Donald V. Tappan

[Letter to Carver Grandparents]
Saturday evening
September 30, 1944
Dear Grandparents,

How’s everything coming back there in that part of the country? I suppose school must be going in full swing by this time. I sure hope you are able to keep up with everything without working harder at it than you should. I don’t suppose you have had to do too much firing of the furnaces yet for heating purposes but it won’t be long till that’ll be a big item too.

By the way, what kind of weather have you been having lately. I wouldn’t be surprised if things aren’t just about ready for a frost. The temperature down here doesn’t get quite so hot as it did but the days still make you think of summer. But at night it’s something different. It often gets snappy enough that it makes you think of early fall evenings in Indiana. In fact it often gives me sort of a homesick feeling when I am outdoors just about dark or a little afterwards.

I suppose you have heard the news that we expect to be leaving here sometime now in the near future. But as you know it’s not like the army to tell us when and we have no idea how soon it’ll be. Since we are in the dark too as to where we’ll go, you can just about imagine how much wild guessing there has been done about where our next location will be.

Our work has been mostly concerned with just going over things we have learned before. So there’s no use going into any great discussion of that. As you might know we are still taking hikes and we even had one that lasted  for about three hours this very morning.

What kind of news has been going on in Orestes. The paper never has much of it so I have to pick it up in sort of a piece-meal fashion. I did hear though that you got a new neighbor the other day. How do Max and Peggy feel about the situation?

Richard surely must be putting a good bit of his energy into football this year. That’s the main part of school news that I am receiving now.

I hope Judy and all the rest of the little ones are getting along alright in school. I wonder how things are coming up at Aunt Mary’s. The last I heard she was still feeling pretty bum.

I’m about run down and I hope this will pass as a sort of an excuse for a letter. God bless  you in all your doings. Lots of love,

Your grandson,  Donald

No doubt you know that my Pvt. has been changed to Pfc. I’ll let you know as soon as possible of any change of my address.

Saturday Evening, 6PM
September 30, 1944
Hello Folks,

This is a pretty childish thing to say but I am almost homesick enough to cry this evening. I don’t know why I should feel so now but such feelings come over you once in a while. I never have been homesick to the point of being sick but it sure is a strong feeling sometimes. I suppose even if I weren’t in the army I would be away from home attending school somewhere but even there I get home once and a while. 

Since it has been quite a while since I had a furlough, I haven’t entirely given up hopes. I think if we stay around for another month I might have a chance. Otherwise is next to impossible. Let’s hope and pray for the best. It sure would be good to get home again.

I suppose one of the reasons why I think of home quite a bit now is because of the weather now, especially our evening reminds me of home. It doesn’t get quite as hot as it used to and the evenings get almost snappy. Every time I am out just about dark or soon after I find a funny sort of feeling coming up inside me and my mind wandering back.

Well this has filled up a letter space and I don’t want you to think too much about it. You know that it often helps out just to tell your feelings to someone. I don’t know a whole lot to say tonight anyway and if I hadn’t just rambled a little this might have been a pretty flimsy letter.

I haven’t heard from you since I wrote last but I did get the box at noon today. Thanks a million; you sure look after me. And here’s something you probably won’t believe. Before I began this letter, I got started reading the S.S. paper and didn’t get stopped till I had read it clear through. I like it a whole lot better when I get them this way, one or two at a time. For one thing it means getting something oftener and then they don’t pile up on you. You have a feeling of having something you are anxious to read rather than having something hanging over you that you should get read.

I believe I told you that I was going to be on a regimental supply detail yesterday. Well it turned out to be a fairly easy day. I was assigned to a crew of four or five that worked on a truck. We cleaned up one of the supply buildings and then in the afternoon we went over to a warehouse and brought back a truckload of stuff. It was a lot easier than I expected and I didn’t even have to put in too long a day at it.

