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21 August 1942

Dear Folks:

Just finished chow, there handed out the mail so can answer your letter before I clean my lingerie. I am wondering when you will get this letter because soon our mail is going to be held up until our convoy arrives—all communication is. But you keep writing though because they come through alright.

Had a retreat parade tonight and also had our pictures taken. Plenty hot—I smell like a goat. We got those new type helmets without the brim and they certainly make a guy look foreign and odd. But they are comfortable and not quite as heavy as the other. Got a whole slew of new equipment yesterday so about everything I have is new now. Been running up to the hospital today getting some signatures on the payroll. One ward I was in was the venereal section. Passes have been stopped so things must be getting hot.

Was going to a dance last night in camp but no gals and no band—some deal so went to a show. It was a stinker too.

Just came back from the PX—was it jammed—the boys had some beer and were signing old war songs and other old timers.

The place is crammed with visitors but the boys can only see them at the gate.

Will close now not so much of a letter but it’s something.

Love,

8 July 1942

Dear Folks:

It’s about seven o’clock and I’ve just finished shaving and sprucing a bit and I feel pretty good so I’ll answer your letter of today and Saturday. Suppose the main topic is the fourth of July celebration. We were granted passes all day Saturday and Sunday and it seemed like a furlough. A bunch of us left about nine o’clock Saturday and went into Yakima about five miles. On the way in we were picked up by an old couple who were herding a dilapidated fruit truck of about ’26 vintage and before we had gone far the whole back end looked like flies on a molasses jar. Our first sergeant and his wife live in Yakima and previously he had invited some of us over, so we went there. I appreciate a bathtub all the more now because when we got there his wife had eight cases of beer frosted down by two hundred pounds of ice. We did it up in big style singing and carrying on. In the evening five of us got a hotel room then took in some dances. Yakima is certainly a pretty town, trees all over and many beautiful homes. And the people appear very friendly. Stayed in bed til Sunday noon then went to a show and came back 5:00 Monday morning. A swell weekend.

The country around here reminds me of the Platte Valley in many ways. From our camp site we get a good view of the checkered green fields and orchards but up on the hills on either side it is dry and barren. Our camp in relation to Minatare would be about three or four miles beyond Lake Minatare.

I’ll dig up your letter and answer some questions now. The first item—my money situation is good. We were paid the third and I had about $35.00 left after bonds and laundry cleaning were taken out. As a matter of fact we get better food here than at the Fort, plenty of salads, fruit, and fresh meat. Tonite for supper we had roast duck and Sunday turkey (I wasn’t here). When we first came I drank water constantly but now my consumption is about normal. At every meal we are given salt tablets and our food has an abnormal amount. We haul the water from the water tower and drink it from a lister bag supported on a tripod. Yes the cadre is still going I believe after we leave here, which is two weeks after this one, July 25. And we are five or six miles from Yakima. Some guy shuttles a bus back and forth but usually we get a taxi for thirty-five cents. I got the picture of you and Kate and I remarked about it most graciously in one of my letters. Perhaps you didn’t get one of mine. Don’t go out of your way for the cookies, I forgot about the sugar rationing. You said something about watermelon in your letter—well I went to a restaurant and ate plenty and everything else I liked. Furloughs still seem in the offing—an outfit that just left here in our division are on them now so it is told. Only fifteen days though.

Our holiday was marred by a tragic incident Saturday afternoon. A big strapping fellow from Missouri with a pleasing sublimity of the hill country drowned in the canal I told you about. The canal is V-shaped lined with cement and about ten or twelve feet deep and the only place where a fellow can get out is at ladders at about ½ mile intervals. The current is so swift that if you get beyond the ladder it is impossible to get out. The last time I was there another of our men almost went down and it took all of us to get him out. Consequently swimming is strictly verboten there but the battery furnishes us a truck every nite to go to the river. C battery is certainly getting the bad breaks. Last January a fellow was shot on guard duty and now this. The skipper (battery commander) took it very hard.

