December 12, 1943

Sat. 3 P.M. Dec. 12, 1943

Dear Mother:-

I received your letter a few days ago and as you know I was glad to hear from you. I have this afternoon and tomorrow off so I'll try to write a few letters. I have so many to write I hardly know where to start. About the only time we get time to write is on the weekends. I got a card from Lillian and also a Xmas card the first part of the week from Uncle Henry. I believe I told you in my last letter that I got a Xmas card from the Ed. Roberts.

We have been having some awful hot weather this last week but today it is cloudy and has rained a little today. I sure hope the weather stays nice the few weeks that I'm here yet.

I got my pictures last week and set them to Dora. I guess by this time she brought you one. They aren't very good but still they are better than I thought they would be.

Well next week this time I guess Dora will be in Jacksonville waiting for me. I sure hope I can get a week end pass so I can meet her. I should be able to get a pass if I haven't K.P. or guard duty as I never did ask for a pass since I've been here. I guess she will have a time getting a room after her 3 days are up here at the camp. Rooms are awful hard to get down here now.

A lot of fellows left this afternoon on a sight seeing trip to St. Augustine which is the oldest city in the United States. There bus fare was to be about $1.25.

We had 4 hours schooling and a picture show on malaria fever this week. They tell us about this as the camp is in a low spot and a lot of mosquitoes breed around here. They have men out working every day spraying oil on the ponds and cutting weeds to keep the mosquitoes from breeding.

We were kept real busy this last week. We had night classes until after 9 o'clock 2 nights. During the day we had code; pole climbing and hooking up switchboards and telephones. Just 6 more weeks basic training here. Time has sure flew by fast since I've been here.

I was just out to see if I had gotten any mail but I never. I thought maybe I would get the Staunton paper. the mail is coming in very slow now. I guess there are too many Xmas cards & packages to slow things up.

Have you heard from Freddie this week? He never did answer my letter but I guess he is like I am most of the time, just hasn't time to write. I guess some of that Army life is tough on him as he is pretty big. Couldn't they do any thing about getting him a discharge for being over 38 years old? I thought John Lee was going to try and get him out. Has he forgotten again?

Well I believe I told you all I know so I'll close and will write you more later.

Gus


Dad seems to fill most of his time off writing letters. Sounds like he had been getting mail from family and from Staunton townspeople. His cousin Lilly Glenn has written, as has her father Henry Brackhane, both of whom lived in Athens, Illinois. His brother Freddie wasn't ever much of a letter writer, even when away in the Army, so Dad has been asking his mother in nearly every letter he's written whether she's heard from him.

I think that this picture, because it is so different from other pictures of him from this period and because only a couple of copies were found, is probably the one that that he write of in this letter and in a couple earlier letters.

December 5, 1943

Sunday, Dec. 5, 1943

Dear Mother:-

I received your letter some time during the week and I was glad to hear from you. I have K.P. today but I have several hours off so I'll write you a few lines. I got a card from Lilly yesterday and also a Xmas card the first part of the week from Mr. & Mrs. Ed Roberts also a Xmas card from Harry Kuehner. I sure was surprised to hear from the Roberts.

I went and got my pictures last night but they aren't so good. I only got 3 of them and I sent them to Dora and told her to bring you one. I couldn't get a folder for them so you will have to find one for it. Dora sent me our camera and I took pictures with 1 roll of film yesterday. I will get the pictures Tuesday night and I hope they are good. I'll send them home when I get them so you can see them.

Well yesterday we moved to a different hut again. I hope this is the last time. The reason we moved was to make room for a new company which is to start soon. I just got thru doing a a little wire work in our hut. I hooked up a extention cord to my bed. I also fixed the lights so I can turn them on or off while I'm in bed. That beats walking barefooted over the cold floor in the morning feeling for the light string. Our new hut is closer to the latrine and mess hall.

Have you heard from Freddie this last week? I never did get a answer to my letter: I guess the Army life is pretty hard on him. Well we never did have to sleep out at nights yet but we were told the last 2 weeks of our training we would be out in the woods camping those 2 weeks. I have 7 more weeks of basic training here and I hope I can get a furlough then so I can get home, but I may get shipped to another camp first.

You asked me what I had for Thanksgiving. Well to save time writing I'll just send you the menu as it also has my name in it. You can keep this if you want it.

Glad to hear that Pop's leg is alright again. I bet he is afraid of dogs now. Who paid for the doctor bill those people who owned the dog? Did they h ave to kill the dog?

Well 2 weeks from today Dora should be here at this Camp. I hope it is nice like it has been for the last week. It is real nice and war. I hope she can find a room to stay after her 3 days are up here as she wants to stay until after New Years. I also hope I can get week end passes while she is here. I should as I never did have one since I've been here.

