Author: dan

October 28, 1943
Dear Folks,
I have a very few minutes this morning so I will start a letter now as I won’t have so much time to write tonight. Well almost 3 weeks of my basic training are over. They are going faster than I expected they would but 10 more weeks seems liike a long time.

We have been working pretty hard this week. We are taking a good bit of physical hardening exercises and we are starting to study military tactics. We took a three hour march some time at the first of the week and we were out about 3 hours after dark last night. We spent about an hour and a half of that time marching and the rest of the time studying night tactics. We are also supposed to have a night class tomorrow (Friday night). I guess in real combat a lot of work would have to be done at night so they want to prepare us for it.

We are preparing to move again. This time we are going to a place in this camp about 8 miles from here. Our new place is known as “Harmony Church Area” and we are leaving Saturday. We are spending all of our spare time getting out things packed for the move.

We had a little extra excitement in our company tonight. Our company commander was raised from the rank of first lieutenant to a captain. You should have heard the undertone when he came out for formations tonight wearing his captain’s bars.

Well I hope everything is coming along alright in Orestes. I have about run out of news. So.

Love,
Donald
As you might have guessed at the place in the letter where I sharpened my pencil I started writing tonight.

Oh yes. You wondered if I could turn over in bed without falling out. I don’t have to worry about this because I sleep in a regular bed not a hammock. And about my laundry. I don’t have to do all of it by myself. What I can do without for a week while it is being cleaned I can send to a laundry here on the post. I can send all I need for only $1.30 a month. Of course what I can’t do without I have to wash myself.

Write when you can,
Donald

October 26, 1943
Tuesday Evening

Dear Folks,
It is almost time for lights out so I will have to write fast. I had to go to a training movie after supper and when I got back my rifle had to be cleaned so not much time is left..

We have been working pretty hard this week.  We have been learning hand to hand fighting (judo) and have started bayonet practice. Today we took about a 3 hour march. Tomorrow we start running the obstacle course so you can see I will still be busy then.

I got your present this evening. It is going to make things quite a bit more handy. The little toilet article case that Mrs. Norris gave me is convenient in size but that is all. Little remembrance like this are what keep us going.

I hope everything is OK at home.
Love,
Donald
This is an awful short letter but it will let you hear from me and let you know I am alright. I would rather get short letters oftener than long ones less often anyway.

October 24, 1943
Sunday Afternoon
Dear Folks,

It may not interest you but I have just finished a nap. So far today, besides eating today, I have gone to church, caught up on my reading and at 3:00 am ready to start writing.

I suppose you have read of  soldiers digging fox holes. Well that is exactly what we did yesterday afternoon. These holes are about 2 ft wide by 31/2 ft long by 6’ deep.  Doing things like this is what makes me want to take Sunday afternoon easy. Besides this I don’t know of anything out of the ordinary that we have been doing. I might say (Richard will like to know it) that we have started taking an hour of calisthenics almost every day.

Once at the end of the every week we have a battalion parade. There are 4 companies of about 200 each in the battalion. We put on our dress uniforms and perform for the colonel. Last week we did it on Saturday afternoon and this time we had it on Friday evening.

I got your package yesterday evening and was it welcome! It was in good shape except for the cake being mashed a little.But that didn’t hurt the taste in the least. Between me and the rest of the fellows it is gone now except for a little which I hid away.

I don’t believe I have ever told you about how we keep our clothes clean. Well up until the last 2 weeks we had to use a scrub brush on them. But now we have a system that by paying $1.30 a month we can send a certain number of articles (6 sox, 2 towels, etc.) each week to a laundry here on the post. Of course such things as leggings and fatigue uniforms that have one pair of and can’t do without for a week we still have to do ourselves.

In that picture of the nurses that you sent me, I only recognize one nurse. She is the one in the lower right hand corner. She waited on me a good bit and I suppose you remember seeing her.

I have been watching the dates on your letters. I get them usually 2 days after they leave Alex. They are usually postmarked in the morning so I get them 3 days after you sent them out.

I wonder how Jimmie liked to work at Brunson’s. How many quarters did Richard play altogether in football. I wonder what will be going on back home during the 3 day vacation this week.