I actually feel better out here and have much more endurance. The heat is pretty depressing at times but it has been cooler the last couple of days. I’ve lost five pounds though.

Tell Quincy I’ll write her tomorrow.

Guess this is about all for this time—perhaps when I feel a little more literary bent, I can write that letter for the Herald. Wish I could see your new home and take advantage of your sleeping offer. Maybe next month, who knows. Say hello to Jim for me.

Love,

I haven’t heard from Wylma since last March 1^st.

13 June 1942

Dear Folks:

An odd time to be writing a letter—Saturday morning—but I’m dodging inspection because I’m on guard, so I chose a sunny spot by the side of the barracks and decided to bask and write at the same time.

Last nite at the post gym just across the street Lana Turner made an appearance at a fortieth division variety show. Boy what she couldn’t do to my knees. Our division presented her with an insignia on a little banner and while the flash cameras were clicking she shook hands with our general. Then she gave a sentimental little thank-you talk that really sounded genuine and sincere. She had on a purple dress that made her look like a blonde Cleopatra and this was aided and abetted by a cute red hat, set dangerously on her pretty hair. You could have heard a pin drop when she started to talk. During the program she sat in the front row flanked by sober faced, austere generals. During the program at intervals a fellow would come in the back of the hall holding a couple of despairing rabbits and paging Pvt. Peter Potter. The first trip he had two, the next time a half dozen, the next a whole hutch and finally he was dressed as a cook selling them as roast rabbit. One trip he had some fun with Lana Turner but he got a slew of his pictures taken. After the program I got a good view of her passing down the aisle and when she was right in front of me, not more than a yard away, the cameras flashed.

Tomorrow a cook and I are going out for a few rounds of golf if it doesn’t rain and perhaps swimming too if it is warm enough.

Mount Rainier sure looks big and beautiful today as I’m sitting here I’m looking right at it.

Got the letter and the dollar bill yesterday. A dollar goes a long way for recreation if you spend it in camp. Under the new pay schedule and when the cadre leaves I will be getting sixty-four a month. This is for a corporal. I want to save thirty of it. If we don’t get our raise this month I’ll have pretty slim pickings next month because $12.50 besides cleaning, pressing and laundry will be taken out for bonds. As the money accumulates the government converts them into $25.00 bonds. They will be mailed to Dad and made to Mother as a co-owner.

Down the drive a few blocks is Gray Field. Here are observation places that observe the fire of an artillery and communicate by radio with the ground forces. I can see a lot of planes sitting around, wish I was in one of them.

That’s about all there is. Want to see “Gone With the Wind” again. And get that book you mentioned.

See you in the next letter.

Love,

28 April 1942

Dear Folks:

For some unexplicable reason I’m not much in the mood for writing but I better do it anyway.

Our tour finally terminated at Fort Lewis here in Washington—at least temporarily anyway. A large place accommodating ninety thousand men and set in a bunch of pine trees—very pretty but rainy. In fact it has rained practically all the time we’ve been here. But aside from the rain the sight of the barracks looked like a stream to a desert traveler. It seemed like old home week to sleep on a cot with springs, pull a sheet over you and go to the latrine all in one building. To eat in a mess hall and hang my clothes on a good rack and shave in a large mirror all rewarded the tiring trip. But one bad thing is the soot. The barracks and the mess halls burn a cheap coal and the chimneys lay down a heavy screen of dirt—especially in this damp weather. Gas would be a good thing here. The main part of the fort is pretty swanky with its red brick buildings and green lawns but our section is pretty drab. The rumor is that we will move next week to the new large barrack buildings. Today I was on divisional fatigue and was in the main fort cleaning a house where the general will live. You should have seen me cleaning woodwork and cleaning bathrooms. I never saw so many trucks—acres and acres and warehouses and all the rest connected with the operation of a place this size. Seattle, is about forty miles and Olympia about fifteen. Will have to see Seattle soon.

