Coconuts, Rain, More Rain, and Critters (27)

Starting with Gene's letters from New Guinea, Beth copied the non-personal part to share with her family and other wives of 92nd Evac doctors.  I never found the originals, so I don't know what salutation or closing Gene used in writing Beth, so to distinguish them from his journal entries, I'm using "Beloved" and "All my love, Eugene".

2 Apr. '44
Beloved [Gene is not allowed to mention his location, but in copying the letter, Beth wrote across the top: "I'm sure this was at Finschhafen"; army wives were pretty canny!],

Gene with his jungle pack in
front of his hammock

     You should see me.  I'm sitting on my helmet - a few red ants keep me off the ground.  I'm in the midst of a grove of coconuts.  All around the ground is covered with coconuts.  Some of the fellows are trying to knock off the green ones.  They may taste better.  I tried a few.  The milk is very watery and not so sweet as I remembered.  The meat tastes the same.  First I tried my machete to take the husk off, but I found my hunting knife does better.  Then I split them with my machete.
     Can you imagine me sleeping in a hammock?  Well, I do.  The jungle hammock has a canvas-rubberized bottom, wider rubberized roof, with mosquito netting sides and zippers to close where you crawl in.  Mine right now is slung between two coconut trees.  If you get unbalanced, it is hard on the net sides.  I find that with due caution I can turn on my side, but none of this flopping around stuff.  Each time you set it up you have to cut sticks for spreaders for top and bottom.  The blanket and hammock fit right into the jungle pack sack.  In fact it is surprising how much it holds - so much better than the musette bags.     The humidity is terrific, but it isn't really hot even with the sun as bright as it is.  But you just drip whenever you move around.  A blanket is necessary by morning.

92nd Evac men bathing in the little river

     I can hear some one whooping at the little river.  This temporary spot offers no other means of washing or bathing or shaving.  The water is surprisingly cool but not like a Colorado stream.  It is astonishing the lack of mosquitoes or flies.
     I wish we had some of this soil for the ranch and garden.  It is so very black with so much humus.  It has been cleared with a bulldozer so makes a good surface - unless it rains a downpour.  Ferns and heavy undergrowth are all around.  There is a great deal of coral around and the roads are made of it in places.  There is quite a dank smell in the evenings.  I haven't seen a snake, not that I have been searching for any.  The hills are certainly steep.
     Too bad I can't dry a bunch of coconut meat to send you for coconut cream pie, frosting and such.  There are hundreds of nuts on the ground, and they float out in the ocean in places.  They seem to sprout quite readily and make the nicest little trees.  They would go well as potted affairs.  No, they can't be sent in the mail, but I'll eat enough.  It will be surprising if there aren't a few gashed fingers.  The machete reminds me of the corn knife I used to like to swing around when I was a kid.  It is very handy. [In later years he used it extensively in chopping up corn stalks and such for compost in his garden which, alas, had none of the nice black soil!]
     All my love, Eugene

April 2, 1944
     Atabrine [against malaria] will by [be] 2 daily, 5x a week!  [Some of the doctors suffered from malaria anyway; Dr. John Mihalick's obituary from 1961 mentions that he quit his orthopedics practice after he suffered another bout with malaria after the war, and then took up psychiatry.]
     All the washing facilities are, is along the creek bank.  ...  I just washed my face - I couldn't bring myself to it just yet!
     There is a small cemetery near here - U.S. and Aussies.  [The soldiers' who died in battle or shortly afterwards were usually buried locally and later exhumed and flown home].
     Perfectly open-air latrines.  We go thru the mess line, too!
     The heat gives me a little headache in spite of salt tablets.  This certainly reminds me of our first days at Freda [California].  We just sort of wander around aimlessly and don't know what to do.

April 3, 1944
     Light showers last night.  Our own mess starts today.
     What a time this noon!  Around 11 A.M. it began to rain and just poured down.  I had put up a pup tent to keep my stuff dry and ditched around it.  I sat under it until 12, then had to improve the drainage ditches.  ...  I stepped in an old shit trench and went almost up to my hips.  Then I took my clothes off and took a shower in the rain - lathered nicely.  I caught rain water off my hammock top in 2 helmets and did some laundry.  This evening we were supposed to move to a better area, not so down in a hole.  The men finally had to move in the dark.  Sterling [the C.O.] was unpopular!

3 Apr. '44
Beloved,
     Here I sit in our pup tent, snug as - well, pretty snug.  The rain drops slowly.  George and I each played safe and brought a shelter half and I'm certainly glad we did.  Now we can keep our stuff dry.  But the humidity is terrific.  One stands around in the rain without a raincoat for you are already wet and surprisingly enough it isn't uncomfortable.  I wear my helmet for coconut protection and to keep my glasses from spotting so fast.  Am I ever thankful for all the Kleenex I have.  A raincoat makes you hotter and wetter than going without.  I have my hammock roof higher at one end and my helmet catching the rain water so I can wash some socks.  The creek water is tidal and so is extremely hard.
     There is quite a collection of insects.  Big red ants that bite and lots of small spiders.  In fact, when I opened up this writing case, one was inside.  There are a few small land crabs around,  There are not so many birds and they don't make such a racket as in Australia.
     I have my camera wrapped in plioform as well as the film and the whole thing in the large waterproof bag that fits in the jungle pack.  Really they have thought of everything.  There are six small rubber bags in addition to the large one.  I am very glad I packed Vernon's lighter, for it works beautifully.  Matches are almost too damp to strike.  The pack also includes a waterproof match-safe with a compass top and a flint strip on the bottom.  Really we aren't uncomfortable and I am getting adjusted.
     The fuzz wuzzies are peculiar looking chaps.  Black as the ace of spades.  They wear a piece of cloth wrapped around their hips like a skirt.  They can go right up these 60 foot palm trees.  They tie a rope around the trunk and each foot and just sort of hop up.  At the censors' office I saw some dillies of pictures that had been confiscated.

A look at the jungle in Finschhafen

     You should have seen me about two hours ago.  About noon I came out of the pup tent and went to eat.  I stood ankle deep in water in the mess line.  By the time I was thru eating my mess kit had about 1/4 inch of water in it.  It is a nice way to cool the coffee, though.  When I got thru I decided to wash.  I'd been wanting soft water.  A helmet on each side of the hammock collected it nicely.  I washed 4 pairs of socks, 2 handkerchiefs, a shirt, pants, 2 pairs of shorts and coveralls.  During that time I took off all but my shoes, and took a bath.  Rain water lathers wonderfully.  I put shorts, pants and shirt back on for they will dry better on than any other way.  Oh I have dry ones but these aren't uncomfortable.  But the darn rain let up before I got the coveralls rinsed.  I took off my shoes and dried and powdered my feet and put on dry socks and my jungle boots.  They are slick items, heavy rubber soles with broad rubber cleats, and canvas foot and tops over half way to the knees with a tongue joined all the way up.  The good thing is that when your feet get wet they dry much faster than leather and won't be stiff.  Rubber overshoes would make your feet too hot and nothing else would keep them dry.  There is just one drawback.  The canvas snags too easily.
     I didn't get this mailed so will add to it.  Here I sit puffing a Roi-Tan [cigar].  For free.  It seems that there were extra as PXs are few so everyone is issued chewing tobacco, pipe tobacco, cigarettes and cigars - 20 of the latter.  Not bad.  But I imagine it won't happen again.  I took cigars.