Letter from William H. Gernert to Richard T. Gernert, January 5, 1943

[top right] 5 January 1942 -Tuesday- [end top right]

Dear Old Son-

Shirley and I are having a battle on Honeymoon bridge- last night I took her bad, 10 to 1, then we had an egg nog and went to bed. A card from mom this am., and is she only happy down there looking after Mary + Bill. I sent her a 5 dollar bill for her Birthday and will send her another from you. You sure had a great day on Xmas- Turkey one meal, chicken the next and steaks (downtown) the next, plus 18 holes of Golf. Thats all right, old Pal, I am glad you were busy. Aunt Grace (Donahey) phoned me, all excited, they had a letter from Dickey and such a swell letter, and were they only proud + happy. The Youngs, also, were so darned pleased to get your letter- Young Carl is keeping his among his keepsakes in his personal desk. You have no idea how these older folks appreciate having a letter from you. I [double underlined] think it is darned swell of you to write letters to them and you write such wonderful letters- say just the right thing and not too much. Only this,- when you told the Youngs to take care of me,- Old Carl, took you literally and was ready to embalm me. Have to watch that Old "Mort", if one of us looks a bit under the weather, he smacks his lips and almost drools. 

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Do you ever see anythiing of Bill Compton? Have you seen Whitehead or Manhart? So you think old Pop does right well broiling steaks? Just you drop in, Pal, and see how I am improving- ask Sally? Gee! I am glad your vitamin + quinine package came- I had quite a bit of money in that stuff. 

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Just returned from going home at noon- you see, now that mom is away, I have to go home noons and fire the furnace and feed the cats. It is good for me- the walk-, I took home a can of apple butter and [added above] had [end added above] 2 pieces of toast with apple butter- mighty good, and the reason I bought it is because I saw it on the shelf at the grocery store and I was reminded that you liked apple butter so well. See how you influence me 5000 miles away? So your old outfit is catching up- will you go back in that group? Are you doing your work satisfactory to your superiors? Tell me. Nothing new about Scheid leaving and I told you previously that Sally would prefer the job in Wooster, so she may be there by this time, haven't heard from her in several days. She just wants to be busy [underlined] at something, so if she likes the Wooster job best, that's where she should be, don't you think?

Any idea when your commission will come then? Hey! Remember about a year ago now you and I took that 185 mile ride down to New Concord so you could scout Muskingum? Wasn't that a memorable trip, in that we (you + I) were together and could just talk if we wanted to or doze- which [underlined] you did [end underlined] a lot of the way back. Remember when we stopped a Granville on the way down- we ate steaks at the Hotel at New Concord- you had a beastly head ache, but after a couple of aspirins- some food and a B.M. you were ok? We have had a lot of trips in past years haven't we Buddy? Goin' to have some more, too, eh? Guess I'll be doin' my stuff now, so will close. Remember your prayers- keep your clothes in order, nose clean etc. Dont Relax, son, on your toes, alert. Get me? Have a good time when you can, keep busy and I'll be seeing you. I sure as h- love you more than tongue can tell. If I can do anything at this end to help, let me know. You know your old Pop- do anything for his Boys- and girls. 

[bottom right] Love, Dad [end bottom right]