I don’t know why but for some reason or other they seem to think, all of a sudden, that we need to have a lot of hikes. We spent all morning today hiking. I guess we’ll get back into the swing of things good and proper if they keep doing things like this.

We had about an hour of classes this afternoon and then were given a chance to catch up on some of our work. We can’t send laundry now that we are leaving so I had a good bit extra to do along that line. I couldn’t get my underwear and other white things very white but at least I got the sweat out of them. I also cleaned my rifle and intended to sew some stripes on my OD shirts but never got around to it. We are going to wear OD’s and aren’t even taking khakis with us so we must be going north from here.

How did the football game come out yesterday evening. I hope everything else is coming along at least as well as usual. I guess I’ll sign-off now till later. – DVT

Sunday Afternoon
It’s a funny thing how one day you feel one way about a thing and the next day you feel different. If any day last week had been like this it would certainly have been a miserably hot day. But since it is Sunday it is a beautiful sun-shiny day. The sun woke me up this morning about 8:30 by shining in my eyes. So you can see that I played lazy again. If I were home it wouldn’t be nearly such a great sport to sleep in every Sunday. But here because the rest is needed and for lack of anything better to do, it seems the proper way to spend Sunday morning.

I finally got up and went to church. This was World Wide Communion Sunday so I suppose you had communion services too. We had a larger crowd at our services than we usually do – about twice the usual number but still the chapel was only about half full.

After church I intended to at least sew on at least one pair of stripes but I just couldn’t drive myself to the job. If it weren’t for that I would be pretty well caught up with things I’ve got to do this week-end. So instead of doing that I read a story or two in the Reader’s Digest. 

For dinner today  we had one of the best meals we’ve had for a good while. I guess the part that made it exceptional was the chicken. We usually have chicken on Sunday but today you could actually eat it for once. It wasn’t as good as mother’s but most of the time I think they try to fry  what must have been four or five year old roosters. Instead of fried chicken turns out to be the poor grade of shoe leather. 

[The following page seems to start out of context – perhaps a missing page?]

…of them laid back. If they ever get to be a problem to me, I’ll let you know.

We got into your cookies this morning so they are just about gone now. I see they have a few walnuts in them and I wonder how the walnut crop looks this year. I really like those little hard candies you’ve been sending. I can keep them stuck away and they come in pretty well when I feel like I need a little something in my mouth. It’s sort of like coming into the kitchen and saying “Mother, is there anything I can eat?” That’s one of the many things you miss in th army.

Thanks  for the clippings, I always have been glad to get them and they just help out with the news. Don’t be afraid of sending too many of them. 

I wonder what you are doing today. If it is as nice there as it is here it would be a great time to just get into the car and go somewhere. I wonder how you gasoline supply is. It’s been quite a while since I’ve heard anything about it.

Well for lack of any more news I’ll sign off for the present. Good luck to all of you.

Love, Donald

Thursday – September 28, 1944
Dear People,

Another day another dollar as old saying goes. But of course this isn’t a money making venture for any of us. I’ll start my evening by writing you and try to get a couple more letters written before bed time.

I got a letter from you this evening and it sure got here in a hurry. It was dated Sept 27 PM. and got here this evening so it couldn’t have taken but a little more than 24 hrs to make the whole trip. I just wonder how much of the way an airmail letter travels by air.

Boy that must have been a whale of a football game. As usual I can see that a few men got a chance to take all the glory while the men in the line must work without any notice. It made me glad to hear that all of you got to see the game and it’s good that the game you saw turned out so well.

Since they have finally started sending my war bonds to Orestes, that will be just one less worry on my mind. If we go overseas, we’ll get 20% extra pay so I may decide to get a $50 war bond a month or just have so much taken from each pay and sent home automatically. I won’t cut myself short but I sure don’t expect to need any more than I do now.

Now a few words about what I’ve been doing. Except for one little thing yesterday and today were the same old line of basic subjects. And that exceptional little incident was in the form of a four hour hike last night. Considering that we haven’t done any hiking in a good while, I canme through it extremely well. My feet have felt sort of weak all day but I only got one little blister out of the whole deal. The hike lasted from six till ten last night and they let us sleep one hour later this morning. They are very generous with our time but sure are stingy with the army’s time.

For tomorrow, the bulletin board said I’m to report down to the regimental supply office to work. That’s something different so at least I won’t be doing the same old stuff. It’s hard to tell what kind of a task I could be given to do though. I’m due for KP any time now and it wouldn’t surprise me any to get it on Sunday of this week. But if I do, I just will, that’s all. No use worrying about it.

I don’t suppose we’ll be around here more than two more weeks now but we haven’t received any definite news yet.

They have told us that when Oct. 1 (Sunday) comes we will be on the same  status as troops overseas as far as furloughs go. It will be impossible to get a furlough under any circumstances. Even emergency furloughs will be entirely out. I don’t know whether they’ll start censoring our mail or not.

Well I’m about run down so I’ll sign off for this time. 

Love,  Donald

Saturday Evening
September 23, 1944
Hello Folks,

This is one week end that I don’t have a whole lot of news but of course there may be things come to my head as go along.

They’ve been pretty good to to us this afternoon so I’ve about got my work done up to writing. We had one hour of actual classes and then we had about ¾ hour of cleaning up our weapons. Then I washed up my necessary clothes, cleaned what equipment I had to and then took a shower. Now I’m just waiting for them to call chow. It should be in 15 or 20 minutes now.

I haven’t been put on detail for tomorrow yet and I’ll sure be thankful if I can be free. I guess I’ve been pretty lucky along this line and I really appreciate it.

Well yesterday morning we ran that demonstration problem but the general didn’t turn up. The highest officer there was a Lt. Colonel but be talked pretty well of our work so we got by with it alright. I’ve been put in a squad to run another demonstration Tuesday and again there are supposed to be high ranking officers there. I don’t know whether the General will be there like he was for the other one or not. The reason why we are doing this is because they are trying to find some new system for control of the squad in combat and we are just trying out the different ideas.

After supper
I sure had Christmas tonight. I got both of your packages. And I can’t express my gratitude for being so good to me. You even remembered me down to the detail of the bill fold. I had about forgot that I asked you for one. I’ve been tying a string around my old one and getting by. But this sure will help.

The watch sure is grand. If I’d picked it out myself with regards to looks and features and forgetting price, I don’t see how I could have picked any other. It certainly suits me to a “tee”. If I don’t get a furlough, I’m going to help what I can on it.

I don’t know how the cake tastes yet but it looks good & got here in very good shape. I’ll let you know how it goes down when I cut it tomorrow. I don’t know what I’d do without you guys to do things for me. Even the Sunday School papers sure are appreciated. I am just ready to start reading something else and they’ll be enjoyed.

Well, I’ve about run down now and I’ll want something to say tomorrow anyway. 
So long till then,
Donald

Sunday Afternoon
I usually have my letter written by this time but, I guess, it’s just as well not to do everything the same way all the time.

I was so excited about receiving the packages at the time I was writing you last night that I had forgotten to open the greeting card-letter from you that I had in my pocket. I was sure glad to hear just a word from you. You can sure bet I’ll be waiting to get your week end letter and hear from all of you.

Whether it means anything or not, they have set the dead-line for getting rid of our extra stuff on Wednesday of this week. So I got my Gruen wrapped up this morning and it is ready to start on its way in the morning.

They say now that we can keep our civilian shoes so until they tell us different, I think I’ll get what use I can from them. Since we have permission to hold on to them surely the worst they could do would be to make us send them home.

Now a little more about the Gruen. I think just as much or more of it than I ever did but I can see its not built for this kind of a life. I only wore it for one or two weeks of work and you can see the results. I hope its not hurt and after things cool-off a little I wish you would ask Leo (or somebody else if you don’t want to ask him) if there is enough dirt inside to hurt the works. If so of course I’d like to have it cleaned.

