Folders 571-580: 19 July 1945-24 July 1945,

Containers:

6, 8

Scope and content:

The District librarian is coming to visit the Camp library; has to give leave to a sailor whose mother is very sick. Plans to go see “Bell for Adano” with Lew, but it has not gotten good reviews. Reads a story in the Richmond paper about a plan for releasing men using a points system, but only people who have had 4 years of duty and will be 41 or older. Finally sees “Bell for Adano,” and likes it more than the reviews; reflects on whether his letters are more like letters or like “speech-making…and blowing off steam.” Goes to the Lodge and sits out by the pool, watching a 6 month old baby, before rain forces him inside. Meets a man from Maine, where Recht and Esther have traveled, and so they talk about places they have both been; men are complaining of getting bitten by flies; has a sailor tell him a story about how the sailor’s uncle sent him a letter saying that the sailor’s wife has been entertaining all sorts of men at their house, however the sailor thinks the uncle is sending these rumors because he wants to go on a date with his wife. Has an interesting experience of racism in the barber shop, with one barber hiding in the back office instead of cutting hair. Sees the movie “The Princess and the Bell Hop”; the coffee shop at the Lodge is now using saccharine tablets instead of sugar; hears from Frankie, and former sailor in their group, and that he is on an LST. Sees a “colored fellow” leading a group of men, both black and white, from induction to the mess hall; theorizes that the Nazi’s learned from the KKK and “other American methods of mistreatment of the Negro.”

Access and use