LETTERS FROM MANILA

...He missed being assigned to the Robert M. La Follette by 2 names ahead of him...

...I managed to get rid of it around my middle, but have it now in the crease in my neck...

...The place was packed—some 1800, I guess—and it was hard to believe that it was only a few weeks ago that this area was the scene of hard fighting...

...While it is desirable to keep one's brass polished and shoes shined (except when in combat zones), keep neat and clean, etc...

...far as we know it), what he was going to do when he got back, etc...

...I remember the close calls when passing certain areas in that immediate vicinity, and that was less than 2 months ago or thereabouts...

...All of the letters on this page were written to his wife, Isabel Bacon La Follette, Associate Editor of The Progressive, and all, of course, were dispatched before the announcement of his early return to the United States...

...In the ensuing 3 years he was promoted 3 times, won the bronze star for meritorious service in the Tanahmerah Bay operation near Hollandia, New Guinea, the Asiatic Pacific ribbon with 6 battle stars, the bronze arrowhead Philippines liberation ribbon with one star, a Presidential unit citation ribbon, and now the Legion of Merit...

...All the men around here are asking "how many points have you...

...But as the locals told me sometime back, it "does really get hot in April and May...

...The latter should be a great help to him in enabling him to enjoy even the disagreeable situations one of tens gets into whether in the Army or out...

...The end of the war there raises again in one's mind the thought of how frightfully stupid we human beings are...

...I suppose there were many faults in technique, but for me and I think everyone else, the extraordinary thing was that it could be held at all...

...One of the things I can't help worrying about is that we may wind up in America with some of the very things we were assured we would be avoiding by going to war...

...With the ending of the war in Europe and with plenty of officers available, etc...

...As I've remarked before, I don't know how or where one acquires so many belongings...

...I've taken some long travel jumps in the past three years—the U.S.A...

...In fact recently the nights have been worse than the days...

...But whatever "success" we've had, I should attribute first and foremost to good health, and secondly to our being able to adjust to what life has thus far had to offer...

...Or perhaps I should put it this way: the responsibility for real leadership is to think through the right course, and having thought it through, the useful leader is the one who can be practical in getting the desired policy adopted...

...Tough and healthy, is what I calls it...

...But it's a roaif' we started down, and like the war itself, we will have to learn by bitter experience...

...It is conducted by a Viennese refugee, and was held in the ruins of Santa Cruz church...

...The 4 walls are still standing, but the sky is completely open to the heavens...

...I certainly hope I can give him a helping hand...

...Larry expects to be going back to the States for a rest, though he expects to return here if he's okay physically by the end of his leave...

...La Follette was reported enroute home this week after nearly 3 years of overseas service in the war against Japan...

...Let's hope there is enough left over after the experience to profit by its tragic lessons...

...Before I get back into the harness and begin picking up the pieces, we should get away so that you, more than I, get some weeks of uninterrupted rest and change...

...The war hangs on in Europe...

...I note, too, that thousands of prisoners are being taken to Russia...

...And by all, I mean the victors, too, because Germany herself is a horrible example of what brute power can do to those who exercise it...

...EVERYONE out here is excited about the new point system for discharge...

...I.B.L...

...Examples are peacetime conscription, an enormous Navy, "mandating" conquered territory to the Great Powers, etc...

...The news officially of the surrender of Germany came through last night...

...You can imagine the good time he, Gordon, and I had'visiting...

...Douglas MacArthur for especially meritorious service in the Philippine campaign...

...I shall be very interested to read Ray Stannard Baker's autobiography...

...New Guinea to the Philippines, and at least 2 or 3 of those trips had to be entirely by air with that limitation on baggage...

...I noted Alf's comment about thinking that you and I have been "successful" in our life...

...The danger for one in his position is to become an advocate rather than an objective historian...

...But somehow or other I end up with a quantity of stuff, nothing of great consequence, just extra khaki trousers, tooth brushes, blankets, shoestrings, and what-have-you...

...I don't see how those Germans continue...

...I recognize that the Nazis did that sort of thing, but I had heretofore a vague idea that we were fighting what Nazism was and stood for...

...Philip F. La Follette, who was 3 times governor of Wisconsin, has been awarded the Legion of Merit by Gen...

...He's a grand fellow, and certainly loyal to his convictions and with plenty of guts to back them up...

...He is an able and charming person...

...I hope the flowers got to you on your birthday...

...Yes, take the required sums out of my allotment whenever the darned thing ever decides to come through...

...1 dread to think what a chaotic place Central Europe is going to be in the next few years...

...He's a lieutenant in the Navy and is in charge of a gun crew on a Liberty ship...

...to New Caledonia and New Zealand...

...I have been very fortunate thus far (I knock on wood) but in spite of medical precautions and the attempt to adapt our working hours to the different routine of the tropics, many of my associates have been hit one way or another, and had to return to assignments in the States...

...I mention it because of your comment to Bob on his "gift" to you on your birthday and the flowers he "shared" in sending you on Easter...

