July 25, 1943

Boo to you too!

July 25, 1943

Dear Mother;

I might just as well tell you the first thing that I am on shipping again.  That means that you better stop writing and wait for my new address.  Monday we expect to leave and go to college.  This is probably a surprise to you but you couldn't be more surprised than I.  We were in Sq A no more than 20 hours and we were put on shipping.  That is indeed fast work even for the Army.

When you go on shipping in Sq A, you really get a break.  You get no more work but get a chance to catch up on lost sleep.  It also means you are confined to the area and that is not so good.  Every time you go anywhere you have to sign out and tell where you are going and when you will get back.  This is a lot of bother but is worth while considering that you get out a all kinds of work and details.  This is a lazy life but I can stand a little with out too much trouble.

I have a rumor about where we will ship.  We will go to a college in Wis. about 400 miles from here.  This is strickly a rumor so don't send my next letter to Wis. and trust to luck I get it.  People do such things.  One fellow got a letter with his name, serial number and Jefferson Bks, MO.  The people that handle the letters know how to find people or half the mail sent here would never reach the fellows.  

Something funny is slowly happening to me.  You may not believe this but I am getting so that ice cream does not have the old appeal.  The reason seems to be that I am getting too much of it.  I never thought I could get enough but now we get it every night and then I go get the biggest sundie you can get for a dime.  These sundies are the biggest you ever saw and you can't get them at home.  I still eat ice cream but may see a day when it won't appeal.  What a guy I'll be when I get home.

I still feel some times that I have just gone away for a short time and will come home soon.  It seems that when I do get home that things will be changed and things will be new.  It is as if every thing I wish was different has come true.

I don't know what I will write.  It is too hot and I have run out of ideas.  I could tell you that in this switch from one Sq to another I am now bunking with two mid-Western aircraft gunners, 2 fellows from Brooklyn, NY and one from Staten Island.  We also have a Corperal with us.  He is a 2 stripe general but a pretty good fellow.  The NY'ers are always fighting about the merits of Brooklyn and Staten Island.  We get quite a kick out of it.

How do the temperatures compare now?  You may have had some hot weather but do you get it steady the way we do with the humidity at 78% now?  Right now I wish I was back in nice cool, N.E.

With Love

Austin

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 14, 1943

July 14, 1943

Dear Mother,

As you see I am still writing from this good old state of Misery.  I have got back to calling it that because it is getting muggy again and I begin to swet starting at 5:30 a.m. and do so until 10:00 p.m. when I am unconscious (I hope).

I hope you will forgive me for not writing yesterday and answering some of the questions you ask but yesterday I went swimming a soon as I could get out of camp.  The swim was wonderful and I have almost learned to do a forward sumarsalt.  The fellow who showed me how to do it can do anything on a springboard.

(I am going swimming again)

That chance to go swimming came all of a sudden and I figured that even if I owed you a letter I could get forgiven for one more day.  I like to swim well enough in this weather that I would leave anything to go.  They have a high tower and I dive off from that.  It is fun and a thing that few people in the area can do.  I guess the Mississippi river is not a very good place to swim.  It don't look to good.

Tonight before I could start this letter again the hut had to clean rifles.  It was no fun and we had about 80 to do.  It took quite a while.

I don't know what our prospects to ship out of here soon are.  1/2 the squadron has left already but we are left behind to do the dirty work.  We have to work just as if they were with us.  We hate to stay and hope to heaven that we get on shipping soon.

Now a few of those questions.  The last time I saw Harold he had no idea he was leaving.  I was going to see him when I got your letter.  I am glad to see that he got a raise.  I hope he likes Nebraska better than he liked this place. Near the end of his stay here he was doing K.P. most everyday and I don't think that helped his morale.

We sure do get tired out here.  I think that the heat is what tires us the most one day you can run the 1 3/8 mile with ease but on a hot day it is really to much to expect anyone to do.

That Boston group was still together until this recent break up.  As it is now all the alphabet from A to P has left and us poor guys with R's S's etc. have to stay behind because we didn't choose the right name.  Please advise the next A.C. {Air Corps} to be you see to change his name because everything goes by the alphabet.

I suppose you must have guessed how I answered all the letters.  I just run through yours and give you my thoughts on the subject.  That seems to be the best way to let you get my idea on something.

