Dear Sergeant Honey

Excerpts from Part I:The Basics

 Letter home, Monday February 22, 1943.

(EDITOR'S NOTE: Hildie is on a troop train going to Daytona Beach for basic training).

They let us sleep until 7:45. Southern Pacific left us in El Paso in the middle of the night but we stayed in the same cars, just different train and crew. Ours was a 100% troop train so every time it stopped all the WAACs and soldiers swarmed out and overwhelmed any nearby soft drink or magazine stand.  Also of course some rapid acquaintances developed. Didn't do much good though, our respective cars were out of bounds to each other.

Tuesday, February 23, 1943

Surprised to find two cars of soldiers between us and the diner. And that is the day I chose to wear my sweater. Soldiers whistle fine!

Thursday, February 25, 1943 Tent City, Daytona Beach

We all filed into a huge hall and given an intelligence test. I shudder to think of it. Some of the girls actually dozing at times while they were giving instructions.

Lined up and marched into town for uniforms. They run it like an assembly line. We got two barracks bags, two pair of cotton stockings, three pairs of rayon stockings,  and 2 pair of anklets. WAAC girdles are a myth or propaganda. They do not give them. Panties are olive drab and almost knee length. Glamour--Wow!!!

Letter home Sunday March 21, 1943 Daytona Beach

Thursday we hit another peak in our commando training.

Almost ranks with the first gruesome day here. Our company had guard duty. They run it exactly like the men. In fact no where in our program have I seen any concessions made for the fact that we are women.

Excerpts from Part II: Don't Worry Until I Tell You To

Letter home, Sunday, July 18, 1943. England

Dear Folks,

Hope you all got through this period of silence without too much worry, Yes, here I am in England.

In my last week of basic training some girls in the company were interviewed but we didn't know what for. We had an inkling we didn't dare hope for. All this time we have been having special training and classes. I had a devil of a time writing letters without telling you what I was doing. But you can no doubt guess that I am thrilled to have this opportunity and I hope I can prove to be worth my transportation.

With faith in the future and trust in God we'll keep marching in our different places together until our paths converge again. Don't worry until I tell you to. Love, Hildie

(EDITOR'S NOTE: In reply to my question of how she was affected by actual warfare, she replied by letter):

"While we were at the Port of Embarkation we were told we would be sailing in a convoy escorted by ships of the U.S. Navy. When we sailed on July 8, 1943 we realized we were all alone at sea. We were told that our ship, the Aquitania, was considered fast enough to outrun submarine wolfpacks and therefore could travel unescorted. It took eight days to make the crossing from New York to Scotland because we took a devious route. We learned that we made a big "U" going south, then across the Atlantic, and then north. That way the ship avoided the main shipping lanes."

• Excerpts from Part III: Dear Sergeant Honey

Diary Friday, January 7, 1944. Marks Hall. Back to hut after work, usual day. Shined shoes, mended. Then to Red Cross to meet Scott. Home late again. Liked him in battle jacket.

Diary Friday, February 18, 1944. Marks Hall. Not a sharp day for me. Got some other work to do and didn't make any headway at all on transcript. Snow today but melted quickly. To bed early before 12. Just asleep cozy and warm, air raid. MPs ran us out this time. Usual madhouse of chatter in shelter, action very close by.

Diary Tuesday, May 9, 1944. Marks Hall. Officer AWOL case at Chipping Ongar. Beautiful ride. Case over before lunch. Back to office, transcribing. Company meeting on security. Back to office, worked till 10, then wrote letter to Pop, left at 11:30.  

Diary Tuesday, October 17, 1944. Chartres to Paris, France. Cases in Paris Wednesday and Thursday. Waiting to find out when to leave. Pressed skirt and shirt. Blackie called and said I'd go tomorrow. To office then had to get ready but quick to leave this afternoon. In Plymouth with prisoner. To Paris by 7, past Versailles. Found way to WAC hotel on metro. Misty rain.

PART IV

1945 

The Greatest Generation Goes Home

Letter home Wednesday, February 14, 1945

Dear Mother,

I agree with you that the full-sized letters seem more personal. V-mail is sort of in a class with dehydrated stuff, not as good as the real thing, but effective and efficient.

Letter home Sunday, February 25, 1945

Dear Mother,

We went to get our laundry the other day. The lady who does ours has quite a family. We've had fresh oranges  for several mornings now and we took them one. That really caused a furor. The woman told us that the six year old had never seen one. They haven't had any oranges at all since 1939.

Well, two years ago I landed in Daytona Beach. What a gruesome day that was.

Letter home, Thursay, April 19, 1945

Dear Folks,

Things are going fast here. First we moved to Belgium. We made the move by air again. We called ourselves "amphibious airborne WACs" by the time we finished this operation. The weather looked doubtful and by the time we got out to the airfield it turned into a cloudburst. We pulled up to the plane and parked there. It seemed ridiculous, water was standing about a foot deep on the field.