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Letter from Smith Green to grandma and grandpaShow simple item record

dc.creatorGreen, Smith Lowry
dc.date.accessioned2024-10-22T19:40:26Z
dc.date.available2024-10-22T19:40:26Z
dc.date.issued1940-12-27
dc.identifier.urihttps://repository.tcu.edu/handle/116099117/66471
dc.descriptionLetter from Smith Green to his grandparents, William and Mary Green, giving updates.
dc.format.medium5.5x7.5 paper
dc.relationSmith Lowry Green Collection (MS 179)
dc.rightsPrior written permission from TCU Special Collections required to use any document or photograph
dc.sourceBox 002, Correspondence to Grandma & Grandpa 1939-41, 1945-46 (not POW) folder, Item 022
dc.subjectGreen, Smith L.
dc.subjectWorld War II
dc.subjectUnited States Army
dc.titleLetter from Smith Green to grandma and grandpa
dc.typeDocument
dc.description.transcriptionHq. Co., 31st Infantry Manila, P.I. December 27, 1940 Dear Grandma & Grandpa, I promised a letter when I sent the Christmas card but kept putting it off so long I'll send this one by clipper to kinda catch up. I don't know when the next plane leaves here, soon I hope. It only takes about three or four days for a Clipper letter to get there but they fly only once a week, so if you miss one, a letter has to wait a week for the next plane. We are in the midst of a ten day Christmas holiday. Christmas day the temperature was about 93 degrees Fahrenheit, so you can see it was nice and warm. I suppose it was cold there. It would be wonderful if we could swap weather so that both places would be pleasant. I am in good health as always and certainly hope you all are feeling fine. We have been doing a lot of reconnaissance work before the holidays and are going on maneuvers about Jan. 6. We'll be away from Manila for the next three months, off and on. Of course, we'll come back in at intervals for short stays. I know South Central Luzon even better than I did around Broken Bow. I can go to any town in my sector, without a map, and go directly to the telegraph station, telephone central etc. I have to know even which wire lines on the poles are telegraph, which are telephone, where they go etc. How did Broken Bow come out in foot-ball this year? Good, I hope. The reason I have to put twice as much postage on a letter as you do is because Filipino currency is only half the value of American currency. That's the reason our pay over here is double the amount it would be in the U.S. A private getting thirty dollars a monther there gets sixty pesos here. How ever, the only benefit we get from it is in purchasing Filipino goods. Imported American goods have a corresponding price except articles not taxed, such as cigarettes. Army personnel gets cigarettes from the Quartermaster commissary for ?1.00 a carton or only $.50 American. Filipino metal currency is in copper centavo pieces, an alloy 5 centavo piece, silver 10 centavo piece, silver peseta or 20 centavos, silver 50 centavos and silver pesos. Paper money is in pesos of same denomination as American but with half value. In other words, it takes 2 pesos to get 1 dollar and 6 centavos postage to equal 3 cents. That is the rate of exchange and the Filipino currency is as stable as the American. I suppose a lot of the boys are in training camp by now. Especially the National Guard boys. We have all kinds of rumors here as what will happen to us. The latest is that we'll go to Singapore to garrison a Navy Base. You can't believe anything you hear though. A while back we were supposed to go to Shanghai but didn't, so I'm sure this rumor will be the same. However, this regiment did go to China in 1932 for five months during the Japanese Occupation of Manchuria. Tell all the folks hello for me. All our folks in San Francisco are doing fine. Virginia's husband got a raise and makes $136.00 a month now. Here baby is a year old and Doris' is 2 yrs. old. Dave is 18 and is a doorman at a theater after school hours. Take good care of yourselves and don't worry about me. I'll get along fine and come out on top. Write soon with all the news. Say hello to everyone. Lots of love, Smith. S. Green Hq. Co. 31st Inf Manila, P.I. AIR MAIL Mr. W.M. Green Broken Bow, Oklahoma Box 426 U.S.A. Rec'd Jan 17-1941 Ans-Jan. 22


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This item appears in the following Collection(s)
  • Smith Lowry Green Collection [250]
    Smith L. Green fought in the Pacific Theatre of World War II. He was a prisoner of war from 1942 to 1945. He also fought in the Korean War. Green attended graduate school at Texas Christian University, graduating in 1961.

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