“No Suitable Assignment Exists”

The Letters of Leon and Mary Grayson, July 1944

Our maternal grandparents Leon and Mary (Bell) Grayson, natives of Savannah, GA, moved to Washington, DC in 1935 after Leon accepted a position as a staff attorney in FDR’s Justice Department. In November 1942, one day after baptizing their first child Mary Ann, Leon was commissioned into the wartime U.S. Army Coast Artillery Corps (CAC). Through the letters and documents they preserved we have been able to follow and share in their experiences.

Camp Davis, North Carolina

Leon bounced among a number of East Coast Army posts, near which his family was able to join him often. In mid-June 1944 Leon was transferred from Camp Stewart, located about 40 miles inland from their Georgia hometown, to Camp Davis in coastal North Carolina. A pregnant 34 year-old Mary and 22 month-old Ann remained behind with Mary’s parents and siblings in Savannah. Rural Camp Davis was located in Holly Ridge, 30 miles north of Wilmington, NC and its adjacent resort town of Wrightsville Beach.

“My Papers Went to Richmond”

Leon was then 37, considerably “over age in grade” for a 1st Lieutenant. Within their previous letters numerous references were made to Leon’s uncertain future in the Army. This latest relocation was ordered expressly so that Leon and other men like him might appear before a board of senior CAC officers who would then decide those futures. Following two appearances before the board, Leon wrote on Thursday, June 29, “My papers went to Richmond yesterday and I should hear something within a week…. It was indicated that I’d either go to the Judge Advocate Generals Dept or Civilian life…. Should see you in a couple of weeks as this business will be over here by then.”

“Life Has Seemed Like a Vacation”

Leon apparently wrote twice the following Monday, July 3.

“Well, the ‘fighting puppie’ went to the [Wrightsville] beach and ate all kind of good things and had a nice time generally except for missing his girl friends…. I should get some information by the end of the week… Should I get out, I have about ten days leave maybe more and we can all have a little ‘vacation’ before the ‘puppie’ goes back to ‘work’. Ever since we’ve been together though life has seemed like a vacation because My ‘Mummie’ is so wonderful and Puppie loves her so. I’ll pick up some Halo shampoo for you.” This then-popular brand of shampoo must have been harder to find in Savannah.

“Maybe California”

In Leon’s second letter of the day he wrote: “The ‘Puppie’ received your letter of Friday and was most happy to hear from his hearts. The trip to the beach was all right. The swimming was fine, and had a couple of good meals – However our trip to the [Tybee Island] DeSoto Beach club was the trip and this couldn’t compare with it. Not much news.… I guess it will be another week or so, but you can’t tell as anything can happen in the Army. Sometimes I think I might get out and then I think they won’t let me out. However, …when our new little angel comes we can all plan, if I’m in the Army, to live together wherever we are stationed – Maybe California – they sent someone out there a week ago.” On a more serious note, Leon then asked Mary to “Keep me posted on how Spence is making out.” Forty-three year-old Spence Grayson, a Georgia state senator, had been trying to obtain more information, and if possible secure release, for their 28 year-old brother Bill, a Japanese prisoner of war (POW) since April 1942. Leon and Bill’s contrasting wartime experiences are hard to reconcile.

“Rides are Easy to Get”

On Tuesday, July 4 Leon wrote a short morning letter from the base, then called Mary that same evening from Wrightsville Beach, to which Leon had again hitched a ride for the holiday. On July 5 Leon wrote, “Enjoyed talking with you so much last night…. am back in camp and no news.. You can’t tell how long it will be? Maybe, this afternoon and maybe next week…. Will telephone as soon as I hear anything. Nobody’s worried so let’s relax and take it easy.” Leon continued, “Puppie likes to get away from Camp when there is nothing doing. Rides are easy to get to the beach – you can splash in the ocean. get good things to eat and I like it – except you aren’t there darling.”