As to my "dear Public" you can tell them that I get along very well.  I argue with the rest and complain but not so bad as some.  I kind of like the life because I am getting something out of it.  It is kind of hard to see some of your best friends leave and know that you have got to stay behind and do hard work while they have it easy.  Everyone complains.  It wouldn't be the army if they didn't.  I get bored with it after a while.

This washing business is getting to be a problem.  You just can't find time for it and do everything.  If you do all you are supposed to you shouldn't wear the same clothes more than twice without a wash.  That means you have to have a lot of clothes or work every night.  The soap works pretty good and cuts the work.  The army supplies G.I. soap that will make anything white, even gray socks.

I am officially in the Air Corps so buy anything that says Air Corp on it but don't by these things that specifically define what you are or do in the Air Corps as I am yet unassigned and may be for some time to come.

As to the guard house I haven't yet seen its inside.  I don't even know where it is.  There area lot of prisoners here and they do the hard work around here. Most of them are fellows who have gone A.W.O.L. or deserted from the Army or some other major offense.  Some of the fellows are nice looking young kids.  They don't look like the type that get in trouble.  {For information on deserters and less glamorous psychological effects of the war, check out Deserter: The Last Untold Story of the Second World War } 

I always like to get the cut outs you send.  You can act as my censor of the Herald.  Anything that is worth sending, send along.  I don't get much chance to read papers but I get most of the news.

I don't know what else I have forgotten but just remind me and I will tell you what I know.  I don't know much about the organization of the army or stuff like that.  I didn't tell you that I met the younger Crosetti brother.  He went in the draft with me but got a transfer to the Air Corps at Fort Devins and came here after 2 weeks at Devins.

Now be sure you get the rest of this.  I hate to say this but I am almost out of money.  Please get me $5 from my bank account and send it anyway you can get it quickly.  I don't have much money and I have little hope of getting any soon.  If I get paid soon I will send it right back.  I hate to get money from home but I don't see anyway out.  I have gone about 6 weeks on $25 and $4.25 is a small sum for the pleasure I have got in town and around here in the last 6 weeks.

With Love

Austin

July 1, 1943

Dear Pop,

I got your letter in 2 days which is very fast for mail coming this direction.  Even airmail takes as long or longer to get here.  I can't understand how it came so fast.  The train doesn't come faster than the mail so you explain it to me.

Thanks a lot for the code.  I had forgotten a lot of it and I wanted to finish up on it so I could be a little ahead of everyone.  A lot of the fellows know code as it is.  Especially the fellow who was in the R.C.A.F. and shot down the German planes.

If you should compare the handwriting in some of these letters you would find that some parts are not written at the same time of the preceding parts.  Just now I got back from the Service Club.  Before going there we had our Tetnus shots and we had that on a full stomach.  I started the letter this noon but am writing it at 8:00 tonight.  Some span of time.

The Service Club is new and its a swell place to go and write letters.  It is a 5 minute walk away and not too convenient.  But the girls that work there are really fun.  They are of course Missouri girls and don't talk Yankee talk.  In fact they have a language all their own.  Everything is O.K. to them and it sounds funny when they way it.  Some of the fellows sit at the soda bar and order and reorder just to hear the girls talk. You really have nothing better to do with your money.

You may have a lot of money but just what can you do with it.  You can go to the P.X. and buy things to eat and drink but you soon fill up.  You can't go out and spend it because you need a pass to get off the post.  You can buy things to send home but most of the stuff is Air Corps stuff and I sometimes wonder if I will make the grade to fly.  Anyway the money problem doesn't trouble me very much.

Our "Conditioners" (physical training) is really tough.  They really wear you out if they can.  You start off with exercise of the arms and shoulders.  When they are tired you work stomach muscles and when they are tired you do push ups in cadence.  About half the time is spent running the 1 3/8 mile or the obstical course.  You then get rope climbing, pull ups, and combatitives.  They are a series of personal combat exercises such as Indian wrestling and ends in Jujitsu training.  Before you can fly you have to be able to chin yourself 9 times with your hands on the bar so that the backs are towards you (the hardest way).  You also have to do an agility exercise.  This starts from the position of attention, bending putting the palms on the ground the elbows between the knees, throwing the feet to the rear so that you are resting on the ground on your hands and toes.  You then do a push up and return to a position of attention.  You have to do 15 of them in 20 sec.  That will really be tough.  We also have coordination exercises that are not tough but are a test of your power to act on what you think. With a little practice you get so that you can do them.