Hope you have sent my box by now. I’m waiting anxiously for it. By the way the address is changed again to:

Btry C, 222 FA Bn
APO 40, Fort Lewis, Washington

The package and your letters will reach me alright by the first address I sent though.

The nite we spent in Bend, Oregon was quite an experience. As soon as the churches and women knew we were coming they immediately broadcast a call for girls for a dance and other entertainment. It is a fairly small place about like Gering and when we landed there soldiers took over. We got free coffee and doughnuts and later a dance and the people were swell. But cold wow—the temperature went down to 20 degrees and when I got up at four in the morning frost was a half inch thick on my sleeping bag. I slept warm though even if it was on the ground in the open.

The next nite we stayed in Vancouver and of course it was raining and miserable. Got into town for awhile—also stood on the Columbia River bridge with one foot in Oregon and the other in Washington. Boy the country is pretty around here.

Tonite I went to a show to ease lying around and doing nothing. Also went last nite. I still believe we will be given furloughs soon, but for how long I don’t know. All kinds of rumors are out as to how long we will remain in this camp.

Well it’s fifteen until nine and still light outside. I can hardly believe it.

Enough for this time—probably I never mentioned a lot of things you are wondering about but I’ll take care of that next time.

Wish I was home.

Love,

24 April 1942

Dear Folks:

Well I’m a long ways from Escondido. This is the third day out and now I’m in Redding in northern California not far from Oregon. The first day we came through Pasadena, Los Angeles, and ended up in Bakersfield and stayed all nite at Minter field; the second day we came through Fresno and stayed at Modesto. Today we came thru Sacramento, Williams here to Redding. Our battalion met up with another outfit of quartermaster so our convoy is a plenty big one—well all three nites we have bivancaced on airports and covered nearly all the field so you see how large it is. They (the trucks) look like a great herd of pachyderms grazing. Here at the Redding airport we are surrounded by snow covered mountains and in the distance can see Mount Shasta. The airport is on sort of a rock covered plateau over which the wind is howling.

I think this trip will be remembered in my future years as one that took plenty of patience and roughing. In the back end of our truck our six men with fourteen barracks bags, rifles and equipment besides wire pharaphenalia. It is one constant effort to keep everything together. The first thing we do upon getting into the nite area is to set up the kitchen and get it going, then put up pup tents, and finally after a cold water shave and bath crawl into our sleeping bags. We get up at 4:45 and have chow at 5:00, pull tents, police up, and leave again at seven. For noon dinner we have two sandwiches but we make up for it with a hot supper meal, and do we eat.

Our ultimate destination is Vancouver, Washington so will be on the road for four more days. Tomorrow we go thru Klamuth Falls stopping at Bend, Oregon. Perhaps you can follow our itinary.

Tonite there is a show at the high school so a few of us are going in and perhaps get a shower and get this letter mailed.

You should see the guys shaving in a truck mirror while the wind dries the lather as fast as it is put on. I was one of the first ones to get to the small waiting room in the airport building, but with about a thousand guys on two sinks that didn’t last long.

Well I better wind this up so I can walk into town a couple of miles away and get back fairly early. Four o’clock comes around early. Remember my address:

Btry C, 222 FA Bn
APO 40, Los Angeles, California

Well goodbye for now, write you tomorrow if I can get to a post office.

Love,

8 March 1942

Dear folks:

I guess it’s about time I took myself in hand and began to start writing again. Sort of had a vacation last week being in San Diego. Fifteen of us were sent there for guard duty at the fire central station and it so happened that I was a KP man so I had every nite off and went to Gram’s during all my time off. It was a real visit with the folks and when I didn’t sit around with them Dick and I went out. We took in a couple of dances and a show and then Gram and I went to a show one nite. We had it so soft there that I hated to come back to Escondido. As we had no officer there we had only two meals a day; at ten and three so I was free from about four o’clock on, not much KP for fifteen men. My last nite there I stayed overnite with Gram. Dick seems pretty contented and I think he likes his job with Cudahy’s. He’s getting heavier and huskier and is a swell guy. The folks do everything for him. One afternoon as I was going to Grams, I met Dick on the ferry and he sure looked funny in his old clothes. He has a white cap with a little black bill that makes him look like an armchair engineer.