That cake was the first real cake I have had since I have been in the army. G.I. cake is more like corn bread made with flour instead of corn meal. I might explain that gi. Is the army name for everything that the army issues (gi shoes, go underwear, etc). The initials themselves stand for “government issue.”

It is pretty certain now that we will move during next weekend. We are now on the “Main Post” area and we moving about 8 miles to the “Harmony Church” area. I hope we have better post exchange accommodations there than we do here. We aren’t exactly on the main post so a truck comes here each evening and serves as our px. In a real px. The prices are very reasonable (lower than in civilian life), but on this truck the prices are high. 

Well I hope everything is OK back there.

Love,
Donald

October 21, 1943
Dear Folks,

Well my basic training is one day nearer completion than it was this morning. Today at about noon we went on a little hike and ate dinner in the field. We had food just like that in the mess hall but we ate it out of our mess kits. It was really good dinner too. We had roast beef, potatoes, pickled beets, bread, fruit salad and iced tea.

Tomorrow we are going to have a period of instruction in map reading and what all else I don’t know.

I don’t have much news so I will try to answer a few of your questions. Mary asked if I have the same kind of huts that I did in the 13th Co. I do, but they are talking (it is unofficial yet) about moving us again. I don’t know what we will live in then.

You asked about southern accent. Of course I hear it once in a while but most of the fellows are from the north. It seems that about half of them are from New York.

As for the weather down here, it is lousy. It is so cold at night that is sometimes frost. Of a morning we have to wear jackets and sometimes gloves. But in the PM it gets so hot that we sweat through our shirts. In fact the other afternoon I actually sunburned my nose and it is peeling now. 

I hope everything is coming along all right back there.

Love,
Donald

October 19, 1943

Dear Grandparents (Mr. & Mrs. Alfred Carver),
Well my basic training now has a good start. So far I have been busy all of the time but I haven’t had to work too hard.

We haven’t spent all of the time drilling as you might expect. A good bit of time we have spent in learning by the classroom method, only out of doors. For instance we spent all but an hour this afternoon listening to lectures and watching demonstrations on battle tactics.

We have been learning to handle our rifles but haven’t shot them yet. We have also learned to use our other equipment such as to pitch our tents, use our gas masks, etc. Tomorrow we are going to practice using our gas masks in a gas chamber. This chamber will contain real gas but it is the kind that won’t hurt us. By wearing them in harmless gas we will be used to them if we ever have to use them in poisonous gas.

We have taken two or three short marches but they have hardly been long enough to call marches. They are just building us up gradually to the time when we will march for long distances.

The army does one thing that I like very much. Of course it wouldn’t be practical in battle but it helps us out in our training. This is that we work 50 minutes and rest 10 minutes of every hour. This makes it possible for us to accomplish as much in 50 minutes as we would otherwise in 60 and still not be so tired when the day is over.

Do you remember when Ned Trice first entered the army and was complaining about not getting paid for the time he spent at Fort Harrison. Well I want to clear up that question. You don’t get paid while you are there but you get paid for the time you spent there when you get to your next camp.

I hope that everything is coming along alright in Orestes. I suppose that you will take advantage of the vacation at the end of this week to catch up on the school house work. 

Well it is almost bedtime.

Your grandson
Donald

Oct 18, 1943
Dear Folks,

I haven’t had much time but I want to let you know mostly about my watch question. If this gets there before Thursday or Friday I would like for Dady to look in Indianapolis for a watch. I am afraid that my gruen would get broken very easily. A service watch would also have a luminous dial and let me know how the time was coming through the night. For sentimental reasons I would certainly hate to ruin my good watch. 

While I am in an asking mood I am going to ask for a few more things. I need another tooth brush and maybe my old one too (for cleaning my rifle), if it is still aournd; two or 3 more hangers; and a few pairs of khaki sox.

I am glad to hear that you got my war bond. I didn’t get any pay for last month because it took all to pay for my allotments. At least I know now that I got credit for it.

I haven’t got much news to tell except that we kept busy but didn’t work very hard today and that we are going on another short march tomorrow.

I got your airmail letter today but it wasn’t a very good measure of time since it might have been held up over the weekend. I will watch the dates on future letters so I can let you know for sure the time.