If it is alright I’ll take care of it when I get back to needing this kind of a watch. I’ll get it cleaned (especially under the crystal and get a light colored leather strap put on it and once again it’ll be the nicest looking dress watch you ever saw. I hope you’ve still got its box to keep it in. I guess I can’t help sending it through the Orestes post office as you did but Bernice needn’t know any more than that its the same watch being sent back and forth to be fixed. I’ve got sort of the same situation with the mail clerk here but I’m not making any explanations.

I got up just in time for church this morning and besides attending church I’ve read entirely through those S.S. papers. Thanks again for them. I’ve not cut the cake yet but we may get a hungry spell on just before bedtime tonight.

I can say that I’ve had an enjoyable day and I hope it was possible for you to have the same. It’s sort of drizzling rain this evening and it’ll sure make good sleeping tonight.

No doubt you read about the big storm that swept along the East coast last week and I guess we were very lucky. It clouded up a little that evening but it missed us entirely.

Hope everything’s as usual with you. Unless something else happens  I’ll sign off for this time.
Lots of love and good morning,
Donald

In reading over the letters I see that I wanted to just say a word about my old bill fold which you’ll get with the watch. It’s in good shape except the long zipper which either can be fixed or torn off and the sewing which sure is shot. If sometime you have the time & inclination to try to give it a going over with good linen thread I won’t be mad. It’s especially nice for carrying change and of course it has my name on it. It may be possible to get it fixed up so that it can give me a good bit of service yet. Because I have one now it would be best to let me know about it before you send it back. If you think it’s beyond repair there will sure be no harm done.

If you want to tickle me real well you can send me a few  air mail stamps so I’ll have a few extra to use if I get a chance to let you know any important news.

Friday Evening, September 22, 1944
Hello Mother and all,

This will be a short letter just to let you in on the news. I wonder if anyone noticed the outside of the envelope before it was opened. In case you didn’t just to save you the trouble of looking – I have finally got one stripe. This isn’t much, of course, and it certainly took me long enough to get it but I like to think that maybe it wasn’t all my fault. In the first place promotions weren’t being handed out here except in very rare cases only to those who were with the outfit originally. Those who came in when and after I did have mostly been regarded as trainees. Then if I had spent all my time in one outfit it might have made some difference. Like everything else you have to spend some time at a job before you are considered part of it. No one who ca in very much later than I did got Pdc. in this bunch. Lots of them who have only been here a month or so will get it though before we leave. As we have said in time past its sort of a part of being shipped overseas.

About all it will mean is four dollars more a month. I had to sew stripes on one shirt tonight for inspection tomorrow and it sure is a job. It’s as bad as sewing patches on. By the way we’ve had to take all of our patches off and we’ll have to sew either them or different ones on whenever we reach our destination. I sure wish I had mother to help me do some of this sewing. It’s a big job for me to do it then it isn’t too fancy a job.

Today we ran another problem with live ammunition. They told us that it would be the last live ammunition problem we’ll have to do before we leave.

I got a letter from you at noon today. You asked about Dollie Good. That is – as near as I can gather – her real maiden name. She just continued using that name instead of changing to her husband’s. His name is Mohler. By the way he made Pfc today too.

About our moving. We will leave here as a division and I suppose that we’ll go over together. Anything can happen, of course, but that’s what they have told us.

Hope everything is OK back there. God bless you all.

Love,  Donald

Thursday Night, September 21, 1944
Hello Folks,

I’ll start this while waiting in the barber shop for a haircut  and finish it later. I hope. Well we had another big clothing inspection today so that makes us another step towards shipping out. Besides that we went out and drilled a little but as a whole we spent most of the time scrubbing up the barracks and on extra details. I spent about half of the afternoon washing windows up in the kitchen.