When I got back a carton of cigarettes and a box of candy from Pat and Uncle Harold were waiting for me. Some fudge that was broken up but good.

I’ve begun to read a good deal lately and by the way if you ever want to send me something make it a two-bit ‘pocketbook’. I got that book “Kabloona’ last nite and just finished reading Lewis’ ‘Mantrap’. Currently I’m about half through ‘Pride and Prejudice’ and last week finished “We Are Not Alone.’

Hope Minatare comes through in the states meet or did they get there? I read the clippings Hank sent to Dick. Also got Stub’s letter. Good to get it.

Well the war gets more involved and blacker for us, so it seems, by every communiqué. I can hardly believe it is almost spring already, but a spring that will make history. By the papers we are sending great reinforcements over but they are a mere dribble at present.

I’m just the same, had a pretty bad cold last week but it’s coming around now. Well I’m going to write to Pat and Katie and as I’m about out of news so will put the curtain now.

Love,

15 February 1942

Dear Folks:

I guess I’ve been getting a little lax in my letter writing. Guess I don’t realize it.

Today was Sunday and Gram and Dick came up on the eight o’clock bus but I had to leave for Camp Callan just as they arrived. However I was back at one o’clock so we had plenty of time together. We saw a show and then ate in a restaurant and talked until time for their bus to go back home. I showed Gram around our encampment and even brought her in our tent. She seems to be very happy and healthy. Dick is a little restless not having any work yet but he’ll get on soon and he’ll be a good worker. Suppose they have written all about his offers and courses. If he is not thinking very seriously of going to college I believe he should take advantage of the four year deal. Tool and die making is a very definite profession of its own. A man skilled in that line is usually in demand.

Got all the good cookies nice and fresh. A bunch of chowhounds were here when I opened the package so one can has met its fate. Grandma brought me some apples, some peanuts and popcorn and some cigarettes so my locker is well stocked. When I miss a meal sometimes for any reason such items fill the gap. The bugler’s sister works in a bakery so we get eats from him too.

I remember in one of your letters you wanted me to tell you what I did and how my schedule works. So here goes. First call is at 6:15, reveille at 6:25, and assembly at 6:30. After assembly we fall out until seven when we put on the rest of our clothes and the ambitious ones wash and cleanup. At seven we have breakfast. At seven twenty until 7:40 we have calesthenics or “calahooics” followed by police call at 7:40 and sick call at eight. At 8:00 the ‘work’ of the day begins. Usually the battery will go out on a problem, that is, into the field to simulate firing. However I’m a clerk so I remain here at the camp and loaf around the office tent. At noon chow and at one back to what we are doing. Recall is at 4:45 to get ready for retreat formation at 5:30 followed by chow at six. From then on, time is our own and we are allowed to go to town but not outside the city limits. Taps at eleven. That’s a usual day but interspersed is KP, fatigue, and latrine duty and also guard duty. Guards walk two and sleep four hours for a 24 hour shift.

I have some more pictures I took of around here.

What a blow to the Peters. That’s a terrible tragedy that makes this whole thing seem like a devil’s mad dream.

Suppose Stephensons were struck dumb also.

I’ll write sooner next time. Got my glasses fixed and put in first class shape.

