October 16, 1943

Sat. Oct. 16, 1943

Dear Mother & All:-

I received Mamie's letter this morning and Bill's a few days ago. I was glad to hear from both of them. I just stopped writting and went out to mail call. I got the Staunton paper so I read the news. Dora sent me all the back issues of the paper.

I had a busy week again and they say next week will be worse. Monday we go out to the rifle range and start shooting our rifles. We have to get up about 4:30 A.M. as we are to have chow at 5. We will go out there 5 days straight. I was on K.P. yesterday. Had to get up at 5 a.m. Wash, make my bunk and go eat breakfast before the other fellows got there. I started washing dishes at 6 a.m. and never had my hands out of the water until we finished the dishes at 9:30 A.M. Sure was a hot job and today the four fingers on my right hand are all full of blisters from the hot water and G.I. soap. That soap I believe is about 50% lye. The fellows ate in the field at noon so there wasn't many dishes then but they came in for supper. I kept myself away from washing dishes then. After they were all done we had to scrub the place. We got thru about 8:30 P.M. Sure hope my turn don't come so soon again.

Bill said he may get the job as fireman at nights for 4 months at home. Well, I hope he gets it as I know he is the best fitted fellow at home for the job and he sure put enough work in for them already and never got a cent out of it. I got a letter yesterday from Bob Ehmler and he said that they had another lay off in the fire dept down there. They now have 6 men on a shift and work 7 days and off 1 which makes 3 men on a shift and 7 shifts. They want to put them on 24 hrs on and 24 hrs off. He said the Chief has been mad ever since the lay off. Bob Simon is down in Baton Rouge, La. I guess that's were I would have been now if I wasn't the extra man when they left.

I'll try and write to Freddie yet tonight as I guess he likes to get mail to as I know I do. I don't see why he couldn't get out of the army if he went after it in the right way.

Dora said her brother Bill was home on a furlough again. I don't see how he gets so many. I won't be able to get one before my 17 weeks are up which will be about February 1st and then I'll get shipped to another camp and maybe won't get one then.

It has been real warm here the last few days but tonight's paper said it was going to be colder by tomorrow. They say it gets down to about 30 above here in the winter. Well that's not so bad.

I got my package which Dora sent me last night. Sure glad to get my pen also the handkerchiefs & towels. I took my field jacket to the tailors today to have the sleeves shortened. I'll get it again Tuesday. That is a real nice coat. Too good to wear in the fields.

One of the fellows in my hut came back today. He was in the hospital since last Sunday. He got sick from his shots & vaccination. I thought I would get a shot today but I never. Most of the fellows are getting there teeth pulled or fixed but so far I haven't been called. When they looked at mine they marked down 4 what ever that meant.

Well I think I told you all I know so I'll close hoping to hear from you all real soon. I'll write when ever I get time. I had a lot of letters to write and I should get caught up this week end.

Gus


What a picture Dad paints here of life in basic training. This is the first letter that he has written in ink. All the earlier ones were written with a pencil. The explanation is that my mother, in the package that she had sent him, included his pen. 

In this letter he mentions his sister Mamie and his oldest brother Bill. Bill, like his youngest brothers Freddie and my dad, had served in Staunton's volunteer fire department. Though I haven't found confirmation, I believe the fire department was trying to staff some positions as paid, filling gaps left by the men who had left for the military. Dad also writes of Bob Ehmler, who was married to Mom's older sister Virginia. They lived in the area of St. Charles, Missouri. I don't know who Bob Simon is. The context makes me think he was from Staunton. Though there is no Bob Simon in the 1940 Staunton City Directory, there are two Simon families.

Dad has mentioned in this letter and some earlier ones about his brother Freddie trying to get released from the Army. I remember hearing about this as a kid. He had been drafted in 1943 just before his 38th birthday. On November 11, 1942, Congress had approved lowering the draft age to 18 and raising the upper limit to 37. Dad seemed to think there was no reason that his brother wouldn't be able to gain a release from military duty. It didn't happen.