November 15, 1944

Roswell Field

Nov. 15, 1944

Dear A.P.

Have a little time to write in between P.T. and gas mask drill.  Every Thursday is gas mask day so P.T. is very short.  As it was we ran around the field with our masks on which is very strenuous exercise.

PT drills in gas masks

We flew last night and will again today if the weather clears up.  Last night we went on a 600 mi cross country and it took us a little more than 3 hours.  We ran into rain and snow about half way around accompanied by low ceilings so had a rather rough time.  A couple of our radios went out so we had a pretty unhappy trip.  Night cross countries are pretty easy.  You take up the general direction you are heading and then take out the drift by the radio compass.  It is all pretty easy.

Today the weather is socked in so the first flight this morning did not get off the ground.  Maybe we won't either so I am not planning anything this afternoon.

This weekend we get a 36 hour leave so we are going to see some of the country around here if things go as planned.  They have a big summer and winter resort up in the mts about 100 miles from here so we are going up and see some snow.  It may be a little expensive but we don't care too much as we haven't spent a heck of a lot of money lately except upon movies.  It will be a pretty good change.

We have been having personal affairs lectures lately and they tell us that we should have a will made out if we own anything of value.  However they tell us to have it made at home rather than here because of the lack of suitable witnesses to such.  They say that many of the witnesses we get here would not be available if it were to be executed some time in the future.  I think that it is better to have it made out at home when I get there soon I hope.

Do you think we could arrange a short trip to Maine when I am home again?  I sure would like to see Grandpa and Aunt Emma.  Maybe we could use some of those fish reels you found.  It sure could be a load of fun if we could.

Do you know if Mother got my last bond a short time ago.  She should have.  We are asked to take out a bond a month here and they twist your arm a little to see that you do.  I don't mind buying bonds and really think it is a good way to save money but this high pressure salesmanship is what gets me.  I guess I just hate to have people tell me what I should do with my money.  Maybe they have our best interests in view.  We are buying them anyway which is what they want.  Incidentally the officers have a 100% subscription on this post.  

I kind of wish Mother had found the time to see the West last month.  I guess I didn't to to sell the idea enough.  All she needed was a little more pushing and she would have come.  Maybe I fell down on the job.  This is a poor time of year to come because the weather is getting bad.  It is getting cold and damp and a lot like some of our March weather.  Mrs. Blaisdell in Phoenix says it is still swell around there and that they still get 80-90 degrees everyday.  However the nights must get cold even though it warms up during the day.

Last Sunday we went to the First Methodist church in town.  I'm sending along the calendar which you can give to Mother if she is saving such things.

Since I have started writing I have been to dinner and been to the flight line.  We did not fly because of the weather.  It doesn't make me too unhappy to stay on the ground but you rather hate to spend the time and not get the flying in.

Well I guess I shall go into town and get my watch cleaned and maybe but a book to read.  Do you have any good suggestions?

With love

Austin

December 30, 1943

Santa Ana Army Air Base

Dec 30, 1943

Dear Mother:

I have a lot of spare time now so I am writing and spending the time the best way I know.  Of course I could have written last night but I wrote to Cousin Emma in Hollywood.  I think I hsall go there over the New Year weekend.  She is really so nice I really enjoy the visits very much.

In a week or 2 or more you will get a package of stuff I have collected here in California.  There will be old letters, cards, etc. along with books, papers and other junk.  The reason I am sending them you may be able to guess.  We are sure to be shipping out in a short time and although I am not positive I will go I am not worrying as  much as these fellows who got low academic averages and too many giggs.  They have washed out a few fellows already for too many giggs.  My grades in school were not too bad and we don't know just how the averages came out because some classes got more credit than others.  Anyway I got a 95% in Physics, 87% average in Math, 93% average in Aircraft Identification, 93% in chemical warfare, 85% average in gunnery but fell down in Navel and at 78%.  I had one midterm examination that was very poor and it pulled the whole average down.

One thing I do know.  The squadron will be broken up and different sections will be sent to different fields.  We were not good enough to stay together.  I was going to leave a lot of friends anyway because a lot of fellows are being held over for some reason or another.  Only 7 from one section of 46 will leave.  In our section however (No I) we got all good averages and will have only 1 holdover if things all go well.  Our section by the way seta  few records around here.  We got the largest number of superiors in class (43 in a row) that has ever been recorded.  No one failed code, another record.  Got the highest marks in Aircraft Identification of any class (above a 90% average).  We carried the E flag for 4 straight weeks.  Oh well, we did pretty well but I only wish the whole sqn had done better so we could stay together.

There has been a rumor around that we are going to ship out of California to Arizona or Texas or some such place.  The reason is that the last class has not received enough flying time to leave for Basic and therefore we shall be shipped to some clear weather states where we have a chance flying.  This is a poor time of year to be flying out here.  Last week there were only about 1 1/2 fly hours per student and that is not enough.  You have to have at least 20 to get out. Well it really isn't too bad to see such rain if you don't have to fly but if you want to it is disappointing to see all the rain we get.

Maybe the Chamber of Commerce has fooled the whole country but not the natives around here or the soldiers who are training here.  We fall out at 5:45 and find a clear star-lit sky but it is usually raining by 8:00 and not later than 1200.  It isn't a bad rain but a slow drizzle that always seems so cold and penetrating.  Out here however they are warm and do not chill so much.  Some times it really pours and then it really rains.  The water comes up about an inch every where so that it is impossible to keep the feet dry.  We wear the wet shoes to dry them out and because they will dry out no other way.  The only trouble is that socks wear out fast and with no mother around to mend we just have to buy new ones.  It is terrible waste but then we figure our time is worth more than the stockings.

So far I have been very lucky and have lost only a few minor articles of clothing.  I have only lost one O.D. hat with the insignia on it.  I always thought that you would lost more than that but it seems that I am in with a picked outfit and they don't swipe so much as the regular "run of the mill".

I seem to be just rambling along here and not answering any of those questions you are always asking. Cousin Emma asked me if I ever got questions from home and if I ever answered them.  She said that her boy Robert hardly ever answered her questions and I guess I must seem that way to you too.  I gave her the only answer I know and that is that whenever you write you never have the old letters available to get questions from.  Right now I am C.Q. and don't have letters available.  I guess if you have anything you want answered you will have to write it on something special that I can carry around for reference.  By the way, the Independents are coming through very well and I have received the last 3 or 4 issues.  They are really swell; I must write something some day to put in.  You wrote that old Seward got his commission.  Well if I don't become a pilot I will look like him when I get home.

With love

Austin.

December 23, 1943

Dec. 23, 1943

Dear A.P.

I got your air mail letter today in the second mail call at 1700.  It was post marked the 20th and you can see that it came right along.  It really did save time as in normal times it takes 6 days and lately mail has been coming through is 8 and 9 days.  Your last letter of the 16th came in 8 days.  It must be due to the strain on the Railroad caused by the Christmas rush.

THe watch situation is rather tough everywhere.  The clipping I am sending shows that recently they hooked a lot of red tape on to getting a watch here.  Don't get a Swiss watch for $50 because I can get one (if I am lucky) for $30.00 or less.  The watches are available for a short time each month and the supply does not last long.

Well our classes are coming to an end soon, in fact most of the finals come tomorrow.  That is the reason I have not been able to write for the last 2 weeks.  We have had 5 classes a day with a test every other day in each one of them.  That takes a lot of studying and cramming as you can not prepare for a test and do all homework and get enough sleep in the time we have.  After Christmas we will have a little more time off and I expect to write again more often.

I imagine Mary will be quite changed when I get home.  Everything will be changed when I get home. I wish I could be home for Christmas but the Air Corp has no furloughs over Christmas or any holiday although they do give out 72 hour passes for Christmas and New Years.  You speak of ski boots and I think of snow of course and how I wish I could get a hold of a snowball.  We see snow on the mts. about 35 miles away but it never gets cold enough here to make it worth while to hear heavy clothes.

I rather like the idea of a community club but to me it seems that it is coming too late.  I know that I could have enjoyed it much more before the war.  But as for the future uses I am sure they are all for the idea.  I am sure if it is well supervised that it will be a great benefit to everyone in town who will participate in it.