I am sending some of my laundry out now.  Some of the stuff I just don't have time to do.  Our coveralls get so dirty I don't get a chance to do the work on them they require.  When you swet and then lay in the Missouri dust you get mud that gets too hard to wash.  Right now there is as much as 2 inches of dust in spots.  We haven't had rain for so long (4 days) we expect the pace to go away in the next big wind.  When the rain does come it will be a cloud burst and wash all the dust into the valleys.

With Love
Austin

{For a more complete discussion of the physical training, check out the Art of Manliness's article.  Are you as fit as a WWII GI?}

June 30, 1943 Part 2 sent in a later letter

June 30, 1943

Dear Folks,

Everyday we do something new.  Today we got "pieces".  They are in civilian lingo rifles but here everything is a "piece" or an "arm".  We went to the supply house and drew these to learn the manual forms with them.  Most of the fellows got the old Enfield rifle but me and a few others got the new ultra modern M-1 or Garand rifle.  They are as you probably know gas loaded and fire a .30 cal. bullet.  But are they heavy!  8 lobs + 3 ozs seems like a ton after it has rested on your arm or shoulder for awhile.

We went on parade today.  At 3:45 we fell out in Class A uniforms and helmets to go to the main drill fields.  We marched up to the field where we formed a squadron front and marched 12 min across, something we had never done before.  We marched onto the field walked by the reviewing stand.  Then all the squadrons lined up in a Flight front and waited by the cannon to fire, the retreat to be sounded with the lowering of the flag, and the band to march up and down the field.  We couldn't move all during this time and I was rather dead in places at the end of the time.  We got back at 5:45 to wait to a very poor supper.

Today I got the box and it was all in fast.  I didn't realize at the time but I may have trouble finding film for the camera myself.  However I am going to town again tonight and I shall try to find some films tonight.  I will write more about St. Louis as soon as I can find out more about it.  Most of the fellows don't think much of it though. 

With love

Austin

Permission slip required for possessing a camera on base.

First Pay Check June 29, 1943

{That's right, a grand total of 0 dollars and 50 cents.  This clip of This is the Army at 53:15 seems apropos.  The routine starts around 51:00 if you're interested.  The whole movie is worth watching, in my opinion.} 

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.

June 20, 1943

Jefferson Barracks

Missouri

Sunday June 20, 1943

Dear Mary;

We are having a pouring rain now.  It is just coming down in buckets and is running into all the gullies. It is following in under the door and is beginning to wet the floor and make it rather uncomfortable.  But it is a welcome change.  All day long it has been too hot to do anything and I have stayed in an slept or stayed in the shade.  I did a little washing and it was rather hot work and I cam back with my clothes rather swetty.  I went to look up my friend Dick Moir who got in last Thursday.  They had com in coaches and had sopped for six hours in Chicago.   I had seen them come in and had read the shipping orders with all their names on it but I had not noticed his.  if I had know he was hear before I would have gone and seen him.  All of his gang were very interested in that picture.  Thanks a lot for telling me of him and for sending that picture.

When I think of the poor people at home I feel sorry for you with all the rationing.  With the gas shortage you have to walk and the sugar rationing Mother has to worry about how she will come out at the end of a period.  We don't have any rationing at all out here.  The gas shortage don't bother me at all.  I walk everywhere I go and when I go to the main P.X. that is some walk.  We get all the sugar we want and I have gotten so that I leave sugar in the bottom of my coffee cup.  What a waste.  The meat we get may not be the best but who can pick when it tastes good and fills up the right spot.  We really have an easy life on Sundays.

I was glad to hear about the banquet and I am glad you had a good time.  Last year there were cars and gas for pleasure driving but this year you seemed to have a tough time to get around.  As you say Mr. Thibodeau stole the show from the rest of the teachers.  Last year he shared honors with Mr. Miller but he is gone.  The kids always have fun when "Thibby" is there.  He is really a good sport.  I supposed most of the after-dinner speeches were rather dry but that seems to be the case everywhere and every time.

