Steady Stream of Overseas Packages Is Morale Builder for Waterloo Service Men
MARINE MAIL.
Mrs. Harold F. Smith, Jr., 850 Prospect boulevard, whose husband, a second lieutenant in the marine corps, has been overseas for the past seven months, sends him a package at least once each month, although the package takes at least three or four months to reach him in the South Pacific. He scorns the inclusion of clothes in his packages, no doubt because the blistering rays of the sun make many clothes superfluous, but writes with delight of his appreciation of small pocket-sized books. Glass jars of cheese, peanut butter and crackers are also valuable, and, in the navy and marine corps, Lieutenant Smith need not request a package to receive one.
However, not more than one package per week is permitted to be mailed to each addressee, the package must not exceed five pounds in weight or 35 inches in length and girth combined. The material contained must not be perishable, and knives and sharp instruments are heavily discouraged by the postoffice department and the Red Cross.
Much depends on the base where your son or husband is stationed as to what he will most desire in his long-awaited package. In England, the Yankees yearn for candy, chewing gum, popcorn, well packaged cakes, cookies, groceries and cigarettes. In Alaska, your G. I. Joe goes for fancy groceries, powdered cocoa, cookies, fruit cake—and—last but not least—electrical fixtures to brighten up his “igloo.” If he’s in China, Burma or India, send him hard chocolate bars, tin boxed candies, fountain pens, and extra socks. But no underwear or electric razors.
Source: Waterloo Sunday Courier, July 2, 1944
