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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.

2 July 1942

Dear Folks:

To keep my mind off the heat and look a little more ambitious I’ll write you something of what’s been cooking. Well this is the third day we’ve been here but it seems like thirty days. Day before yesterday it was a hundred and fifteen and yesterday one (hundred) eighteen and it seems even hotter today without any breeze at all. The heat just seems to bounce off the ground into your face. Yesterday I was on KP and just about cooked trying to wash dishes and wipe off the sweat at the same time. We do get a little relief in the evening though. Two miles across the hills is an irrigation canal and a river so we usually hike over there to cool off a bit. Every night the bank looks like a bunch of flies on a piece of bacon. No bathing suits of course.

The latest rumor, seemingly well founded, is that we will get furloughs in August after we get out of this hell hole. I hope this is the straight dope and I’m inclined to think it is. Of course I’ll let you know if we get any definite word. That’s not very far off and will that be a treat. Come to think of it in two months I will have been almost a year without a furlough. We should be here in Yakima for only about four weeks if we pass our test, which this little excursion is intended for. If we don’t pass it and have to go through another month I believe I’ll go completely berserk. It’s almost impossible to stay out in the heat for any length of time. I’ve dispensed with all underwear except when I get a pass and wear my cotton uniform. If I’m not on duty Saturday or Sunday I’m going into Yakima and spend the afternoon of the fourth swimming and cooling off. It doesn’t seem possible that the fourth is so near. We get off from twelve noon Saturday until midnight Sunday nite, if we don’t get a damned alert, as they usually do over a holiday. Every nite the canteen tent looks like a bunch of ants going into their hill as the boys file in for a drink of beer or pop. Last night the battery next to us furnished free beer for the boys after they got in from the field. We get it for a dime a bottle, but it’s pretty weak.

One thing I sleep like a baby at nights, and this morning I didn’t even hear first call, as I usually do a half before time. The sun rises about five and most are dressed before reveille ever blows. I slept on the top of my bag in the raw till about one when it began to get chilly. It starts to get hot about six thirty and stays like that until nine or after.

We have good mail service here, as good as the Fort, so don’t worry about mail getting to me. I guess this is about all. We have good eats and a lot of fruit that appeals to me; cantaloupe, tomatoes, bananas, strawberries and a lot of salads.

Well so long for another time.

Love,

30 June 1942

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,

10 April 1942

Dear Folks:

Suppose you will be surprised by the series of lots of letters but I’ve had so much time to do nothing that letter writing becomes a good recourse when the time drags.

Finished my tour of guard duty at Carlsbad so I’m back in Escondido. Two letters were waiting for me—one from each of you. When you send me a box again will you include a heavy bath towel and perhaps a couple of hankies? I know you will send a box as you always have so I just as well make my suggestions. Some other things—hair shampoo, whole peanuts, that’s just about everything. I’m as proud as pie over the sweater and hate to have to wear it underneath. I can wear it on the outside only on unofficial formations.

Guess I’ll dig up your letters and take care of your questions. First—the actual temperature doesn’t seem to get so low but somehow the nights are very chilly and invariably we wear jackets and overcoats on nite guard duty, and then we still get cold. Yes, I sleep in my sleeping bag every nite. I would freeze without it—or I feel like I would. Usually in the evening we have a fire going in our little cone shaped stove so it’s comfortable in the tents. In fact your Easter card and the letter about the suit—take your pick—and I also hope Dad is making use of them. When the day comes that I will be handed that precious little document inscribed with the word ‘discharged’ I am going to wear different clothes everyday just to see what it feels like. Now that I got to thinking about it, it will seem odd very different to get back into civilian life. I never realized the freedom and privileges that I enjoyed. Suppose you will for awhile have to wake me with a bugle, blow a horn for chow and give me an inspection on Saturdays. How good it will seem to be relieved of the regulations of uniformity that we all follow.

Last Wednesday got a letter from Gram inviting me to a Nebraska picnic at Long Beach. Dick, Loyd, and June are going but I’m tied up, of course, so can’t attend! It does no good to make plans for anything—take your liberty as it comes and make arrangements later. Last nite a group of women with the Women’s Club in Vista entertained about forty of the soldiers to a dance and games in their clubhouse. I became entangled in a good bridge game with three of the town’s solid (+ solid) women who rank with the sharks. Of course I’m not acquainted with all the intracies and opportunities of the game but we got along pretty good and they were very gracious about my ineptness. They hung on all my words and finally we both recalled someone we knew in Scottsbluff so we became very chummy.

Another Sabbath tomorrow which means pancakes (a rare treat) for breakfast and church later. Besides pancakes-I also saw a boiler full of chickens so suppose we will have chicken for dinner with some good mashed potatoes.

I don’t know any Hoover in my battery although he may be in another battery of the battalion.

I see Dad you mentioned something of going to Alliance to see the army pass threw. Well I suppose a uniform would cause a mild sensation back there but out here they are so commonplace they are never noticed. Everyday convoys of trucks for miles in length pass through the town and P-38 interceptors, bombers and fighters fly over incessantly. Searchlights cut swatches of whiteness in the nights, and boys sit in rooms of sandbags keeping accurate logs of every happening along the coast. Troop trains sweep along, blackened out like a deadly animal and the yellow light of an alert flashes on once in a while. Rumors fly like confetti in a March breeze and the next most important topic is dope about furloughs and passes and (of course) women. I wish you could visit our battery and see what we do. Each move a vital cog in a big war wheel.

Well this covers about all from this news front and perhaps a little to much space so until the next letter.

Love,

18 March 1942

Dear folks:

I have plenty of free time while I’m waiting to take my guard tour so I can catch up on any back correspondence. Today the battery begins its tour of battalion guards which will last a week so that will mean no going out for awhile anyway. Walking four hours and sleeping eight for six days gets pretty old stuff but we will get a 24 hour pass when it is over.

Last weekend I had another pass so left about four o’clock for San Diego and the folks. I was there in time for supper. When I got there Dick was sleeping on the couch and Gram was in the kitchen and I walked in and had my soaking clothes off before they knew I was around. Boy was it raining! In the evening Dick and I went to a dance. The next morning Gram, Dick and I went to church and in the afternoon we played 18 holes of golf. The Johnson’s (Mrs. E. Johnson and Helen) were there when we got back. I missed the last bus to Escondido but had no trouble hitch-hiking the 35 miles back.

I hope to get down again a week from this coming Saturday. Dick is really swell and we had a great time.

Well the war goes on and on and everyday I wonder what will happen next. This morning at reveille formation a circular about pay allotments was read. It said that all men in eminent prospect of being shipped should consider allotting so much of their pay to dependents or to their family. I think I will do this.

You say men are enlisting everyday, yes that is true, what I mean is that any man already in one branch of the service cannot enlist or reenlist in another, which means because I am in the FA I cannot transfer to the Air Corps (except flying cadets), Intelligence, or any other branch. Right now I’m hoping to get a chance at a commission in the FA as a clerk of some kind. I have applied for an application and believe my background of ROTC and college and banking will swing it. It is as an officer in the Adjutant General’s office. Each candidate is interviewed before a board of officers and graded on appearance, bearing etc, and I hope I can get over this hurdle if the chance comes for me. In my army intelligence test I scored 132 out of 150 and only 116 is required for an officer, and 100 for the Air Corps. That’s a pretty good rating.

The weather has been so sunny and the sky so clear, except for the rain last weekend. I suppose you noticed when you were here how big and bright the stars were. I can’t get over it. Suppose you know Palomar, with the telescope, is only 18 miles from here.

Well finished ‘Kabloona’ and ‘Mantrap’. Kabloona was sure a good one, so descriptive and such a study of values and the real worth of our ‘civilization’. When the war is over I’m going on a trip like that.

The oranges are pretty plentiful now and the other day when we were in an orange grove with the gems we all had our fill. Also lemons.

Patsy sent me another box of candy yesterday so I’ll have to answer and thank her. Gramma also sent a box of fruit, and cigarettes and cupcakes.

Well so much for another letter. I got all the Free Presses so I know about everything in Minatare.

See you in the next letters.

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 December 1941

Dear folks:

I just wrote you a letter day before yesterday but guess I have time to write another.

Yesterday ushered in something new again—this time being on guard duty. I went on yesterday at 4:30 PM and was on for twenty-four hours however we only walk during darkness. I walked two hours then slept four—walked two and slept four. We slept in the guardhouse in our clothes, thereotically to be ready for call. My hours were six to eight then midnite until 2 AM. I was sure tired when I was awakened at twelve, and does that rifle get heavy after two hours. However, we had nothing to do all day but lay around and read.

The radio work is very interesting and now I know all the code but have one lesson yet to pass before try for speed. I believe 10 words a minute are required as minimum for the course.

Many of the fellows are pretty glum today just getting the news that our furloughs are going to be short and many had already planned on going home. The men in the 88^th infantry were today sent to Panama. Berg is in the 87^th. Something seemingly a little unusual happened yesterday and that was all the Japanese boys were taken out of our battery. Wonder if it relates to the crisis. They would have a good vantage point in a radio outfit.

Got a letter from Gram today and she’s expecting me down for Christmas. She didn’t help me any on my bus fare but promised to for the next time; but June and Loyd took care of other expenses. I never got to see Uncle Will. They had such short notice she couldn’t get word to him. In answer to your next questions we have six more weeks of training after this one. This will probably end about the 1^st of February. I have no idea where we might be sent.

I’ll say the cake was good and it wasn’t broken a bit, in very good shape and so soft and delicious. The fellows raved about it and agreed you were a superior cook.

Delighted to hear about the game—can imagine the unlimited excitement that went on all day.

This is all I can think about for this time. Everything going fine. No rain yet and still getting heavier.

All my love,

Thought about something else. Regarding Christmas gifts, I know it would be of little avail to caution you on expenses. But I’ll give you my list of what I can think of now.

Cheap pocket watch
A camera
Pair of brown civilian shoes (no two tone)
Sweatshirt
Small leather bag for toilet articles
Eversharp
Keycase (for trunk locks)
Stationary folder (for envelopes, stamps, etc.)

Please don’t fill the list but just pick one or two and that will be more than enough to ask for.

9 November 1941

Dear Folks:

Just returned from church services so have some time before dinner to write to you. The service was a general one and open to all denominations. Haven’t found out anything about Episcopal services. The chapel is quite built with simplicity but dignity, and cost the government twenty five thousand. Overhead in the back is a balcony and a Hammond electric organ that costs plenty. Also the regiment has an orchestra that is really good. The church was well filled and there were a few visitors and fellows with their girlfriends.

Last Friday took quite a little trip and saw a little more of California. A convoy of thirty trucks went to Taft, in the oil fields, to get cargoes of black top used to surface our drill area. As the place is one hundred two miles from here rode most of the time. But got to see some of the big oil fields, and get a glimpse of something outside an army post. The longer I’m here in camp around so many fellows the more it seems that everything and everyone is military. It just seems there isn’t enough people to make up a civilian population.

Yesterday went thru the long nervous ordeal of inspection. About eight officers came thru and all of us acted like we had pokers up our backs and rocks in our mouths. An officer asked a fellow if he shaved the nite before and the poor private answered ‘no’, and the officer retorted ‘no what’, and the private said ‘no blades’. The officer was demanding a ‘sir’ and not this unexpected reply. Our platoon didn’t get first but our battery kept the sign.

Last nite and afternoon did nothing in particular, mostly reading. However did locate Berg after quite a search. He is in the other end of the camp in the infantry. He is coming over this afternoon for a visit.

Wish it was possible for you to be here next Tuesday Armistice Day. Visitors will be given a big show and will eat with us in the mess halls. Also our big coliseum is being dedicated and the field artillery gunners are going to fire the 75’s.

Next week will have all day Saturday off so hope I can hitchhike to San Diego to see Grandma. Couldn’t make it this week. Train service, because of the hills is terribly slow. It takes nine hours to Los Angeles only 200 miles from here. Want to see the Golden Gate in San Francisco sometime before I leave too.

After my radio training, I will be assigned to a tactical combat unit which will be my permanent post. You see, here all of us are trained to set up radio equipment and do not act as a fighter but upon our transfer will become part of a unit that operates exactly as it will in wartime. Boy it does seem like we are getting closer to it all the time. The officers and candre continually impress on us the means of protection to ourselves in case we go into the field. Radiomen operate sometimes near and sometimes far from the front. Some of the last batch of trainees were sent to Alaska. We just as well forget all about that though if we can.

Last week got another shot in the arm (tetanus) and those kids really hit a guy. It lasted only a couple of hours though. By the way when I was waiting for the shot I weighed myself and weighed one hundred forty. I had on my pants and shoes but even at that, I’m doing pretty good—and I’m really getting a tan too. The days are very warm but as soon as the sun goes down it cools off quickly. Last Friday going to the oil fields it was very hot and had my shirt off most of the time. It is hard to imagine that it is almost the middle of November. The grass around our orderly room to mess hall is getting very green and pretty. Also we are setting out small trees and shrubs.

Haven’t heard from Kate for some time and I’m sure it is she that owes the letter. Suppose she will write soon.

I’m thinking or trying to think what to tell you to put in the box and will write you about it. I know one thing right now and that is cookies and homemade candy.

