Maj. Gillham receives some photos from home

Today we have two letters from Maj. Gillham mailed separately on the same day, and they seem to pivot on a set of photos that Frances sent him.  Since the photos were not in the letters by the time they reached me, I can only guess that the photos were the set taken in Robles that I have posted at various times on this blog.

Tokyo
13 Feb 46

Dearest Darling,

We are just too far away from each other.  Here I sit in Japan eating a fig that you sent me before you left California, and by the time you get this letter telling you about it, it will be almost spring.  One certainly has to think ahead on that kind of a schedule.

Everyone here is sore about the mail slow down.  When it starts coming again I guess we will get it with a fair degree of regularity, but it will just take longer for it to get here.  The mail I received on my return from Nikko over a week ago was the last I have received.

Today I got a Theta Chi circular which you forwarded to me about a month ago.  Think what it must have been like to be in a far corner of the world a century or two ago.  You probably got mail once a year and it was six months old when and if you got it.

Tonight I met a naval officer who knew the author of the article on the ancient Indians of the Southwest.  I gave him the article to read and he was muchly interested.  He himself was quite an authority on them, having a Ph.D. on the subject, and having written several books about them.  I had a very interesting talk with him about the history and migrations of the Pueblo Indians.

Before mailing this, your pictures came this morning.  I am delighted with them.  I think they are just fine.  You all look mighty pretty and are a sight for sore eyes.  I have the ones in the pretty red folder on my desk in the office where I can look at it many times each day.  The one of the three girls is unusually good.  I don't see how you caught all three of them with such good expressions at the same time.  Thanks a thousand times for the nicest present you could have sent me.

Love,

Bill

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Tokyo
13 Feb 46

Dearest Love of Mine,

Since I don't have a letter to answer, I will answer the lovely pictures which came this morning just in time for Valentine's Day.  I think that every woman should have her picture taken when she is in her prime -- at her zenith.  I think that is just what you have done with these.  You have reached mature full bloom and are radiantly beautiful.  It was not the religious tradition alone that caused so many great masters to select the subject of Madonna and child for their masterpieces; it is the high point of natural beauty and the climax of the fulfillment of life.

I like all the pictures very much, and each in a different way.  I love every one of you, and each in a different way.  It is fine to have these new likenesses with which to visit.

I am anxious to return to you, for I don't want any more of this prime period of life to pass without our being together to enjoy it.  It won't be so long now before I will be back.

Tonight I went to see a very good show -- Rhapsody in Blue, a life story of Geo. Gershman.

I will write more tomorrow night.

I love you very much.

Bill

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The film Rhapsody in Blue was released in 1945 and is a musical biography of the composer George Gershwin (not Gershman, as Maj. Gillham writes above).  The film stars Robert Alda, the father of Alan Alda.