4 P.M.
Nov.8, 1942
Dear Mother,
I thought I told you I got the letters from
This inspection stuff is a cinch. All you have to do is have your hair short, shirt and pants pressed, shoes shined [edited for content], bed perfectly made up and smooth and stand at attention. There’s nothing to it at all. We also have to have the footlockers just so. Clothes hung on hangers, and arranged one certain way. Gas mask on shelf a certain way. Also, cartridge belt, pack, and barracks bag tied on bed just so. The floor also has to be spotless. On Friday nights is clean up night and the barracks is thoroughly cleaned with soap and water. Also dusted. Then on Saturday between 1 and 3 the Company Commander will come through and everything a thorough inspection. We have to look ahead in a dead stare.
There isn’t much to it though even though it sounds like a lot.
The weather here is damp most of the time. I have only seen the sun a few times so far. If it came out for a full day the camp would probably celebrate the fact.
These
It has been raining here the past few days. And it is raining today also.
Yesterday we went on a 7 mile hike. I guess there was about 5,000 men participating. We marched on the hilly country roads in columns of four. Now when these are all stretched out it makes a pretty long line. A bunch of lieutenants were in charge. They’re all swell fellows too. Just a few of them try to show their authority. We had one simulated air attack and we all scattered off the road, found cover and hugged the ground. We were also supposed to have a gas attack, but it never came. They use tear gas for this, because it will go through any small crack in the gas mask. Or if the man hasn’t his mask adjusted right he will find out right away and be able to fix it. If they didn’t give these kind of tests and deadly gases came along, he’d be a dead pigeon. Because it only takes one breath to put you in the sweet peas.
I stayed in bed ‘till
They have red clay in this neck of the woods and when it gets wet it’s just like gum.
I send my laundry out. It’s only a $1.50 a month for any amount of clothes. Pay day is coming off this Tuesday. The movies cost 15¢ per person at all times.
Those
Anyhow, because of a few things like that, a couple of troop trains have already been wrecked and it wasn’t given out in the paper either. Now those kids are only risking everyone else’s life by doing that. The war is really going to cut loose one of these days.
The officers say the enemy will be on the way out by the first of the year.
You might as well buy all the clothes you can. After we only live once and we might as well have some fun.
I saw a flock of geese fly over here some time ago.
I guess you better clean the leather coat and gloves with saddle soap. Follow the directions on the can.
The sox and underwear were OK. The package was OK too. Some packages they rip opened on the corners to see what’s in them. One little bomb could do a lot of damage. There are more guards and M.P. s around here than you can shake a stick at.
I would like to have a road map sent to me, which includes
The courses they give here sure are thorough. I’ve smell all the different kinds of poison gases there are. The instructor have samples in class and when he lectures on the different kinds he passes the samples around.
Well, I go on the rifle range tomorrow after about 25 hours of instruction on how to shoot a rifle of this sort. I don’t know how I’ll make out, because we have to shoot the army way. They have crappy British type rifles here which don’t even compare to the American type. I’ve finished two weeks of training already and only two more to go. After that, I don’t know if I stay here or go somewhere else for further study. I’d like to go further south or where the weather is better.
Be sure and keep all the programs and stuff that I send
home, also one or two of the letters from every different camp. I also
will be sending home a 6 foot letter I received from the Shade Cloth kids that
I worked with. It probably would be a good idea to throw all the stuff in
one box so it will all be together. I also have an army issued notebook
on
We only can have on church program so if I can’t get any to send the minister you’ll have to show him mine if he ever comes to the house.
You also will find a newspaper clipping in here presumably of Harold Kogler, that Koglers sent to me. It explains it’s self.
I can’t think of much more. How is the gas rationing coming along? I see the motor cycle gets a gallon and a half a week. A few of the boys have motor cycles here at camp, but I haven’t been able to meet any of them yet. One of them has one exactly like mine. I’m going to stop him one of these days and take a ride.
Be sure and tell daddy to look at the guns about once every month to see that no rust spots are forming. Be sure to oil when necessary. Probably once every 2 months.
A special news bulletin came over the radio that Rommel’s Army is knocked to hell.
Say hello to grandma for me.
Your Son,
Melvin
P.S. I’ve had about 6 shots already. They sure shoot
us full of dope. They are given with a regular hypodermic needle.
You hardly feel it go in. In fact some stand there and the doctor has to
push him away because he doesn’t know that the doctor has finished.
There’s nothing to this either. We have a commercial artist in our
barracks. He was born in
Finished at