I started addressing Xmas cards last night. I got about half done. I wasn't going to send any this year but Dora sent me 34 of them to send out. I got 3 so far. 1 a piece from Roberts & Kuehnen and 1 from Primo Alberini who is in Alaska.

Well I think I told you all I know so I'll close and I will write to you again when I have time. I have so many letters to write I hardly know where to start. They piled up on me and I never get a chance to answer them. Maybe I will soon. Write when you can.

Gus

Tell Bill that Randolph died from indigestion and not heart trouble.


Unfortunately, the menu that Dad mentions enclosing with this letter must have been removed, because it was not among the packet of letters when I received them. I wonder if perhaps she gave it to my mother, since Dad's name was on it.
Harry Kuenher, who sent Dad a Christmas card, was the chief of the Staunton Fire Dept.
Primo Alberini was a friend from Staunton. When Dad and Mom moved back to Staunton in 1975, Primo became a frequent visitor to their home.
Dad's closing message to Bill, his oldest brother, is puzzling to me. I have no idea who "Randolph" is or what the story is behind his message.

November 28, 1943

Sun., Nov. 28, 1943

Dear Mother:-

I received your letter a few days ago and as you know I'm always glad to hear from you. I haven't had time or I would have written to you sooner. I also got a Xmas card yesterday from Mr. & Mrs. Ed Roberts. I think they are a little early. How about it. Dora sent me a bunch of Xmas cards so I guess I'll get them ready one of these days so I won't have to address them at the last minute. I wasn't going to send any this year but since she sent them to me I guess I'll mail them out as I can mail them free.

How is Pop doing after his dog bite. OK, I hope. Did they ever kill the dog? I hope those people pay for his doctor bill or won't they? I guess he will be afraid of dogs from now on. Does Skipper still come up there looking for me. I kind of miss him. I guess I should have him here with me as one fellow went to Jacksonville the other week and bought a small alligator for $2.00 and brought it back here for a pet. It is about a foot long and he has it in a box outside of his hut. The Captain said he could keep it here as long as he kept the box clean.

I went to get my pictures last night that I had taken but they weren't done yet. I'll go back about Tuesday if I have time. A fellow in my hut took my picture with his camera last Sunday but we haven't gotten them back yet either. Dora sent me my camera the other day so I'll take some pictures when I get a chance but I don't think it will be today as it is cloudy.

I guess I'll have to do some washing today as I never got my laundry back this week so I didn't send any back. It was lost or sent to another company. I hope it shows up in the next day or two. The Army does everything backwards. They give you 3 suits of summer dress clothes and 2 suits of winter dress clothes and still you don't have time to wear them and they give you only 2 suites of work clothes which you wear nearly all the time. We should have another suite of work clothes at least. They call our work clothes "fatigues." We get our laundry done for $1.00 a month.

Well I just had dinner. We had creamed chicken; potatoes; rice; carrots; slaw and ice cream. We get chicken and ice cream nearly every Sunday.

Three weeks from today I guess Dora will be down here. I'll try to get a pass so I can meet her in Jacksonville on Saturday. She can stay here in camp Sunday; Monday and Tuesday. I hope the weather is nice then yet. I think she will stay until after New Years. Traffic won't be so heavy then. I don't know if she will come on the train or bus.

Well I think I told you all I know so I'll close and hope to hear from you real soon. I'll write again when I have time. How is Henry Lee and Mary? Do they come and see you a lot. I guess they are getting big. I guess I won't know them when I get home. So long--

Gus


Dad write that he can mail Christmas cards for free. The majority of the letters that he has written home so far have "Free" written on the upper left of the envelope where the postage stamp would normally be. Occasionally he has sent her a letter by Air Mail, and those envelopes have a stamp on them. The letters that he wrote his mother once he was in Europe all seem to be in envelopes with U.S. postage stamps.

Wow! I had never heard anything about my grandfather ("Pop") getting bitten by a dog. From my dad's reaction, it must have been pretty bad. Dad loved dogs, especially Skipper. Skipper had belonged to my mother's youngest brother, Don Cool. The story as it was told to me as a kid was that Skipper decided that he loved my dad, so Uncle Don eventually just gave in to the inevitable and gave him to Dad. When Mom and Dad moved to California, Skipper came along. Mom talked about going to the local ice cream stand and they'd always buy three ice cream cones, one for each of the and the third was for Skipper. He was in a few of my earliest pictures, which is why I heard stories of him. He died shortly after my first birthday, I think.

Dad asks in this letter about Henry Lee and Mary. They were the children of his brother Henry. At the time this letter was written Henry Lee was 7 and Mary was 3.

Ed Roberts and his wife, who had send Dad a Christmas card a bit earlier than was usually done, apparently,  lived in Staunton just a few blocks from the Haferkamp family.