What This Story Means to Me

        I have written about my dad’s WWII letters before, but this week’s topic seemed to call to me, and I wanted to share some of the things he wrote about while he was  halfway around the world from his wife of just one year. These one year’s worth of letters turned into a story that forever changed how I would think about my dad, and got to know him and think of him in a way that would not have been possible without them.

My Dad, Roscoe Hinch - achieved the rank of Lt. Col. in Army Reserves

These letters were written between November 1944 and November 1945, when Dad was sent overseas with the US Army Medical Corps, first to the European Theatre (France, Belgium and Germany, and then to the Pacific Theatre (Philippines and Japan). He wrote well over 100 letters, all multiple pages, to our mom. It took him one year to write them, and it took me about the same amount of time in 2019 - 2020 to scan, transcribe, print and share them with family. 

These letters are a love story between my mom and dad. As you can imagine, each letter contains strong sentiments about how much Dad missed her, how he was hoping she was taking care of herself, and the longing to return home to be with her. There was a certain degree of fear, not for his life, but fear of what this separation might do to them. So he was always reassuring her how much he loved and missed her. 

Dad's first letter after leaving USA - Somewhere at Sea Jan 10, 1944

    "My darling wife, I am now on a boat at sea, and at long last it has really happened and I am leaving you for a long time."

But there were certainly other things he wrote about, and it is these things that let me know my Dad better. He was a very frugal person, or should I say disciplined in his financial planning and spending. He wrote about their budgets, planning how to spend his pay and her pay from her job, just how much certain things should cost, how much life insurance to buy, savings bonds, etc. Years later, when I was at college, and they would put $25 a month in my checking account, and many times I would write checks a few days before the deposit, and would overdraw my account. He would get so upset because of the overdraft fees. I’m sorry Dad!!

He would also retell nights of playing bridge, and would remember all the cards he had and how he played them. His memory was amazing. And he would then say how much he won or lost at the end of the night, what plays he did well, and others he flubbed.

And then there were some family history nuggets about some things I never would have known - things that just get lost to time. He asked her to send his mother in Tennessee some money for new dentures, because she really needed them, and also to send her some money for new canning jars.  And to reassure his mom that he was find and didn’t need anything. Then he talked our Mom’s dad (Wilbur’s) stomach problems, and that he shouldn’t worry about it. These are just a few examples.

Then there was the sentimentality. Dad loved listening to good music. He talked about wanting to go hear Eugene Ormandy with mom when he returned. Just listening to a piano during a church service in Europe made his very homesick. In France, there was a man playing Largo, which was a song that was played at Mom and Dad’s wedding. Hearing that really hit him. He also loved hearing military bands, which he said made him so very homesick for the USA.

Letter Nov 27, 1944 - talks about the soldier band he heard in Nagoya Japan, waiting to come home

"Today at the mess hall they had a very good soldier band and their music sounded so wonderful - Principally because I'm not used to it, but it made me so sentimental that I could hardly eat dinner. It made me want to hurry and get home so bad."

And I can’t forget to include his sense of humor!  He loved puns (he called it corn), and was always making up new ones. He wasn’t sure how much they were appreciated overseas, but he sure enjoyed them. One I ran into while going through his letters today was this: “Do I need to keep snowing, or do you get my drift.”

My dad came back from the war in December 1945, and he and mom went on to live a long and happy life, having four children, although they endured some tragedies and sadness along the way. Dad lived to age 80, and Mom lived another 26 years after he passed. Here is the other amazing thing: I never would have had these letters if Mom hadn’t saved them all those years. I never even knew they existed until just about 5 years or so before she passed away, when she told me about them. They were in her closet at the Care Center. She said to make sure I didn’t throw them away! 

Envelope of letter from Dad to Mom - she worked at the hospital in A.C. where they met

She would even take one or two out once in a while and read them. She even carried one or two in her purse, to have them close to her. 

If you are wondering, only one of Mom’s letters to Dad survived the war. You see, he couldn’t keep them when he was overseas. Their space was limited to what they could carry, so after he read her letters he was forced to burn them. 

I am so grateful that I have these letters, and that they survived 75 years after they were written, so I was able to read and share them with my siblings, our children and grandchildren too. I hope they all will also get to know Dad from these letters, and treasure learning about my dad.