October 16, 1942

Dear Mother,

            I arrived at Camp Grant ok. It is a big place and a lot of men come and go every day and night. One may go at any time within a moments notice.

            It is 6:30 p.m. now, and we have orders to stay in our barracks, because some orders are probably coming through for us to leave. They do not tell the men where they are heading for. We had written exams for four hours straight. Today we are interviewed for our job in the army. I will probably get the mechanics job. I also got vaccinated and a shot.

            We get three square meals a day. It takes a while to get used to this life. I shipped the clothes to Probelle’s today.

There are some sad looking guys around here. Don’t bother to write, because I will probably leave very soon.

I’ll write again when I have time.

                                                            Your son,

                                                            Melvin