Monday Noon

Dear Folks,
   I’ve got some little news and I’ve got to hurry to say it. After two o’clock this afternoon we won’t be able to send any more letters. I expect it will be just as well for you to hold up writing for a few days. Of course if you don’t heart from me for a good while it might be alright to send a letter here every 4 or 5 days so I’ll get some news just in case something happens I don’t expect.
   I got your letter of the 7th today - I was very happy to hear about the big game.
   I am OK and will write as soon as possible. God bless you. Don’t worry about me.
    Love
      Donald

Fort Jackson photos from: An Historical and Pictorial Record of the 87 Infantry Division in WWII

                                                 Saturday Evening

Dear Family,
   I guess that I might as well begin with the thought that is uppermost in my mind. I usually get one and lots of times two letters from you the last part of the week. But this time I haven’t heard from you since Wednesday noon. That was the day I was on KP and I got the letter you had written last Sunday. Of course I’ll still be looking tomorrow. As we’ve said I’m not worried but I sure am concerned.
   It seems to be an almost established fact now that we’ll be leaving sometime around Wednesday of this next week. We had to throw away everything this evening such as hair tonic etc. that we can’t take with us but that we had been keeping to use up to the last minute. We are now rid of magazines, papers, boxes and everything that we can’t take along. Our khakhis are to be turned in tomorrow evening and they are preparing to take our footlocker and beds so you can easily see that things are rapidly coming to a head.
   I’m up with my news till yesterday morning so I’ll begin there. We spent the entire morning giving the barracks a final scrubbing. We scrubbed the ceiling, walls and everything down to and including the floor. That’s the most thorough cleaning it’s ever had and likely if we do any more cleaning on it, it’ll just be a scrubbing of the floor.
   Then we were off Friday afternoon as the last half of our vacation and I didn’t do much of anything. I washed a few clothes, slept some and just generally let the afternoon slip away from me. It was a rest from duty though and I sure am not going to cry over spilled milk.
   This morning we had a hike that lasted for about 3-½ hours so that took the first half of the day. For an hour and a half after dinner we attended a training movie and that concluded the day’s work. 
   I don’t know why they have to give us hikes on Saturdays but at least this one didn’t hurt me as bad as the last. But of course, there’ll be no question about sleeping tonight. I spent the later part of the afternoon cleaning my rifle, washing fatigues for next weekend generally getting things straightened up.
   Yesterday evening I got your little box and it sure was appreciated. I hope mother made the cookies because I hope to be able to eat more of them sometime. There must have been some honey in them because they certainly stayed fresh. I couldn’t imagine what was in the can and it certainly was a great thrill to us when I opened it up this evening. I wonder if it was some of the chicken you canned. How did you happen to use tin? Boy it certainly was good!
   I read the Sunday School paper entirely through after supper this evening so I guess that just about finishes the box.
  Well it's only about a quarter after eight but I feel so worn out that I think I’ll hit the hay in a very few minutes. Good-night,
                           Donald

                                                        Sunday 
                                                         3:30PM
   Again I’ll start with word about the letters I’ve received. Only this time the news is very much better. I am happy to say that at mail call today I received two letters from you. Boy I can’t tell you how glad they made me.
   I’ll answer some of your questions and maybe by the time I get that done I’ll be warmed up and ready to write.
   I surely appreciate those clippings. If I were home I know I would read small items like this and they are of no less interest to me now. Whether or not they are too near to me personally doesn’t matter. Send them often.
   About the address on the Tribune, I did fill out a change of address card for them so that part of it you won’t have to take care of.
   When it comes to receiving letters I am content if you are to leave things as they are. I still say receiving a letter is much more important than receiving a big letter. Its alright with me if you want to put three cent stamps on them instead of air mail all the time. Of course, I like to get them soon but I just can’t keep enough to put air-mails on all my letters.
   I am wondering how the Noblesville football game came out. It would have been nice if Richard got straightened up for the game but at least I hope it wasn’t anything serious. I had read about his being vice-pres of the Hi Y. And you can be sure that this and being co-captain of the football team gives me a great pride. I guess the reason I am so happy about the things he is doing is because they are an accomplishment of the things I would have liked to do. Maybe that isn’t true either because I never had too much interest for football but I know from experience that the more things you are a part of: the better off you are. I have never been sorry that I took part in the free things I did.
   I guess your letters explain about the box but I wonder why it got here before an air mail letter. I wonder what you’ve been doing today. Its a very nice day here but for a while this morning it looked pretty damp. About all I’ve got accomplished up until now has been going to church this morning.
   I got sort of a greeting card from Rev. Siferd the other day so I guess I’ll have to get busy and write some kind of a letter to him before the day is over. I always sort of wonder under what sort of circumstances things like this are sent.