I too have been studying code and have passed an 8 word check which has given me a a passing mark for the course.  However I can take 10 and 12 and 14 early in the morning when I am feeling alert.  I could easily pass 12 words if it were not for a few letters that come over and make me think and at that speed you can't think and get the letters.  While you think you miss a few and 3 misses are all you are allowed.  Code is something you have to study every day and do intensive study if you want to get anywhere.  Out here they give you 1 hour a day of study with extra periods if you can work them in.  Some of the fellows can take 14 words with no trouble at all and some can take 20 which is the ceiling around here.  At that speed it is almost impossible to print the letters.  I think I shall send you a code sheet we used here.  It is primarily a practice sheet and the letters and send in series of 5.  You can not receive messages too well with it but receiving the unrelated letters is better practice than receiving messages where you can guess half that is sent over.

I must close now.

With love

Austin

November 23, 1943 to Mother

Nov. 23, 1943

Dear Mother:

I suppose you are wondering how I found ca.... Cousin Emma.  Well that is a long story.  I really intended to see her bur headed in that direction a little too late.  What really happened is that I over estimated my ability to get out of camp.  When it is Saturday night 10,000 fellows have the same idea.  Let's go to L.A. and one bus line with all special busses can not take care of the rush.

Many of the fellows found that they could get rides out of camp to L.A. for $2.50 but I decided that was too much to pay for a ride of only 30 miles.  As a consequence I got to L.A. too late to go anywhere.

We went to the end of a long line of fellows trying to get to Santa Ana to get the Pacific Elective into the big city.  We waited here for over an hour and got real hot thinking of the time we were wasting.  When we did get to S.A. we had to wait again for a long time so instead of waiting we paid $1.50 for a ride to L.A.  The regular fare is $.75 so we didn't get to bad a ride.  It was very late when we got there so had very little time to get a room and get settled.  I did get a chance to see the city a little but it was after dark.  

Same picture as on Nov 21.  The card is bent from writing on the bottom diagonally to the top right corner

I am sending a picture of the place we ate.  I marked the table on the picture and you can get some idea of the places they have here and they are inexpensive.  I had a very good meal for $.90 and had music to accompany it.  The music and singing came from a little balcony you can see in the upper right hand corner.  The place was a rather good place to eat and I think I shall eat there again.  The little yellow (orange) paper I picked up was in the middle of each table for those who wanted them.

I forgot to tell how you enter.  As you can't see where we got our food.  You entered at the front and walked around the side in a kind of long tunnel that was lined with gold fish cages.  The tunnel is between the falls and the table.  The falls were very beautiful and viewed through a curved glass window so that it looked like no window at all.  William would have really loved this place if unique mess is his fancy.  I don't think you will see anything like it in the East.

You seem to find such things all through L.A. Nothing quite compares with them.  You would really love the country.  Is is all so different that I can hardly believe I am so near to home.  I feel near home although I guess I am really a long way away. 

I am sorry that the card got broken but a young lady sat on my lap and crushed it.  Now I suppose I will have to explain that.  Well, we were walking down the street when a car with two delightful girls pulled up beside us (5 boys) and asked us if we wanted to go to a party.  Well I kind of hesitated because I didn't think all western hospitality was this but the car looked good, the girls looked all right and a party seemed the thing so we all piled in.  They were U.C.L. girls and they took us to a college dance.  It seemed that men are scarce out here also.  They had all uniforms at the dance.  Navel ROTC and Marine ROTC and a few regular Navy and the Army Air Force (us).  We met the house mother who was a kind old soul and helped us get a room up town to sleep in.  Guess what they drink at such parties.  Hot tea, with fruit juice.  Not very wild.  However we had a swell time.

Seeing we were a mile from the center of the city we convinced the girls that after the dance they would have to take us back to the city.  They decided at 12:00 PM (civilian time) that it was time to close down the dance so the 5 boys and 4 girls piled into the car (result: crushed picture) and went to a small diner in a ate some hamburgers and drank pop.  They left us off up town and we went to our room for a good nights rest.  It was about 2:30 and I was glad to hit the hay.  We slept till 9:30.  It sure is wonderful to sleep late once in a while.

