November 5, ‘43

Friday afternoon,

Dear Folks,

Today we moved to this bivouac area, a large pasture outside of Mcninnmille about two miles. We will most likely stay here until Sunday when we will probably set out for our base camp. As yet we haven’t been told where we are to be stationed so don’t be surprised if I end up in some place other than Fort Bragg. In this area here we are supposed to clean and repair our equipment and get everything in shape again after the maneuvers. You see our equipment came in for a lot of wear and tear and has to be fixed up a little. I have a few rips in my gloves to sew up, clean up my mess-kit and I’ll be all set.

I put up a tent with another fellow, spread out my sleeping bag inside it and am all set for a good nights sleep. The old sleeping sure was good out here as it got pretty cold at night. It rained as well and I would have been pretty chilly if it wasn’t for the sleeping bag. I’d just crawl inside it, put the flap over my head and be dry and warm as toast. That nine dollars I spent at Fort Pewes was a pretty good investment as that sleeping bag is pretty useful.

This stationary was given to us by the chaplain- I don’t know where he got it. I just thought you might like it for a change. This place we are in is just like the mountain country you see in the movies. On the way to a nearby creek to wash our clothes we passed an old shack where a farmer and his family lived. All the kids were running around without shoes on- just like in the funny papers.

If our banochs bags come into us tonight I may be able to get into McNinuville tonight. We passed through It on the way in here and it looks to be about the same as Murfreesboro. I hope it is as nice as that place- Murfreesboro was a real clean little town. I’ll say so long for now and look forward to you box of candy. I hope it gets here before we leave as it is likely to be delayed if I don’t get it here. Helen’s letter came last night and I as usual enjoyed reading it. I wish I had nice writing like that instead of this scribbling.

So long,

Joe

P.S. You can get the shoes fixed and send them to me if you want to. No hurry.