MaritaB

June 9th, 1956, Seattle

Dear sister, Alma.

I hope everything is fairly good with you, home in Kvinesdal, and that Inger and Alf don’t miss me too much. I know you have waited for months to get this letter. I am sorry that I didn’t send this letter earlier. I have been very busy since I left Kvinesdal, because I have been looking for a job, day and night. I wouldn’t write this letter before I got a job, because I wanted you to be proud of me. I was lucky this time and got a job on a big farm, so I’m quite pleased with that.

The journey to the USA was sickening. We had a terrible weather, and I was sea sick for at least three days. I thought I’d never survive, but after some days the sea was getting calmer and I was much better.

I shared room with three other ladies from Norway. One of the ladies, Olga was pregnant in seventh month. She was afraid that the ship would go down, so she cried for days.

I can’t thank you enough for looking after my children. You know how hard it would have been for me with two children in the USA.

Yesterday I visited Anna and Syvert. They wanted me to say hallo from them. Syvert and some other men from Norway travelled to the neighbour town. They heard it was a lot gold to find there, so I will cross my fingers for them and hope Syvert find something.

You know we always heard people from America are rich and live a great life. That’s not right at all. There are plenty of poor people here and their lifes aren’t perfect at all.

The farm I work on is a prosperous farm, with a big family. They have five children between two and twelve years. I also earn one dollar each day. My job is to stand up half past five in the morning, make breakfast to the family and than I milk 40 cows. When I have done the dishes, it’s time for dinner and then cleaning the house. I go to bed at nine o’clock every day, because I’m absolutely worn-out. I’d never thought the life here was so hard, but I didn’t know better.

I would write a longer letter if I had some more time to spare. I hope you understand and once again I thank you for taking care of my children. I promise you that I will send you a letter next month. I will probably come back next year, when I have enough money to support my family. Give a kiss to my children from me.

Love Ragnhild June 9th, 1956, Seattle

My best friend, Paul. I haven’t had time to write earlier because the routine are very strict. A lot has happened since last letter I wrote to you. I woke up in the morning at six a clock. We have turnout seven o’ clock. I stood in the shower and suddenly I heard a terrible shooting, it was from outside the camp. After around twenty seconds I heard the alarm. This wasn’t a normal practice as usual, this time it was for real! I ran back to my room. The other soldiers came out from their room. Some had they’re clothes on, and some was half-naked. Everyone wondered what was going on out there. Then the sergeant came and told us that there had been a bomb attack in the neighbor camp and we had to help them. My best friend, Geir lived in that camp. We ran out, with the weapons ready to shoot, if it was necessary. I was a little nervous, because I didn’t know how serious the attack was. I just hoped that everything was OK with Geir. When we came to Geirs campe there were one tanks and many soldiers. They started to shoot at some of us, and than I knew that this attack was very seriously. Some off these soldiers ran around whiles the other ran into the cabins on the camp. We started shooting at them, and tried not to get hitting by the other soldiers. It was so much screaming and shooting. That was just terrible. I was so stressed out, so I didn’t saw the difference on my teammates or the enemies. I suddenly felt distaste in my arm. It slowly got up for me that I was hit by one of the army’s bullets. I thought that my life was over that day. Hundreds of thoughts were in my mind. I ran in to Geirs room, but no Geir there. I crawled under Geirs bed, and tried to lay still. Many people ran outside and my heart banked like å drum.

After an hour it was quiet. I walked slowly to the door, and looked out. I didn’t saw as much as a soul in the corridor. It was over!! I was relived, but in a strange way. My sergeant came and asked me if I was OK. It looks like you have been injured! We went together to our camp; there were some of the other people in my group. Some of them were a little hurt and some were more hurt. I tried to see after Geir, and asked if somebody had seen him.

My sergeant told me to take it easy, since I was hurted. I got a bandage and some help from the team. I asked after Geir again. Then some other friends of us came over to me and told me that he was shouted to death. So I think you can imagine how my next days were.. Be glad you are home my friend. I will come home as soon as I am able to. I can’t wait to see you. I look forward to see you again. Say hello to my friends from me.