Ode to the censor

[Ray Merrell]

The censor says I can't say much
Can't talk of so and so, and such.
Can't even say we're having weather
Or you'd put two and two together.
Can't say just where I'm where or what.
Can't tell you why, or if, or but.
Can't say if it is cold or hot,
Can't say what is or what is not.
Can't tell you what we do or don't,
Or if we might or will or do.
But I can send my love to you,
Without restrictions, so I do.

Our letters were censored in WWII, it was hard to write with nothing we could say. I had Helen send me a code for different islands in the South Pacific so I could let her and my folks know where I was. She used colors and sentences for different islands and different things.

[William Hardy]

How times have changed and not changed. Communications today is very quick, so if something happened in Iraq, there was an immediate communications blackout until things were settled down. For example, when a guy in our unit was hurt when an IED exploded, the internet and phones went dead. Nobody could let anyone know until after the military notified his relatives back home. Once that was done, then we could call and go on the internet again. You had to play the game for the entire time, we didn't have more than 3 days.