May 8, 1946

Dear Mom and Pop,

I just came from noon chow and found your letter lying on my bunk, so I sat right down to answer it.

Well we’re not going back East. Lieutenant Commander Thompson, head of the Yeoman school, came in today and told us we were going to the Commander of the Western Sea Frontier. That could mean any place in the Pacific. Who knows, I may catch a ship out here and sail through the Panama Canal and wind up on the East. The Navy doesn’t pay your way to your next station, but they pay you when you get to the other end. They give you five days delayed orders. In other words they give you five days to get there, and it also counts as leave but it doesn’t do me much good. I plan to go with my buddy to Reno, Nevada, and if I don’t go there, I plan to go up to San Francisco or somewhere up in there and spend a few days up there. You don’t ask to be sent to any special place. They just tell you where to go and when to be there, that’s all. If it’s not too much can I have about forty dollars? If it is too much, send me as much as you can. Well I’ll close these few lines now and go to school this afternoon. Take care of yourselves.

All my love,

Alfred

P.S. Don’t bother to wait for a phone call or anything as you have to wait in a line, and it takes about two [hours] from there.