The Soldier's Journal

||Entry Three||

May 7th, 1941.

I really do apologize for not writing for 3 days. But, to my defense, nurse Rodgers has been havin' me do a lot of physical therapy here lately, along with the help of ms. Eleanor. You know, I think I'm really finally starting to get her to break out of her shell a little bit. Just a bit though. She's still not entirely there, but she's getting there. She's even starting to make jokes and start random conversations now. 

Nurse Rodgers says I'm progressing right on track, if not a bit faster than she thought I would. She and ms. Eleanor both think I'll be ready to get back out there sometime soon, which, I'm not sure if I should be happy or upset over that. I mean, I don't really have much to live for, if anything at all. No family, no friends, no wife, can't see my son, no home to return to, I don't have anything. 

Well, scratch that, actually. Since my little "bump up," and I met Eleanor, we've become good friends in this short period of time. Maybe if, God willing, we both make it to the end of the war, we'll still be good friends. I might even get to do what I said I'd like to in the last entry – you know, take her to whatever they're playin' at the movie theaters. I sure do wonder what they're playin' right now. 

Maybe I could get Harris or Felix to ask some of their family what's playin' in the theaters. You know, I never really cared much for either of them just a week ago. But, they're both in the field hospital, and our cots are all close to each other. There's not much to do in here, so talkin' to a bunch of practical strangers is all you can really do, other than writing, in my case. They're actually both pretty swell gentlemen. 

Harris is 28 with a wife named Dorothy, and he's got a lil' 4 year old daughter named Betty – he says she looks just like her mama. Felix is 25, I think. He's got a wife named Anna, and a 6 year old son named Peter. I guess I just never really cared to learn, but they're both from North Carolina, just like me. I think Harris is from somewhere near Mooresville, which ain't but about half an hour from Kannapolis, where I'm from. 

Felix is from somewhere up near Raleigh though, and that's over an hour away. So if Felix and I both make it to the end of the war, we probably won't see each other too often, if ever. There's a chance for me and Harris to be friends after all this though, which, I think I'd like that, if I'm bein' honest. I really should ask ms. Eleanor where she's from. I shouldn't get my hopes up, though. 

She seems like she's probably from Tennessee or Louisiana maybe. I'm not sure. She's definitely a Southern belle though, that's for sure. She's got a real deep southern accent. Some could say the same about me though. 

Oh, who am I kiddin' with that "some." I even write in an accent. If you read close enough, you can probably imagine the southern draw. Right about now, I can hear banjos, trumpets, and some singin' somewhere near my tent. Not the greatest mix of instruments, but hey, who am I to judge? 

I'm able to get up out of bed and walk on my own now, it just takes me a bit. I'm gonna go see what's goin' on out there. I'll write about it when I get back in here, or, when the warden, nurse Rodgers, tells me to get back to my cot. 

Well, for you, it's only a jump from one sentence to the next, but, for me, it's been about 2 hours. See, here's what happened. I got up and left my tent to find some of the soldiers sittin' around a measly lil' fire with the same instruments I thought I'd heard. They'd just started to sing. I hobbled my way over to where I saw ms. Eleanor sittin' and I sat down beside her. She got all happy and excited when she saw I was up and walkin' all on my own.

We sat there talkin' for a lil' bit, but then I heard them startin' to sing the chorus. Like I mentioned in the last entry, I think, I never shut up. And I'm always singin' somethin.' Because if I'm not talkin,' I'm either humming or singin.' So, with that bein' said, I joined in with the small lil' campfire band and started singin' with them.

 A small part of me always kinda wanted to do somethin' with music, but pa always said I couldn't sing, and he was too busy makin' sure my pitchin' was perfect to teach me how to play the guitar. I spent the rest of the 2 hours just singin' along to whatever they played. And if I didn't know it, that still didn't stop me – I'd just sit there and hum along with them until I learned the chorus so I could at least sing along to that. Sometimes, I'd just make up my own words and make them funny, which, would always earn a laugh from Eleanor. 

You know, I gotta say, I was havin' fun. I never would've thought I'd be drafted for war, let alone have fun during it. But it was just somethin' about sittin' outside of tents by a small lil' fire with Eleanor, singin' along with everyone, and even Harris and Felix came out to join us for a lil' bit. It didn't feel like a war was happening anymore. It just felt like a big ol' group of buddies out on a campin' trip. It felt a lot like an escape from everything that was goin' on. 

I think we were all glad to get even just somethin' close to a break from everything goin' on. But eventually, we all got tired. I made sure to say my goodnight to Eleanor and even nurse Rodgers before Harris, Felix and I hobbled back over to our lil' field hospital tent. We all laid down in our cots and said goodnight to each other. And now's my time to sign off and get some sleep.

As always,

Edwin Myers.