I sure wish I was home to go to the "Pops" or the Esplanade concerts this summer.  As it is we have prospects of staying here 56 days but it probably won't be that long.  If it is I won't get home to go to any of the concerts at all.  Most likely I won't get home for quite some time yet.  Have they played the "Rhapsody in Blue" lately.  I heard it today on the radio and it made me rather wish I was hearing it in Stoneham rather than in Missouri.  It rather reminded me of William and his records.

We really got a good laugh today.  One of the fellows got a letter from his girl and she wrote, quote, "how many hours of flying have you had".  The nearest we get to planes is seeing one or two flying over every once in a while.  We really don't expect to see planes until the end of our college when we get the 10 hours of dual instructions.  That will be the day and will be something to write about.

Today I went to church.  It is really a little chapel that has been dedicated in the last week.  It was really a beautiful service and it made me homesick.  I guess that church is one of the things that I really miss.  I guess I got so used to church at home I will get homesick everytime.  This seems to be the only time of week I felt like I am missing something.

I am writing this by match light because the lights are out.

So!
With Love
Austin

Here's what's on the bottle of eye drops

187864            4.23.43
Drop two drops in eyes twice daily
Dr. Crosby

June 16, 1943

Jefferson Barracks

("Misery" 

"That's what I mean")

June 16, 1943 

Dear Mother;

Don't take the heading too hard.  It really is not so bad hear (sic) but everyone but the natives cuss the weather and wish they were in some nice cool climate.  It is not so much the heat as it is the high humidity.  Nothing really dries unless you wear it.  The rain comes in cloud bursts and runs off the ground in rivers leaving little gullies that have to be filled.  The rain comes in at such high speed that you get no warning.

Congratulate Mary for me for graduating from high school.  She sure must be glad.  I know that I was glad.

Gee I wish I would get a letter.  Here, a week after my arrival and posting of my first letter, I still have received no letter.  I admit that I have missed writing 2 days, but some of the fellows have received mail 3 times.  Well, I expect some tonight and I will be happy.

Yesterday night we got some more injections. They are not so bad at first but now I am having trouble with one arm and have a slight case of Typhoid Fever.  I would sure hate to get the real thing if this is anything like it.  We didn't have any hard work but some of the fellows collapsed on the march and in their cabins.  It is really tough on them.

I have a chance to buy a new watch from $26.50 at the main P.X.  If I had the money I would buy it.  It retails in Civilization for $45.  It is a Swiss 17 jewel watch.  Do you think I should buy it?

With Love
Austin


{The watch may have looked something like this, this or this.}

June 13, 1943

From Pvt. Austin L. Rounds
Squadron C 29th T.G.
Jefferson Barracks, MO

To Mrs. A.P. Rounds

15 Wilson Rd.

Stoneham, Mass.

Jefferson Barracks

Missouri

Sunday 13, 1943

Dear Mother;

I am sorry I didn't write yesterday or the day before but we have been busy.  I don't know just how the new mail is coming through because I have not received any mail yet but I expect some.  None of the fellows have got any mail yet.

This is really a great life.  Although I like it and feel fine I don't believe I will stay any longer in the army than possible. We are fed well but the hours are terrible - 5:15 to any hour of the night.  We have to be all up til 4:00 p.m.  Often they are an hour or so late and we don't get a chance to have a shower before supper.  That makes things very uncomfortable.  These first few days have been tough on some of the fellows because some come from very luxurious homes.  

It sure is hot out here.  I don't know just how hot it is but this is the first place I ever swet (sic).  And do we swet (sic).  The fat and the thin all swet the same.  I have begun to get a heat rash on my legs and under the heavy wool stockings.  The P.D.s ( a kind of legging) are made of canvas and are the hottest darn things you ever saw.  I have got so that I swet through a heavy undershirt enough to soak my shirts. My arms in my sleeves are always soaking wet.  Even with the heat we get no change in schedule.  A few of the boys I have talked with are from Texas and they say that they never were so hot in their life.  It must be the humidity.  It rains so often the ground is usually damp.  We are also on the Mississippi river.

You may get my clothes in a few days.  They are supposed to be sent free of charge at the government expense.  I am so tired and we are having a heated discussion.