                                                         6 PM
   Well I did a little reading and finally got the aforesaid letter written. They only sent me a greeting card so I didn’t even have a letter to get a few ideas from. Between this and the fact that I’ve never seen them and really know little about them it was a pretty hard job. But I’ve written difficult letters before so even if it wasn’t so fancy I got it done in some fashion or other.
   I don’t know how I’ll spend the rest of the evening but I’m sure not going to start anything very strenuous if I can help it. Bear in mind what I’ve told you before if you cease to hear from me in the near future. Continue to write till you hear different and I’ll do the same.
         Lots of love
              Donald

                                                    Saturday Night
Dear Folks,
   I am sending these pictures back because I simply will not be able to care for them. It may seem that I am sending all I have but I have a half dozen that I especially care for that I’m keeping. Thanks a lot for these and I’m thankful that it has been possible to keep and enjoy them this long. 
   I’ll send these separately so I won’t have to worry about there being too much weight in my regular letter. 
       Your son and brother
         Donald

                                                    Thursday Evening
                                                       early
Hello Family,
   I’ll begin this letter a little earlier than I usually do of evenings and if I can think of enough, maybe it won’t be quite such a skimpy letter as the last one was.
   Before I forget it I looked over the letter you wrote last weekend which I received yesterday. I am very pleased at the way the football season is progressing. Good luck on this week's games. It sure made my heart sink when I heard about Wendell. But I am glad that you told me about it. I don’t know any appropriate statement I could make on the subject so I just won’t make any.
   Daddy asked about my watch and I can sure say that it is filling the bill perfectly. When it was brand new it gained about a minute a day but it seems to have settled down now and is doing almost perfect. I sure get a lot of good and enjoyment from it. I still am thanking you.
   I remember Dola Austin who you wrote about.
   Our work has been progressing along the very usual lines. I think from what I can gather that we’ll be leaving here about the middle of next week.
   Yesterday was spent on KP so that takes care of that. I was pretty tired when the day was over.
   For some reason or other (I guess it’s because we are leaving) yesterday was declared a holiday  in the 87th division. And something which might not be expected - they gave those who were on detail today free.
   But our company had to have an inspection yesterday morning so they took yesterday afternoon off and we are supposed to get off tomorrow afternoon. I guess they feel our morale needs some lifting.
   So since I was on detail yesterday afternoon they gave me this afternoon to do as I wished. I decided that this would be a good time to go to town and catch the stores open and also miss the big soldier crowds. I got a chance to get a couple things that I’d been wanting to get for a good while and also got to see a little of the town. I didn’t leave till the middle of the afternoon so I got back just a little while ago.
   Oh yes, this morning we had another clothing inspection. That made two inspections in two days for the company. The rest of the fellows had a hike in the afternoon so I felt lucky not only in getting off but at getting off at such an opportune time.

                                                          8:30 PM
   Well if I am going to do any more writing I’ll have to get at it. I can’t do like you folks do and let someone else help me out with my writing so I expect with no new ideas my letters are a whole lot the same. But if you are still willing to receive them I’ll continue to do my best.
   I certainly am wondering about my chances of getting home. No doubt we’ll be near some port for a little while. But if its only for a week or two then I don’t have much hopes. Lets continue to hope and pray for the best. 
   That’s about all I know unless I say that I have spent most of this evening reading. I’ve only 4 or 5 pages left in the October Digest now so I’ll be looking for something new very soon.
   Best wishes to you all.
        Love,
         Donald

                                                       Tuesday Eve

Hello Folks,
   This may not be much of a letter but I’ll try. To begin with I’ve got K.P. tomorrow so I don’t want to spend too much time on anything but resting tonight.
   Our work has been the same old stuff so there’s sure no use of going into that. I guess the only real news is that we’re sure to be here the rest of this week. We weren’t going to get to send laundry this week but an order came out today that we could send it in tomorrow morning. So at least we won’t be leaving till after this week. That’s very uncertain but it’s a little more than we knew up till now.
   Yesterday I got a letter you sent out on Friday. I suppose I’ll get your weekend letter about tomorrow. I also got a letter from Grandma Carver yesterday. I just wrote her Sunday so I sort of  wish I’d waited a day longer. I wish you’d let her know I received and am thankful for her letter. Thanks. This isn’t very much of a letter but you can even let her read it as sort of an immediate temporary answer if you feel so disposed.
   No doubt you are at PTA this evening. I wish you all the luck in the world in it. About the Halloween party, I say by all means have it - just as long as you don’t use anything needed for the war effort or keep someone from work. After all the purpose is to help out the school and improve the community spirit. And aren’t these some of the very things we are fighting to preserve? There’s sure no use not carrying on as nearly normal as possible when nobody will benefit by it.
   Pardon this most scribbly writing. Be good and God bless you.
        Love
         Donald
I’ll try to do better next time.

