Dear Atkins family,
I received the letter last week, and was so thrilled it made it to the base. I'm on the run constantly as a nurse, but tonight is a night where I have a few minutes to write back to my dear little family. I miss you all more than I can say. Every day, I imagine Ruth's sweet smile beaming up at me. I am reminded of the secure feeling when Aunt Pauline's arms would embrace me in a hug. When I first volunteered in the U.S. Navy, I admit that at the time, the consequences didn't possibly seem real somehow. I knew what I had signed up for, but I hadn't the slightest idea how my actions would affect both myself and the millions around me. We are at war. The very word makes me want to vomit. How can a single, three-letter word mean so much? The battlefield here in New York is devastating... Mangled body parts are strewn about, mud is stained deep red with the blood of soldiers. The constant sound of grenades going off, screams of pain, and the earth tremors- I can't find words to explain how horrific these past six months have been. Soldiers come into the base burned from poison gas, sometimes all over their body. Their skin has to be wrapped in bandages, and they fight and lash out like a wild mustang. Gangrene is an infected patient's worst enemy, but delirium is no ally, either.
It is disturbing to see brave men suffer so. I am tempted to run away from it all, to leave all this pain and sorrow...but I know there is no turning back from this point, and slap myself for being so selfish.
Send your prayers for the wounded. I'm sending you all my love.
Lucy
It is disturbing to see brave men suffer so. I am tempted to run away from it all, to leave all this pain and sorrow...but I know there is no turning back from this point, and slap myself for being so selfish.
Send your prayers for the wounded. I'm sending you all my love.
Lucy
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