August 28, 1943

Beloit College

Beloit Wis.

Aug. 28, 1943

Well A.P.,

I finally got around to write again and it is not Sunday as often, my usual time for correspondance.  I have got an hour before supper and I find nothing special to do.  This is quite unusual for me as I can always keep busy on something.  I am all dressed up for town and can not do some of the work I want tot do, such as washing and GI-ing shoes.

Well things are pretty much the same around here except that they are getting stricter on some things and lenient on others.  They are getting pretty tough about the studies.  If you don't get a 70% average in all your subjects individually you can't get out over the weekend.  If you get an 80% grade in all the subjects you get 3 extra hours in which you can do a lot.  I am getting out all right but no extra hours.  I got a 76% average in Geography and they kept me off from the list.  1/3 of the cadets here got restricted and about 1/6 of the class got out.  I doubt if I will get the extra hours next week either because I got a low mark in a spelling test (52%).  I should have done better and probably could have if I had a chance to really study the words.  As it was I had to study for a test in physics, on torque and Newton's first 2 laws.  It took me quite a time to catch on to the work and had to spend more time than I expected.

Now I have two things to worry about regarding weekends, "tours" and marks.  Each week I just miss walking "tours" every week.  You know that 8 is the maximum, well I have got from 6-8 most every week.  This week I got 7 and thought sure that I would be "up the creek" as I got 4 last Saturday and 3 last (a week ago) Friday.  That gave me a chance to get one gig in 5 days.  Well I pulled through.  This week I have got 2 all ready, one for dirty fingernails, and one for not having my shoes tied for inspection.  Gigs are something you just can't avoid no matter how hard you try.  If the officers don't feel good they pick out someone to gig and they just wait until they pin something on him.  Every once in a while an officer gets a new gig book and will say something to the effect that he is going to have recorded 15 gigs in it before the day is over.  They usually do if they are watchful enough.  Just try to stand at attention with your eyes fixed on a point and have flies and all kinds of bugs light on you but not move in any way.  This place is noted for its bugs and mosquitoes.  They raise the dickens with you on parade.

Wednesday evening we got a chance to go hear Col. Carlos P. Romulo.  He is a very dramatic speaker, (and a Rotarian) and has a very definite sense of humor in describing unfortunate circumstances.  He is really a great speaker and you should hear him when he comes East.  He has also written a book that I think should be very good reading.  I am sending you the front of the brocher we got at the door.

Some of the fellows are moving out of the dorm to the one a short distance from here.  I may move shortly but as yet I haven't got my orders.  We are expecting a new batch of fellows soon and they will occupy this building. (By the way, I am now an upper classman. It don't mean much other than that we walk in the halls now and don't have to "sound off" as much.)

A lot of things are now happening or are about to happen.  Next week flight 16 starts flying which means we are next and they come the week after next.  Today we won the parade.  We took the honors form B other flights and 2 of the flights had had 5 months of drill in Miami Beach.  We felt real good about it.  Another thing is that we are getting additions to our uniforms.  We will eventually get a "Cadet Patch" (cadet insignia" and an "Air Corp" insignia that goes on the left arm near the shoulder.  I may send one along if I can an extra one.

I found that picture of me that I put away in someplace I could sure to remember.  I don't know if I should send it or not.  You may not like it.  I am sure I didn't.  I think that I was taken in a guarded moment and I wasn't aware of what was going on.  It really isn't that bad.  

Well I will have to sign off because Supper K.P. is being called and we will follow in a very short time.

With love,

Austin

P.S. My serial number must be put on my mail from now on.

June 17, 1943

Jefferson Barracks

Missouri

June 17, 1943

Dear Mother;

My morale has come up 100%.  I got 3 letters today and they sure looked good.  I got them this morning at 11:00 mail call.  I expect that I would have received it yesterday at 4:00 but we had no mail call.  We are also over the typhoid shots and I feel a lot better.

About that watch I spoke about, I saw it in the main P.X.  It is a 17 Jewel Swiss movement and looks exactly like two other watches I have seen that cost $50 and $45.  The only trouble is that I haven't enough money as it costs $26.50 and I have about $20.  I may put some money down on it and send for the rest from the bank account.  However don't send any money till I send for it.

I forgot to write that I saw Harold V. {ed note - a friend who attended the same church} Sunday and he was sure glad to see me.  I almost missed him as he was about to go to town.  He looked swell in his uniform and a new pair of shoes.  He lives in a two story bunk house where as we live in little 8 man huts.  He is in the second story and the hottest part of it.  He seems to be having a swell time even thought he hates this heat and weather more than I do.  He has only 2 Mass. boys with him where as I have 50 fellows from Mass. with me.  They are swell fellows.  The fellows in the hut represent a cross section of America; they represent the major religious faiths and you can imagine some of the arguments we get into every so often.  But all the same I would not trade them for someone else.

When you wrote (we don't write about him!) I forgot and didn't realize just what you meant until I had reread the letter a couple times.  I still haven't forgotten him (you know that).  I know he won't know me when I get home.

I feel terribly ashamed to say that I don't miss home.  I do however feel sometimes that tomorrow I will be going home and when I realize I am not, I wish I could.  The chief reason is that we are busy from 5:15 a.m. till anytime after 9:00 p.m. when lights are put out.  We have a definite schedule to follow until 4:00 and then the time is our own to write letters, do our laundry shine our shoes, make our bed, take a bath and a multitude of other things that have to be done.  We can always go to the movies or go to the P.X. or go to the amphitheatre and see a Broadway show.  I saw Hellzapopping (spelled wrong) and thought that it was kind of corny.  {Watch this scene from the show, Hellzapoppin'.  It's probably the most athletic and energetic Lindy Hop I've ever seen!}

This business of writing letters is some job.  I would like to write to all the fellows, Mabel, Grandma, and Grandpa Rounds and everyone but I can hardly write more than 3 letters a night, so if you see or write to any of them, tell them that I am thinking of them and will write as soon as I find time.  I am missing Chow now and will have to sneek in late.

I have something else on my mind but I can't remember what it is so I will sign off.

With love,

Your Pvt. Austin.

{ed. note - The paragraph about "(we don't write about him)" was so confusing to me that I went through the letters his mother had written him to see if I could find out what she was talking about.  In her letter she describes seeing young robins in the garden.  The next day she found one dead and guessed that (we don't write about him) had killed it.  Is it possible that they had a cat or dog with the personality of Lord Voldemort (You-Know-Who)?}