                                                   Saturday evening
                                                    Sept 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.

                                                   Sept 30, 1944
                                                    Saturday Evening
                                                       6 PM

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 the 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 your 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 Sept 28,'44

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 came 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

                                                    Tuesday Evening

Dear Family,
   I sure wish I could tell you what a happy mood I am in tonight. To begin with, I got your weekend letter tonight. I gave my morale a lift of about 40 points (that’s just an arbitrary number). And then the next good thing that happened to me came sort of as a result of an accident.
   I remember Mr. May saying to me that you learn to take care of yourself in the army - And he sure didn’t know in how many ways that applies. I intended to stay in the barracks tonight and write you a big long letter. But they started looking through the barracks for a detail to clean up a lot of stoves they are packing up before we leave. And as usually happens they pick on the first people they see. And since I haven’t been in the army a whole year entirely for nothing, I got where they couldn’t see me. One of my buddies and I went to the show.
   I didn’t think the show would be any good but it would be better than working two nights in a row. (We worked last night but I’ll tell you about that later). It sounded like another war love story - “Till We Meet Again.” But I can say its by far the best play I’ve seen in an awfully long time. Most of the pictures have to mix drinking into it in some way or another, or are disgusting with a love story or be in some other way distasteful. But this was as clean a picture as you could ask for.
   It was a French underground picture and sure brought out some good thoughts. There were some pretty exciting scenes in it but after they were over they just added to the feeling. If you want to see a good play I can recommend it to you. Incidentally it also adds to your dislike for the German way and makes you feel more like doing your part.
   I guess the main reason it appeals to me was that it brought out a lot of religious points in it. It was more or less built around a nun. I definitely am glad that circumstances led me to go. (I never expected to be so thrilled over a movie).
   I’ll have to hurry now to tell you the news. Yesterday we spent the day studying explosives in all their different forms and uses. And then we spent the evening and night till about 10 o’clock on a little problem with what we had been studying. Of course, we got up as usual this morning and it sure was a job to hit the floor.
   This morning we went to a class about how to behave on our travels. Then after that we did about the same old routine. Most of the time was spent studying the use of maps but it was all a review.
   I hear we are going to have a hike tomorrow night but I hope it’s just a rumor.
                                                       5:30 AM Wed.
   I am playing like I am going to school again and am getting up just a little early to study. I’ve been looking over some of your past letters so I’ll try to answer some of the questions you have asked that I was in too big a hurry to answer before.
   I see I got 2 letters from you dated the 23rd of Sept. I got one of them yesterday and I believe the other one Sunday. Thanks for the stamps that were in one of them. 
   As near as I remember, Richard has hit the nail on the head on that Big Rich poem. I just about had it figured out that way myself. It was sort of a silly thing to ask but some way it sort of came to my mind that evening.
   I don’t suppose Richard will ever regret not taking Latin this year. Of course, I may not have seen the full value of it yet but I don’t see how the last two years of Latin that I took could be much added help to the first two. You don’t remember enough extra that you learn to hardly be worth the time. And after all that’s what counts anyway.
   As far as the political speeches go, I hear them sometimes and sometimes read and hear little snatches of them. I agree that it sure is rotten this year. On the speech that you mentioned, I heard the guy that announced the president but he made such a long speech and there was so much clapping afterwards that we never even listened to the president. I must have missed Dewey’s speech the next night altogether.
   About telephoning you. I think about it once in a while but there never is any news that is too important to wait for a letter.  I expect that if I ever do have any important news then I won’t be able to call you. I’ll call if I ever feel it necessary but for the difference it costs I can never think of what to say over the phone anyway. I’ll be able to tell you four times as much in a letter.
   Just tell me if you want me to call before I leave just for the sake of calling. If you want me to I’ll do it whether I’ve got anything to say or not.
   The others are getting up now so I’ll have to sign off. Hope you are coming along as well as usual. Good luck to Richard in his football games. God bless you all.
      Love,
       Donald

By the way, where is Waldo King now? Did you tell me once? I may have forgotten.