Toni’s Christmas, 1942-12-27

78 years ago yesterday Toni sent Vietta this letter about how he spent Christmas away from home in North Carolina, and he wasn't stuck at Camp Butner!

First I wanna mention that Fred and Lyda Davis eventually became good friends of theirs, and while Toni and Vietta planned their wedding they worried about how they would feed guests on the rations of two people. Luckily Mr. Davis was an "OPA man" — the OPA dealt with rationing. The Davis' held a dinner and cakecutting after the wedding, and they sent Toni care packages and letters after he was deployed.

1942-12-25_Duke-Stadium_Durham_NC_Davis_Butkiewicz_Lucas_Nielsen_Miller_Binkey.jpg — Top tier of Duke Stadium

Left to Right:
Mr. Fred Davis
Joe Fajka* *(That’s Toni.)*
Ed Lucas
Bob Nielsen
Jay Miller
Art Binkey
*Fajka is Polish for cigarette or tobacco pipe
At this point in time they were all members of the 78th Infantry Division, a.k.a. “Lightning Men”, aside from Mr. Davis of course.

1942•12•27

Saturday eve
Raleigh, N.C.

Dearest: —

The holiday season passed very pleasantly and naturally my each and every thought was of you. Let’s hope we never have to spend another Christmas while apart. I missed you so much ——-

I got your card today — the one that announces a whole year’s subscription of “Reader’s Digest.” Gee! Sweetheart! Thanks a million! It’s my favorite reading matter — that is, next to the book you gave me. Incidentally, I’ve almost finished it. It’s marvelous! Soon as I’m through with it I’m going to send it to you so you can keep it for me. It’s one of my treasures and I can’t take the risk of losing it.

I came to Raleigh today expressly for the reason of getting some belated gifts — but no luck. Everything’s closed tight. Boyd Elam and I are going to spend the night here and go back to the “swamp” tomorrow.

Want to know how I spent my Xmas? I’ll tell you. — with Mr. and Mrs. Fred Davis. Here’s the story: I don’t remember if I’ve mentioned it before, but about 3 weeks ago I was in a show that entertained the “Durham Civitan Club.” It’s an organization that supplies our athletic equipment. This entertainment was in appreciation of their efforts on our behalf. These people got our names from our service officer and then sent us a very nice letter inviting us to spend Xmas day with them. We accepted with pleasure. Five of us took up Mr. Davis’ offer. He picked us up at 10 A.M. yesterday and took us to his home in Duke Park, Durham. Boy! That place was beautiful! You know, the kind of home people like you and me dream about. Mr. Davis is an O.P.A. man with the government and Mrs. Davis is at the Duke University. We really experienced Southern hospitality as it is read about. We were given free rein of the place and treated like kings. Dinner was marvelous! With maids and all. Turkey and barbecued ham with all the trimmings. Later they presented us with gifts of cigarettes, socks, hankies, candy, nuts, toilet articles. In the afternoon we visited Duke U. and the campus. The chapel was especially beautiful and valued at $2,500,000! Whew! After that we visited other people with them and had us a fine time. They took us back to camp at 10 P.M. Very fine people. All in all it was a very pleasant Xmas — but (that inevitable but) you weren’t there. It, and any place, would have been heaven with you.

Say, honey, I got a present from a stranger last week! One Janine Quiet from Chicago. There was no explanation to it, but later I discovered that she’s the second cousin of Chet Nowakowski, a buddy of mine. He sent her my address. Are you at least a little bit jealous? Don’t be, for my heart belongs to you and always will. There just isn’t anyone in this whole world that could compare with you, beloved.

With everything,

Toni x

P.S. Did your present arrive in good shape?

P.P.S.S. CASEY