August 1, 1943

Sunday August 1st

Dear Mother,

I guess you see how the letters will come from now on.  They will be written mostly on weekends and maybe one in the middle of the week.  From the information I can get few ever find time to do anything outside of work during the week.

Tomorrow bright and early we start our classes.  They will really be tough.  Here is our schedule.  8 periods of physics a week, 6 periods of math a week, 6 periods of geography, 6 periods of English.  12 hours of P.T. a week, 2 hours a night 6 days a week is supervised study.  This does not take in 2 hours of drill a day or the time we spend cleaning up.  On a whole we have a pretty full day.

I rather have to depend upon news form home to keep me up on what is going on.  If you can't fill up your letters, put in clippings you think I might like to read.  I like Bill Cunningham and that "News of the Week on the Home Front for Your Man in Uniform".  Today was the first time I have seen a paper in a week so I am rather dependant upon home for news.  Send vital news clippings if they are not too big.  Yesterday someone asked if Sicily had given up yet.  We got quite a laugh when someone else asked if the war was over yet.  Everyone is in the same boat.  When you get through with the Independent you could send that along or you could send what you think would be interesting.  On a whole we are pretty much in the dark as to what is going on.

What a wonderful climate this is.  I really like it.  You wake up when it is cool and it stays that way much of the day.  Today was the hottest day we have had but it doesn't compare with J.B.  We do get a difference here that we never got before.  There is an overabundance of mosquitoes and small bugs.  The bugs are so small that they come in through the screen and land on all white surfaces under the light.  The mosquitoes on the other hand are a lot larger than the ones at home.  An officer was kidding us by saying that they were big enough to carry you away if they ever landed on you. They are not quite that big.  The reason is that we are on a very dirty river.  Although the water runs over a dam right near here, the water runs rather slow.  Also it seems that a lot of towns are along this river and it must be a good place to dispose of waste.

Rock River in Beloit looking picturesque, but check out the website that posted it....
Grandpa knew what he was talking about!

The town of Beloit is an industrial town.  There are about 35,000 people in it and most of them work in the factories.  This is the first town I have seen where the railroad tracks divided the rich from the poor. Most of the Negro population lives on the far side of the town while the better half live on this side of the tracks.  The little Negro children run around with out shoes.  We saw a few down at the athletic stadium and they just went about as if they had on shoes.  I should think their feet would wear out.

I will write again as soon as I can but until then I will have to sign off.

With Love,
Austin