July 22, 1943

Pvt Austin Rounds

Sq A 29th T.G.

Jefferson Barracks, Missouri

June 22 1943

{He's having a really 

hard time remembering that

 it's July and not June}

Dear Mother

I suppose you wonder why you are getting this letter from J.B. after such a long wait.  Well! that is a long story so I might as well begin at the beginning.

Last Wednesday (more than a week ago) the first bunch from Boston shipped out for parts unknown.  I didn't ship with them because I don't have the right name, at least my name didn't start right.  Alphabetically everyone up to P went and we poor rookies (geeps) who were not favorably blessed stayed behind and waved them off.  That was tough but we didn't mind too much because we were going to gin in the next shipment (we thought).

Friday a new shipping order came in and we were the happiest bunch in camp.  The first thing you have when put on shipping is a teeth check.  I didn't favor so well.  I was classified as I.R. (immediate treatment) and because of the classification I was scratched form the list.  What made it worse was the clothing check and the removal of our barracks bags to a warehouse.  This left us with little more than the clothes on our backs.  Clothes, soap, towels, toilet articles, everything was gone, and what could I buy?  I had just run out of money and had to borrow everything I used.  By Monday I was a sorry sight after having not been able to change my under clothes or wash them, or have a shave.  Monday was a bad day.

Tuesday I got into the warehouse and got what I needed and my morale went up a notch.  We also got the news that the other bunch would not ship and we had hopes of going with them.  Their morale went down but ours went up.  I felt better that day but none too well of the situation.  

Wednesday a new shipping order came through and I was not on that for some unknown reason.  Only headquarters knows who will ship and why the remaining don't.  My teeth were not the reason because I had them fixed.  That same day the second bunch left for Burlington Ver to go to college, 32 of us missed it and 20 of us had never been put on the order.

Today we got orders to move into different huts because the 32 remaining were spread over 3 streets.  we packed our barracks bags (we got them when the other bunch went out) and moved.  We had no more than made our beds and got back from a 2 hour detail than we got orders to move again.  This time to a different squadron down the street and as far as we know we are just "up the creek".  We may have to start our basic all over or we may ship out in a few days.  At any rate we have taken about all the bunk the army can dish out in a week and we don't like the way we get treated.  They say that the morale of a soldier gets pretty low at times but we will get over it.  Well I will get over it if and only when I leave J.B. and get to a college and can find out what goes on.  Here no one knows what the next one is doing.  In my opinion no one person is to blame for our situation but that there is too big a turn over of men each week and no one can get anything straight.  There is too much red tape involved and not enough men who can straighten out the mess.  The army seems to be getting too big to handle.  We are getting to hate it here because they don't give you a break and don't try to consider the individual.  I have lots of suggestions to make but I, alas, am only a lowly "buck private" and this is the Army Air Corps run by the Army Engineers.

Now what of the pleasant side of life.  Last night I got my last injection and it was a tetnus.  They always give a funny reaction.  They attack the nerve around the spot where the needle went in and make the arm numb.  This affect is almost instantaneous.  The arms feels as if you have been hit on a muscle and you can hit yourself to tell what that feels like.  This only lasts about 15 minutes and you get no after effects.  I would rather have that than the typhoid which gives a rather high temperature.

Last night I also went to the main service club.  Compared with our huts this is a palace.  It is a ugly constructed building from the outside (as all army buildings are) but has all the luxuries of home inside.  You can get good meals for a low price, you can get all the ice cream you can eat and all the pop you can drink for a moderate price.  You can bring your girl there when she is on the post and sit in the guest corners or take her to the lounges on the terrace.  You can keep your girl there for a few days or you can just go there and enjoy free entertainment.  All around the main floor there are soffers (sofas?) and above the floor is a balcony with easy chairs.  It is a perfect place to spend what leisure you have. (Leisure - what a laugh!)

Now what of your letter.  I got it on Wednesday one day or rather about 14 hours after I had been paid so the $5.00 was not so needed as it should have been.  I think I will return it because too much money is a bad thing around here.  I was very glad to receive it but I would rather see how long I can live on the $24.40 that I received.  That was last months pay and after all deductions you can see how much I am making.  Money again doesn't seem to bother me.  Even if I received $100 I doubt if I would have known what to do with it.  Too much money tempts and I don't want to loose any.  I might even get to gambling if I had too much and I don't want to do that.