I hope everything is coming off well back there. Back on the watch question – don’t go a whole lot over the $30 mark. 

Bedtime
Love,
Donald

October 17, 1943
Dear Folks,

I had all intentions of writing to you on Friday evening, but I had to do so much work in cleaning myself up and cleaning up the hut for Saturday inspection that I never got around to it. Hereafter whenever I intend to write more than two letters a week I guess I will write on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday (If I can).

As you can guess I have been very busy this week. I haven’t worked overly hard but every minute is taken. I haven’t suffered any ill effects except being tired either. I have been feeling good and I don’t even have a cold, but maybe I’d better not brag.

I might tell you our schedule now that I have lived by it for a week. We get up at 6:30, dress and straighten up the hut, then fall out for reville at 7:15. We police (clean) up the area at 7:25 and eat breakfast at about 7:35. From 8 to 12 we have our period of instruction, drill etc. At 12:15 – mail call, 12;30 chow and then we are off until 2:00. From 2 till 6 is more work and then we have mail call and chow. This gives us from about 7:30 to 11 free, if you want to stay up late.

Besides a lot of drill and instruction we took one 4 mile hike carrying light packs. So far I have taken everything they gave me without getting many sore muscles. If I learn as much in the next 12 weeks as I did in the first, I will no longer be a raw recruit.

We certainly had a change in temperature down here. On Friday it was so hot that we actually sweat through our shirts. But when we woke up Saturday morning it was almost cold enough to frost. We had to put on our jackets and our hands got so red and stiff that they finally sent us back to get our gloves. I warmed up some today but we are supposed to put on our winter uniforms tomorrow and they won’t feel bad.

I did K.P. Friday afternoon. We only do it for half a day now. That I did it last week didn’t count to my credit since basic hadn’t started yet. The K.P. wasn’t so bad but we have to make up all the time that we lose doing extra duty. I was lucky in my make up time, though, because one hour in the afternoon had been free time to clean rifles and a 2 hour period of interior guard instruction was condensed into one hour for the make up class. So I made up a whole afternoon’s work in 2 hours between 7:30 and 9:30 last night.

I suppose you will be very busy this week getting ready for the Indianapolis trip. This makes me almost homesick when I think about how we used to look forward to the 2 day vacation during State Teacher’s Institute. Of course there are a thousand other things that make me wish I were home when I think of them.

I am thankful for your having the Tribune sent to me. The news isn’t quite so old and hard to catch up on when I get it.

There are two things that I wished hadn’t turned out the way they did that now I am glad of. They are my getting into the meteorology course and my going to college this summer. If I had got into the meteorology I would be out on my ear now that it has been discontinued. I know I couldn’t pass the air cadet physical examinations Dick Lewis did. And if I had gone to college I would have had to take a harder test than I did to get into ASTP. With no more college than I would have had I might not have passed the tests and then where would I be. It seems that there must have been a divine guidance in these two matters.

Well keep writing.

Love
Donald

Oct. 13, 1943
Dear Folks,

Well today is my anniversary. I have been in the army one month. I was going to write you anyway but since I got my package today I know I will write. It arrived in good shape. I can use everything that you sent. I don’t know whether or not I mentioned face towels but I can use them. Incidentally, I liked the little packages you filled in the holes with, too. 

So far out basic training hasn’t been so hard. We have had several lectures and seen several moving pictures. We have learned to make our packs, and use our gas masks. Today we learned to pitch tents and this afternoon we went on a little hike, about 2 miles I think.

I was sorry to hear about the Noblesville football game but I am hoping that the Elwood game turns out differently. Alex sure has had bad luck with her football players getting hurt.

In your letter you sort of apologized for telling me about Charley Hale. You said maybe you had ought to stay closer home with your news. You don’t need to worry about this. I surely would rather hear about a thing from two different people than nor hear it at all. I am enclosing a couple of stamps, one from my package and one from a letter from Aunt Mary. I would like for you to drop them in my jar in the top of our wardrobe. 

