Dear Mother and Dad:
I better be writing soon or you will be thinking all sorts of things again. Monday we left Fort Lewis and came here to Yakima. This is the worst deal I’ve had yet. Our camp is stuck on a rolling prairie like in Wyoming and as hot as a Nebraska rye field. Man is it hot and dusty and then we live in pup tents. By four men joining their shelter halves we sleep four to a tent. Our sleeping bags are right on the ground where the dirt shifts into everything. This morning I put some boards under my bag in hopes it would keep it a little cleaner. Boy this is really rugged. Every time you take a step you raise a cloud of dust. I wouldn’t be surprised if we’re getting training for Africa. But one good thing is, it’s nice sleeping at nites, that is what there is of it—the sun does down about 9:40 and raises at 5:00. There are a couple thousand guys here all in pup tents. The canteen and theatre look like miniature circus tents. Guess that is the final conditioning. I think we will be allowed to grow beards too so we’ll probably be a hot looking bunch. If we get paid Friday I’m going into town and shower and slap on an ice cake. Anyway we all think it’s a mell of hess but it will probably be good for us.
Well I’ll write more later when I get better arranged and have some more news.
Love,
