World War II-dated ALS signed “Sam,” three pages on two sheets, 6 x 9, Service Center, 1452nd A. A. F Base Unit, A. T. C. letterhead, August 26, 1945. Letter to his friend, "Miss Lee Browne," in full: "Peace made me an old man—with the usual help of the calendar—and I’m now on my merry if not always swift way to Fort Dix and discharge. I’ve been hung up here—Edmonton—for four days but am told I’ve entrain for Minneapolis tomorrow. Mostly I leave the fidgeting and fretting over delays to the young, but once in a while I find myself wishing to God they’d get it over with. When I find that happening I either go get something to eat or take a nap or do both and should arrive home fat and sleek as a suckling pig. Home, by the way is: Hardscrabble Road, Pleasantville, N. Y., (Phone 201), I had a letter from Bill last week and he sounded content enough on his rock, though I imagine he’s restless as everybody else since the Japs quit. Al Weisman left for Adak the day before I took off. Yank is shutting up its Alaskan bureau, so he has a pretty good chance of being transferred to New York before long. Lew Valentine should be showing up in the city too—unless he’s managed to get out of the Army. Hurford was supposed to be making some kind of deal for him. Gene O’Donnell at last reports was assigned to SS at Fort Dix. Maybe I’ll get a chance to look him up. That about cleans me up on who’s who, at least until I see you. (It’s funny as hell writing people about seeing them with anything approaching immediate expectancy!)." In fine condition. Accompanied by the original mailing envelope, hand-addressed by Hammett, who adds his signature to the upper left: "S/Sgt. S. D. Hammett." Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, Hammett, a veteran of the first World War, again enlisted in the United States Army, serving as a sergeant in the Aleutian Islands, where he edited an Army newspaper entitled The Adakian. Hammett's longtime mistress, the playwright Lillian Hellman, lived in a large farmhouse on Hardscrabble Road in Pleasantville, New York. At this time in his career, Hammett was mostly assisting Hellman, including writing the screenplay for the adaptation of her play Watch on the Rhine. The film was nominated for Best Picture and Best Screenplay at the 1944 Academy Awards.
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