Willard G. Eldred
9 Dana Court, R.D. 4
Princeton, New Jersey 08540
Oct. 25, 2006
Dear Randy,
Sorry for the delay in responding to your inquiry. Apart from our travel schedule, the delay was related to the 2 trunks of old pictures and letters from grandmother Eldred that are in my basement and have never been reviewed until now.
Much to my surprise I found a number of letters and pictures from my father to his mother while serving in the Navy. The letters were difficult to read and unfortunately didn’t shed much light on my father’s service. They were clearly aimed at assuring his mother that he was OK and not in any danger. For example, he told his mother that there wasn’t much flu around and that the medical facilities were excellent whereas one of the few things my father told me about the flu pandemic was the large number of men with the flu at the base in Corfu with little or no medical attention. He and others with the flu were, he said, left there to die in the opinion of some. He had a scar on his left hip which he received when he crawled to a stream to get water and cut his side leaning over to get a drink.
From his letters, here’s a summary of his navy service:
