Dearest Folks:

This isn’t the best time to write a letter during the noon hour, but after reading the letter that I just got from you the urge possessed me so here goes.  A good letter by the way, and a good (one) to use in answering.  If you hadn’t reminded me probably I might have forgotten that you are having Indian summer – been a long time since I’ve been in a climate where the seasons change very much – at least it seems like a long time.  And then regarding the item about hunting, pheasants are plentiful here too, but I haven’t seen anyone shooting them.  It would be pretty dangerous I guess and maybe someone might think there was something the matter.  But oddly it seems to me there aren’t many birds.  Rat control is a considerable problem on the islands and perhaps they keep the bird population down.

And about the glasses – yes I still wear them most of the time.  You know I busted my civilian pair on the boat coming over and of course all I have now is the GI’s that are a good pair and plenty serviceable.  Reading quite a bit puts a strain on them sometimes and about a week ago a cyst started in the right eye but it healed off itself.  I hope to have my eyes re-examined soon but the GI red tape always has to be cut first.

So Dick wrote about a Chinese girl too?  There are white girls on the island but they are pretty scarce most of them having been evacuated after the blitz.  A white girl at a dance is practically mobbed.  And speaking about the blitz, it’s interesting to talk to some of the people especially the white ones, about the first days after the Japs hit Pearl Harbor.  Suspicion and fears were everywhere and they had the life scared out of them. I wonder how all the Japs here would have reacted if Japan had taken over?

And next to the commando course.  You should have seen me yesterday if you can’t imagine me as one.  Yesterday we went through an Infiltration Course that involves crawling, and I really mean crawling, a hundred yards under machine gun fire and through holes with a little dynamite in them, besides crawling under barbed wire.  The idea of bullets overhead didn’t worry me so much as the physical exertion to crawling.  That doesn’t seem very far but oh boy it sure runs into work.  A guy looks about like a rattlesnake worming along and we were so dirty when we finished it was hard to tell who was who.  I felt a little funny once or twice when I saw a tracer bullet streak over but otherwise it was okeh.  After this experience we went to the beach and bounced around the waves so that was some compensation for the dirt.

Well Mom and Dad since I’ve started this, evening has rolled around and now I’m about to take off for the show so better wind this up.  The pictures enclosed are ones that I have taken over the past two months and maybe they will be interesting.

Love,