Wed- 10/20/43
Dear Mother,
Just got
your last letter and enjoyed it very much. I’ve gotten a lot of mail the last
week, so have a lot of writing to do. We
got back last nite from 6 days in the field. They were plenty tough, as all our work and
moving was done at nite. Then most of us have extra
duties several hours during the day, so sleep was something to be prized! Also, its gotten
plenty cool out here, especially at nite, when we
can’t get enough cover on us to keep warm.
I had more on me last nite than I could at
home and the tent shut up tight, and then woke up frozen this AM! Guess it’s
the sudden change, or the great variation from day to nite. I “guess” it was between 40 and 50 this AM
and yesterday AM. Also, the sun had felt
good the last 2 days- no sweating at all!!! Now that its
cooled off, I imagine we will be pulling out of here, for I don’t think we are
here for long! We may go on maneuvers
the last of the week and we may not- don’t know yet.
One
afternoon (Monday) we went way out in the desert to watch planes bomb a
fortification and before we got there we got caught in a real rain and hail
storm, and it was it cold!! We nearly froze to death, as the wind was coming
right out of the north, hard, and we were soaked to the skins. You could see the creeks rise rapidly and a
lot of stuff was lost in the water, as that is where we always camp, as that’s
the only concealment you find in the desert.
They let us build a fire, so we got dried out before nite,
but that hail really brought the cold weather.
The hail was bigger than Quail eggs and when it hit you I mean it
hurt! We got out of the truck and got
under it. We moved out that nite and after we went 2 or 3 miles it was as dry as
ever. The dust was really terrible.
We heard
to-nite that we leave for Cavalry Maneuvers Saturday nite or Sunday unless orders are changed before then. We will be gone 4 weeks and then I imagine we
will fall out to the east coast. All of
us over 30 are to be examined to see if we are fit for foreign combat duty
soon, and those they have doubt in will be stationed in the
We’ve been
loafing around most of the day and the rest of the week will be spent packing
up for maneuver, so we will probably have it pretty easy.
I’ve heard
from Paul twice and he says he has a lot of “school work” ahead of him. Wish
that was all I had to do! Haven’t heard from Ester in a good
while.
I hope
Martha got home last week. Guess she and Ms.Will enjoy their Sundays now.
Glad the
harvesting is progressing so nicely and hope
Love
“Danny Boy”