3 January 1946,

Dear Folks,

Tonight I was glad to speak to Ma on the phone. Sorry the rest of you were out. I hope Joe’s ear is ok. My ear has bothered me a bit because of wax in there too. Maybe I’ll get around to having something done about it.

It is raining out here and they tell me it has been raining an awful lot out here for the last couple of weeks. No snow out here though.

The mail out here is coming in pretty slow. Your mail I got to-day was from the 1^st of December but I did get mail from you addressed to the Moore Mac Company dated 27 Dec. That is a lot faster but not nearly as fast as it generally is.

We are up here at Hunters Point which is in the southern part of San Fransisco. Probably will be here for a couple of weeks.

Colonel Cogswell is leaving the ship. He is over 50 and he is a lawyer in Washington and sort of anxious to get back there now. He recommended me to the Port authorities as his successor but because I am only a Captain I don’t believe I’ll be designated officially as the Transport Commander. I’ll probably be the actual head though if they do put on a higher ranking officer because at least I know something about the ship. I was told by the Port that the only reason I would not get the assignment would be my lack of rank. There is no chance that I’d get promoted higher though because you have to be a Captain 18 months before you’re eligible to be made a major.

We had a good trip back. Manila to San Fransisco is too long on water to suit me though. I like the shorter Atlantic run. We have to travel for 17 full days and ask Joe how long a trip that is. It’s about 10 days too long.

There is not much in the way of news to tell you about. Some old things out here. Golden Gate- Top of the Mark- etc.

Well I guess I’ll finish up here. Hope to hear from you often. Always glad to get a letter you know. I realize how hard it is to say anything.

So long for now.

Tom