April 22, 1945
Philippines
Hello Ma:
Received your letters of March 22, April 1 and April 8th. Also, Yvonne's little note of March 21st. No, I didn't know the two men who crashed at Martin's. The box containing the little Japanese book and bamboo articles were souvenirs from New Guinea. The things with teeth were native combs. The cylinder of bamboo, the natives used to carry drinking water. Also, there were two spearheads. Yes, I lost the stone from my Poly ring while I was in Brisbane, Australia. The Japs carried their toilet articles in the rubber bag. Has Yvonne gotten over her cold or whooping cough yet? I haven't received the polo shirts yet. Time here is twelve hours earlier than in Baltimore. Phus sent me a booklet Topics of the Tropics. [Described in one eBay listing as a “newsletter for kids by Brown & Bigelow,” each issue included a full-color print showing animals doing human things, such as playing golf or collecting taxes from a street vendor, plus a fictional Topics of the Tropics newspaper page containing silly stories that only a child would find humorous. In his June 28, 1945, letter, Earl would ask that Phyllis not send him these anymore. The same title was also used for several other things around that time - a sports column in a Miami newspaper, a gossip column published in the Marshall Islands, and a musical program that was performed for troops in the Pacific. - Ed.]
There isn't much happening here worth writing about. I have been going to town rather regularly at night. Things are very expensive. Ice cream is one peso (50˘) per dip [$7.30 in 2020 dollars. - Ed.]. One boy ate nine dollars' worth of ice cream at one sitting. Money doesn't last long. I paid three dollars [$43.81 in 2020 dollars. - Ed.] for an ordinary supper one night.
Enclosed are a few more pictures. That's all for this short letter. I am O.K. -
Earl
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