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Places he dreamed of taking shirley

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Hello and welcome to Letters Raid is Cheryl, a World War II Love Story podcast. Tonight we have two letters from very near the end of the war. It happens right between the letters, I believe. September second, nineteen forty-five. And September 7th, 1945. Um these are letters from Second Lieutenant Ray Conan, bombardier in the US Army Air Force, as he was stationed stateside the entire war. To his sweetheart, Shirley Conan, a bank teller in Chicago, who later became an artist. Um it's my grandparents. I have about 200 letters that I've transcribed and I'm reading out of a published book. Uh this is the first edition. Um get your copies now at Amazon. And without further ado, september second, nineteen forty five. Ahoy, sweetheart, why wait until tonight? Just fortified myself with four cups of coffee. Jesus, H O'Toole, you're an expensive babe. Your letter came twenty hours ago and since then you've cost me forty six cigarettes, eleven sheets of paper, eight hours of telephone waiting, the time and paper are okay, but the forty six cigarettes, well, incidentally I will send you ten bucks next payday. About the adventure in Las Cruce Crusades it's just a small town sixty-four miles south of the field. I went to hut I went to a show there. Hop along McGillarcutty or something, sight saw and had hamburger. Hedgehoging back I caught a ride with a truck. There is only one sign of civilization between Elma Gordo and Las Cruces. We broke down there. It was a town, I guess, combination gas station and bar, grocery store and two houses. Two buildings on each side of the road. When we pulled in there, population twelve happened to s when we pulled in there, happened to see a sign in front of the gas station. You were now in Oregon, New Mexico. Elevation five thousand feet, population twelve. I'll bet Margie would get a kick out of that. Now that was grandmother's best friend, Margie Oregon. I met her when I was a child. Taint everybody who has towns named after them, I'm really glad you sent that letter. At least you're not going to sit back and take all the stuff I feel like handing out. Good for you. It needs be slap my ears back. Look, honey, figuring and planning away from you is my favorite pastime. I do it continually. You were right, you weren't figured in those plans much except that you'd be around. But those plans aren't real. You know, I can sit down and dream some rich uncle kicked off and left and left uh uh seventy seven million dollars, could spend all day just planning out how to spend that money, also dream that I'm a big executive, planned out completely, also a Hollywood writer, also a prospector, also a vacuum cleaner salesman, also millions of fangs. Each one is planned to out to the most minute detail. That's some of the far fetched things. The same thing goes with you and me. I find you an old copy of Better Homes and Gardens. Our house is picked out, the furnishings, the grounds, where it is, who's coming for dinner? What kind of drinks we'll serve, even hand us up early Sunday mornings, simonizing their car. I can actually live all that, so much so that I hate to be brought back to realization. Oh get out unless I get discharged from the army soon, we'll be able to do some of the things we want to do as soon as I get out. I haven't the slightest idea how long we'll take, where we'll go or or we're or how much it'll cost each day. I really don't care. We'll just wander around till we're either fired tired of it or we're broke. Or better yet, we'll do what you meant to do, honey. I'll follow you any place, anytime. Being with you is all that I want. Anything else is just whipped cream. You better believe that you woman you'd better believe that you woman you When I wrote you all that stuff that was one dream. There have been ten different dreams since then. There will be hundreds more, each is detailed. For instance the first time we were going to Saskatchewan, the recent time we weren't too far out of the way what way was wondering if we should spend three or four days in Denver. Are we going to Denver? I don't know. Do you even ran out of the water crossing d the desert? What desert? And had the hitchhike, the gas station. We went together because I was worried about you staying in the car alone. What car? The fellow that picked us up was nice How was it, darling? One day we were in New York and we went to the stork club. We didn't like it. All this stuff is I this and me this. You're there, but you ain't saying much. In a way it's taking you for granted, except when we were in Los Angeles. You should you wouldn't go to the burlesque show, stubborn critter. So far we've been in every city in every state in four or five countries. It makes me happy to dream these dreams. I wrote down a couple of them and sent them to you. There you go, that's September second. Oh there's more. There's more. Darling, I love you and being with you is going to be the biggest and best dream of them all. From then on my dreams are going to be real. Until then it'll keep with my storybook dreams. I just better leave them in my head though. Maybe this straightens everything out. Maybe it makes it worse. You had every right to be mad and worse at what I wrote if you took it serious. It probably sounded like you were supposed to jump when I snapped my fingers. I'd rather have you pitching rolling pins at me than have you be a weak sister. Ye gods, if you turn out to be if you turn out to that way Ozma spelling to be no if you turn out to me that way I just skip the space. Okay. Ye gods, if you turn out to me that way, we'd never be happy. I'm not asking you to see things my way. If you think I'm all wet say so I probably am wrong. So you've got another letter full of stuff and things all one sided my way. They'll all turn out differently. Either the way that we want them to turn out or the way that they were meant to turn out. Our fiftieth anniversary will probably be a lot different than I planned it. Your father may not have to stay in the Continental Bank mo may not be run by Bill anymore alone. Harry may not slip on a banana peel. Someday you may tell me that joke. Queen save. So help me I'll shoot paper wands at your grandfather if you call me in childish again. So I'm feeble minded. Okay, so my mentality is equivalent to a two year old. Okay, I'm a moron. Okay anything you want and call me so so and so six times a day. Okay, just to sit just so it's you that's doing it for the next twenty seventy two and ninety-seven ninety-nine years. I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you. I love you. Ray. PS, you're nice, pretty too. There's just one other slight thing. I may never say much about your happiness or how I could make you feel. Please don't even think that it doesn't occur to me. Sometimes it worries me silly. Words don't do anything this time. We'll both know when the time comes. Always, Ray. And um I think we're gonna save September 7th for the next week's um podcast. That was quite a long and lovely way to end. It's just uh I'm I'm working through some things right now and just wanted to get the podcast out. So thank you. And uh if you enjoy it, check the links in the bio and look me up on my link tree a bus bout podcast