There wasn't much to do after getting up Sunday so we went and did a little shopping and got some insignia (if you got the ones I asked for and haven't sent them you better keep them).  We came back early and slept on the train all the way.

It sure is a kick of a way to spend a weekend.

Now; "What is the difference between the Army Air Corp and the Army Air Force"?  Well you may ask a lot of people in the Army Air Force and they won't know but from what I have been able to find out it goes this way.  The Army Air Corp is the branch that corresponds to the United States ARmy and the Army Air Force is the same as the ARmy of the United States (You don't see.)  Before Pearl Harbor the Air Corp was very small and was only a part of the Army but now it has expanded to such an extend that is is a force in itself and is almost a complete, self sufficient outfit.  Don't let it worry you because in most places they are the same and the expansion is the reason for the change.  I don't think anyone cares about the difference.

I don't know anymore answers because I forgot all the questions so if I don't write the answers to your questions, ask again.

That watch will be very valuable out here because everyone elses is in the repair and you have to hunt to find out the time.  I hope you get the most for your money and get William's ideas on the subject because I will know what I want that is round.   Well I leave the rest to you and the family.  Don't spare the money because there is a lot more where that came from.  The government has lots of it and I have got a raise in pay.

The food is a lot better now.  It seems to come in spasms.  We get Roast Beef quite often with mashed potatoes and gravy and vegetable.  I am just keeping my fingers crossed and hoping for the buest bu not one can tell.

I will have close now because I have a lot of other things to do.

With love,

Austin

November 9, 1943

11-9-43

Dear A.P.

I got your letter that was written Nov 3.  I guess it takes a long time for mail to come and go all this distance and some of the things you write bring back memories rather than present day happenings.

I am able to write this letter chiefly because today I am the Fire Guard.  The F.G. is the hardest working white man on the base.  He is on a 24 hour shift and has the whole barracks as his responsibility.  He keeps it clean, salvages waste paper, keeps butt cans clean, shines brass, empties waste barrels, and has all kinds of duties the purpose of which are to keep the place looking as well as possible at all times and helping the others clean up so no one will get giggs.  It's a rough job and very little rest comes till after 2000.  The big catch is that you miss classes which are impossible to make up.  However most of the squadron is on detail and today was a repeat of yesterday.

We have Battle Ship Identification, Elementary Math, Ballistics, Military Courtesy, and Code.  The code is the big catch and even though we get an hour a day most every one has trouble with this class. We try to learn 4 new letters a day; after this it is just a period of speed up until you can take 10 words a minute.  We have a few who have code before and can take 25 words, which is very fast for most anyone.  They take the letters by the length of the sounds on a whole rather than the little individual sounds as you learn them.  These fellows help us out somewhat.  One of the Sgts. that teaches can take 40 words a minute and they say that at that speed it is just a continuous series of sound.  I will never attain that speed.

My money is beginning to pile up.  I don't know just what to do with it all.  I could buy War Bonds but can never get to the office where they sell them.  Is there any suggestions you can offer for my present situation?  I can always spend it when I get out but it will be just wasted, but you don't have to worry about me wasting my money.  It comes too hard.

I don't know what to do about the watch.  I really need one but can't get one unless I am lucky.  Then I don't know anything about watches so I am a little cautious about spending $25 or more.  

The army has a funny way of paying.  They give you $57 and then take back 10 or 12 for different expenses you have acquired along the way.  Each month we get $2.50 taken out for grass seed and other misc.  You get credit for $.15 a day but they take that back for use of the mess hall equipment.  You can't complain because no one seems to know anything about what goes on higher up.  As each pay check is made out somewhere else no one can tell what goes on.  you have to take it unless you are short $20 or more.

Well I have got to get about my duties. So

With love

Austin.

October 2, 1943

{No letter or envelope included, just his travel orders and 2 post cards}

Kansas City's impressive skyline is indicative of the industry and culture found in "The Heart of America", one of the world's richest agricultural areas.  Kansas City is famous for its meat and other vital food processing and shipping facilities, and is one of the nation's most important war industry centers.  Union Station, foreground, served by 12 trunkline railway systems, is one of the busiest terminals in the nation.