Sincerely

Austin

Jefferson Barracks

Missouri

Monday 14, 1943

Dear Mother;

The two of these letters are coming together because we got into a hot discussion last night and I didn't have time to mail the letter before I went to bed.

On a whole I have not written too many letters so maybe I better explain and have you set up a memeograph (sic) and make copies to send around.  If you haven't already done so I wish you would write to Grandma and to Grandpa.  I hardly have time to write a letter.

(As you see my letters are a little incoherent.  This is because I no more than get a line written and we get the orders to fall out on the "double" and that means in a hurry.  Our new sgt is rather tough but a swell fellow.  Even so everyone gets a great kick out of the way he takes care of us.  He really does a wonderful job.

"There have been some changes made".  You ought to see the G.I. haircut I got.  If Pop would send some film and a camera I will take some pictures of the place and you can get an idea how I look in our "Class A's" and "Class B's".  I sure would like to have a portable radio and a lot of other junk, but that seems impossible.

You should get my clothes as I sent them home today.  I have run out of paper so you will have to wait till I get some from the P.X.

Sincerely

Austin

{For more information about Jefferson Barracks, since I can't find any pictures that Grandpa took, check out the Jefferson Barracks home page.  There's a short video about it too... just in case you're interested. Jefferson Barracks, Answering the Call.  If you've ever been there, we'd love to hear what it's like! }

June 8, 1943

{He mailed 3 letters at his first opportunity.  It's long, but be strong and endure to the end.}


From Pvt. Austin L. Rounds
29th Training Group
Squadron C
Jefferson Barracks, Missouri

To Mrs. A.P. Rounds

15 Wilson Rd.

Stoneham, Mass.

June 8, 1943

Enroute to

Missouri

Dear Mother:

Please pardon the poor writing as this is the best I can do under the conditions.  The train is traveling fast enough to make it hard to write.  But we are slowly but surely tracing our way (on the map) to St. Louis.  We are now somewhere in the middle of Ohio.

William has probably told you that he left me inside the N. Station where I met that other fifty or so.  There we had to wait till 9:00 for the train to Devins and in the mean time we had our group picture taken by an army photographer.

There was not much to the ride to Devins other than that I hoped it would stop raining as it did not you can guess what would happen when none had a rain coat.  It began to rain for good when we hit (train bump) the station.  A lot of future infantry men were there ahead of us and they marched off ahead of us.  But to heck with the infantry, we rode in trucks and did not get wet at all.  At the camp we had a meal that was very good, mash potato, peas, apple sauce, a pork chop, bread and butter, and something else I don't remember and topped it off with a piece of pineapple pie.

As time means very little to the army we stayed about 6 hours instead of the 3 to 5 hours.  All I could do to amuse myself was to play "bid whist."  It was a lot of fun and easier to score than just bridge.

All this time it had been raining and the roads were a mass of puddle.  We got our orders to line up in front of our barracks with our suit cases.  And there we stood for a half hour until we were soaked.  We then walked a 1/4 mile and am now on a Pullman with all the luxuries of a 5-cent a mile fare.

The meals on the car before are not too hot as most of the cooking is done in the baggage car.  We are being fed all right and I don't think that I will starve. 

We are having a swell trip.  You would really like it.  Everything is swell. Even the clothes are beginning to dry.  All last night we traveled up hill until we came to the Hoosac tunnel in Northern Mass.  Hear (sic) are the towns.  Devins 5:10 pm, Fitchburg, Royalston, Sheldon Falls, N. Adams, and then the tunnel at 8:25.  The next part of the ride was mostly down hill, Troy N.Y 9:45, Albany.  Our beds were then made and I slept through until Albany, then to Syracuse, and woke finally in Buffalo 5:00 am. All this time the hills began to flatten out and became smaller.  The cities and towns farther and farther and smaller.  This land is an awful lot like N.C. but much wetter.  I don't see how they can use machinery.  Pop can tell you what happens when you use a tractor on wet land.

Next came Erie Penn 7:40, Conneaut Ohio 8:20, Ashtabula, Madison, and then Cleveland at 9:45.  Hear (sic) we had a chance to get out for the first time and walk around.  After Cleveland we saw the Great Lakes and it seemed like the ocean.  The land that comes down to Lake Erie is very flat and much land erosion can be seen.  The rivers that lead to the lake and the lake itself near shore are very muddy.  It was the last bit of water that size we shall see for a while so we watched until it was well out of sight.

