Nov 17, 1944
Dear Sisters:
Well this week surely slipped by on me and I didn’t write for a few days; however I have a good excuse. I’m having radio trouble and I do mean trouble. I had the tubes tested and there were two burnt out. I could get one of them. Mary finally talked a radio repairman out of a tube that he had in another set. Well, the darn radio is no better. I have been fooling around with it but have been getting nowhere far and with it I’m going to get the tubes tested once more and if that ain’t the trouble I guess I’ll have to try and get some one to look at it. Say, we surely miss it for we got all the programs you do back home, only ours starts around 6 P.M. where yours start at 8.
Mary bought some material to get a shirt made. She was going to send it home but heard of a woman here, so she got it made. The woman charged here a dollar, which was very cheap if you ask me for the thing looks like there is quite a lot of work connected with it
I must tell you a good one where a lot of tax money is frittered away, put at the field behind our hanger after a rain, the water layed and it. Got quite muddy the other day. They came with a road scrapper, bull dozer, dirt loader, 4 trucks, and feather merchant operator for all and 2 feather merchant engineers. They hauled dirt away all that day and made a pretty good looking drainage ditch. The next day they started to haul dirt in and grade it well they have hauled twice as much in as they took away and if it rains it will be twice as muddy now if anyone can tell me the advantage of all that work and money I would surely appreciate it as I feel it a waste of good American tax payer’s dollars and I’ll have to pay some of those dollars when the war is over.
On Wed night I had to stand retreat the first time on this field and I guess it will be awhile before I must stand it again.
To night I had to stay at the field until 6 P.M to police up for a big inspection that is coming next week. Well, our crowd got finished our part of it and we went the barracks to wait until we could have. Well, it was nearly time when our C. O. appears and makes us fall out again and march a hell of a distance to police up another area we all laughed and joked about it but I must say I think he was very unfair as we had finished our detail and if there is any more said about it I’ll tell him so.
Monday is graduation day and we must parade as usual. I do not now if we must work afterward or not but if we must we are being hooked for we go on the late shift and that will mean our day will be from 0700 to 2330.
We are not too busy right now at work as the one class is finished flying and the lower class men aren’t too far advanced and the new gadgets haven’t arrived yet.
I have a couple of letters here one from each of you and I’ll answer them now.
Katheryn your teachers are all alike, giving your kids a test and you bagging off to write a letter. Yes, I don’t think Monday is the day either to give a test.
Boy, it is
cold. Here they had snow in
I know nothing about you getting some chairs re-upholstered. Irma said nothing and neither did you. I think you are doing the best thing for I know that the chairs of today aren’t built so hot.
I didn’t hear that Rep. joke but it surely is petty for Frankie must die some day.
Yes, Irma I
agree this year certainly does have wings. I really don’t have any Christmas
list as you know most of my stuff must let is
Mary said she doesn’t know of anything for one thing. Any thing you send she will more than likely have to send home again, so stockings size 10 or a card will do O. K there also.
I’ll try and write a line to Sonny sometime
I didn’t hear Jack Benny on Sunday night. I don’t care very much for him. Tamaqua didn’t do bad at all in the football season; the new coach, maybe is building up a good team.
I almost forgot to tell you we are getting Wac’s here at the field. I guess that will mean more guys shipped out. I would be just as well pleased if they didn’t bring them for Wac’s are a mess from what I know of them. Well I’ll tell you more about them after they arrive.
I don’t know where the guys are going or who are shipping out right now. Some of them went to gunnery school, some to B, 29’s and the rest to a P. O. E station
It is shot time again on the field everybody is getting typhus and tetanus and every body is half sick from them I expect mine on Tues or Wed I hope surly get those two but I could get 3 others cholera, yellow fever and I am not sure of the 5th but anyway some guys got all 5 and were quite sick.
I don’t now why Sonny puts the S. I. Army on his address its dumb. I don’t now what he means when he said sign up for another year maybe he signed for the army of occupation or something.
I guess Carl Bachman has it plenty tough alright and if it wouldn’t be for the rest camps they just couldn’t go on. Maybe now that they have found that new offensive they can soon finish that one off.
Yes, I got my check O.K. thanks for sending it. Please be more exact as to each one’s size of slips, but for anything else you may ask for.
Well I really think it is time that Howard S and O . Major are going. They are in the age group alright and the way I look at it occupation don’t mean a darn thing and as for father’s, there are plenty of them. They have no complaint coming if you ask me now when they get Claude Zeighs and a couple more like him it will make me happy they hid behind engines and women long enough. Now let them become men and take it on the chin like the rest of us have been doing.
Irma said it was too bad they had to go the day before Thanksgiving. Well, the hell with that. The war goes on everyday. We must work so forget the day war is war so don’t put bad about it.
I belong to the alumni and maybe I would go if Irma at home.
Well I guess I’ll sign off now and get washed and hit the sack for it is near 2000 o’clock and 0545 comes early
We are back well and hope you are all O.K.
So Long
Love
John
p.s.
Mary said hello and if she gets time she’ll write you.
J