...adds the note that Judy, the eternal female, added her brother's name to the gifts she sent me while Bob, in true masculine style until a wife trains him some day, is only too glad to contribute but "forgets" these sentimental occasions...

...In addition to the hazards and strains of war, the tropics with its climate and diseases is an added enemy forever lying in wait, and is particularly hard on us older guys...

...He's intelligent, industrious, and would be a good man in almost any job requiring some brains...

...I got a great lot of enjoyment out of the letter you quoted from Bob 3rd anent his liking of the hell-raisin' qualities of the paratroopers, and his regret that their noble plan for evasion of drill by hiding their rifles under their mattresses had failed...

...I hope to save enough anyway to send home an occasional money order, so perhaps you can fall back on that...

...Carl Jebe [a musician friend...

...I think we ought to think through how to spend the first time when I am able to return to Madison...

...If I am allowed to depart these parts before too long, I can turn over to Bob quite a quantity of stuff that he'll find usable...

...He's been in the Army nearly 3 years, and overseas for about 6 months...

...It is still blisteringly hot...

...Ken Greenquist of Racine [former Progressive State Senator...

...I had a note from him a week ago telling me he had arrived, and wanting to come around and see me...

...Phil, Decorated, Enroute Home PRESS dispatches from Manila this week announced that Col...

...He stayed over last night and flew back to his ship this morning...

...WHO do you think blew into the office yesterday...

...Can you guess who blew into the office yesterday...

...He's a fine person...

...If any guy deserves a real break, it's that one...

...I'm pretty high up in numbers—aside from Gen...

...The boy has a gift of expression and a sense of humor...

...It will not be only the hunger, cold, disease, and pestilence, but the effect the occupation will have on all concerned...

...Two officers in our outfit have already been approved for inactive duty and in all normal circumstances I am far up on the list...

...No one can be sure about one's life until death puts the finishing stroke on the picture...

...New Zealand to Australia...

...Egeberg thinks it comes from the salt from the sweat...

...Phil volunteered shortly after Pearl Harbor, was commissioned a captain—he was a lieutenant in World War l—and sailed for combat duty in the Pacific in the Summer of 1942...

...I sweat and sweat but since I've begun to take extra salt regularly I don't wilt under the heat quite so much...

...Anyhow it's annoying even if it's not very serious...

...Last night I went to the first concert of the Manila Symphony Orchestra...

...I apprehend that the worst phase is about to begin there...

...I hope you are interested in these daily weather leports I give you...

...nevertheless the atmosphere is much less formal and stiff than back there at home...

...Diller I guess I have the highest score—about 120...

...Here there is much less "side" than back home...

...And he is in good humor, and so far as I can see, in good spirits...

...I trust I recognize the need for being "practical," but on the other hand, there is need for deciding what is right, and then advocating that with all one's might...

...NATURALLY I was eager for word about our son Bob 3rd and from what you wrote it looks as though he were on his way in this direction...

...He might have gotten out of the Army on account of his eyes, but he -said he couldn't feel right about staying out when all the youngsters he was teaching had to go...

...That so-called civilized nations could stand up slaughtering each other for over 6 years and for such ends, is incomprehensible except only on the fact that we aren't civilized and aren't rational...

...All this may be counting our chickens before they are hatched, but I think we'd better assume that there's some reason in this man's Army, especially for a person of my age and circumstances who has put in nearly 3 years overseas...

...As I walk to Headquarters in the morning every now and then I see a batch of these lads arriving and I expect that one of these days I'll see that big feller among them...

...I saw a big transport in the harbor yesterday and couldn't help wondering how long it would be until Bob hove into sight...

...I shall be especially interested to see whether he has kept his same objectivity...

...We've had some jolts that would not be described as "successes" by most people, but because they didn't get us down inwardly, we have moved along to the next phase...

...As near as I can figure it out, I should be hearing from you before long as to what his APO is, and from that I'll get the dope...

...He's in an engineering maintenance corps, and has about as much business doing what he is doing as I'd have being mayor of Iceland...

...Anyhow I think it will do you no harm to think plans over and see what we can figure out...

...to Australia to New Guinea...

...In reply to my ironic thanks to him, he wrote, "Glad to know I have been so generous lately...

...one cannot justify to one's self this kind of life at my age, and from both point of overseas service and old age I should score...

...I have to fight the heat rash most of the time...

...I enclose a program which is an interesting souvenir...

...The bar was just a bit too much and after that 1 went to sleep in an hour or so...

...I'm going to see if there is anything I can do to get him a better job...

...He's the same old lad when it comes to politics, so we talked until midnight about the situation back home (so...

...The nearest equivalent would be the heat of those first few nights we get back home when we consider we are in a "heat wave," only here it is all day and all night...

...It applies to enlisted personnel, but the same principle will apply to officers...

...Their lines of communications are cut, and they must be running short of ammunition and other supplies...

...My second food locker showed up yesterday...

...However, he is likely to end up right here...

...You certainly have a unique relationship with each other...