© 2021 Patricia Jean Patten Evans
All rights reserved
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Dutchie Darling . . . Love, Bob |
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| A Love Story © 2021 Patricia Jean Patten Evans All rights reserved |
| Once he was able to be discharged from the convalescent home, Bob eventually was assigned to the 171st Labor Supervision Center. Rested and well fed again, his sense of humor begins to unfold in these letters.
He wanted pictures of Patty sent to him very regularly. Jean and her mother took pictures of the baby every week to send him, so that he could see how she grew. Until I read these letters, I never understood why there were so many pictures of me as an infant and then hardly any as a toddler. Now I understand. The entire family was concerned about Jean's brother, Willard. He had joined the armed services at 16 and no one thought he would be sent overseas because of his age. Well, he was. He became a paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne Division. He was home 'disabled' before his 18th birthday. He led a patrol behind enemy lines and was held down in a battle for three days, April 14-17,1945. At the end, there were only three men alive and one of them died in the hospital. Willard suffered severe battle fatigue, shell shock or PTSD, depending on what war you are writing about. Loud noises would take him right back onto the battle field. Jean and her mother discovered that if Patty cried, he would snap out of it and be back with them. So, whenever he had an attack, they would pinch little Patty to make her cry. |