Letter 1/28/45

Happy Friday folks!!  A weekend's in front of us, and I couldn't be happier.  Fall weather, baseball games, baking (for those of you who don't know, I own a bakery.  I like to blog, so if you're done with these posts, head on over and check out the sillier side of my life).

Today's letter sheds a bit of light onto another side of my grandfather's life, his spiritual/religious side.  My grandfather has always been the strong/silent type of person in my life, and I don't know if he's always been this way, but for most of the time I've known him he's much more content to sit and listen (unless we're having a political debate).  This may be because I'm his granddaughter, and he's interested to hear more about me, and my active life, than what he's doing in his 4th decade of retirement.

That being said, he's always had this aura around him, an aura that gives you this sense of security and calm.  I've never seen him freak out ever, even when he's driving in rush hour New Jersey traffic (how do you people drive there all the time), and I can count on my one hand the number of times he's yelled at me.[1] 

I always thought that his calm attitude was due to years of life he had managed to rack up by the time I entered his life, years of dealing with wars, work, family matters, and children.  Reflecting on who my grandfather is now, I'd say that definitely is a large part of his identity, but his faith is also a huge part of who he is.  Like most of his personality, it's not something that's obvious at first, and not something that he parades about at will.  But his faith is always there, just under the surface, and I feel it shapes his character just as much as his life experiences have.

I've read through all of his letters, and he talks about devotionals and attending church services several times throughout his writings home.  It's something that he's eager to share with his family, because it's something that greatly shaped who he was and had become by 1945.  Yet there's more to it than that, in my opinion: my grandfather excels in stable, predictable environments, and the war was anything but that.  As we've already seen from his early letters, there is a lot of unpredictability, a lot of moving around, and a lot of different roles he needs to fill as a soldier.  Through all this chaos, then, his faith, and the worship he participated in weekly with fellow soldiers, gave him the chance to relax in a familiar atmosphere that reminded him both of home, and of bigger things outside the theater of war.

I'm rambling a bit, and I apologize, but this blog is more than just posting letters and hitting "Publish".  I want to unravel the mysteries of my grandfather, and sometimes letters like this one give me the opportunity to do so.

Have a wonderful weekend, readers.  I'll be back soon with more updates.

E

Mr. and Mrs. A. Kumasaka
287 Main St.
Keansburg, N.J.
U.S.A.

T/5 A. Kumasaka #32609377
Hq Btry 863 FA Bn
APO 410 c/o P.M.
New York, N.Y.

28 Jan 45

Hello Folks,

     I have just attended the Protestant Services over at the Red Cross building for officers.  At the 9 o'clock service there was only one other buddy besides my-self who attended but we got just as much out of the meeting as if all the seats were filled.
     After the service I had a talk with the chaplain and was surprised to learn that he was an assis-tant to the minister of the Central Presbyterian Church in Montclair.  His name is Derivan.  I asked him then, if he knew Grandmother, and he said the name was familiar.  He asked me to have Grandma talk with Mrs. John Freeman, whom he knows very well and who would be glad to learn a bit of news like this about him.  As I have just recently written to Grandma, will you relay this on to her?
     I am now writing this letter in the Enlisted Men's Red Cross building.  Outside it is quite cold and there is a very strong wind blowing. I'll have to b____ this wind eventually to return to the battery area.
     I'm getting along O.K. to date.  At night I have a sleeping bag, which I crawl into, and get as warm as toast.  I'll close for now.  Hope everything is O.K. at home.

Love,
Archie


Notes:
[1]One of those times might have involved his very expensive pool liner.  Pop, I'm sorry, my 5 year old self did not understand the value of money in 1991 and failed to understand why you didn't want me to break the liner.  Now that I'm $30,000 in debt from college I understand, and promise I'll never step on another pool liner again!