Wed. 14 Aug. '45

6:30 pm P.T.

Dearest -

I'll always remember the day the Japs surrendered officially - today, according to the radio. For, at 5:45 pm. I was scheduled {t}for a dental appointment and, after a 15-minute walk to reach the clinic, I arrived there only to be told that the captain had let all the dentists off for the evening to celebrate the good news. But nothing for us enlisted men! And I have to return on Friday morning at 7:45 to the dental clinic! So here I have two more days to idle thru - unless I get some crappy detail.

We heard the good news in our barracks, 1444, the 14th battalion, to which I was transferred today. It's a so-called hold-over battalion; if it were not for the dental appointment I might have gone to work in the Post Office or in the Personnel Office and been billeted in a decent barracks. As for the surrender, the boys shouted a bit but listened