PFC Martin E Conlon
US 51 213 731
Co. D 34th INF. REGT. APO. 24
c/o P.M. SAN FRANCISCO, CALIF.
Dec 29, 1953
Pusan
Dear Dot & Bill:
I received your very nice card and letter the other day and I want to thank you for signing me up for that time magazine subscription. It is something that will be of benefit to all of us here in the barracks. I also have a picture have the picture of the baby and he looks nice and healthy and I know that everyone must be very happy over him.
I hope that you all had a very nice Christmas and that the weather cooperated to make it a happy one too. You can take that whichever way you want to. If you wanted nice sunny weather, that’s O.K. If you wanted snow, that’s O.K. too. I don’t imagine that you wanted very much of the snow, though.
They did their best to make it a happy Christmas for us too. It wasn’t the same as being home, but it was better than some people had it. We had a Midnight Mass and it was beautiful. The altar was all decorated and we also had a choir that sang throughout the Mass. This choir is made-up of fellows from the different companies throughout the regiment. The place was packed and many of the fellows had to stand up all through the Mass. The priest gave us a nice talk and then almost everyone went to communion.
The company didn’t have any party or anything to celebrate the holiday, so we had our own little party Christmas night. It was pretty good too. I guess I’m a little bit ahead of myself. On Christmas Day, most of us stayed in bed. Until about 9:30 or 1000 hours and it really felt nice. After we were up and all dressed up in our good clothes, we got ready for dinner, which was at one o’clock. The meal wasn’t as good as Thanksgiving, but it was a lot better than eating stew, which is what we have been having most of the time lately. We had the Turkey and potatoes with all kinds of fruit cocktails and salads, pies, ice cream, candy, nuts, and just about anything you could think of.
Between the midnight Mass and the dinner, it made it seem as near as possible to a Christmas at home that you could get out of the army. We had been sent on a live firing problem all week so that made it a little bit better to come back into camp. Well, Christmas afternoon some of us got passes and went to a service club in another camp not too far from here. They have a real nice set up there which includes music room, gym, game room, nice dance floor and a snack bar. There wasn’t much doing, but it was a nice peaceful afternoon. That evening we went to another club (not service club) that isn’t too far from there and had ourselves a good time there also. In fact I think it was a little bit better even though we did have to walk all the way back to the camp. I guess that pretty much covers what we did over the holiday so all in all, I guess it was a Merry Christmas.
I received a nice letter from Dot’s mother. And it was good hearing from her. Richard wants me to get him a fishing pole which you can buy a lot cheaper here than in the States. So if you see him, tell him that I will take care of it as soon as possible.
I am glad to hear that everything is fine and everyone is in good health. I’m feeling good and my heel is coming along very nicely. Everything is fine in Whitman and I guess that they didn’t have a very big Christmas this year. It was good that they didn’t go to too much trouble as only three of them would be there for dinner.
Well, it’s getting late and I’ve about run out of things to say so I will close for now, but I will write again soon.
Love
Eddie
PS
I read that circular you sent me and it sounds like you ought to get some very good results from it. Let me know how you make out with it when you write again.
