A Letter From Camp Davis, June 1944

The Letters of Leon and Mary Bell Grayson

Our maternal grandparents Leon and Mary Grayson, natives of Savannah, Georgia, moved to Washington D.C. in 1935 after Leon accepted a position in FDR’s Justice Department. Leon received a wartime commission in the U.S. Army Coast Artillery Corps in November 1942, three months after their first child Mary Ann was born. The couple preserved numerous documents and dozens of war-time letters through which we are now able to share in the adventures, joys, and hardships of “Puppie” and “Mummie,” the pet names they used for one another.

Wartime Postings

1st Lieutenant Leon Grayson, 36 years old when commissioned, was “over age in grade” and 10 years removed from his previous military experience in ROTC and the Georgia National Guard. It’s clear that the Army wasn’t sure how to best utilize Leon and men like him. Beginning in Camp Stewart, Georgia in November 1942, Leon bounced around various anti-aircraft artillery (AA) bases including short stints in Bayonne, NJ and Queens, NY through early 1943 before spending nearly a year as “assistant theater officer” at Fort Eustis in Newport News, Virginia. In May 1944 he was reassigned briefly to his native coastal Georgia. Camp Stewart was located some 40 miles inland from Savannah, where Mary and the baby had returned temporarily to live with Mary’s parents and younger siblings.

A Rushed Goodbye

Leon wrote to Mary from Camp Stewart on Wednesday, June 14:

“Puppie” will be in this weekend (probably). Henry (He telephoned you, Betty met him) said he would like to meet and have a date (Saturday night) with Thelma [a friend of Mary?] if he gets off and can get in – and we’ll all go out together. Fairly definite…. All my love to my angels, The “fighting Puppie”. P.S. I love you. Will call Friday night.

The “probably” and “fairly definite” qualifications were well placed, as Leon knew that another transfer was in the works. It came earlier than he expected, however. Though Leon was more than likely in Savannah on Saturday June 17, it was an afternoon and evening spent packing and saying rushed goodbyes to his wife and daughter before he boarded the train to his next duty station: Camp Davis, North Carolina.

Camp Davis

Camp Davis was located in rural Holly Ridge, NC, 30 miles north of Wilmington and about 6 miles inland from Topsail Island, the latter historically accessible only by boat. In 1942 the U.S. government built a road over the marsh and laid a pontoon bridge across the sound. The barrier island was used for AA training, where many of the targets were towed and simulated strafing runs performed by a squadron of Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs).

The First Camp Davis Letter

We have some two dozen letters from Camp Davis, by far the most from any duty station despite the limited time Leon ended up spending there. Organizing letters to their matching postmarked envelopes was a challenge. Because Leon headed most letters with only the day of the week, pinpointing the exact date depended on clues within the letter. His first was written Sunday (June 18) and postmarked Monday morning: “Camp Davis N.C. Jun 19 10AM 1944.”

Sunday – Darling Heart and our Precious Baby, The trip wasn’t bad – Slept until eight o’clock – Changed trains at Florence – Then arrived at Wilmington at 2:00 o’clock. Was lucky and ran into a transportation Capt – Which gave me a ride with all bags (?!!) (They were heavy) to where I was going.

We assume “all bags (?!!)” included Leon’s green metal footlocker, stenciled 1LT L.H. GRAYSON 0-264681, which our grandparents for decades stored in a cramped and cluttered closet off the entry of their Washington D.C. apartment. We would play with and in it from time to time.

“We Four can swim next summer”

Leon continued: Have a nice room – Much nicer than Eustis or Stewart. Everyone is very friendly. The food will be good. Am at the Officer’s Club listening to the piano – Smoking a cigar, having a beer and loving and thinking of my wonderful, beautiful girls. Something tells me I’ll like this place and that Daddy will come out 100%. You can’t tell I might stay here and then we Four can swim at Wrightsville Beach next summer.

Located about 10 miles east of Wilmington, Wrightsville Beach was by 1944 a long-popular resort destination. But what did Leon mean by “we Four can swim”? This is our first clue that Mary, then 34 years-old, was pregnant with their second child, a fact confirmed by multiple allusions in subsequent letters. Leon and Mary had long struggled with fertility issues, and Mary’s pregnancy with Ann two years previously had been a difficult one. It must have thus been a comfort that Mary was staying with her parents and younger siblings rather than dealing with the pregnancy alone in Washington D.C.

Telephone Issues

Leon’s first Camp Davis letter continued: “Puppie” will call you Tuesday or Wednesday. Tried to call tonight but there was a five hour delay. Am going to quarters and go to bed so I will feel good in the A.M…. the “Puppie” loves you and will see you soon – After the 1st of July anyway.

In a later missive headed “Sunday 10:15 PM 2215 Army Time” Leon once again referenced telephone issues:

Just a line to say how much I enjoyed talking to you a few minutes ago. It is certainly difficult to get a call thru at Camp Davis. I placed the call at 2:00 p.m. and it didn’t go thru until almost 10 o’clock although it was promised at 7 o’clock. Then, I had to almost fight every operator from New York to Jacksonville to get the call thru then [sic]. I won’t call from here any more. Maybe I’ll be able to get in town where you can get calls thru within a reasonable time.

Leon was a consistently loyal letter-writer, but the remoteness of Camp Davis, its poor telephone service, and Mary’s pregnancy each help explain why we have so many more wartime letters from there than any other posting, and thus many more experiences yet to read about and share.

Feature Image credit: Boston Public Library, CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons