Category: Basic Training

Thursday Eve.

Dear Folks,
   This time tomorrow it will be Christmas Eve. I’ll use my imagination and if I try real hard, I’ll bet that I can feel that it is Christmas Eve.  Christmas Day will be a real holiday in that it will the first week day that I have had off since I have been in the army (except the days I spent in the hospital).
   I am sure leading a great life right now. So far I have spent all of my time working in the supply room. There is a lot of supplies take care of and also a good bit of book-keeping.
   Yesterday morning I helped with the laundry. It’s a pretty good job to load and unload a truck full of laundry but I got a trip to the main post out of it. Yesterday afternoon and all day today, I did paper work. There are sure a lot of different forms to make out in the army. I may be put on a different job any time but I have ceased to worry about anything.
   I had a pleasant surprise when I moved into my new home over here. There are 20 men in this hut and about 9 of them are from Indiana. This is quite a contrast to my old company; there were only about 2 or 3 from Indiana in the whole Co. No telling how many from Indiana I may find here if there are this many in one hut.
   They are mostly from the northern part of the state. The fellow that sleeps below (in the double bed) is from somewhere near Ft. Wayne. Not making fun of them or anything but I get a great kick out of how green they act.
   I wonder how things are coming along back there. I am certainly anxious to get a letter. I haven’t heard from you since last Sat. I hope everything is alright.
              Well Goodnight,
                Donald

I think that’s the right date, postmark is hard to read

Tuesday Evening

Dear Folks,
   Well here I am in the 12th Co. of the 5th Regiment. And you will sure be shocked when I tell you what week they are in. This army sure does weird things. They are in their second week. Another fellow who lost out at about the same time I did came over with me. We aren’t going to take all of this training but we are just going to spend the next 6 or 7 weeks till they catch up to where we were working around the company area here. In case you don’t understand that complicated sentence: I am just going to spend the next several weeks.
   I spent the afternoon working in the supply room and loafing. I imagine that I will really be working when they really get started on us. I guess that I will just not worry about it and consider myself doing my part for the war. If that is what the army wants me to do. 
   Maybe it will be warmer anyway when I go out on the range and on bivouac.
   I don’t know what to ask you about. You will just have to tell me a little about what has happened. I am anxious to hear from you. I haven’t heard since I got the telegram. 
   I hope you are all well.
            Love,
             Donald

Pvt Donald Tappan
35893186
12th Company, 5th Tng Regt ASTP
Ft Benning, GA

Tell anyone you see about my address.

Letter to his brother Richard

Dear Richard,
   I got this program just before I went on the range and didn’t have a chance to send it back. I put it in my footlocker where I would see it when I came back. I am sending it in a special letter so I won’t fool around and lose it. I’ll bet you thought I had forgotten about it.
            Donald

   I opened this letter to tell you something that concerns you. I just bought you a brand new pair of army shoes. I don’t need them and if you can’t use them I can someday. Our corporal ordered them a long time ago and now he doesn’t need them. They are size 8 and they only cost me $3.50 a real bargain. They cost $4.00 at army prices and would be a lot higher outside. They also didn’t cost a stamp. Send me a handful of stamps to send them home. I didn’t get to sign the payroll this month because I was in the hospital so I won’t get paid on Jan 1. With my telephone call and this I am about out of money. Would you send me 5 or 6 dollars to last me till Feb 1.
         Donald
  Don’t talk too much about the shoes. Wait till I get moved to send money so that the money will come direct.

Letter after learning of death of Grandfather Samuel Tappan

Just released from the hospital.

Saturday Eve

Dear Folks,
   I don’t know how to start this letter but of course I am sorry for what happened. It came as quite a shock to me. I got your telegram about noon today and because I was more or less dazed anyway from  just getting back from the hospital a few minutes before, it hit me pretty hard.
   I went immediately to my company officers to see what could be done for me. They thought that since I had lost out anyway and would have to be transferred that I should have a furlough. But they cannot give emergency furloughs for death outside your immediate family. So they sent it to battalion headquarters and it was refused.
   The only thing I knew to do then was to call you. I hope you could understand me. I was surprised at the rate the call went through. Most of the time the boys call home it takes 3 or 4 hours to the call to go through. My call came through in about 15 minutes or maybe less. It cost me $1.75.
   I hope you took care of flowers etc for me. I suppose the grandchidren bought flowers. Either you can take it out of money I have sent or you can remember it for me. 
    When I was down at battalion headquarters seeing about my furlough, I heard them call to somewhere with my transfer so I should be transferred the first of next week.
     God bless you all
         Donald

From Ward C-13 Station Hospital

Sunday

Dear Folks,
   This is one letter I will write in which I have nothing to say. All I know is that I am still here. As far as I know all that “ails” me now is a chest full of cold and boy am I coughing up gallons from it. This by rights should mean that it is breaking. 
   This has seemed to be a very long week to me. The longer I stay the harder the job of staying gets. The worst part of staying here is my appetite. They serve pretty good meals but I have lost all desire for eating. I think the greatest reason for this is the awful feeling the medicine leaves in your stomach.
   I got your package the other day and read all it contained. I tasted the candy and it sure reminded me of home but I couldn’t relish eating much of it. I couldn’t even interest those around me with it. That doesn’t need to worry you though. When I get back to the army again it will certainly be welcome.
   They are doing one thing for me here that I am really happy about. You remember that I said that my bump on the head left a red place in my eye. Well shooting a rifle didn’t help it but caused it to spread till about ½ of the white part of my eye was covered. I asked the medical man (not a doctor but more of a first-aid man) back at the company a couple of times about it but every time he would say it would heal up in a few days. Of course it never did and the doctor here took an interest in it. He said it was a ruptured blood vessel and told the nurse to get a certain kind of medicine for it. They have only been putting the medicine in for 2 or 3 days and already it is helping. About half of the redness has cleared up. 
   If it doesn’t clear up any more I will be satisfied but now I have hopes that maybe I won’t always have to wear around a bloodshot eye.
   I have about decided why I should get sick just after they gave us those pills which were supposed to keep us well. They told us that they were supposed to kill disease germs by raising the “temperature of our body” slightly. I imagine that just that little bit of fever lessened my resistance enough to let “whatever I have” set in.
   Well I wish I knew what to ask you about that is happening back there. About all I can think of is “How is Richard  coming with his job?”
  I guess I have got a little letter written anyway. So - Love
                    Donald

From Ward C-13 Station Hospital

Friday 
Afternoon

Dear Folks,
   I hope by the time this letter reaches you that I will be out of here. There doesn’t seem to be much chance now that I will get out during the six days so I am getting used to the idea of taking several more weeks of basic.
   I had a queer experience Wednesday afternoon. By that time my temperature had gone down quite a bit and I was feeling a lot better. About 3:00 PM a nurse came around bringing us fruit juices to drink and I took grape juice. This made me sick and I threw up almost immediately. Then my temperature shot up to 105° and I couldn’t keep anything down until the next day.
   Well yesterday the fever started going down but that high fever left me with such a dizziness and headache that it really hurt to open my eyes. I just spent the day lying there with my eyes closed trying to rest.
   It is hard writing in bed so pardon the dimness! Today I feel like somebody again and have done considerable reading. This is sure some hospital. It is made up of hundreds one story buildings that are connected by the hallways. It covers several blocks in area. I suppose there are exceptions but each of these buildings is a ward. The back end is offices etc. and the front is a big room. In our ward there are about 35 beds. If you are really sick (as I was for 2 or 3 days) you are waited on as in a regular hospital but if you are recuperating etc you wait on yourself. You make your own bed, sweep under your bed, walk to the bathroom and go get your meals. Today is the first day I have really been able to do this.
   After you are nearly ready to leave they give you a bathrobe & let you go to a mess hall that is somewhere within the hospital. There is also a PX and recreation room to go to after you can get out. Well I don’t want to start a new sheet & that’s all anyway.
                       Love, 
                        Donald

Tuesday 
Evening

Dear Folks,
   I don’t enjoy telling you this but I am now in the hospital. I began feeling bad Sunday afternoon and I had to struggle pretty hard to keep going yesterday. I thought my trouble was mostly a chest cold but I could tell that I had some fever and I also had a bad headache and sore throat.
   I was supposed to be on guard duty last night but before my shift came up I went down to the dispensary. My temperature was 103.8 and my trouble, as you might have guessed, was tonsillitis.
   This was about 7:30 and by 8:30 I was started to the hospital and a substitute was taking my place as guard. It was lucky that I went to the dispensary when I did because the doctor said that if I had slept in the tent one more night with the fever I would have had pneumonia.
   I have felt pretty bad today and have taken about a ton of medicine. I think the medicine is mostly to make me sweat & sleep, both of which will be good for me. My fever is going down and I feel better this evening.
   I don’t know how long I will be here but it oughtn’t be too long. Anyway it could be worse. This basics sure is giving me some varied experience.
   Don’t worry and don’t broadcast it too much.
              Love, 
               Donald
If I lose less than 6 days I will be sent back to my old company and will make up the work. But if more than 6 days I will be sent to another battalion in about their 6th or 7th week of training. This will make me 4 or 5 weeks later in finishing my training but it can’t last forever.
         Now it is your turn to keep your chin up.
          Thessalonian 5:16

Unless you have done so don’t send my Christmas now until I give the signal.

Sunday

Dear Folks,
   This is the first half day off I have had in 2 weeks. I even go back to work this afternoon. We have been learning about shooting our rifles in battle conditions for the last few days. You would be surprised how much harder it is to hit the image of a man at an unknown distance. This week we will have moving targets. We will also shoot the mortar and machine gun before the week is over.
   I am going to church at 10:00 this morning and get a few letters written. Since we leave before daylight & get back after dark you are the only ones I have written to this week. I’ll bet everyone else thinks I have forgotten them.
   I had the misfortune of losing my pocket knife last week so maybe you can tell it to someone who wants to send me something.
   I haven’t had a chance to do any reading for so long that I don’t have any idea of what is happening outside. We really had an easy schedule for the last few days as far as hard work goes so you needn’t worry about that.
   Oh yes I almost forgot. We have been taking medicine for the last few days. It is a member of the sulfa drugs family. Sulfathiozol or something like that. It is supposed to cost about $50 and be impossible to get in civilian life. It is supposed to kill and cure colds. I have got some cold now (the first I have had since I was down here) but maybe this will help me.
   Well I hope you are all ok. It is cold & damp down here but I’ll bet it’s a lot colder there.
          Love,
           Donald
P.S. Richard  will be interested in knowing that our rifle really hardly kick at all. As far as I can remember our shotgun kicks a whole lot harder than they do.

Also a follow-on, probably November 30 or December 1, based on the postmark

Sunday Eve.

Dear Folks,
   I am writing by candlelight tonight. Therefore I will write a very short letter. Confidentially this is about the worst Sunday I have ever spent. I didn’t even have a chance to go to church.
   We started at noon yesterday and marched till almost dark. Then we pitched our tents, dug shit trenches, ate C (combat) rations and went to bed. Then to beat it all it rained in the night. We got up in the dark this morning and rolled our packs. A pack is hard to roll in daylight and 3 times as hard to roll in the dark. We got here at about 10:00 and ate breakfast. We have been working almost all day at such jobs as cleaning up around here.
   We live in tents with dirt floors but we do have beds to sleep in. Tomorrow we go out on the range but I don’t know exactly how or what we will fire.
   I had my first experience firing on Friday. We fired the carbine but not for record. I got by but didn’t do anything outstanding. The worst part of this are is the lack of water. We have to get along on a canteen full a day. We must wash and shave, etc. in it. For this reason I may have to start drinking coffee. That is about all they furnish us at meals and when I have to furnish my drink out of my canteen it soon runs out. 
   I am not going to say this often but frankly I will be glad when this basic is over.
   I can receive letters & packages out here but don’t send anything that will be too big to take back. Keep praying and don’t worry.
              Love, Donald

Dear Folks1November 30?,
I am OK but am too busy and tired to write. We have been firing our rifles so far this week. This will let you know I am still here. I am including a letter I wrote Sun. but didn’t even have time to mail. I am in better spirits now.
            Love
             Donald