In his book Greetings from Camp Davis, historian Clifford Tyndall writes, “By 1943 the Seashore Transportation Company had scheduled as many as thirty daily round trip buses between Wilmington and Holly Ridge. Bus fare was twenty-five cents each way…. Another popular option was hitchhiking… The soldiers were wearing their uniforms and people would give them rides. ‘Hitchhikers were always picked up. Cars never went by soldiers,’ related [Camp Davis veteran Albert] Knox.” * Also likely, some among Leon’s many fellow officers had personal cars, though gasoline was rationed at the time.

A Week at the Beach?

Leon continued his prolific writing the following day. “Thursday, July 6, 1944 – Darling Sweetheart ‘Mummie’ and Angel Baby Ann, The ‘Puppie’ has just sent you three bottles of ‘halo’ special delivery. I filled the box with mints for you and cigarettes. Guess we can use the cigarettes later on – unless you give them to Daddy [Joseph Bell] or Betty [Mary’s 21 year-old sister] – or smoke them yourself. Talked to the adjutant yesterday and he said I probably won’t hear anything for a couple of weeks. He wants me to help out with the Theaters, P.X.’s [Post Exchanges, the camp’s general stores] and other station or post operations – so I guess I’ll do a little more work while I’m here…. Guess it would be too much for you to spend a week at the beach – you would have a nice room, meals, the Ocean and I’d see you over the weekend and occasionally during the week at night. Don’t guess you could risk it on a Pullman – It would be expensive too – However nothing is too good or nice for my hearts. Puppie will call you Saturday night or Sunday morning. I might get out of the Army but it doesn’t seem likely for a while.”

“Working Relative to POW’s”

After three subsequent letters in which were referenced two different phone calls, Leon wrote Tuesday, July 11, “The ‘fighting Puppie’ received your letter and it made him so happy. ‘Puppie’ is working out of headquarters here relative to prisoners of war. Sort of new on the job so there isn’t much to say.” According to historian Tyndall, “In late 1943, a stockade was constructed [west of the camp] to house Axis prisoners. In March 1944 approximately five hundred German prisoners of war were placed in the newly erected Camp Davis stockade…. The Germans would work at various tasks… both on and off the grounds of Camp Davis. Soldiers and civilian employees remember the German prisoners working in the camp laundry, cleaning offices and working on local farms.” * One wonders if Leon’s assignment to that particular branch might have been connected to his brother Bill’s ongoing POW status.

“Wait Until the Army Shows ‘Em”

Leon’s July 11 letter continued, “Had a nice letter from Spence [not in our possession], Guess [Leon’s 31 year-old sister] Edith will have her baby today….. My orders haven’t come thru – it may be tomorrow or it may be a month so they say so ‘Puppie’ is working again.” In his letter of Monday, July 17 Leon included a telegram from his brother-in-law and Naval officer George “Chickadee” Parsons announcing the birth of their son Ted and commented, “Sounds good doesn’t it- It took me back to the time our precious ‘glamour girl’ came to bring us the most wonderful happiness in the world…. There isn’t any news but expect to hear any day now. P.S. Hurrah for the Navy – But wait until the Army show’s ’em.

Back Into the Inactive Reserve

A July 19 letter hints at possible upcoming orders for Camp Davis, Massachusetts, or California, but on Saturday, July 22 Leon announces, “Well, the ‘Puppie’ is going back into the inactive reserve…. I should clear the Post Tuesday [July 25]…. I think I’ll come to Sav’h for a few days then go to Washington and go back to work. and catch a train out from Wilmington,” But a special delivery letter written Wednesday, July 26 reports, “It looks as if it might be the weekend before I get away…. P.S. Sent my barracks bag to “Nelly” Shillite [a Washington DC neighbor] to day so I guess the Army will change its mind and not release me – All my love, Puppie.” It is the last letter we have from Camp Davis.

Orders dated July 28 state in part, “1ST LT LEON H GRAYSON is granted terminal lv of six days eff 31 Jul 44… & upon expiration of terminal lv 5 Aug 44 will revert to an inactive status. Relief not occasioned by physical disability.” Leon’s official discharge certificate is dated August 5. Under “Cause of Separation” it reads “Relief from Active Duty of Officers for whom no Suitable assignment exists.”

* Tyndall, Clifford, Greetings from Camp Davis: The History of a WWII Army Base, 2006 Chapel Hill Press, pgs 133, 35