Well better quit now but hope all of you are getting on okay.

All my love,

25 October 1941

Dear Dick:

The ‘Old Man’ (that’s our top sergeant) went soft on us this afternoon, or perhaps he didn’t, as we just had a stiff tetanus shot, and let us have the rest of the afternoon off. So perhaps I can answer your letter. At the same time I got a card about the homecoming. Kind of ironically humorous. Sure hope we win the game. Hope Bayard isn’t the nemesis they usually are.

Now everyday I go to class and learn the international Morse code and all about maps and set-up of radios and nets, kilocycles, megocycles, and everything about radios. One of the most interesting sets we have is a one ninety-four or what we call a ‘walkie talkie’. It’s a twenty pound complete transmitting and receiving set with headphones and a microphone. Although it’s range is ordinarily only a few miles, stations as far as Missouri and Honolulu have been picked up. It is carried on the back just like a knapsack with an 8 foot aerial sticking in the air. A very compact radio station. Upon completion of the course I understand we will be eligible for an amateur radio license.

Your letters sound funny to hear about snow and blizzards when here the days are mostly warm and cloudless. It gets damn chilly at nite but the days nice, almost nice enough to go swimming.

Glad to hear you are working all the time and the ribs don’t keep you down. Hope my rooting for Minatare did some good. Keep writing.

Love,

25 October 1941

Dear Folks:

Although I think you still owe me a couple of letters I’ll write while I have nothing to do. This is Saturday afternoon and a beautiful day here. I just got through playing baseball with my shirt off. It’s pretty hot. Just got out of the shower and sitting around in my shorts luxiously relaxing. Everybody is listening to a radio wondering how their team will come out. Wish I could hear Nebraska.

Haven’t started my radio schooling yet and won’t for a couple of weeks. Since I’ve been here in the specialist battery we’ve been working on an oil mat to drill on. Boy that’s hard work and plenty dirty but it makes me feel good and eat plenty. When the rainy season begins here it rains all the time and the mud is actually on the tops of knee boots. That’s why all the work on the oil matting. Yesterday laid an oil mat for a basketball court. After this is finished I will begin my technical training on radio work. This battery I’m in has quite a good past. Since it was formed nine months ago our battery has never lost the “Best Battery” sign which hangs on our orderly building. It is the best battery in the whole camp and the best in the special battalion. The radio battery of the specialists is considered the best and to have the best and smartest in it. Also our regiment has had the regimental banner 5 out of 6 times. I’m quite proud to be here. The fellows seem to take more interest in things here. Sidewalks have been built up and a lawn and patches of flowers are around the barracks. Also by the mess hall we have a fountain with a square cupola over it plus an old Dutch windmill on top of it. But being in this battery means plenty of work. Friday nights we get on our hands and knees and scrub the floors. On Saturdays the latrine is cleaned. Yesterday I washed windows on the second floor—plenty of them and to think I used to gripe at home to just wash a few. This morning I was latrine orderly and had to polish the bowls and brass til it shone like the sun.

Thursday nite the camp gave a broadcast over NBC but I didn’t go. Don’t know what I’ll do tonight suppose go the show or the service club. This service club is quite a building. In it is a large cafeteria and café, a dance floor and a balcony around it. Also there is a library and a larger fireplace. I have signed up for two night school classes given in the Paso Robles high school. The courses are Spanish and trigonometry but don’t know whether can take trig or not.

My pal now is a fellow who is from Omaha and formerly worked in the War Department finance office. He also is a graduate of Nebraska University in Business Administration. He’s a swell fella and we go every place together. Practically all the fellows in my barracks are from Missouri or Kansas.

All soldiers do get half rates on transportation that is a cent a mile. Also I get a ten day leave at Christmas. I can go to Grandmas if I can’t get to you. It would take quite a bit to come home. I’ve written letters to Grandma but haven’t heard from her. I’ve had some trouble getting my correspondence straightened out after all these changes, however I’ve gotten mail from you, one from Dad (keep ‘em coming) and note from Mom with a buck in it. Thanks so much.

Got a letter from Kate and one from Bill Emick yesterday. Kate didn’t say much though I’ll answer today. By the way I suppose you addressed your letters to me from the card mailed from Leavenworth but be sure and address the rest from the card I sent that is Battery D, 55^th FA Tng. Bn. Use private and not mister.

Guess that’s everything. Say hello to the kids.

By the way I did know Professor Walker very well. Used to wait on him when I worked on “Bucks”.

See you in the next letter.

Lots of love,