July 4, 1943

July 4, 1943

Dear Mother, 

What a way to spend the 4th of July. There is no excitement here at all and it just seems like another Sunday.  Last year out here they had a Garrison parade in St. Louis and about 30,000 men took part in it.  This year they have a small parade scheduled but no one from G.B. will take part.  This certainly doesn't seem like home and I miss it.

Yesterday (Sat) I went on sick call to get a tooth filled.  You may remember the tooth I have had so much trouble with, well Friday I pulled out the fillings and a piece of the tooth.  It went to the Dental Clinic to be looked at and they sent me to a dentist.  I had to wait about 2 hours for a line longer than you ever saw at any dentist's office.  These camps have a set up so that they can work on about 14 men at a time with one Lt. in charge.  The young fellow who worked on me pulled out a big filling and some more tooth.  Now the whole front of the tooth is gone and he said it should be pulled but as long as the rest of my teeth are in good shape he will try to fix it.  He pushed and prodded around down there until I thought I was going right out of the chair.  The gum is especially sensitive where the front part of the tooth has broken off and left the gum exposed beneath the surface.  It will have to be filled clear down to the root.

We have done quite a lot of work with the rifle lately.  We are doing a lot of dry firing.  You can ask Pop what that means if you want.  I did rather well in it but that is only an indication that i know how to shoot.  When we have mastered all of the rifle possible without actually firing it we will go to "Arcadier" {Arcadia} a firing range quite a way from there.  Here you get shooting with the Garand rifle and the Thompson sub-machine gun.  If you qualify you are sent back to camp and get put on shipping.  We won't go for several days but I hope it is soon.

We get K.P. again tomorrow and you ought to hear everyone grip now.  Everyone hates the job and would do anything to get out of it.  We are going to the mess hall that we have been eating in.  It is an awful dirty place compared with the other mess hall.  It should be a lot easier to keep in condition than the other.  I am going to S. L. now.  I got a 10:00 pm pass.

St. Louis is the same as always. I am beginning to get an idea of how the city is put together.  As I get to know the city better I find that it does have a compactness that I didn't realize before.  The theaters and night clubs are close together but not as close as in Boston.  You have to walk quite a lot getting form place to place.  They do however have a good system of carfares.  For $1.00 you can by a week pass that allows you to ride anytime anywhere in the city.  Anyday you can but a .25 cent pass that allows you to ride anywhere all day.  You also can get transfers to go anyway except back the way you came.  All this riding is done above ground in cars like the Watertown cars.

All I have tried I still can't find a guide book to the city.  No one seems to know if there ever was such a thing.  You have to get directions everywhere you go and you can hardly find the things worth seeing.  I have a lot to say but I will write about them in my next letter.

With love

Austin

P.S. I just ran into Joe Frasher at the P.X.

July 6, 1943

June 6, 1943

{Has he forgotten the date?}

Dear Mother,

I didn't write yesterday because we were on K.P. and were restricted after we got through.  They made us get up at 3:50 a.m. and that is an early hour even around here.  It was late even so, we had to fall out right away.  The hut was a mess and we were restricted.  We really didn't feel like doing anything but we had to G.I. the hut before we could go away.

Tonight we are going to throw a party!  Most everyone including me (many thanks) got food from home.  We are going to break a few rules that say you can't have bottles in the huts, but going to the P.X. and buy soft drinks bringing them back and eating and drinking.  The only trouble is that we have a lot of work to do before a special inspection tomorrow at 5:30.  Something always wrecks the parties and makes them difficult to hold.  I am trying to write early so that I can have some fun.

I got the box today at the noon mail call.  I expected it but I didn't know what to expect.  I guess you collaborated on it.  Pop must have sent the peanuts and you and someone else the soap and cookies.  They are really good.  We are going to use the cookies tonight and I want to use the soap also but even so I doubt if I will have time.  My clothes are dirty but I may get some clean ones from the laundry.

I should tell you something about the meals.  Aside from the weather meals are the main topic of conversation.  Of course our mess hall is really pretty bad in the way of cleanliness and the mess officer doesn't seem to care to much but lets talk about the food.  Now, in the morning you get 2 little bottles  

{the second page of the letter is missing}

They probably hoped the party would be something like this.

It was probably a lot more like this.

June 26, 1943

It's the Navy, not the Army, but the idea is the same.

Jefferson Barracks

Missouri

June 26, 1943

Dear Mother;

As you have noticed I haven't written in the last few days.  The only reason is that I have been too tired to write.  Thursday we got K.P. and that is no cinch.  We got up at 3:15 a.m. and washed, shined our shoes, and made our beds.  We then fell out (3:30) in formation and marched to the chow house.  Once there we were assigned duties to do all day and duties during meals.  I drew an easy job during meals, just counting on a meter the fellows as they come in and directing them to their seats.  We fed about 2500 fellows (45 of us).  We washed and cleaned the place until it shone.  I helped wash the floor 3 times, all the tables and benches 3 times and in general helped all around.  The fellows that had the really tough job were the ones who shoveled garbage and ran the "clipper" (the dish wash).  They swet (sic) like no one ever saw.

{This song might describe his sentiments appropriately.  Go to 11:20 through 12:05}

After cleaning the place and everything in it for the third time they let us go.  They gave us a reward of a bar of ice cream.  A heck of a pay for a days work.  It was 7:15 at night and we went home, took a shower and went to bed.  Everyone was too tired to do anything.

We also got the good news that on Friday we would get a 7 mile hike.  When we lined up we had our gas masks, because they are carried every Friday, and a pack that weighed about 25 lbs.  It didn't weigh too much then but after the 1st mile it weighed a ton.  Too make it worse we had to wear the gas mask for 1/2 hour.  The gas mask cuts the efficiency of a man 50%.  You can guess how glad we were to get them off.  When you take them off you feel like you have run a couple of miles and you are breathing very deeply.

I am still wondering why someone did not pass out.  We marched in the middle of the day in the hottest sun you ever saw.  Everyone was soaked when they got home and again worn out.  I just couldn't write last night.

I have found out one thing.  You just can't keep clean clothes in a place like this.  When you think of sitting in the shade and being tickled by the water running down your neck, chest, back and arms, you can imagine what happens when you exert yourself.  We have only 2 class A uniforms (list) and one is in the cleaners 1 week  while you wear the other.  You can imagine what it looks like after a few nights.

Tomorrow (Sunday) I hope to get to the St. Louis with Harold. He came down to see me the other night and I made a date with him so we could go in together.  I guess he can show me around.  You know he has fallen in love again a couple of times in St. Louis, one down South and again out here.  He doesn't waste time.

Oh! to be back in Mass.  It is sure going to be heaven to get back to a climate where I don't swet.  I guess I just never worked hard at home (Remember Whittemores).

Everything is getting tougher.  We get up earlier 4:45 and work harder.  Intervals to shine shoes and G.I. the hut have been cut to the extent that you do everything in a hurry.  When you forget something (a sleeve not buttoned) you loose (sic) privileges.  If you go back to button that sleeve you practice falling out on the double for an hour.  It is no fun when you have to run the length of the street to do it.

I have just heard a rumor that we will ship out in 4 days.  It is just a rumor and there are a hundred like it around.  I am not planning to get out of here till I get on the train and even then they can turn back.  We have no idea where we'll go but we do know that we will go to school.

I suppose I could tell you about the fellows in our group that was in the R.C.A.R. {ed note- possibly RCAF} who has shot down 3 German planes but I have very little space and time.  It is 10:00 and I will go to bed.

Please thank Mary for the yearbook.  I will write her later.

With Love

Austin