Let’s see  – what did I do yesterday. Oh yes. We went out in the morning and watched a demonstration of the tanks and infantry working as a team. Then in the afternoon we ran a problem similar to the one we watched in the morning. I guess they must be getting scared all of a sudden that we’ll have to be fighting with tanks before long.

Later
Well I can see that this can’t be a very long letter. It’s about 9:00 o’clock and I’ll have to hurry to get even this page filled. We have to get a short haircut now and that’s what I got tonight. But boy did that barber do a poor job. It was so rough on top when he got through that I had to spend about 20 minutes trimming it up with a pair of scissors before a mirror after I got back to the barracks.

I did something last night that I’ve never done since I’ve been here. I went to Columbia to spend the evening. There was a circus in town and a couple of the fellows already had tickets so I went along. It wasn’t a whole lot bigger than the circuses they hold in the high school gymnasiums but there was a little local talent worked in and it was spread out over a little more area. 

It seemed to be sort of a benefit project sponsored by some of the local clubs. There were several dog and pony acts, a half dozen or so acrobats that performed and one act with 4 or 5 half dead lions in a cage. It cost me 50cents and was just the same old stuff but it was a different form of entertainment for me at least.

To tell you the truth that was about the 6th time I have even been in Columbia. I went through it when I first got here, when I was going & coming from my furlough, and we went and came back through it on our way to & from the manuever area for our 4 day bivouac. I think tha’s about the second time I have had a tie on since I came back here from my furlough.

I got your letter mailed the 18th yesterday. I guess I’ll wait till the next time to look for questions you wanted answered. I do remember you asked about whether or not I will be stopped from receiving mail. I don’t suppose I will, so just keep writing unless you are told to stop. Hope everything is well with you.

Love,  Donald

Tuesday Noon – September 19, 1944
Hello Folks,

I was just a little surprised to get a letter from you yesterday. I thought that I had already received my quota of letter for last week but that’s one kind of surprise I like to get.

It was good to hear that the football team was so successful last week. The flat tire situation was bad for the driver but for the rest it will just make another memory of the football season.

I had read about the collection of milk-weed pods in the paper but I hardly expected Orestes to take part in it. It’s a good project though so hop right to it. Every little bit will help.

I sure had an experience today that proved to me that my watch is airtight. When I got the watch back that worked loose so I just screwed it up tight. I guess the air must have been very heavy with moisture when it was sealed up because today the moisture started collecting on the under side of the crystal. It was pretty hot today and the moisture that was inside had to condense instead of getting out. All I had to do was take off the back and the moisture evaporated right away. It scared me at first because I couldn’t imagine what was happening but I can see through it now. I thought at first that maybe the crystal was made in layers and was clouding up like an old A Ford glass used to. I thought I sure was in it then. But its as good as new now.

Evening
There was one more step made this afternoon towards our moving. It was almost like going through a reception center again. We tried on the new clothes that were ordered for us a month or so ago. Everyone got certain new equipment and then we got anything else that is needed. We got 2 new pairs of shoes, 5 pr sox, new field jackets, new packs, and ammunition belts, new mess equipment, 2 pr of fatigues and 2 new pr of woolen underwear. Because the ones I had needed changingI also got 2 pr of wool pants, a pr of leggings and a new belt.

This seems like a lot of waste but I guess it is a regular procedure for going overseas. What we have now will be turned in and will be used for some poor gut training on this side. I have lots of times been issued fatigues or shoes that someone has worn the new off.

We just tried this stuff on though and it will be stored for us till we get ready to go. From the way things look I don’t suppose we will leave here before next month. If we wait that long I wish we’d wait a month longer and then they’d have to give us a furlough. If you haven’t had a furlough in six months you aren’t qualified for overseas shipment. My six months will be up the middle of November. So all of us that got furloughed in May are just sweating it out now.

