Finding Aid for the Charles E. Boewe Second World War correspondence 2017.309.w.r
Immediate Source of Acquisition
- Series 1, Fort Sheridan, Illinois correspondence
- Series 2, Fort McClellan/University of Alabama correspondence
- Series 3, Manhattan College correspondence
- Series 4, Syracuse University correspondence
- Series 5, Station Hospital correspondence
- Series 6, Medical School, Brooklyn correspondence
- Series 7, Photographs
- Series 8, "The Town on the Squares: Portrait of a Vanishing World" Book Excerpt
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Series 1, Fort Sheridan, Illinois correspondence 1943 March 5 - 26
Series 2, Fort McClellan/University of Alabama correspondence 1943 April - July 13
"Nearly everyone in our outfit went thru it fine except one fellow who is sort of a queen anyway. But when he got through his nerves were completely shot and he lay down on the ground and cried like a baby. I don't think they should send through fellows like that because if they raise up once well –."
"I was reading in the YMCA bulletin that a bunch of the U of I 4F's got together at a luncheon the other day to decide what to do with the world after the war has been won by our 'gallant boys in the service.' I had to laugh when I read it. They have never taken time to figure out 'who hit Nelly in the belly with a battle' let alone what to do with the world. If left to their own devices they would set up economically proven governments that place such an emphasis on the almighty dollar that we'd have another war within 10 years. Ask any of these boys down here what to do, and you will hear them say to leave everyone alone. All they want is to go back to their wives and sweethearts and try and pick up life where they left it."
"Maybe it's a little inhuman to say so; but I think I'd like to experience the sensation of killing a man. Oh, I want the war to be over as soon as possible; but this is still a grand adventure to me. I deploy the loss of life and think their idea of settlement is right; but I can't bring myself to hate war. I guess I like tragedy too much."
"From your letters I gather that most of the West Salem draftees almost have to be torn away from home. What's the matter with them all? Haven't they got any guts or patriotism? This Army life's not bad…but my God, what's wrong with all the red blood that's supposed to course through the veins of young America?"
"We had one fellow in our hut who is a Nazarene and is too good to drink beer or associate with people who are drinking it. So he went hungry and had to stay in the hut by himself. The top sergeant had a talk with him and tried to get him to go because they had soft drinks too but he just wouldn't. A fined example of a damned fool, if you ask me."
Series 3, Manhattan College correspondence 1943 July 18 - 1944 January 6
"I wish people all over the world could discuss their views as broadmindedly as we did. And I really learned things about Catholics and Jews. It was just the sort of discussion I like. I was able to preside as a sort of intermediator, having unique ideas I possess, and I am sure we all attained a new respect for each other."
Series 4, Syracuse University correspondence 1944 April 9 - November 3
"The irrationalities, the incongruities, the paradoxes of Army life are ever a source of wonder and amazement. For instance, my true love, the girl-of-my-dreams, the at-last-I've found-you one is leaving. Not just leaving school, mind you. Not just going home for a week-end. Oh no; she's joining the WAVES! All over the world for the last five years women have been kissing their men goodbye as they see them off to war. But would any such commonplace occurrence happen to me; the plaything of Destiny, the pawn of fate? Of course not, I stay in college and kiss my girl goodbye as she goes off to war! It's truly a remarkable world."
"But I imagine we reminded many of them of sons, husbands, and fathers in service. And the memory was hardly one to make a person cheer. I don't doubt that there was even a bit of antipathy in the hearts of some of them when they saw us safely and cozyly bedded down here on the campus while their men are living somewhere in the mud."
Series 5, Station Hospital correspondence 1944 November 14 - 1945 September 4
"I really hate to see Johnny go. And it makes it doubly bad to have a swell guy like that to be taking the rap for me and probably be shot to hell while I sit here on Staten Island as safe as in a church… He isn't too happy about the whole thing. He has convinced himself that he is going to be killed, course we tried to talk him out of that notion, but I've got a feeling that he won't come out of it either. I don't know why, he's big enough to take care of himself, but I just feel that way."
"Most of the men here are a bunch of stupid hoodlums and I can't find their company enjoyable. The lab staff is made up of a swell bunch, but most of the hospital personnel are returned infantrymen who were shot-up and think they should be discharged. They don't like medicine and would be much better off someplace else. I guess I'm a snob, I know less nice names have been applied to me, but I can't help it and don't intend to try."
Series 6, Medical School, Brooklyn correspondence 1945 September 10 - 1946 April 25
"I suppose you read about our tug boat strike. We were off from school for half a day. They tried to have classes anyway that day and the cops came down and closed us up. Everybody concedes that drastic measures were not needed, but that O'Dwyer was just pulling a fast one to get public opinion in favor of immediate settlement of the strike. It does look funny that it happened on a holiday."
"And furthermore as the years go by, I become more firmly convinced that insurance is little more than a racket to get money out of people who are afraid to die. It seems to make them feel better to depart from this world leaving a large sum of money behind to perpetuate their name."
Series 7, Photographs
Series 8, "The Town on the Square: Portrait of a Vanishing World" Book Excerpt 2008