Letters From War Wednesday: World War II – Wray Matteson.

Hump day again.  For this week’s Letters From War Wednesday, let’s go back to World War II.  Burton Wray Matteson served as a medical attendant aboard U.S. Army Transports in the Pacific Theater.  I absolutely love his sense of humor.  This note to his parents comes from the summer of 1944, while Matteson was working aboard the George W. Julian.  New Guinea was obviously a frequent, and less than loved, lay over.

Wray Matteson - USAT George W. Julian

“Night before last a big Ray fish jumped into one of our lifeboats, which we had tied to a gang plank. I’ve never seen anything quite so terrible looking! It was about three feet across. It looked like it had wings. They flapped like wings, anyway. A nose like a P-38 with a tail that has a 10 or 12-inch stinger. All they need is a couple of propellers on the front end!! They are white on top and a sort of grey underneath. This one was jumping around, having a big time in the water, when it accidentally jumped into the boat. …No one was in the boat! I have an ardent hatred for anything that lives in the water—except mermaids. Anyhow, and that thing didn’t help any. When I saw the thing I couldn’t believe it. I said to myself, I said: ‘Wray’–that’s what I call myself–’Wray,’ I said, ‘They can’t fool me. Nothing can look like that!’ But, there it was.

“This seems to be open season on boils.  It seems it’s absolutely the latest thing in style around here. Everyone is wearing one somewhere or somewhere else, mostly ‘you know where.’

“…Two boat loads of us went to see a fine show, ‘As Thousands Cheer,’ last night. …It was a lot different seeing it down here in an out-of-the-world place like this, with a bunch of soldiers watching it. …A show like this one is really a morale builder. It’s a rude awakening, though, to sit through a show like this and when it is over take a look around and find yourself still here in a place like this. One expects to walk out on Market Street in ‘Frisco,’ Jefferson Street in Ft. Wayne, or Fifth Avenue in Seattle, … instead of a mess of New Guinea mud!

“The theatre is an outdoor one and it rained a bit right in the middle of it, which was a good reminder of where we were. Ha! I liked the show so well that the rain didn’t bother me a bit. We were sitting right in the middle of a flock of colored soldiers—that’s democracy—and when Benny Carter’s band came on with Lena Horne singing they about went mad. From what I’ve heard the fellows say, I’ve decided the one dance Eleanor Powell did must have gone over about the best of all of it. They are still talking about her and Judy Garland.

“…I’ll sure be glad to get away from this ‘Frank Buck’ country. If there are any Japs alive after the war … we should make them live on New Guinea. Nothing could be worse.”