Oh yes I almost forgot to tell you what I did yesterday. I learned to fire another weapon that I have not had any previous experience with. I fired the flame thrower. It is really quite a weapon and is used to burn the enemy out of cement or steel emplacements. It sure does develop a hot flame.

Well I’ll be looking for a  letter from you tomorrow or the next day.I hope everything is coming OK back there.

Lots of Love,   Donald
This evening I was trying to think of the words to that little Hoosier poem by “Big Rich”. It’s in the ‘43 Spectrum and I’d like for you to send it to me. It was because I copied it down on the inside cover of my note-book that was preserved and published and now I can’t remember it.  DT

Saturday Night – September 16, 1944
Dear Family,

I am happy to tell you that this has been a usual Saturday evening. And to be sure Saturday evening and Sunday is one part of the week I hate to be anything but usual.

I have messed around, done a little cleaning up, sewed on a pair of chevrons, read some and all the time have been thinking that I ought to get around to writing.

Since I don’t have to go back any further than today to catch up on my news there won’t be much of this to tell. We had an inspection this morning and a couple hours of drill. And this afternoon we really had a snap. We had care and cleaning of equipment – which simply means staying in the barracks and doing anything that you need to do. The main thing is just be busy and don’t get caught doing nothing.

That just almost brings me up to date so I expect it would be a good idea to sign off until tomorrow. This isn’t too good a start so I just hope I am long winded tomorrow.

Sunday Afternoon
It seems to me that Sundays for me just aren’t long enough. All week long it is so hard for me to get up that I think I’ll sleep all day Sunday. Then on Sunday if I sleep I feel I should be doing writing or something and I don’t sleep I feel that I haven’t been fair to myself if I a tired after the weekend is over.

As a whole I spent this morning sleeping. I got up for breakfast and then went back to bed till church time. Then I spent most of the time between church and dinner being lazy too. All the extra I did get accomplished this morning was address some change of address cards. We address the cards and put our name, rank and serial number on them. Then we turn them in and the new address will be stamped on them. They will be sent out when we leave and we won’t have any idea of our new address.

Likely you’ll know at least to which side of the world I am going as soon as I do. But other than that for everyone’s good, you and likely even I myself won’t know my final destination till I get there. Sure wish I knew when it will be.

It seems to me that even today I can’t think of much to tell you. A furlough seems all but out now. I hate to think about the fact that the last time I left Indiana might be for a good while. I sure hope going now will make the final coming back a little bit sooner. I’ll quit for a while now before I get too deep in this line of thought. I’ll think of more to say before night.

5PM (1700)
I think the most important thing wrong with my writing this afternoon was the chatter going on in the barracks. I finally got enough of it so I came over here to the library where the atmosphere is a little more of a quiet nature. I have been able to get a letter written to Uncle Pauls in just a little while.

I wonder what kind of things you have been doing today. No doubt you had preaching services this morning as usual. Richard is up to his neck in school work and football so I expect preparing and resting up for that has taken a good bit of his time. 

The weather here sure has been running along its customary weekend lines today. It looked this morning like it might be a sunshiny day but by noon it was up to its old trick of raining. Since then it has continually been first raining then drizzling then raining again. This makes about 4 out of the last five Sundays that the weather has been like this. I don’t remember having heard you say anything about the weather at home for a while. I wonder if it isn’t beginning to almost seem like frost time now.

**

It is almost bed time now. This hasn’t been too much of a wasted day after all. I accomplished a good bit while I was away from the barrack tonight. Besides the letters I wrote, I spent almost two solid hours reading. I had a little magazine about like the Reader’s Digest that I almost read through.

When coming back to the barracks tonight the weather made me almost happy enough to shout. It sure is like an early fall evening at home. It’s stopped raining and is a good bit cooler than usual. It sure will be good sleeping tonight. In fact I’m getting in a pretty happy mood now. 

Love, Donald

If I cut short it’s because any more that I might have to say isn’t worth starting a new page.