I am glad to hear that Mary is working but I wish she could get something more to her liking.  House work doesn't seem to be quite the thing I would like to do if I were in her place.  I hope that she can make enough money to go to school or at least help her to go to school.  Everyone so far has had a try at it so why shouldn't she.

Pvt Hargove would probably be very amusing but our time for amusement is limited and we would rather spend it doing something unusual rather than reading.  As it is I have several things to read but not the time.

Keep me informed about the potatoes and the farm.  I rather feel that I left part of me up there and I want to know how things are coming along.  

Pop may try to gain weight on vegetables but out there they gain weight on meat and good food.  Even though the "Army Mess" is a mess and often no one can tell what they are eating, the goodness is there and you can grow on it.  Here is a typical mess, they really threw the ice box in this one.  Lima beans left over from dinner, potato from the same meal, meat from the previous day, gravy from some unknown meal, string beans, from a previous supper, carrots from a previous dinner, all cooked together and called stew.  If you don't eat up all the breakfast you get it for dinner in the form of seasoning, like bacon to season string beans or carrots, then if you don't eat it all for supper you get it for breakfast and if you still don't eat it you can be sure to get stew sometime in the near future.

I got my K.M.L news and was glad to see it.  I saw the notice that Jimmy was in the hospital.  I also saw Williams letter and I wonder how he did it.  He did a swell job and should have done it sooner.  Give him plenty of encouragement.  As for my writing I am afraid I am usually in too much of a hurry. I will say this however I am now writing more that I have ever written before.  I doubt if I will ever develop into anything great.

I really wish I could get home for a short time to see how brown the grass is and how bad the garden looks.  I doubt if I could yet eat Hot Dogs but the lemon pie would no longer turn my stomach.  You will be surprised at what I can eat now.  Even I wouldn't have believed that I could eat such a variety.  Even so my skin is still rather rough but that is due to too much soft drink.  I like them and know they do me no good.  If I quit them I know I could clear up most of my trouble.

I suppose you can write to me again.  I don't know what the score is so even if I move before your next letter you can be sure it will be forwarded to me.  Just remember my new address.  I am now in Sq. A not Sq. C.

I sent my suit coat home today so it should arrive soon after the letter. I am sending the $5.00 and hope that it arrives safely.  

I am tired and need a shower so I will sign off for a while.

With Love

Austin

U.S.A.A.F.

July 16, 1943

July 16, 1943

Dear Mother;

You can't guess how I happen to be writing this letter at the hour of 1:00 p.m.  So far today I have had off except for a little walking.  I am sitting in the shade of a dispensary waiting to have an x-ray taken of my ankle.  1 week ago today I strained it playing push ball and have let it go until today.  The only reason I let it got was because I wanted to get in the training time but now I have 28 days so I can have all the time I want off if I have an excuse.  Otherwise you have to work just as hard as always.

The army is a great place to kill time.  If you had anything really wrong with you, you would die before a doctor would see you.  Through the ordinary channels it is impossible to get waited on immediately.  A fellow sitting beside me here has waited 2 days to get an x-ray taken which in itself takes only 5 minutes.  Whenever anyone goes on sick call you always take a pencil and paper because you get plenty of time to use them.  You may see records of the hours that men are sick, well take them with a grain of salt.  Most of that time seems to be spent waiting to be seen or for examinations.  Anyway I get a chance to catch up on correspondence and not get penalized for it.

I don't think that I told you that I have been to the Smith rifle range twice more this week, once to shoot the carbine and once to shoot the Thompson Sub-machine gun.  Each holds a thrill within itself.  The M-1 carbine is a very short .30 caliber rifle.  It is accurate up to 150 yards and has little more kick than a high power .22.  We had no score to get so the shooting was not too good but were familiarized with the piece and that's what the army wants.

M1 Thompson submachine gun

The Thompson sub-machine gun is the .45 caliber M-1 A-1 1928 automatic.  It also has very little kick but has a tendency to rise in the air when fired.  When you shoot it by single shots this is not noticeable but when you switch to automatic the muzzle just rises right up.  It will shoot 600 rounds per minute.

