January 23 and 26, 1946. Stanley writes two letters to Dad from Albany. Stanley indicates that the letters are, “Just a few words during the middle of the week to let you know we are all okay.” Being January in Albany, “the weather has been cold” with “about 4 or 5 inches” of fresh snow. He notes that they just received Dad’s letter that he has been moved to Saipan with hopes that “it won’t be long now before you are home for good.”
Stanley continues working at the train station as a baggage handler. He comments about one of the train cars he was working in that “previously was used as a troop kitchen car for Camp Shanks as the stenciled name of the camp was painted over but still you could tell. A lot of the previous used kitchen cars were turned over to the railroads already. You could tell where the stoves were.”
Stanley laments, “This demobilization is sure [a] messed up affair,” noting that it was even problematic when he was discharged earlier the prior year. He details some of the issues. “I guess if you are in the states you can get out quicker than if you are overseas. The way they work is as soon as the order comes out for discharging men in certain categories they immediately send the fellows to the separation centers. If you are overseas when they lower the points they have to process out there and then ship you home which involves a few weeks at a time. I can’t see why they can’t ship the fellows with the next lower point or two back to the states before the points are lowered and in that way they would get out of the army on time.”
Stanley then goes on to give Dad a glimpse of what might be waiting for him once he gets home from Guam. ”More and more GIs of the Albany area are discharged at Fort Dix. If the strikes keep up a lot of the GIs will not even work. They will just sit around for half a year collecting $20.00 unemployment insurance.”
He continues his correspondence on Sunday the 26th. The temperature is still “below zero” and there is “ice on the windows.” Apparently it’s been so cold that “Ed hasn’t been doing any ice fishing lately. I guess he wised up a bit.”
He reports on his nieces with news that “Judy is getting livelier than ever. She is all smiles.” Meanwhile, Terry “got a brand new tricycle and was so excited that she came upstairs bright and early and asked us to come downstairs to see her new bicycle. She was so excited over the toy. She barely reaches the pedals and it will last her for a long while.”
In national news, Stanley mentions that he read in the paper “about the three P-80’s, the Shooting Stars, which made the cross country trip from California to New York in about 4 ½ hours. One made it non stop while the other two made it but with one stop for refueling which took them about 4 or 6 minutes. That sure is good speed an time to make it cross country in 4 ½ hours.”
In other news from Albany, the father of Ed’s boss, “Mr. Martin,” passed away. Stanley also notes that two of their cousins have been discharged. “Stanley Murawski from Second Street…was in church today in civilian clothing. Also Zygmunt Baldowski was also in civilian clothing.”
Stanley signs off, “Well, I guess that covers about everything from this end of the country. God bless you and keep you safe and sound and bring you back home safely and fast…”
I leave you with a brief video about the P-80 Shooting Star, one of America’s first fighter jets.