In the early 1940s, on Thursday evenings at Mary's Tea Room on Reynolds Street in Point Breeze, Mary Fuchs set out postcards, stationery and pencils so her patrons could write to the neighborhood boys serving in World War II.

And the boys, rapidly becoming men at training camps around the country, wrote back.

Mary and her husband Lou also owned and operated the nearby Frick Park Market, later run by their sons, Bobby and Ron, who have carefully preserved more than 80 of the servicemen's letters, postcards and photographs in an album.

The collection is a window into the lives of soldiers excited by new experiences but also missing the comforts of home -- among them a cold draft at Mary's. Her tea room had an adjacent beer room.

Because letters were censored, the men knew they couldn't say much; some letters and even photographs carry precision-cut holes. Most of the letters were written in 1942 and 1943, in the early months of America's involvement in the war and before most of the men shipped overseas.

Some reference the Fuchs' three sons, Richard, Robert and Ronald, who during the school year were boarding students at St. Joseph's Junior Military Academy on Lincoln Avenue in Lincoln-Lemington. During the war the eldest, Dickie, kept a scrapbook full of pictures of fighter planes and war-related cartoons. It, too, is highly prized by Ron and Bobby, who lost their brother to leukemia in 1944, when he was 12.

So many miles from home, the men at war were buoyed by the postcards and letters from neighborhood residents. Some are acknowledged in the men's letters from camp, including Dorothy Bell, Anne Boggs, "Mrs. Carr Sr." and "the Kesslers," as well as Mary and Lou Fuchs.

There are letters from military camps all across the country and from outside the country. Here is a sampling:

Am now a Corporal in the U.S. Air Corps., but I'd trade it all for a case of good old Duquesne. The beer here, at St. Louis, 6 miles away, tastes like dishwater. I have a nice set-up here. Stationed here permanently, helping to train recruits. Loads of fun. Something new & different every day. Only one complaint -- Hill-billy music. Almost drives me nuts and it's all these Arkansas & Missouri ridge-runners play, even on the radio.

So long -- keep 'em foaming and I'll keep 'em flying.

Bill Lawton

CORP. WILLIAM LAWTON
565th School Squadron
Jefferson Barracks, Mo.
February 1942

P.S. St. Louis twice as smoky as Pgh.

Dear "Tea"-Sippers,

The impossible happened. At our first mail delivery I actually heard my name barked out three times. Those cards you so thoughtfully got off packed the lift of a tank of hydrogen.

You have no doubt heard the army described and redescribed, praised and cussed, so I won't play echo. The boys in our Company hail from all over the country. In our platoon Penna. anthracite coal miners are still waging the Civil War with Tennessee hill-billies led by a very vocal Alabamian. The issue is still in some doubt but the Southern drawl is in the majority. There are a few Pittsburgh boys in the group and I am constantly bumping into them in adjoining battalions.

Our training here is concerned with the blitz buggies -- peeps, jeeps, light and medium tanks, armored cars, etc. I am in a gunnery platoon. Our basic weapons are the Tommy gun, revolver, and light machine gun. With them we tinker away the hours. ...

The Pxs here do a thriving business in pushing beer over the counter to the trainees who are lined 6 or 7 deep. No drill during the day is quite as strenuous as that "to the counter-push." Mary and Lou, if you could get a concession here I think you could retire in a week.

Regards to all,

Ed Carr

PVT. ED CARR
Co. B 14th Bn. A.F.R.T.C.
U.S. Army
Fort Knox, Kentucky
April 1942

Dear Friends,

Have been receiving all your post cards, and it's so good to hear from all the folks at home. Sure do miss the "Tea Room" and all of the old faithful.

We had a lot of rain down here last week, but the weather is getting hot now. We are doing a lot of range firing over in Texas. Not much else to tell, as they are censoring our letters now, to protect troop movements. I guess the army will have to be home to me for quite a while now. ...

Well folks, will always be looking for your most interesting few lines. I guess you have a good many to write to now, from the neighborhood. ...

I guess there are a lot of new faces. I hope to see them all, one of these days, when this war is over. Hope you and the kids are both in good health.