Card #1

(This car is very bumpy so you can see by the writing.)  We left Beloit at 7:30 pm and arrived here from somewhere to eat.  Breakfast and dinner at the same time.  This station is rather large but we only saw the lunch room that

William Rockhill Nelson Art Gallery and Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, located in one of Kansas City's finest residential areas, is considered outstanding among the most modern galleries in the world.  With an endowment of $11,000,000 the gallery owns many famous art pieces, features travelling collections and, because of the war, is in possession of valuable collections sent here for the duration. More than 5,000 objects are on display in small, scientifically lighted and air-conditioned galleries, decorated according to various periods.

Card #2 Dinner eaten at 11:30 AM

was taken over by the army.  The picture on this card was taken somewhere in the city and even though I didn't see the place, the USO was giving 2 cards to each service man so I had to take mine.

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 2, 1943

(I never saw this place!  I don't think that anyone has ever seen it.  It's pretty anyway)

July 2, 1943

Dear Mother,

I suppose that the weather is a good subject to start a letter with.  We see by the papers that you have had some hot sunny days.  out here it has taken quite a change.  Monday we had a shower just as we were returning from the camouflage school.  It soaked everything including us right to the skin.  We were miserable for a while but it was hot enough so that we dried off soon.  However the rain was the start of a cold spell.  It cooled off and the evening was very pleasurable.  we actually slept cold that night and have used two blankets each night since.  The days have been cool and the heat is no longer the major grip (sic) of the day.  Today it heated up quite a lot and tomorrow promises to be a hot day.  This cold weather can't last long.  

We have to have rain around here as we get a lot of dust.  If you stop after marching the dust just rises and chokes.  You have to stay on the pavement to keep away from the dust.  The rain will wet the dust down and wash it into the hollows.  In many p laces this was gets to be several feet thick and is definitely not the thing to walk through.  If you do you have a real job to get it off especially if you let it dry.

This place is a test of home training.  Many of the fellows were brought up so badly that they return to the state of {coarse? coose} men whenever they can.  Manners in the mess hall are terrible and the huts would be so cluttered that you couldn't rake all the junk out if you relaxed the rules on neatness.  I am now sitting beside a fellow who was a very good boy when at home.   His mother had a lot to say about when he went out and how long he went and who he went out with.  He went to B.C. {Boston College} for a semester but didn't learn to much about the world. Anyway now he don't know when to come home when he gets a pass.  He also has 3 girl friends all ready and may get another tonight. Coming in late nights and try to stay awake day times is not my idea of fun.

Today we didn't do too much but still had to put in the time to get it as credit as a training day.  We got Tetnus shots last night.  They really hit you in the arm.  They make the arm numb right off but this can be worked off by pumping the arm.  Often it goes away you don't have any trouble with it.  we don't get exercises the next day no matter what kind of shots you have.  We just sat all day and sang songs or had lectures on different things.  One was defense against a tank, which was very interesting.  We were told the best way to knock out a tank with a standard rifle.  We also had dry firing on the range.  This consisted of lining up  the rifle on the target and having someone check your sighting.  Not very interesting.  We didn't have any hard work so you might call it an easy day.

We have now completed 18 training days.  In 2 more weeks or 10 more training days we will be put on a shipping which means we are subject to shipment to college.  If everything goes well we maybe out in 2 1/2 weeks.  Most of the fellows will be glad to get out of here.

Mail is coming along pretty good.  I get mail that is two or three days on the way but never much longer.  Some of the kids send everything airmail and it takes 2 days and six cents.  I could afford to but I don't think I need to.  Just how long it takes to get my letter home I don't know.

What did Mary get for a graduation present?  I would like to send her something.

I have forgotten to tell you that I got paid.  I got $.50.  That right 50 cents.  That was some paycheck.  I don't know just what it was for other than that it was for car fare to Boston that first day.  All the fellows got paid but some got as much as $2.00.

Well I must sign off now,

With Love

Austin

P.S. What errors in grammar spelling etc. do you find in my letters?