Jan 7, 1943
Dear Annilea:
Received your two pictures yesterday & I can assure you I was mightily pleased. Do you realize that the only snap shop I had of you before was the one of you in shorts at camp? Now that you are with Mother & Dad do stay awhile; they both seem so pleased to have you & baby. Writing a long letter to you right now & so its my heart to you.
Love, Arnold
Telephone: DORKING 7332211
OFFICERS MESS, EASTERN AND SOUTH-EASTERN ARMY, WEAPON TRAINING SCHOOL, ANSTIE GRANGE, HOLMWOOD, Nr. DORKING
Feb 13, 1943
Dear Annilea:
Just arrived back from course this morning & go on duty this evening. By the sound of the wind & waves its blowing up a nasty storm which I’m sure the boys won’t like in the least, but their a good bunch & in the one week I was with them they seemed to know their job & be a reliable crowd. This being our duty week (every 3rd week) confined for the full week.
Incidentally, I have #13 Platoon, a nice number, & as a lot of changes took place lately, I now have a new Pl. Sgt. Sgt. Pound, of Charlottetown. Father was & still is for all I know, a blacksmith on Great George Street, a new Cpl., & a number of new men. Well I had a dandy course, feel I got a lot out of it & am glad to be back in the Unit again. It really seems so funny having no snow over here, even if we do get lots of rain & raw damp weather, but English climate is so changeable & in a hurry.
How lovely its going to be when on Sundays I can ly in bed in the mornings, get up in time for dinner & lounge around all afternoon with my beautiful & adorable wife & child. How lovely its going to be, when arriving home in the evenings, to have my very lovely Sweetheart there to greet me & to feel her soft lips pressed close to mine.
What greater thing in life can a man want than to be with the one person in the world that he cherishes & adores. Only man’s wife can give to him the necessities of life that are so essential to him, that beautiful love of understanding between two people of the opposite sex, who trust & try to understand each other & are so quick to try & cover up any little faults of their own & to help the other out of any little pit falls they may have accumulated during the day. I do think & pray for you both so earnestly every day, that God will keep you both safe & sound until my ship is homeward bound again.
Adoring Love for My Loved Ones,
Arnold.
Feb 16, 1943
Dear Annilea:
Nothing much to tell you in the way of news except that the same old story is true that I’m still very much in Love with my darling wife & long to be with her & our lovely daughter. It really is strange, though tragic, that I can possibly have two such persons across the wide Ocean Blue that are really such a part of me, who rely on me & yet I can’t even see or speak to them. Its so hard to believe that I have been away from you both almost 10 months & yet when I look at it in another light it seems years because so many things have happened since living with you in Kentville in that small but beautiful little home of ours. All the heavenly hours of bliss & contentment that you & I put in together, also at Fredia’s (?), & it does do me a lot of good to remember those happy hours spent together & to realize just what they meant to each of us. It also makes me happy to believe that during that 1 yr spent together that I was able to give you some of the comforts of married life, even if small; because I do remember that I used to get a great kick of doing things for you, no matter how small, just so long as you were happy & contented & it used to hurt me so much when even the smallest thing would go wrong which thank goodness was very rare. I can remember so well the beautiful smile that over your beautiful face the night I arrived in unexpectedly from Debert & you were eating supper with the Outlaws. When I miss you more than any other time is at Supper because I became so used to having you meet me at the door, your face a radiant glow, & feel you so close in my arms, your soft lips on mine, & realize Sweetheart that here in my arms was my one object in life, to keep you lovely, happy & contented. Can it be possible I Love You?
Arnold