Month: February 1944

With several other letters from Feb/Mar in an envelope postmarked March 6

This mentions the Magnolia leaves from the envelope postmarked March 1, so possibly it belongs with them

Sat. Eve
Dear Folks,

Well I hope that today you are getting your moving done. Maybe by this time the worst of it is over with. At least I hope so.

We finished up our bivouac at about 7:00 this morning. We finished up a week of night problems with an all night march coming home. We left the bivouac area at 10:30 last night and then instead of marching straight home, we marched all over the country (a good bit of the time not on roads) for approximately 8 hours. We had had 8 hour night problems last week but never before had they been devoted entirely to covering territory. We were so tired when we got here that it was sure not funny. We ate breakfast and most of us went to bed before we had even had a bath. You can’t imagine how good it felt to sleep on a bed after two weeks of lying on the ground.

Since I wrote you last we had a couple 4 hour night problems and a couple that lasted 8 hours. For two nights the 11th and 12th companies attacked the  9th and 10th companies and then for the next 2 nights the 11th and 12th were enemies while the 9th and 10th attacked.

I got your box this morning that contained the stationary, handkerchiefs, Reader’s Digest, etc. That sure is a nice box of stationary and I am thankful for everything in the box. I guess you must have sensed my wishes for a Reader’s Digest even before you got my letter asking for one. It has already helped me a lot in catching up on my relaxation today. Of course I slept most of the morning and then this afternoon I made a break for the barbershop (which we all must have done by Monday). Afterwards I gathered up my Reader’s Digest and paper and came off into the woods behind our company area. Some of the fellows went to into town to get away from it all but I can think of better ways to relax than getting drunk.

I have spent most of the afternoon sleeping but I got in an article or two before I dozed off.

Richard asked if I found the woods down here about like those at home. The woods all winter down here have reminded me of fall. Everything is brown except the pine trees which make up a good percent of the trees. Of course then because of this instead of the ground being entirely covered by leaves, part of it is spread with pine needles.

In our bivouac area there was one green tree besides the pines. It is the magnolia. I would like for you to look in a tree book and find out what time of year it leaves out and if the leaves stay on all winter. I brought back a sample of their leaves which I’ll send you one of these times.

You can begin to see signs of spring already. Some of the underbrush is beginning to leave out and there are a few spring flowers. I have seen a few violets and something that reminds me of bloodroot. We have also run into a patch or two of wild plums in bloom.

Well I have a lot of clothes I want to get washed tonight so I’ll stop and get busy at that.

Love,

Donald

I am including the magnolia leaves. They are so different from anything at home that maybe they will interest you.

Letterhead – 5th Training Regiment – Army Specialized Training Program – Fort Benning, Georgia
Feb. 20, 1944 – 5:00pm

Hello,
Once again I am about ready to set out for the woods. There is very little doubt in my mind but that we will have some cold, wet weather but for some reason I am not worrying about it. The main reason I guess is that it wouldn’t do any good. We leave at 8:00 tomorrow morning and we are supposed to come back in next Sunday to get washed up and then go back out again.

Because of our night problem Friday night and, of course, because of next week we were off both yesterday and today. Yesterday I spent getting straightened and cleaned up. Of course I also found time to do some reading and write a little.

Then last night I did something very unusual for me. I went to the movie. I did it just to be doing something to break up the monotony but I really enjoyed it. It was definitely one of the comic order. In the previews the story of “The Bridge of the San Lois Rey” by Thornton Wilder was scheduled to play today. I had studied about this in literature class and since it was such a good book I decided to see it this afternoon. It was a very good story but a trifle hard to follow.

This morning I  went to church. It was the first chance I had had to go in several weeks. I don’t know but I doubt if I’ll get to go next Sunday.

I answered Richard’s question about my arm patch but I forgot to answer those about qualifying as a sharpshooter. Here is how the points are counted. Five points are given for a hit in the bull’s eye, 4 in the next ring, 3 for the next, 2 for the next and 0 if you miss the target. If you hit all bull’s eyes you could get a score of 210. Well I can’t remember just how many of each one I hit but I hit enough 5’s out of the 42 shots to overbalance the 2’s and 3’s that I got to make the average considerably over 4 points for each shot.

There are medals that are sometimes issued for sharpshooters but I don’t know whether or not we will be issued them. In fact I sort of doubt it.

Well I want to finish packing and go to bed early so I’ll sign off. Don’t expect anything from me for a while but I’ll do my best.

Here is a lead penny I ran on to and have been carry(ing) for a good while. I don’t know how plentiful they are around there but if you don’t want it just drop it into my stamp collection or someplace where I can find it. 

I’ll be seeing you, Donald

Did you receive my letter with the (?) in it?

