Oct. 30th, 1944

Dear Mom and Dad,

I guess this letter is going to open with a request. You may remember when I first came home on leave I had something the matter with my gums which I thought was ‘trench mouth'. I picked it up in London on leave in Oct.1942. Well - since I was home then, I have had recurrences of it several times and about a dozen different kinds of treatments. They all seemed to clear it up and for several weeks, every thing would be OK. Then suddenly, it would break out again... it has done that now. But this morning when I went to see the dentist, he told me I must have ‘deficiency gingivitus' and told me to write home and ask for some Vitamin C pills. So now I am doing that. I expect they will be quite expensive so you had better get them out of my money. Specifically Vitamin C: the kind you get from oranges and tomatoes which as you know, I have had very little of in the past four years. Also, would you send me two toothbrushes in some kind of a glass holder that can be boiled/sterilized. It is no good getting a celluloid one as that cannot be sterilized. It must be sterile because I expect I'll have two or three more attacks before it is cleared up entirely. Send them all as soon as you can - please, because I expect it will be quite a few weeks before I get them, seeing that the Xmas rush is on now.

I had a letter from Sadie yesterday. She is getting married on November 11th, so she didn't waste much time. I knew about it months ago but I didn't want to tell you till I knew for sure. I was going to sell the ring, but decided to hang on to it for the time being at least. May try to trade it in on a watch for I need one of my own quite badly. I think I told you about my other one.

I have heard no news from Stanley for quite some time now and yesterday, my letter came back marked "Present Whereabouts Unknown". So I guess you have had no news from him either. I expect that he will be on his way at last and though I expect you will start worrying like anything now, I expect he is happy at last. In his last letter to me, he was bewailing the fact that he was going to be stuck in England for months when he wanted so much to be with his friends. Well, now I expect he is with them and so he should be happy. If you get his address before I do, write and tell me? Now I must close.

Yours ever,

Jim