Nouméa with Mount Dore in the distance, New Caledonia, circa late 1943–1944. Photograph by Hugh Morton

There is nothing like reading one of the letters and thinking, oh that should be easy enough to figure out. How many Presbyterian churches can there be in New Caledonia, that are made out of stone and big enough to hold 200 men? I was hoping that if I could find the church, I might be able to pinpoint the area of New Caledonia where Cub 13 was situated. But no…no such luck. I have learned that Catholics make up over 50% of the population and Muslims are about 3%. The Presbyterian Church does have a presence in the islands, especially in Vanuatu where a mission was founded in the 19^th century. I’ve only ever heard of Vanuatu because several years ago, back when my husband and I were die-hard Survivor fans, one season of the show was set on a small island near Vanuatu.

So I am using my option for a shout out here, does anyone know of a stone Presbyterian church in New Caledonia? I am sending this one out especially to my followers “down under”. I could definitely use a helping hand on this one.

Letter transcription:

[undated, written between September 3^rd-10^th, possibly Sunday, September 6^th ]

Mrs. R. S. Yegerlehner
Kentland Indiana

Dear Mother,

If what one can hear is true my first letter should be getting very near home by now but we can’t tell. So far I haven’t put any dates on because I don’t think we are supposed to. Anyway I went to church today it was held in a local church with an army chaplin holding the services. I would estimate that there was nearly 200 present mostly army men. It was a presbyterian church built out of stone, with stone floors, etc. After church it was too late to eat at our usual place so we had lunch in a local hotel. Wasn’t so good but was a change. After lunch did some exploring of surrounding territory-can’t tell you much of that, however.
The lawns and houses here are quite different than at home but they make me think of the condition of ours and if there is anything you don’t know about the seeding etc. or I explained before let me know as soon as possible.
As I understand it your mail will be much slower than mine. I haven’t received any mail only the five letters I told you about previously,

[page 2] and if I don’t get some stamps before long I won’t be able to write. I haven’t written every day for that reason. There must be some stamp collectors in our midst bunch maybe in time that will be corrected. I’m not writing home much for that reason. I’ve written once. So you can write and explain that.
As near as I can calculate you have about one mo. yet hope that passes quickly and well for you and everything is as we all right. I wonder and think lots every day but that doesn’t help one bit I suppose, nevertheless I’ll still continue to do it.
I’ve wondered lots about some of the boys back home. Ed. Johnson, John Krull, etc. maybe your letters if & when will have some of those things. So far I haven’t received the Kentland Democrat as I used to, don’t know if things like that go thru the mail. One of these days I’ll have to write the boys but not until stamps are more plentiful, about one doz should fix things up until we get a better supply.

Well, hope to hear from you soon

Love Daddy