November 14, 1943

Sunday, Nov. 14, 1943

Dear Mother:-

I received your letter a few days ago and I was glad to hear from you. I'll try to write you a few lines today as Sunday is about the only day that you have time to do much writting.

So you folks have had a snow blizzard up there. What is that stuff called snow? Ha Ha. You should come south and I guess you wouldn't be bothered with snow although it gets real cool here at night but warms up during the day. We have fire in our stove every night and it feels real good. He had a very heavy rain last Sunday evening and Monday. That was the hardest I've seen it rain for quite a while. I guess it looks more like winter is coming up there than it does down here as everything is green yet. The trees are nearly all pine trees so there is no leaves to fall.

I got a folder from Freddie several days ago. It was pictures of his camp. The pictures were all pretty and it looks like a nice camp although they usually take pictures of the best building and put them in the folders. He never wrote anything but his name on the folder. I also got a card from Jack. I could tell you what he said but to keep from writting so much I'll just send you the card and you can read it. I guess you never do hear from him. I was kind of surprised when I got the card from him. I believe I told you that I got a card from Henry while he was up at Springfield.

So Clara got back from her trip from Alabama. I guess she had a good time but I guess she didn't get to see Freddie a whole lot during the week. I know that is the way it is here. You don't get much time here during the week. They always have something for you to do. I went down to the guest house at the service club yesterday afternoon to see about getting a room for Dora so she can come down here for 3 days on Sunday December 19; Monday Dec. 20 and on Dec. 21. They charge 75 cents a day for the room. When the 3 days are up she can probably go into Starke, the town about 8 miles from here and get a room to stay over for Xmas. I can get a pass on week ends if I haven't any detail to do such as K.P. or guard duty. Most of the fellows get week end passes and go to Starke; Jacksonville or St. Augustine but I haven't left te camp since I've been here.

I got the Staunton paper yesterday and I see where the council left the hiring of a fireman up to the committee for investigation. They better hire a fireman or else replace us fellows who are in the service. I see where Bill Machota has to go for examination with the next bunch. I guess there is quite a few from the fire department in the army or navy by now.

We started on our technical training last Monday. We are learning to tie knots and how to splice wire and also the telegraph code of dots and dashes. I'm sure having a time learning those dot and dashes as that goes all by sound. You have a set of head phones like Henry's old radio had and they send the dot and dashes through that. You are then suppose to write down the letters. So far I've had 10 hours of that code and I'm sorry to say I don't know very much of it but there are a whole lot of fellows don't know as much of it as I do. I hope I learn it soon. We were told yesterday that when we were through with our basic training we would know from 30-50 words and there meanings of the Jap language. The hell of this training is that they don't give you enough time to learn the things proper.

So the Howards finally got the final word of Vincent's death. I guess in a way since it happened that now it is better that they know he is dead then to sit there from day to day waiting for word and worrying whether or not he was dead or a prisoner. While I was up there to see them and after they had that letter from the chaplain Edna got a bottle of perfume from him which he sent from Egypt.

We never did hear any more about get our metals for shooting the rifle. A lot of fellows bought their metals in a Army store in town. Yes I got a little metal for shooting the rifle while I was at Jefferson Barracks.

Well I think I told you all I know for the present time so I'll close and write you more later when I have time.Write me when you have time. You can throw Jack's card away as I don't want it back. So long.

Gus


Dad continues to write home regularly, at least once a week. Interesting to see that it is already snowing back home in Staunton, Illinois. As I said when I started this blog to share his letters, through his letters you do get a peek at what was going on at home and what was going on in his family. He writes about his brother Jack, who had written Dad from his home in Mt. Olive, Illinois, his brother Freddie, apparently in basic training down in Arkansas, and Freddie's wife Clara. In this letter we learn that his cousin Vincent, an Army Air Corps pilot in North Africa, has been confirmed killed in action. He refers again to receiving the Staunton paper. I think that during the war the Staunton Star-Times was sent at no cost to Staunton residents who were serving in the military. One of the things that was regularly published in the Star-Times was the list of local men who had received their notice to report for a physical that would determine their qualification be drafted. Another list that was regularly published was the list of those who HAD been drafted. Those two columns, in addition to the letters he was getting from family and friends, seem to be keeping Dad updated on who is headed to or already in the military from Staunton. Jefferson Barracks is a base in Missouri that had a program that Dad and a friend, Charles Sharp, went to when they were 16.