November 7, 1943

Sun. Nov. 7, 1943

Hello Mother & Everyone:-

I got your letter several days ago and I was glad to hear from you. I would have wrote sooner but just didn't have time. We are kept real busy most of the time. I also got a card from Henry while he was up at Springfield. I got it yesterday.You asked if I ever hear from Freddie. Well no I haven't. I wrote to him several weeks ago and also sent him a folder of this camp. I don't know if he never got it or just hasn't time to write. I also wrote to Jack the same day I wrote to Freddie as he told me to let him know where I was.

I got a letter from Chief Riley from down at Weldon Springs and he said that Ass't Chief Randolph had died. He wrote this letter on Oct. 28 and he had died the Sunday before. He should have gotten suddenly ill on his way home from work and was taken right to a hospital. That was on Friday and he died 12:30 A.M. on Sunday. He was buried the following Wednesday. Randy was a pretty nice fellow to work for. I guess the boys will miss him a lot. Riley also said that Bob Simon was at Camp Pontchartrian, New Orleans, La.

I got the Staunton paper yesterday and I looked for the council notes but I see where they won't be published until next week. I looked to see if they put on a fireman or what they thought about it. I got a letter from Harry Kuehnen and he thought Bill would get the job starting this week. He said he thought he would get about $150.00 a month.

Has Clara gotten back from her trip yet? I guess she will have a lot to tell when she does get back. Have they made any head ways with getting Freddie out of the service? I hope so. Dora I think is coming down here to see me around Christmas time. I hope she lets me know soon so I can try to get a room for her at the service club as the rooms are nearly all spoken for for around Christmas. She is allowed to stay here in camp for 3 days. They charge 75 cents a day for the room. Two of the fellows in my hut has their wives down here. They are living in a town close by called Starke and are looking for a job. If they find one they are going to stay down here.

I got paid last Monday. I got $26.07 and once before I got $5.00. So that makes $31.07 I had coming for the 2 months of service. That is after laundry; insurance and the allotment was held off. I guess I was lucky as some fellows didn't draw a cent but owed the government money yet.

Last Sunday I was on guard detail again. I had to walk my post from 9 until 11 and from 3 to 4. So I didn't get a whole lot of sleep as they got everyone up at 4:30 to go to the rifle range. Yesterday I was on K.P. The only good thing about K.P. is that you can get a lot to eat. I sure was tired last night after working in that kitchen all day and the day before we got up at 4:30 A.M. and had to walk to the rifle range which is 4 1/2 miles from here. We also had to walk back.We carried full field packs and our rifle. Boy! they sure get heavy.

Well, I have 6 weeks of my basic training in now and starting this week our technical training begins. I believe the hardest part to learn will be there codes. Every message sent is in code. I was issued a pair of pliers and a knife both in a leather case Thursday. That is called a TE-33. Every thing is called by numbers and letters. I guess it will be hard to keep them all straight. But I guess if the rest of the fellows can learn that I can also.

Today is Dora's birthday. She is 28 years old. If it wasn't so hard to get a telephone down here I was going to tell her to go up and see you today and I would call her on the telephone. But you just have to fight to get near one and then it takes 4 or 5 hours for the call to get thru and sometimes it never gets thru. She seems to like her job but I guess she gets awful tired working 8 hours and then spending several hours on the road going and coming from work.

I guess it is pretty cool up there now isn't it? It is warm here in the day time but gets real cool at night. Friday it was cloudy and foggy after 10 o'clock. Everything is green down here as the trees are all pine trees.

I just came back from the Orderly Room where my Lieutenant is interviewing his men. He asked the type of work I done. I gave him the letters of recommendations from Riley and Keuhner. He said he would give them to Captain Brice and he probably would call me in to talk to me. He said he thought I had a good thing for being in the wire section as that take technical training. Well it is a good thing but I still would like to be a fire fighter. I guess I never will hear any more about it.

Well I told you all I know so I'll close and write to you later. Write whenever you have time.

Love,
Gus

In the first paragraph of this letter Dad writes about writing letters to three of his brothers, Henry, Freddie (who was drafted about the same time as Dad and, like Dad, is in training), and Jack, the only one of his brothers who had moved from Staunton. Jack, his wife Tillie, and his daughter Wilma lived in Mount Olive, Illinois. Later in the letter Dad mentions Clara. She is Uncle Freddie's wife.