With kindest personal regards,

I am,

Yours sincerely,

Jack

JOHN "JACK" GOETTMAN
Camp Livingston, La.
April 12, 1942

A month later, Jack wrote again:

Dear Friends,

I have been receiving more of your cards, and certainly do appreciate them. We just got back from a firing field problem over in Texas for 10 days, or would have written sooner. It was difficult sleeping on the ground, as we encountered droves of the largest mosquitoes I have ever seen. Also we killed quite a few poisonous snakes. It seems everything that walks, crawls or flies is in this country.

From what you say I guess about all of the eligible fellows are now gone from the neighborhood, so it will keep you busy writing cards. Virginia, it may get to be quite a job to be Secretary of your Thursday night gatherings...

Yours truly,
Jack

Dear Wolves,

It sure was good to hear from all of you. Your letter writing nite I think is a swell idea. You know the 'tea room' is sort of a second home to us boys so a letter from there is just like getting one from home. In my last mail (the second one since I've left the States) I received nine cards from you. You can bet I appreciate your sending them.

I am in the [censored]. Our job is [censored]. We live very much like the Army -- eat out of mess kits -- dig ditch -- and some of us even sleep in tents. Since I've been with the outfit I've worked as [censored] job isn't bad at all. We've got good chow, have a good place to sleep and get extra money.

I guess the boys have started to play mushball by now. Is there an old man and boys game scheduled for this summer? I sure miss the fun we used to have over that game.

Well, I'll have to close now -- time to go to work.

Take it easy,
Dan

DAN SNYERS
Seaman 2/C, U.S. Navy
Unknown location
May 1942

Dear Mary,

How are you, Mary, I hope OK, I heard you have moved and have a swell looking place.

I'm sorry I haven't written you before Mary, but really I've been very busy and even though I haven't written I think of you and Lou often and how swell you treated the gang. I remember how you used to be dying to go to bed and ready to close the store, and we'd come in from ice-skating or something and you used to let us in and fix up hot dogs and milk-shakes for us.

How is what is left of the gang, Mary. Do you hear from many of them that are in the service, how are they getting along....

Leo

PVT. JAMES L. "LEO" ENGLISH
1083rd Guard Squadron
Army Basic Flying School
Greenwood, Miss.
January 1943

P.S. I am enclosing a photograph.

Howdy Thursday Nighters,

By golly I sure should bend down and get on the receiving end of a good kick for not writing sooner but will promise to do better in the future.

Army life is to me a very natural condition now and I find that I rather enjoy it. The first few weeks down here I didn't like it too much drilling every day and getting shots but that is all over now.

I am now assigned to the Four Hundred Thirty First School Squadron and have a regular job working on the line. This of course has to do with the planes and I enjoy that. I have two planes to look after and service and see that they are ready for flight at any time....

BARNEY WEAKLEN
Army Corps Advanced Flying School
Dothan, Alabama
June 1942

Dear Mary and Lou,

Boy, could I go for one of those nice thick cold chocolate milkshakes now. It makes my mouth water to think of it. Of course I could really go for an ice cold coke, a candy bar and a lot of other things you have at your place, but nothing would quite hit the spot as much as the milkshake with cheese crackers. We don't have any of those delicacies over here in India. So you can bet your bottom dollar that when I get home after my two years over here, your place will be one of the first I'll visit. As soon as you see me coming, start that mixer. The above may sound like a heck of a way to start a letter, but folks, after a couple of months of sweltering and sweating, wading through mud when the monsoons are on or through dust inches thick when the rain stops for a few days, one can dream can't one? ...

I don't know how much the family might have told you about my job and so forth, so I will tell you a bit about it. The job and location are much better than I expected. I am surgeon for the above quadroon which means that I hold sick call for it and four other small outfits in the vicinity and I am responsible for their health and the sanitation of their areas. I don't have too much to do but it is a seven day a week job and I am on call at all times. It is a safe job and a pleasant one and the squadron officers are a swell bunch of young fellows, quite easy to get along with. ...

Your old friend,
Dutchy

K.S. Von SENDEN, JR
51st Fighter Control Squadron

Dear Lou and Mary,

Well, I'm in the Navy now. Arrived safely Monday morning. Was given clothing and equipment and put hard to work and I do mean work. I like it very much so far and think I will keep on liking it. We have to march and drill a lot and scrub and clean, etc., every day. The Navy is very strict, much more so than the army in every way. Thank you for the cigarettes. If I get home again I'll drop in and see you.

Jack Adams

JOHN L. ADAMS
Company 204
U.S. Naval Training Station
Great Lakes, Ill.
March 1942