The Eighty-third Division in which Ned was serving in one of the most battle-tested in Europe. three days after the division relieved the 101st Airborne Division just south of Carentan in Normandy, Ned was ordered up to the front as a forward observer with the 331st Infantry Regiment. From there, on June 30, he wrote a letter that conveys vividly how much the letters he received from Nikki meant to him, as well as how much he was hoping that she would decide, before long, that he was the one for her:

*My Dearest Nikki:
I fell upon your letter today like a ton of bricks. The blue envelope has become well known and its arrival is heralded far and wide. The biggest events in my life right now are the comings of your thoughts. With all this other stuff going one. I can truthfully say your letters men more than all of it. Not just the fact of receiving word from you, but the idea of being closer to you... I search each and every letter for slightest indication that you have decided. Before, we may have had two little time to decide if what we felt was love, but I've thought of you far too often and yearned to be with you for too much for it to be anything else as far as I'm concerned.
However, I can afford to commit myself, while it's definitely not the best idea for you. It's a dangerous game we play and one's number can be up almost anytime. Such unpleasant closeness to death and scenes of it around you don't increase your bravery or eating abilities. I'm satisfied though, now, that I can do my job in the face of it and that's the main thing. No matter what anyone thinks, you must be satisfied yourself of your never before you can feel content You'd be surprised how much you help*

One the fourth of July, the Eighty-third Division began its attach on the entrenched Germans in the hedgerow county of Normandy....