Home Front to Battlefront. Frank Lavin

. .

      Jun 1 1944

      Wednesday

      Hi, Mom,

      Glad to hear that your finish in the Hadassah was such a climactical one.¹³ But why quit? How are you going to spend all your time now? It seems to me that these activities need you, and you need them.

      A new order came down on furlough. No one gets one until six months after his last one. Which means that it’ll be the beginning of August for me, instead of July as I thought. That’s eight weeks away. I’m not even holding my own. (a month ago I thought I’d have one in seven weeks.)

      Yes, I told them about those operations.¹⁴ But naturally they don’t mean anything. How could they?

      Oh, by the way, the length of the furlough was also changed—but this one for the better. Now it is ten days plus traveling time. Which I can make eleven days at home. That’ll be almost twice as long as any furlough I’ve had so far.

      Lights out now—so ‘Bye—With Love –Carl

      . . .

      A letter from Edith:

      Jamaica NY

      June 3, 1944

      Dear Mrs. Lavin

      Now that the inevitable “eleventh hour” rush of end term work is over, I can do what I meant to do long before this, write and say hello.

      Friday was my last day of class. (A good thing too that the end of the semester came when it did! For several weeks now I’ve been letting a bad case of Spring Fever and an awful lot of daydreaming about Canton of course play havoc with my powers of concentration—and, probably, with my grades.) I’ve still a few exams threatening me, but they’ll be over soon and then I can really let go and relax.

      Speaking of relaxing, I’m afraid I’m not going to give you a chance to, am I? Carl told me you’re very active in organization work. Mother’s interested in the same type of thing and knowing June is one of her busiest months, I imagine you’ll be pretty rushed yourself these next few weeks. Then, instead of having a chance to recuperate you’re going to have to be bothered with a houseguest. (I might have said this before Mrs. Lavin but I mean it, truly. I hope you and Mr. Lavin won’t feel you must put yourselves out to entertain me. I’ll feel very badly if you do.)

      I agree it was thoughtful of the Army to postpone Carl’s furlough till I finished school. Thoughtful as far as my studies were concerned, that is. As far as my feelings were concerned, however, I’m not so sure.

      According to Carl, the Army intends to keep the exact date of his furlough a closely guarded secret—until just a few days before it comes through. At least so for a while yet, I won’t be able to make definite plans. As soon as I can though, I’ll write.

      Say hello to Mr. Lavin for me won’t you.

      And one thing more, thank you for taking time out to write. It meant a great deal to me.

      ‘Bye Edith

      . . .

      The United States and Allies launched the liberation of Europe—D-Day—on June 6, changing the pace of the war and Carl’s narrative. As one historian wrote, “The 8,230 U.S. casualties on D-Day included the first of almost 400,000 men who would be wounded in the European theatre, the first of 7,000 amputations, the first of 89,000 fractures.”¹⁵