In the transcription,
I’m up to the point in their story when Dave was writing from the
Iraq Levies in Habbaniya to Frannie at Camp Home Run 16th
Major Port Le Havre.
My
Dearest Fran,
At
last, journey’s end. Back to Habbaniya. The name once had the power
to send cold shivers over me, now it means nothing. The fact that
once, Iraqi guns in the hills hammered us day and night, is a dream, a
bad dream of long ago. A dream, I dreamt in fear, loneliness and
uncertainty. The nights are no longer hellish, no flashes, no shrapnel
shining, no wounded crying out, nothing. Only the moon and stars, soft
desert winds sigh through the trees and only the jackals cry at night.
Our days now peaceful, given over to sports, ceremony, friendly
banter. No more, the frenzied orders, the flurry of action, no pall of
smoke hangs over us, the earth doesn’t shake anymore. Maybe it was a
dream, maybe men didn’t die here. Yet, I hear their voices at night
in the wind. They seem to say, “Remember us, we who can never return
home.” You saved me from fear, darling, fear of myself. I love
you so much.” (excerpt
from Dave’s letter posted from the Field Post Office on 21 Nov 45)
Frannie's
return to the US from Camp Home Run in Le Havre, France was in Feb 1946.
See the souvenir edition of the Sea Tiger's
10 page newspaper, The Tiger Rag, New York
Voyage Feb 5-Feb 16, 1946.
The end of Frannie's
life is a mystery to me, however, I believe her elder sister is still
a member of the California Bar Association, being in her 90’s and
having also been influential in gaining certain legal rights for
women.
Part of the story of
Frannie is that she was an author of some of the United States briefs
on the economic and cultural conditions of many countries. (The Labor
Digest, by the United States Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics) I have reason to believe that she may have done some
covert research as well. I retained some of her notes and the labor
brief regarding Costa Rica. (Besides receiving holiday cards from
Utilio Ulate, she refers to Jose Figueres, who was a freedom fighter
and president of Costa Rica. His son later held the same office. I
have a letter to Fran from the elder Jose Figueres, as well as a
photo of them together on a hillside...Frannie's dark curly hair is
blowing in the wind.....)
To say the least,
Fran was a very interesting person whom I’ve come to know through a
group of “mystery boxes” purchased at a local moving company. The
items had gone unclaimed for many years and I bought them at auction
hoping for buried treasure. At first, I was disappointed that I got
documents, photos and awards, but after looking it over, reading
through the letters and realizing the tenacity and charm of "our" Frannie, I’m fully aware that I did find the
treasure.
Read
Letter #2
For more information
about Frannie or to read the letters from Dave, contact wapro@wapro.com
or telephone (413) 647-9294.
“…among
the ruins lie burnt out railway engines, wrecked machinery and twisted
girders. The very air smells of devastation. In the bay itself strange
objects near up, on closer inspection these have to be portions of ships
that have been sunk. The strange tortured mass I can see from my cabin,
is in fact, all that is left of a proud, gray hound of a destroyer. Her
shattered prow, lifted appealingly towards the eternal hills, to the old
gods, of sea and storm, that with their help, the sea lanes and windy
places might be hers again. It saddens me, to think that it can never be
so, proud in life, she was; and quick of movement, loving sailor hands
groomed her; controlled and fought her. Now she is dead, how or why, I
do not know. Forgotten by all, except those who were part of her
existence and loved her.