Nov. 17, 1944.
Dear Mom, Dad, Ruth, and Johnny,
I just came back from the show so I stopped in here at the mess hall to write a few letters. It was some show with Gloria Jean and wasn’t too bad. We get quite a few new pictures here but some are pretty old too. But tonight we had a newsreel, about the first one I’ve seen. It was about the liberation of France. They sure seemed happy and I can surely tell why. Sometimes I think it would be much easier fighting in Europe as there, there is someone who really appreciates it. The picture brought that out. Out here people don’t much care as long as they can live peacefully, except for the Japanese of course, and naturally they’ll never give us a welcome like the soldiers got in France …
I got a letter from Ruthie today and she mentioned that some pictures are on the way so I’m looking forward to them. Boy I’ve got so many letters to answer I don’t know where to begin. I’ve let them go for quite awhile so now I’m behind. I haven’t had any packages lately but they should start coming in soon. Got a paper too. We still have about the same routine here everyday but the time flies anyway. Tomorrow is our inspection day again so we won’t do an awful lot. The chow hasn’t been very good lately, mostly spam, C rations and canned food. We had fresh food for about a week.
You asked where and how Tex Miller is. The last I heard he was still out here somewhere but was heading for the states. He can’t walk yet but most likely his other wounds have healed. And Mom asked about those days while in Hawaii. We were on maneuvers with the 6th Marines then.
No, I don’t think you will have to send the papers directly but just send them once in a while like you have been doing. Red Williams is sure doing good.
I’m enclosing a check I drew here so I want you to bank it for me except for some that you can buy Christmas presents for the family and Mrs. Sweet with. That’s my pay from April, except for a little I’ve drawn so you see it doesn’t take much money out here.
That’s about all now as it’s getting late and I’m tired so I’ll close.
Love, James
Sgt. James Carlson
Dear Fellow Hikers,
So here I go… As I’ve now shared one of Dad’s letters publicly, I’ll make my attempt at doing it justice, both to him and to you as his readers. I went through a couple dozen of his letters trying to find one I could use to launch this project. I became very frustrated looking for the letter that would be the foundation where I could build his story. It was then that I realized that the value of these letters isn’t going to come from any one letter, but by looking at his three years of letters collectively.
Knowing this, I went back to the letter pile looking for one that would be a good representation of the others. Although many of the letters look very similar in structure and content, I did recognize that the letters often had a subtle change in tone and/or content. This I realized came from Dad’s ever evolving change in context as he aged, and as his life changing experiences became more frequent. It’s also interesting to note that the specifics of the changes that occurred are rarely mentioned in the letters.
Eventually I came across the above letter of November 17, 1944. Like most of the letters, the “topic of letters” would often dominate the narrative. Letters sent, received, not sent, no paper or envelopes available, packages shared with others, money sent home, magazines forwarded… lots of ink spent on keeping in touch with the stability and memories of life back home. A break from the chaos and traumatic realities of life lived in war (which was seldom, if ever, mentioned in the letters from what I’ve read so far).
What follows is some critical context that should help you better understand who Sgt. James Carlson was at the time the above letter was written (Three months after the Battle of Saipan, with troops occupying the secured Island of Saipan).
Dad enlisted in the United Sates Marine Corps (USMC) in January 1943 when he was 18 years old. He spent 16 months training in the U.S. and Hawaii (Hawaii was not yet a U.S. state), before shipping off to the South Pacific in June 1944. Now 19 years old, and Sergeant of a forward area radio squad, he arrived in the Marshall Islands where they prepared for an amphibious assault landing on the island of Saipan, in the Mariana Islands.
On June 15, 1944, Sergeant Carlson and his Radio Team, (Lt. Shannahan, Cpl. Bartlet, Pvt/Cpl* Bedekovich, Pvt/Cpl* Sullivan, Pvt/Cpl* White) landed on the beach in the second wave of the initial assault, entering the Battle of Saipan. A brutal battle that would last nearly a month. A battle where Dad would receive a Bronze Star. From mid July 1944 to December 1945 Dad remained in the South Pacific landing on a variety of islands, in a variety of combat and non-combat capacities. In August of 1945 Atomic Bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. On August 14, 1945 Japan surrendered.
On January 12, 1946 Dad was discharged from the USMC in Great Lakes Illinois, and soon back home with his family in South Minneapolis. (Three years from the day he enlisted. In that time never returned home on leave.)
With Care and Gratitude, Dan
Postscript…
Re: *A Letter From James… I struggled with referring to my Dad as James in the title of this Life Hike Letters project. He never referred to himself as James as far as I know, other than when he needed to use his legal name. (Same with me and Daniel/Dan). His Mom was the only person who called him James, and I don’t think I ever heard her call him Jim. Yet, Every letter I’ve read so far is signed “Love, James.” It’s really not a big deal, but it does make me wonder if there’s a reason for using James that I’m not considering… Hmmm…
Re: *A Note on Historic Details… If you should do any further on-line research on the events I’ve mentioned above, you may notice some detail inconsistencies regarding terminology, specific dates, names of locations, etc. Dad left us a lot of reference materials of his war experience in addition to the letters… including books, articles, his own narratives on certain events, as well as a lot of stories told orally. Sometimes details don’t line up exactly the same, and when they didn’t, I respectively used Dad’s details. I believe none of these discrepancies contradicts the truths of what occurred.
Re: *Pvt/Cpl… Dad only identified these Marines as enlisted men. If further research identifies specific ranks I’ll add an update..
Next Up: A New Season! “A quick look back, and a look ahead…” (Friday, 03/07/25, S2/L14)