Well it is after 10:00PM and I want to go to bed. So Good-night

Donald

Oct. 11, 1943
Dear Grandparents,

Well my first day of basic training is over. We had to wait till enough men came to form the whole battalion before the training could officially start. I couldn’t see any difference in basic training and what we had been doing so I don’t see why I can’t come out on top of it. It will get harder as time goes on but I will be more used to it then and able to take it.

Last week I did both K.P. and guard duty so I won’t have to worry about these for a while now. My turn won’t come up again for two or three weeks, I hope.

We are sure going to be real soldiers when we get through with this. Today we started learning to tear apart and reassemble our rifles. Tomorrow we are to start learning the use of our gas masks. The way we are going you can see what kind of training we are going to get.

Mother reminded me in a letter that I got today that Wednesday is your wedding anniversary. Of course, I wasn’t thinking about it and even if I had tried to remember when it was I probably couldn’t. Since it takes so long for letters to get there, this one will probably be a little late for your anniversary. Anyway it will have to stand for me visiting you for a time anyway.

I hope your work is coming along alright and that maybe it has slowed down a little by now.

Since I last wrote to you my address has changed a little. Maybe mother has told you about this but anyway my correct address is:

Pvt Donal Tappan 35893186
16th Co. 6th Tng Regt. ASTP
Ft Benning, Georgia

Write me whenever you can and I will try to stay in touch with you.

Love

Donald

This one is in an envelope addressed to Richard, but seems to be to the whole family.

October 10, 1943 (afternoon)
Dear Folks,

Well I don’t know how I will spend my Sundays after this but today at least I am being lazy and thus getting ready for tomorrow. I have been wondering how much harder basic training will be than what we have been doing but I guess that tomorrow I will find out.

Since I last wrote you I spent one day doing K.P. and one night on guard duty. I did KP Friday and guard duty last night. Guard duty (at present at least) is not as hard as it was at Fort Ben. It is only at night and then we only do one stretch of 2 hours. This makes it so you don’t have to have any time off the next day.

I think that I am lucky to get these extra duties done now because I have them overwith now and won’t have to do them till it comes my turn again.

I guess that I have got everything that you sent to Fort Harrison. The bunch of papers came the other day, yesterday I believe. I have already got everything read in them but one story in the Sunday School paper. 

You asked in your letter what part of the state of Georgia I am in. I told it 2 or 3 times in my letters but I am not sure whether or not I told you. Fort Benning is right on the Alabama line – in fact part of it is in Alabama. It is about half way down and near Columbus, GA. if you want to locate it on a map. About using navy time: well we are supposed to use it but it is only used in writing (official papers and things). In conversation, as far as I have heard, the regular time is always used.

The revival that you mention in your letters has me puzzled. I guess I must have missed it in the papers. Is it at Lily Creek or at Orestes?

I have been thinking about Duane Cook. Do you know whether or not he is at this camp? Even if he is, I don’t know how I could find him except by accident. There are about 2400 square miles in the whole camp. There are infantry outfits, field artillery, paratrooper, ASTP and what all else I don’t know.

We are located very close to one of the places where the paratroopers train. Almost anytime of the day you can see them jumping from the towers and once in a while we see them jumping from airplanes.

I forgot to tell you that this time when I did guard duty I carried a rifle. I don’t know what good it would have done me because it wasn’t loaded but I suppose it was just to help get us used to a gun.

I have decided that I want you to send me my fountain pen. I might as well be getting some use out of it and anyway I will want it when and if I go to school. 

I hope you are still keeping a lookout for a watch for me. I have looked in the largest post exchange on the post and I can’t find any so I don’t suppose I will be able to get one down here. I need a watch pretty bad and my old watch only works right about half of the time. I never know when I can trust it and when I can’t. You don’t need to go out of your way but keep your eyes open for one.

If my graduation money hasn’t been spent for bonds, I have decided that it would do me as much good in the form of a watch as it would any other way. Be sure, of course, not to spend the 2 dollar bill. I think that out of my first two or three pays I will be able to finish paying for a not overly expensive watch.

I went to church again this morning; although it may be impossible for me to attend every time, I have not had to miss yet.

Well write me whenever you can. I am always anxious to get letters. I guess you can see that I had to get some more writing materials.

Love,

Donald