Mar 26, 44

Dear Mom & Dad,

           

Today I went off the base.  It is the first time since I got back from my furlough.

When you go to the movies here on the base you have to dress in your greens.  Last night I dug my greens out and went to a stage show they gave us on the base.  It was free.  After that I stayed for the regular show.  They are always free.  The main show was about a girl who worked for the F.B.I. in Washington.  I saw lots of places in the show that I recognized including the F.B.I. building where Ethel works.

            Today 2 other guy from my hut and I went to Jacksonville and then to Hadnot Point (the marin base) These two guy went through boot camp with me and in the same hut.

They have those big moving van-like things with windows in it.  They furnish us free transportation to Jacksonville and Hadnot Point so all the money we spent today was what we ate, but I think I ate a lot of ice cream.  On the 27th, 28th, 29th, they are having a circus up at Hadnot Point.  This boy I am going with is 18 and the other is a married man at 38.  They are the ones that went with me today.

            Yesterday sure was a full day.  When I got up it was real cold so I put on all three of those sweat shirts.  Then we fixed up our packs with a blanket roll on top of it.  After that was fixed we went out and stood inspection, then we went down and joined the other company (A & C) and paraded.

When that was over we marched straight to the chow hall and stacked our rifles out front and took our packs off and went up to the guardhouse and got our mail.  He gave it to us when we came out of chow but I didn’t have time to read it then.  I got 3.  One from you, Julia, and “Gee”.  We put our packs on and get our rifles at “sling arms” so we can sling them over our shoulder and start out and go to the gun shed where we were issued 50 rounds of live ammunition and a B.A.R.  Then we start on what turned out to be 16 mile hike.  8 out and 8 back.  And me with all three sweat shirts on and that 21lb. BAR and 9lb. rifle.  When I got out there I took those sweat shirts off when we got out there and my skivy shirt was ringing wet.  After each one of us had fired 50 rounds of ammunition we came back.  When we started back we fell in 2 single lines and started back.  I was next to the last man in one line but when we arrived but when we arrived back in tent city I was 2nd from the front.  They had been dropping back and I would pass them.  When we got back to camp out of 53 men only 23 of us made it back.  Going out we had a ten-minute rest but coming back we didn’t stop.  We had a big 6ft 4in Sarge teaching us.  Boy could he walk fast.  We came that 8 miles in 40 minutes.  We passed one platoon on the way back.  We could have taken our time coming back but we were trying to beat that other platoon back and we did it too.  During that ten-minute break I read your letter. 

My gums have healed real good.  We had French-fried toast and syrup and prunes and cereal the other morning and I got 3 helpings with 2 pieces of toast each time. 

            I hoped you would like the medal.  You know me.  I never know what to get a person and that’s the reason I didn’t get you anything.  You just wear it and think of me.  Medals don’t count around here anyway and I can get one in jacksonville I think.

            In the letter you said Dad and Spot had gone to bed.  I could just see dad standing at the basement door calling Spot and pointing down the steps.

 

 

 

                                                                        With love

                                                                      Your Son

                                                                             Joe

 

P.S. When I was up at Hadnot I called Mary Hess and was going to see her but she wasn’t there.