The Camp Davis Letters, June 1944

Our maternal grandparents Leon and Mary (Bell) Grayson, natives of Savannah, GA, moved to Washington, DC in 1935 after Leon accepted a position 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.

Leon bounced among a number of East Coast anti-aircraft artillery (AA) posts, near which his family was able to join him for weekends and more extended periods. When Leon was transferred to Camp Davis in coastal North Carolina in mid-June 1944, however, a pregnant 34 year-old Mary and 22 month-old Ann remained behind with Mary’s parents and siblings in Savannah. Mary’s pregnancy, the remoteness of Camp Davis, and the poor telephone service to and from the base help explain why we have some two dozen letters written from North Carolina, more than from any of Leon’s five previous duty stations.

Appearances Before the Board

I feel as if the Army doesn’t need me why I’ll be most happy to go back to living a normal happy life.

Leon was 37 in June 1944, 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 seemed to be so that Leon and other men like him might appear before a board of CAC officers who would then decide those futures. Leon arrived on Sunday June 18 and wrote his second letter Wednesday June 21:

“Darling Sweetheart and Angel Baby, …I appeared before the board today and have to make one more appearance on Friday – They then make a recommendation – Which takes sometimes a couple of weeks anyway ^ before orders come out on it. Everything indicates I’ll be recommended for legal or administrative work. However higher authorities may not have an opening or may decide that I may honorably go back to civilian life – So I haven’t anything to lose. I feel as if the Army doesn’t need me why I’ll be most happy to go back to living a normal happy life with my “Sweetheart” “Mummie” and “Ann” and “brother.” Guess it’s Washington again. What do you think?“

This is only the second reference we’ve seen to Mary’s pregnancy, so we don’t know how far along she was. It is interesting that Leon called the baby “brother.” It makes one wonder how doctors and women in the 1940s determined the gender of a baby in utero.

Surely wish my hearts were with me

Leon continued: “I’m over at the [officers] club listening to the music box so am not having an exciting time. The food isn’t too good but will pass. Haven’t had a meal like those steak suppers Mother [Julia Bell] gave me in a long time. [Note: it has only been four days since Leon left Savannah!] Think I’ll go down to Wrightsville Beach Sunday and see the crowd. Surely wish my hearts were with me – But the trip from Florence is about 6 hours and a hot sooty one even in the pullman – Then as soon as you would arrive I’d be told to go to Richmond or somewhere”. In his postscript Leon added, “The Board couldn’t be any nicer or more friendly.”

Leon addressed a letter the following day (Thursday June 22) to his not-yet two year-old old daughter. “The Daddy boy is feeling fine…. Tell Mother that I received $31.12 for travel pay coming up so we made about $10 or $12….. I’ll write her tomorrow night after I see the board for the last time. I wouldn’t be surprised if I wasn’t kept in AA. If they decide to let me go back to Civilian life then Mother, you, little baby and Daddy boy will have a good time all the time… P.S. Mother has some Money from taxes. Ask her to get Aunt Betty to take you swimming and all of you have a party.”

The “fats in the fire“

The promised June 23 letter confirmed his Friday appearance before the board: “They were very pleasant and I made a good talk to them so the “fats in the fire” [sic]…. It seems they have too many AA officers and most of the younger ones are going to Infantry. I’ve been recommended for the Judge Advocate Generals Dept – But I don’t much think it will go thru…. It is sort of a waiting proposition from any wheres from ten days to a month…. I wouldn’t be surprised if it wasn’t Washington “here we come” – Or “Puppie” any-way if you decide to stay in Sav’h until our “junior baby angel” joins us…. P.S. “Puppie” loved the letters.” We do not have the letters Leon references in our possession, indicating that, granting Leon was the more faithful writer, Mary was the more faithful preserver of letters and documents.

They have so many officers here they are falling over themselves

Our next surviving letter from Leon was written Thursday June 29 and sent “special delivery.” “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…. Am getting a sort of nice vacation. They have so many officers here that they are falling over themselves. The Adjutant said he would put me to work but that I might as well take it easy as orders could come thru and that they had too many officers for the jobs anyway….. Received your wonderful letter [again, not in our possession] and it helps so much – Also one from Lynne which I am enclosing.”

Grayson Family News from Lynne

Leon’s parents had both died by 1941. and his five surviving siblings were spread out. Bill, then age 28 and unmarried, was a Japanese prisoner of war in the Philippines. Each of Leon’s three sisters were married to military men. Edith (Parsons) was 31. Her first son Ted was born July 16 in Washington DC. Dorothye (Comly) was 40, stationed in Norfolk VA. Spence, 43, was the only sibling still in Savannah. Eldest sibling Lynne (Mueller) was 50 and had four children, only their 15 year-old daughter Billie still living with Lynne and her oft-deployed Coast Guard husband in Mobile AL. Lynne wrote two letters from a vacation resort in Hendersonville, NC, one to Leon on June 27 and another to Mary dated June 29, the latter on stationery with the letterhead “Crystal Springs Lodge,”Beautiful Laurel Park” Hendersonville N.C.”

The letter to Mary began, “You were sweet to write with the heat, your condition and Ann to look after.” Lynne gave details of her son Leo Jr.’s impending wedding and the shipment of “a rag doll for Ann which I bought from some of these mountain people. My grandmother brought me one from Asheville when I was a little girl and I have never forgotten it because it was so different from my other dolls.”

In the letter to her younger brother Lynne wrote, “Dearest Leon, was surely surprised to know you were in N.C. and am so sorry your camp is not close enough for us to see each other [more than 300 miles separated mountainous Hendersonville from coastal Camp Davis]…. I had a very sweet letter from Mary…. I wish we could see more of you all…. I don’t know when I’ll go to Savannah again…. I just hope the War soon ends… Heard from Dorothy. She is planning to rent a house or apartment and live in Savannah until [husband and Naval officer] Sam returns…. She will be in Baltimore for a couple of weeks, then at the Chamberlain Hotel near Norfolk etc…. I am so grateful you were not sent overseas and I hope and pray you will not have to go and leave your precious family.“

Overseas orders did not seem likely, but were not out of the question. It was only a “waiting proposition of 10 days to a month” before we’d learn the answer.