Letter Written by John F. Fay to the Bryant College Service Club Dated April 22, 1943

[Transcription begins]April 22, 1943 Hello Gang: Received your V-Mail today of March 14th. My thanks to you for dropping a line and again our thanks for the cigarettes you sent. You morale boosters are certainly on the ball. We also received the college paper and enjoyed reading it very much. When I say we, I am including T/Sgt. Arthur Menard, Jr. We are both together here in the South Pacific in the shade of the cocoanut [sic] trees. The tropics aren’t to [sic] bad but could be improved. From all reports on the weather in Little Rhody, I guess the South Pacific is the place to be. Things are bearing up for us and the only thing that upsets our routine is a casual visit to our little island by Tojo’s little winged angeles [sic], who descend on us now and then with tokens of their esteem. Our greatest loss from this source is the loss of a few hours shut-eye. From all reports, the college is doing well by itself in helping to teach army and navy office procedure. As for the navy end of things we can’t say much but as for the army end, we understand only to [sic] well the terrific job the college has undertaken having ourselves had a few years of experience in army personnel and administrative work. The best of luck to all in their undertakings. We appreciate your offer in regard to the candy but because of climatic conditions, unstable conditions that tend to affect parcel post deliveries and the many examples we have seen of good candy and foodstuffs that have been spoiled or damaged to a point where they are no longer in an edible condition when they are delivered, we are a bit reluctant to accept your offer. I hope you will share our thoughts in this matter as it is based on experience. We find cigars, cigarettes and tobacco manage to stand up under the hardships of travel and so put this in the form of a suggestion. Again our thanks for taking time out of your busy days to think of us and we look forward to the day we will all be back together again talking things over. Best of Luck,M/Sgt. John F. FayHq. 118th Engr. Bn (c )APO #43 c/o PostmasterSan Francisco, Calif. T/Sgt. Arthur J. Menard, Jr.Hq. 118th Engr. Bn (c )APO #43 San FranciscoCalifornia[Transcription ends