February 8, 1944 (Tuesday)

Dear Folks,

Well I finally have one more day of training to my credit. It took me exactly 9 weeks to go from the first day of the 9th to the second day. And as yet  I am still going strong.

So far this week we haven’t been working too hard and I think that maybe the rest of the week won’t be too bad. Most of this week has and will be spent in the range firing.

It has been on the rainy side today but the temperature has been fairly warm. I don’t think it will be too cold tonight either.

I got daddy’s letter today that he had written at school. Little newsy chats like that make me feel more like home anyway.

A week from today (if today is the 8th) will be Richard’s birthday. So if this is the last letter you receive from me before then I sure wish him a happy birthday.

Candle light is hard to write by and I am tired anyway so I’ll close. You can imagine this is a letter anyway.

I’m still coming alright and hope you are.

Donald

February 4, 1944
Friday Night
Dear Folks,

Well I’ve got to be on duty in the supply room this evening so I am going to use some of my spare time for a good purpose. We have a lot of ammunition in here and we are going to load machine gun belts tonight. The work isn’t going to be done in here (supply room) because of the limited space and my job is just to watch things as there will be people going in and out all evening.

I shouldn’t ell you the number but you would sure be surprised at how many rounds of machine gun ammunition this company will use on the range. And they all have to be loaded into belts tonight.

It sure won’t be long now before I’ll be out on the range again. It doesn’t seem long since I was out there before but I guess it has been around seven weeks. I’m not sure but I don’t think I’ll have to make the march out there this time. There are a lot of things that will have to be taken out in trucks and Sergeant Steele says that I will possibly help on that.

We had our little bivouac last night as planned. We ate C rations for supper and then came back to the company for breakfast. It was kind of damp but the weather wasn’t too cold. I wrapped up good and warm and spent a fairly restful night.

I am not exactly dreading the range but it has been so long since I had any dry firing with the rifle, machine gun or mortar that you can easily see why I’ll be glad when it is over.

In your letters you talk about moving and I sure would like to be in a position to help you out. Not that I especially am cut out for the work but it sure hurts to think of just not being able to lend a hand. It seems that for some reason or other I have been a lot more homesick than usual. I guess I am just dreading the range and need someone to tell my troubles to.

I suppose you are able to keep things going alright without my asking about them every time so I’ll not ask this time. 

Love and keep praying,

Donald

P.S. I wish you would tell me a little about my watch. Its recommendations, no. of jewels, where it came from, etc. I sure appreciate it and especially when I am out such as last night where I wake up several times during the night.

Letter to Grandparents Alfred and Grace Carver
February 15, 1944 (Tuesday)

Dear Folks,

I sure owe you a letter by this time but I have been so busy that you will have to excuse me. I lived out on the range in tents for the last two weeks and I could hardly even find time to write home. I am trying to get caught up on my writing this week because I will be living in the open for the next two weeks and I doubt very much if I will be able to get much writing done.

Boy you sure can’t imagine how good these old huts looked after we had been living out in the tents. The electric lights and the stove were a lot better than no heat and candles to read by.

We all slept well enough out there because we slept on cots with plenty of covers but the really hard part was getting up in the cold.

We have been having some rainy and cold weather down here but today is about as nice as you could ask for. The sun is shining brightly but the temperature is just cool enough to make you feel like working. I understand that you have been having some real winter weather in Indiana lately. I wouldn’t mind being back there getting in on some of it.

Today is Richard’s birthday and one week from today will be Jimmie’s. I guess this is one time I won’t get to be in on such fun as giving them birthday spankings, etc.

Well February is a little over half gone now so it sure won’t be long before the folks move again. I hope that they can get moved in time for Uncle Paul to get a good start on his work.

Saturday (February 19, 1944)
As you can see I got side-tracked again. I got busy and this is the first real chance I have had to get started again. I suppose that I will have news enough to make the letter a little longer at least. We had a night problem last night so we have a little time off this morning to catch up on our rest. Of course, we are all trying to get our clothes, etc. ready for next week and there are dozens of odd jobs to do so there is very little rest that we are getting.

We have been doing a lot of physical training this week and since it has been so long since I have done any of this kind of work, it has been pretty hard for me to keep up. We have also been getting considerable tactical training and also training in airplane recognition and recognition of tanks. We must be able to recognize whether the airplanes and tanks are those of our own country or an enemy country.

The last few days have been pretty rainy and wet. I sure hope that the weather clears up before next week when we get to sleeping out on the ground.

I was sure sorry to hear the news about Mr. Davis. It certainly was al lot of bad luck that they had at Rigdon.

Well this will possibly be the last letter I will get to write you till I get back from bivouac but I certainly will be thinking of you.

Love, Donald