I suppose your not too interested in the foregoing so I will tell you about our trip to Arcadia.  We left here at 1:00 pm and left by the main gate.  This was so that we could get on highway #66 as soon as possible because that was the road we followed.  I guess that we passed the poorest section of this county or the whole state of MO is poor.  The people live in the poorest looking houses I have ever seen.  They are worse than the houses up around Dikes Pond.  The thing is that even in the towns we went through they were all the same with few exceptions.  People in N.E. should be glad they are there because they can at least make a decent living.  These people look like farmers and that don't (no erasure) doesn't seem to provide too good a lively hood.  Some of the farms looked better than others and they in general raised beef or had cattle of some kind.  We did see a lot of MO. mules and they didn't look too stubborn.

We went by several of the largest piles of sand I have ever seen.  Some covered an area about 1/2 mile sq and as high as 3 to 4 hundred feet.  They were just outside of some of the towns and we figured that the piles had something to do with mining.  No one knows just what they were from.

Most likely something like this from the many quarries in southern MO

Arcadia is a pretty enough place.  The worst thing about it seems to be the water.  They have no pure water so all you drink has been chlorinated.  You can really taste the chlorine and that isn't good.  Anyone could get to like this place if he could take a shower and eat off a Tray.  That is all I missed.  

Right now I feel like a nap so

With love

Austin

June 22 and 23, 1943

{Two letters came in the same envelope}

Jefferson Barracks

Missouri

June 22, 1943

Dear Mother;

This is going to be a short letter because I want all the sleep I can get.  We had our last typhoid shot tonight and I want to feel as well as possible in spite of the shot tomorrow.  I am also trying to break up a cold and I am taking everything possible for it.  I had to go on sick call to get the medicine.  They really have a system.  You all go into the dispensary and sit down.  You are eventually called to a desk and asked to give name and number.  They then stick a thermometer in your mouth, if you have sore feet you get a thermometer, if you have a broken arm you get a thermometer, no matter what you have you get a thermometer.  I guess the cold will break up soon.

Today we got our gas drill.  We went into a house full of tear gas with our masks on.  We stayed in the room ten minutes and then made a test for gas which consists of letting a little gas in the mask to see if it is present in the area.  That wasn't bad but when we had to take off the masks in the room everyones eyes  ran immediately and most were  looked like they were crying when they dashed out.  Tear gas not only irritates the eyes but burns any place in comes in contact with swet (sic).  When I came out my arms, hands and neck burnt pretty badly.

We next went down in the wood and had to run without masks through screens of gas that move, Mustard gas, Phosgene, Lewisite, and chloropicrin.  They are very mean gases and we ran through only to get an idea of what they smelt.  You could however become very sick if you fell in any of the screens by mistake.  No one was injured.

With Love
Austin

I wrote this on my knee.

Jefferson Barracks

Missouri

June 23, 1943

Dear Mother;

I cannot write much today either because I go on K.P. tomorrow and want to get all the sleep I can.  We have had it easy all day because of the typhoid shots last night but they didn't bother us at all.  Usually they half kill the gang but we just had a day of rest today.  All day long we sat in the woods in the natural amphitheaters that are found everywhere and listened to the baloney that the instructors slung at us.  They told us all about St. Louis, the U.S.O.'s, the amusements, the dances, the good times, and everything in general.  The city seems like a swell place to go.

I am going to try to get a pass for Sunday when the whole hut will go, if they get passes.  We hope that we do so we can go and see things together and find out just what there is to see.

Maybe I haven't told you how we are fed.  Since I am going to help, along with 90, to feed the boys I suppose I can tell you the procedure.  Outside the chow hall a chow line is formed.  After waiting 20 minutes to get into the hall you pick up a tray, a cup, and maybe a bowl.  You then stand in line again along the wall for another 20 minutes until you come to the silverware.  You then proceed to have different things put into different compartments of the tray.  You then pass out of the place you get your food and sit down at tables in a room that can hold about 700.  Double this because the mess hall is in 2 parts and you have the works.