Thu, December 24, 1942
Well this is the day before Xmas. I feel like it’s the day before my funeral. The officers of our unit are giving us a party at the Caddo Hotel. It’s to be our Xmas dinner. They sure are a swell bunch of fellows. Well the dinner was a huge success. All the boys attended it & we had a swell time. I went to midnite mass at the church in town. It was beautiful & it was packed.
Fri, December 24, 1943
Was up at 9:00 & after breakfast waited for our passes. At 9:30 the Lt. brought them in & they were for 10:00 until midnite Sunday. He left for London & at 11 before all of us had gone they tired to put 4 of our boys on KP over the holidays. Had a hell of time getting them out of it. Lt. Bart came for us at 12:00 & took Frank & I over to our outfit at Bury St. Edmund for our Xmas & for the party tonite. The boys were on a mission & returned at 5:00. After supper we rolled the beer in & started on our 7 qts. of Scotch. I drank until 10:00 & was I stiff. Sid passed out & most everybody else. We opened up presents at 11:00. I got 3 rolls of toilet paper. Boy what presents. The barracks was all dolled up with Xmas tree & everything. We took a lot of pictures & put on a show among ourselves. Lt. Bart was the only officer present. PFC LT Hines was sick & couldn’t be present. At midnite all the Catholic boys went to midnite mass & Lt. Bart took some pictures at mass. We sang Xmas carols & in all it was a very good Xmas eve but I’d of loved to spend it with my family. I sure missed them tonite.