Postmark: 08/20/1944

Return Address:

Pvt. V. Misitano
Co. A. 350th Inf APO 88c
c/o Postmaster N.Y.

Aug 13, 1944
Italian Rest Camp

Dearest Mother,

    Just a few lines to let you know that I'm O.K. and in good health and hoping that all at home are the same.

   Mother, I'm enclosing an eighty dollar money order so as soon as you receive this let me know so I'll be sure that it got to you safely.

   I'm still in a rest camp mother, and still having it pretty nice. We do work here mother, and sometimes it's pretty tough, but anything we do can't be as tough as it was while on the lines this last time.

   We got P.X. rations yesterday and today it was really O.K. Yesterday we got 3 bottles of beer apiece and it really hit the spot. It was really good beer and it was bottled in Pa., so that made it twice as good. Today we got candy rations and we got plenty of chocolate bars and peanut brittle. When we're on the front lines we have it pretty tough but at least those of us who have been managing to get back here to a rest camp safely are treated O.K.

   Well mother, I guess this is all for now so I'll close with lots of love to you mother dear, daddy and the kids.

   Your loving Son,

"Jimmy"

P.S.

   Mother, the eighty dollars I'm sending you, I want you to buy a refrigerator with it and you write and let me know how much more you need and you can bet I'll send the rest as soon as possible. Now Mother I don't want you to write and tell me you won't do it because I honestly sent and will send more money for just that purpose.

   Well mother dear, it's eleven oclock at night, so I'll just say good night and close with all my love and regards to everyone. Tell Aunt Kate and Uncle Joe I said hello and that I still think of them even if I don't write to them.

   Love,

"Jimmy"

Hershey Bars with Almonds:


Dad's mention in this letter about getting "plenty of chocolate bars" reminds me of the time he took our family to a Christmas party at the Mill Run Fire hall in Altoona. I believe I was somewhere in the 5 to 10 year old age bracket at the time. I don't remember many specifics of the party, but there was a huge crowd of participants, with lots of small gifts and special treats.

For reasons I can't recall, there was a ticket system whereby tickets could be purchased and then used in the party to trade for goodies of one sort or another. What made this experience special was that at the end of the evening, my dad noticed that he had a fairly big supply of unused tickets, but being as it was time to go home, there wasn't time to properly spend them. So he "conspired" with me to spend them all on Hershey's Chocolate Bars with Almonds, with the agreement that he would place them in his sock drawer at home, and I could then come and have a candy bar whenever I wanted until they were gone.

It turned out to be a nice lesson in discipline, as I knew he'd be able to tell when I took one, so I had to be conscientious about not just gobbling them all down too quickly.