October 9, 1943

My dear Mr. Roith,

May I call you pop? I want to, believe me.

This is, in a sense, a sort of crude way of introducing myself, but I want you to know that since you are Terry's father, you're tops with me because I think a lot of Terry!

I want to ask you a very important question!! I want to ask for your daughter's hand in marriage. You may have your reasons for not accepting me as your son, but I can't blame you; after all, you haven't met me. ----- You don't know a thing about me. But the important thing is that we love each other!!!

There are a lot of things to be said against our being together, but there are a lot more to be said for our happiness! I understand that I'm a soldier, and that a lot of things can happen, but there is a very important thing not to be forgotten. That is this ---we take each other for better or for worse, and every marriage is a gamble. I can safely say that you were pretty sure of yourself when you married Mrs. Roith. You must have loved her as I love Terry. You wouldn't let any thing stand in your way.

I don't want family trouble between us, but I know that you'll understand.

I may not come back, that's true naturally, but if we were married, do you think that is would make any difference? Do you think that it would ruin her life to be married to a soldier? If she loves me, and I think she does, do you think it would be less troublesome for her if she weren't married to me? I love her with all my heart and I know that you must love her a great deal, but you must consider our feelings. We would never be happy if some one stood in our way; it would prove an obstacle that would be hard to take. Will you please write to me and tell me what you have against our marriage? I feel that I have a right to know because I'm in love with your own sweet, lovely, daughter, Terry.

You must have a very good reason for not accepting me into the family, a very good reason!

But I still love Terry very much, and I'm going to try to be a good husband! I want Terry to be my wife, and I want to be a son, and a friend to you and your wife.

I'll be waiting to hear from you, dad, and don't be too tough on us, we're only two people very much in love, pretty sure that we'll always be happy together, and there isn't anything I wouldn't give to have Terry as my wife. Nothing, no -- nothing that I wouldn't give -

Jim