Love,

18 January 1942

Dear Folks:

The end of another Sunday and a new week about to begin. Strangely though I kind of like to see Monday come because there is so little to do all day. Went to church this morning which made me feel much better all day. Was off yesterday afternoon of course so slept but in the evening went to town and ordered a big meal of everything I wanted regardless what it cost. We had T-bone steaks and peas and all the rest. It cost me a buck twenty but it was worth it. Later went to the show which finished the day. Sunday I was latrine orderly which means digging holes. All of the battalions live in tents now in the park. It’s something new to learn the first time a guy uses a trench. Our showers and washroom are in the old ladies restroom and the medics are in the bathhouse of the swimming pool. Living in tents isn’t bad, a good plan to sleep and a good airing in the daytime, but a little inconvenient to use a latrine with no roof in a cat and dog rain. Guess I’m seeing a little more Army life now.

Called up June tonite but Gram wasn’t there. We talked a long time and June said they would try to come up next Sunday.

Of course I’m disgusted about the box. I went to the post office here and they checked all they could but said that without the number of the insurance slip they could do little. Guess it must be at San Luis Obispo someplace. Guess maybe you better get a claim on it. Must be something wrong to keep no better account of an insured box than that.

Got Dad’s nice long letter and a joy to read. You are doing very good. My ribs are okay now but taking off the tape was no joke.

Got a letter from Glen Chambers and Jim Sandison today. Especially good to hear from Sandy. He’s a right guy if there ever was one.

This is about everything. I’m getting heavier all the time and feeling better. I get pretty depressed trying to wonder when all of this will be over, but when it is, coming back will be all the better.

Don’t you worry and soon again we’ll all eat popcorn and apples around the fire.

Love,

10 January 1942

Dearest Folks:

A quiet Saturday nite is probably about the best time to write so here goes.

I have the bed sack and it is just the thing I was expecting. They are very warm and perhaps now I can shake off my cold. Luckily I have it now because tomorrow nite I begin sleeping outside in a tent and it will really feel good then.

Last week busted a couple of ribs when I fell against a box in a truck but they didn’t bother much except when I lay down on my back or lift anything heavy. I think they are about healed now though.

The weather is really swell and haven’t seen much rain yet. As I said today is Saturday so another fellow and me went to the park and loafed awhile then went to the afternoon show with all the kids. It was just like the one in Minatare. Last nite the 20-30 Club had another dance for us which was a relief to attend. There was a lot of girls there and I had a good time.

Last week the battery was saddened when one of the fellows was shot to death thru the heart, accidentally. The guy that shot him was almost crazy after it happened and I feel very sorry for him.

Tomorrow the churches have extended a special invitation to all soldiers to attend church and also get in on a big dinner. The Episcopal church here is typical of most. Small but very pretty.

Grandma’s visit was a big help to my flagging morale. She brought plenty for me to eat and already it is gone. We all had dinner downtown and spent a couple of hours visiting. They left at two so they weren’t here very long. Now I am worried and disgusted about the service and on the box you sent. I’ve been looking for it everyday and have written about it but so far have heard nothing. Have received the cigarettes from Kate and Dick. Also I received the letter from Pvt. Mason with the two bucks in it. He is from St. Louis and a fellow with wit like Bob Hope. A very swell guy. He stayed in Roberts as an instructor.

Got a number of Christmas cards from the Reddings (one for birthday and one for Christmas), Farley, Flowers Sr, Jim Sandison, Wylma N., the Davises (by the way they have written me three letters), and several others.

Suppose you have the pictures by now. I think they are pretty good and if they are retouched and framed they will look much better.

January 18 I will begin drawing $30.00 a month and the extra nine will seem like velvet. Have no idea still about where we will go but looks like we will stay here for some time.

I think this covers about everything. Wait a minute. I got the letter from Dad and soon I’ll write you a personal one. I’d almost give my right arm for a furlough to come back for a few days and especially tonight. My morale is low. Let’s hope all the Japs die of the plague or something.