Since then we have been going through all the little towns in Ohio even down the main street. 

It is getting very hot but I am enjoying every bit of it.  We may sleep on the train again tonight and I expect we will reach our destination early Wednesday morning.  

I am surely getting a chance to see things.  ( We are going down the middle of a street again).  We are writing as we ride on the Nickle Plated Road, a R.R. I never saw such piles of coal before.  In every town we find enough coal to keep it going a long time.

Ohio is very flat with the acres divided by a line of trees.  Every once and a while you see a grove.

I may not write again, because the train is going too fast and I may be too busy, later on.

It is now 4:00 pm and I am closing

As Always,

Austin

P.S. Tell Lenny not to get impatient.

From Pvt. Austin L. Rounds
29th Training Group
Squadron C
Jefferson Barracks, Missouri

To Mr. A.P. Rounds

15 Wilson Rd.

Stoneham, Mass.

Enroute to
Missouri

June 8, 1943

Dear Pop,

I am writing this as a kind of continuation of Mother's letter.  As so much has happened in the last 2 days I can't see why I should write twice.  I am writing this under much the same circumstances but I am in bed and have a little bit steadier rest than my knees.  I am in an upper birth, and as I will sleep alone I should get a lot of sleep.  The only trouble is that we will reach Missouri between 1:00 and 2:00 in the morning.  I doubt if we will have to get up then.

The meals have been fine considering they originated in the baggage car and were served onto paper plates.  With such little K.P. to do this army could be heaven.

We are really a troop train.  There are seven cars filled with soldiers both with and without uniforms.  Some of them have ratings already and I don't know whether they will keep them or not.  I have been keeping track of the towns I have gone through and I will send it home when I get a chance with the route all mapped out.  It is about 1200 miles long.

I have seen some of the damage done by the recent floods.  Levies were built along the tracks to keep the water down and away.  In some places the tracks lay on bare ground and the ties and foundation very inconspicuous.  The rivers raised 5 to 6 ft and left large deposits of brown dirt and large pools of water.  This water seems to be very shallow as the grass sticks up in many places but it covers a large area.  From what I have seen of the water standing on the land as it is, it seems possible that this water will remain for many days.

I can't get over seeing the long rolling plots of land that reach as far as the eye can see and broken only by a narrow slip of trees or a town.  Often the highway runs through these trees and it in turn stretches for miles without a turn.

Back near Lake Erie and farther we saw wine cultivated.  They were grape vines and the Harris Grape Juice people were the buyers.  In Ohio we saw pigs, cattle and corn.  Indiana is much the same only the farms are getting larger.  I hope I will wake up to see the Mississippi River and the damage done by the flood.  It will be dark and then and I don't know how much I will be able to see.

I am sorry I had to leave you this way but it was not all my choice.  I am however glad that I have started and will find out just where I will be in a year.  I hope the potato business goes good.  I really miss the farm and the machinery.  It was a lot of fun to drive that tractor.

Don't let Mother worry because there is nothing to worry about.  Tell her that I thought the party was swell but I am still worrying about the two glasses. (We are riding down another main street in some small town.)

There is so much to say but it is now lights out and we are supposed to go to bed.

(See if you can get another prescription for those eye drops.  I lost some when the bottle tipped over)

Sincerely yours,
Austin.

{This is the map of the route that he included.  You can see that he drew a line along his route from Boston to St. Louis.  Below is the list of towns that he passed through.  It's a little hard to read.  I wish had pictures him riding through Main Street.}

{2nd letter included in the letter to his mother}

Jefferson Barracks

Hi Everybody,

This is just a short note to let you know that I arrived safely.  I have been assigned to a "hut" that is really a pretty good cabin.  I don't have much time to tell you much other than that this looks like a good place to stay a while.

My address you can find on the outside of the envelope.  I have been issued all my clothes for about a year, hot and cold alike.

You will likely get my two letters at the same time as we could not mail them en route.

It sure is hot out here.  I don't know how hot it really is but this is the first time I swet (sic) like I did today.

I am in a hurry to get out and cool off so I will sign off.

Sincerely,
Austin.