"Asiatic Liberty"

Ned made this sketch of some of his fellow LST crew members enjoying a little down time on some far-flung atoll in the South Pacific.

And here is a letter from his father in which he mentions the drawing:

The Murray, 8-A

Monday, May 7, 1945
12:00 p.m.

Dear Ned,

This is the day.  Germany surrendered today unconditionally.  Tomorrow is to be V-E Day.  It has been arranged that simultaneous announcements will be made by Truman,  Churchill, and Stalin.  Today, though, was the day of the news.  And I want to say a little more to you about that matter of how the people here regard the Pacific war.

There were a few wastebaskets of paper dumped out of the windows of the office buildings into the streets.  And there were a few drunks.  There are always a few drunks.  They would get drunk anyway.  There was no cheering, no yelling, no dancing in the streets.  Everybody went about their business in a serious way.  The churches were crowded.  On all sides you heard "Now for Japan, and it will be tough."

I can assure all you boys on the 909 that people here do not think the war is over.  Quite the contrary, we are tightening the belt for more of the same.  Especially those who have sons in the Pacific.  There is a grim atmosphere, not one of celebration.  It is a tremendous thing to think that Hitler is gone, Musso also -- that there is no more danger of bombing, even of a suicide or token raid, that our ships can sail the Atlantic without danger from submarines, that no more of our boys are to be killed in Germany at least.  A very great relief indeed.  But we all turn our sights westward, where comparatively few have done such a magnificent job up to now.  Big things will begin to happen in the Pacific.  Japan is doomed.  The main sentiment here is that when V-Day comes in the Pacific, that will be the time to celebrate.

Your wonderful letters of April 28 and 30 came this morning and have already gone to Sharon by the night mail.  That was a swell drawing of the beach party.  And I was so glad to read that you had such a wonderful swim after it.  Your description of the green water over the coral,  blue further out, made me long for a dip in it.  At least you will have known what perfect swimming is.  There is nothing like it anywhere else in the world.  Was the water cool enough to make it refreshing?

Your letters show a fine spirit, and I am very proud of you.  It is fine to read that R. is behaving himself, and that all else goes along.  As to your midriff, I wrote you about that last night, but you probably can't do much about that until you get a chance to move around again on shore.  Then a good diet and regular exercise will take that off you quickly enough.  You are only a kid yet, and it is what you have inside you that counts.  End of message.  Roger over.  God bless you always.

Love,
Dad