Lots of love,

2 November 1941

Dear Folks:

I just got off duty a few minutes ago so I’ll have time to write you a good long letter. Today is Sunday again and a very dull one it seems but I guess most of them are. Today I was table waiter in the mess hall so work during the eating hours. I would get it on Sunday. Have been here two weeks so had a pass last night. My buddy and I went to Paso Robles about 15 miles from here. It all turned out very badly. I was looking for some entertainment but there wasn’t a thing, not even a dance. Every store and building was crammed to overflowing with soldiers and the only thing to do was go to the show or roller-skate. And everything seems priced very high. Hamburgers 15 cents, show 35 cents, and roller-skating 40 cents. Two fellows with us bought a couple sandwiches for 52 cents. With so much business it seems things would be cheaper. Anyway we roller-skated until 10 o’clock then came back to the camp. Perhaps if I can get into Los Angeles or San Francisco things will be different. Have written several letters to Grandma and hope to get down if I can get three days off. Round trip is only eight, eighty-five but I would have so little time with a day and a half that it would be hardly worth the time. They want me to come down badly.

My actual radio training hasn’t started yet but will soon. First we must get the basic fundamentals of marching and firing. Two days ago last week were spent on our very latest and modern rifle range. We fired our rifles from a distance of two and three hundred yards. About 100 men can fire at one time. Two way telephone connections are set up from the firing line to the fellows in the pits that run the targets. I pulled targets one day—that is, was in a deep concrete trench and raised and lowered the targets and flashed back the score by means of flags and dices. Boy those bullets whistle overhead; also some bullets hit the dirt in front of the pit and spray dirt all over. In my firing I made ninety-nine out of a possible one fifty. Hope to do better next time.

Last week also had our periodic physical exam for lice, etc. It’s what the boys call a ‘short arm’ inspection. It was very funny. We all lined up with just our overcoats and shoes on, and with a cold wind blowing we shivered plenty. Some fellows lined up, then bent over, and pulled their coats up over their buttocks and had their picture taken.

My buddy and I have decided to try for officer’s training school, after our first six months are up. I think we have a good chance to make it.

So Bill Emick’s home? I just got a letter from him about a week and a half ago telling me of his roommate and the course he was taking. I’m very surprised. He did say though he was flat broke and couldn’t see how he was going to get there. I didn’t think he would ever come back to Minatare. And Wilma with another baby; another surprise. She must like ‘em. How is Duane getting along and what about the marriage scandal?

I have all the mail you sent. I got the shirt and the package and the two dollars. All very much appreciated and thanks so much. Mail call is the most important time of the day, and everybody jumps when the sergeant yells.

The fellow next to me is a very funny and fastidious fellow and about once a week thinks he must have an enema. You’d die if you knew his nickname.

Don’t know anything about Berg or the other fellows. Saw long lines of infantry marching back from a long hike and watched for him but didn’t see anything. Boy those guys in the infantry take a beating. They also have bayonet practice and of course they don’t hit the dummy squarely. A long pole swings around and smacks them. Also saw them throwing hand grenades and practically flattening out on the ground.

No my laundry is not $1.50 a week, but a buck fifty a month. There is no limit on the amount we can send. By the way if you want you can send my slippers and couple pair of shorts and skirts. I like plenty for Friday inspections. I will just about have everything then. We will be issued another suit; a field jacket and two more pairs of shoes so will always have clean clothing. Last week got up at four thirty to go to the rifle range but effective yesterday we operate on a winter schedule with reveille at six and retreat at four thirty in the afternoon. To sleep until six seems like a Sunday morning.

Last Tuesday nite went to a show ‘Camel Caravan’ sponsored by Camel cigarettes and saw some darned good entertainment. My buddy got in without tickets on the pretext of using the library. Guess tonight I’ll go to the show (14 cents).

I guess this is everything that’s been happening to me. Did you get the camp paper I sent? Should get a letter from Kate tomorrow. My buddy and I are going to buy a cheap camera to take some pictures so I’ll be sending some. I will get paid the tenth so will send you some money.

Write soon.

Love,