#3-242

To Mrs. James J. Winn

June 30, 1942 [Washington, D.C.]

Dear Molly:

This must be a hasty note, but after talking to your mother I thought it might be well for me to write to you direct.

In the first place, I believe you and the baby will be far better off at Leesburg than anywhere else, more comfortable, more conveniently located, no steps for you and plenty of sun for the baby. James1 is always there and it will be a very simple matter to provide a maid and thus greatly reduce your burden. The place is lovely now—we have done a lot of work on it since you saw it.

As to Bragg, you and Jim of course will settle that; but my personal opinion is that unless you were footloose both in health and as to the baby, Bragg is not the place for you. I do not think Jim realizes yet the uncertainty of movements here in the States. He is apt to be sent somewhere at any moment and it would be far easier for him to come to see you here than for him to try to arrange your affairs for you down there. The heat in that vicinity is bad, everything over-crowded, medical care extremely difficult in the little towns, etc. However, all that is your and his affair, but as you have often heard me point out to your mother, she greatly complicates my professional career if from a mistaken point of view she overdoes and gets sick, or remains to stand by me and is knocked out by the heat. So long as she is in good health my problems are vastly simplified. The same thing will apply to Jim, only in some respects, the more so, because at his age and grade he must be ready to move quickly with complete concentration on army affairs rather than family. If you are ill or in a difficult situation that will seriously complicate matters for him.2 He has had no experience in this yet, because Panama was a fixed garrison affair.

As I said before, this is a hasty note written in the first hour at the office.

With my love

Affectionately,

Document Copy Text Source: Research File, Family Folder, George C. Marshall Research Library, Lexington, Virginia.

Document Format: Typed letter.

1. James was the caretaker at the Marshalls' Leesburg home. (Katherine Tupper Marshall, Together: Annals of an Army Wife [New York: Tupper and Love, 1946], p. 117.)

2. Molly, her husband Major James J. Winn, and son Jimmy were vacationing at Fire Island, New York, during the major's leave. On July 1 Major Winn assumed command of the Fourth Field Artillery Battalion at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and by August the Winns were living on the Fort Bragg post. In the fall Molly moved to the Marshalls' home while Major Winn was away on maneuvers and remained there until after the birth of the Winns' second child, Katherine Tupper Winn, on February 21, 1943. (Ibid., p. 124. Marshall to Molly Winn, August 26, 1942, GCMRL/Research File [Family].)

Recommended Citation: ThePapers of George Catlett Marshall, ed.Larry I. Bland and Sharon Ritenour Stevens (Lexington, Va.: The George C. Marshall Foundation, 1981– ). Electronic version based on The Papers of George Catlett Marshall, vol. 3, “The Right Man for the Job,” December 7, 1941-May 31, 1943 (Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1991), pp. 260–261.