churchill’s speech from Canada last night and also the Pope’s today. It seems pretty certain that the culmination of the war is in the home stretch, and our turn to swing the final punch, but too much optimism is not good.

The mountains look beautiful in their purple robes as the sun goes down, and the ocean is deep blue and quiet, so I’ll get in this mood too and take it easy for the rest of the night. I guess this (is) goodnight and the end of another column.

Love,

3 August 1943

Dearest Folks:

I’m slipping on my writing again so better make this typewriter burn for a while. Just received Nancy’s letter a few moments ago and I especially noted that Glen and Bill E are home on furlough. What we wouldn’t do during a reunion leaves little to the imagination. A fellow in our billet just returned from furlough to the states and during the fiesta we had last night, asked him a bushel of questions about everything. He also brought back with him some spirits by smuggling them in a barracks bag and so that added a touch to the party. We must have acted like a bunch of kids the way we wanted to know a little about everything he saw and did while he was away. He is from a small town in Oklahoma. Of course I can’t describe just how I would act if I ever walked down the main street again, but I, like everyone else I suppose, try to imagine what it would be like before I go to sleep.

I just received the pictures from Dick and I suppose that probably you have yours by now. I think they are pretty good although I don’t think we took enough. I was a little surprised that some of them were passed, but I’m glad they didn’t object because you can get a good idea of the place where we spent most of our time.

I had intended to go to the show tonight and all in all take it easy, but I ran into a volleyball game and finally ended up doing exactly the opposite. My nights are all free and duty hours reasonable and with my type of work I escape some of the rigors of the outdoors, although we take part in some lengthy hikes occasionally. I haven’t lost any of my love for the island, and continue to hope that I will (be) lucky enough to remain here until I step on the boat for ‘Frisco.

I continually mention this subject but I hope you won’t object and that is the books. I hope that nothing arose that prevented your sending the volumes although it might have been necessary to send them in two separate packages depending on the weight.

Katie writes occasionally and everything sounds well with her, and I’m beginning to adopt a parental complex from my coming title of uncle.

I wish I was free to tell you how fast your mail arrives, for I know you would (be) surprised. But it does make good time in some cases although a few occasionally are delayed. I have no less than six letters to write tonight, but I’ve lost the initiative to write except to those that are close. I think I’ll throw in the towel on this issue and hope I can muster a few more words for the next one. I was amused at Phil’s newly acquired car and I can easily imagine how he must be beaming and grinning over his new treasure. And I suppose Nancy has her share of the fun from it. Well this is la finis, but before I go just keep the home and town like it was when I left.

Love,