Yoshio Nakamura
Magrath, AB on May 15, 1942
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: c/o A. O. Peterson,
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: Box 173, Magrath, Alberta
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: Dear Joan,
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: Here I am again. I hope that I am not bothering you too much; "You know Final Exams and all that." I'm awfully sorry I did not answer yours of the 1st of this month, any to quick. You know me "The lazy good-for nothing I guess." Well to start off with I enjoyed your letter very very much. I really did.
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: The real reason I could not write any sooner was because I hurt my right hand. I was helping my boss pile up some scrap iron he had around his big farm when an old iron plow fell across the back of my ooh! knuckles?? (how do you spell it?) metacarpals and carpals. The Boss thought it was broken but I said it didn't hurt much (not much oh yes!) You know how it is when a person is around when you get hurt. Well, we finished in about 1 1/2 hrs. I got off from work so I had my hand plastered and bandaged for a couple of days. I took it off on 14th "yesterday", and boy was it swollen up.
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: It's still a bit swollen but I can write now. I'm always writing about my own sorrows etc so don't mind me.
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: We had snow last night. Imagine! 3 inches of snow in the middle of May. And icicles and ice... Gosh! I was surprised enough when we had snow twice in April. And talk about mud. Oh! It's just mud anyway. Even on the No. 5 Alberta Highway it's just about 6 inches mud. Then when you get in the side roads its a foot thick. (I mean it's very muddy). Cars cannot run on the roads when it rains.
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: How's B.C.? To-day as I was listening to CBC about 8.30 to 9 P.M. (7:30-8:00 PM your way) I heard the announcer say "As I look across the Inlet from the " " Hotel (I forgot the hotel I could see the colorful Hillsides, the spring or was it early summer, atmosphere is in our surroundings in Western B.C." Something to that effect anyway. It sure reminded me of Surrey. Gee! I was hoping that he would go on but he started on some talk about the Blind being trained for defense work such as serving on Canteen trucks etc. I sure miss the funnies! We take the Lethbridge Herald a corny paper that comes whenever it feels like coming. It's supposed to be a daily paper.
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: It has no news of B.C. so we are arranging to have the Sun or Province paper sent to us from an Agent in Raymond or Magrath. Oh! yes. Thanks for that paper clipping. It sure was thoughtful of you to do so.
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: Say if you ever hear from Yoshiyuki or Albert or any of those boys who went to a different place from myself, will you please send me their addresses? I sent a letter to Mr. Matheson and Miss Nordberg, but I didn't hear from them since. Gosh! I'm just about going to be disappointed. I'll wait a few more days to get an answer, and if I don't, then I really will be disappointed. I've been waiting since May 1st.
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: I spent my birthday in Alberta (at home). It was the 11th day of May. I never dreamt that I would be spending or rather have my birthday celebration in Alberta, of all places. Oh! the weather was awful. The road muddy. Then when it cleared a bit, my brother and his friend and I decided to go to Lethbridge 25-30 miles away, but oh! darn the rain, no car could go because of the mud, so I stayed home and read a book, I mean some Saturday Evening Posts.
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: There's lots of gophers here. Hundreds of them.
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: The boss' son (6 ft?) and I went to shoot some to-day. We shot quite a number. Cruel aren't we.
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: I must close now, my hand still aches a bit. I'll write some more of nothing, but please ask Anne, Betty, Margaret and [...?] to write to me so I can get their addresses and answer them. Please!
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: So long.
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: Yours Sincerely,
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: Yosh Nakamura
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: P.S. If you can't make heads or tales of this scrawl, just burn it.
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Preferred Citation
Nakamura, Yoshio. Correspondence from Yoshio Nakamura to Joan Gillis. 15 May 1942. RBSC-ARC-1786-02-29. Joan Gillis fonds. University of British Columbia Library Rare Books and Special Collections, Vancouver, Canada.