Pvt. Sam E. Smith (34635335)
Hp. CO. 51st. Armd. Inf. Bn. 
A.P.O. 254 c/o PM.
New York, New York
Free
SERVICE A.P.O. U.S. ARMY POSTAL
254
FEB
21
1944
Miss Bernice Smith
2219 Biscayne Blvd.
Miami, Florida
PASSED BY
U 10536 S
[illegible]
Lt. Lester W. Gibson


Feb. 19, 1944
Dear Bernice,
I am on K.P. today. We have
the dinner dishes washed up
and the kitchen cleaned up. It
is three ocolock now and they
don't feed again until 5:30
I first went over and got my
mail. I got two letters from
you. One asking about the
A.P.O. number. The other
had the wrong number but
I got it alright.
We went to a stage show
yesterday afternoon, put on by
some men in the special
service. We walked five miles
to see it and five miles back
but t was worth it. It
was a pretty good show. They
had some pretty good music
and a good many comedy acts.
One old boy was rubbing his
nose and looking at it and


another asked him what he was
doing. He said, "I thought it
was blood but it's not." Try
repeating the last sentence and
you will catch on.
I got a letter from Vick
yesterday. He is over here you
know. We are going to get
together as soon as we can
make arrangments.
Mother wrote me that George
Malone cut down the Red
Oak out behind our house. It
made me sorta mad when
I heard it. It was his tree 
alright but It was just like
comming over in our front
yeard and cutting down a tree.
I'll bet it looks bare out there
now.
Daddy said that he got
steel dust in his eye and
went to the Army doctor. The


doctor said that there was nothing
wrong with him. He just had
the pink eye. Daddy got mad
and told him that he was no
dam mule, etc, etc. I was
glad to hear that he cursed
him out because I have had
it in for them ever since on
cursed me out in the induction 
center when I first came in 
the Army. The doc. said, "If there
is the least thing wrong with 
any of you men we won't you 
to be sure and tell us about
it." I told him that I was
bothered pretty bad with hay
fever sometimes. He accused
me of trying to keep out of
the army and I just had
to stand there and take it.
I guess you think that I 
ought to tell you some of
the strange things that I am


seeing in England. Well the only
different I can see is that it
rains all the time. We only
see the sun ^ about once a month or
when we do see it, we are so
far north that it looks like
it is only about an hour
high at dinner time. When
we to to town we have to
constantly keep on the alert or
we will get run over by a
bicycle. These nights are so
dark you can cut it with a 
knife. When we get into the
edge of town about fifty kids
will jump us and go to 
begging for chewing gum and
American coins. We can't
help them much because we
only get one pack of gum
a week. I feel sorry for
these kids over here. They have
grown up in war and that's all 
they know. They only have


a very small world. There
is a school ear here
and the kids only have
about the yard and very
near surroundings to play
in. When I think of how
I used to roam the hills
in the summer and get
as brown as an Indian
I don't see how the
people exist in this
country.
The people here are nice
and friendly to us. A man
that owns a bowling alley
throwed a party for 
us the other night. We 
had a pretty good time


Well I can't think
of anything else for
the time being. I will
think up another speal
later. 
Love from
SonnyBoy