March 9, 1944 – Letter to Carver Grandparents
Thursday Noon
Dear Folks,
I folded my little note book up and put it into my pocket this morning so that I could get a letter started during my noon hour. It seems that at night I either have something else to do or am just lazy to get much writing done. I will ask you to share this letter with my folks and in this way I’ll be killing two birds with one stone.
This week we have been mostly just going over the things we have already had. We also have had to take some tests both mental and physical to see how much we have accomplished.
We are out in the field all day today practicing tactics. We didn’t even go back in for our noon meal but the mess truck brought it out to us.
Only two more days now and one phase of my training will be over. I sure do wish I knew what was coming next. They tell us that we will be moving almost immediately after our basic is over. There have been a lot of guesses as to where we will go but no one but the officers knows for sure. At least it is pretty certain that not many of us will stay here.
They are certain enough that we are moving that they want all of our correspondence shut off as soon as possible. I hate to stop getting letters but since orders are orders, I’ll have to ask you to stop writing until after I get settled again. I’ll write you as long as I can but even that will be shut off before long, I imagine.
Thursday night:
As you can see I got cut short. We had a fairly easy afternoon but I had a funny thing happen to me that I want to tell you about. We were practicing tactics and had a little stream to cross. I was about 8 ft wide and 6 inches deep in most places. Well I started across in what I thought to be a shallow spot. But instead of being shallow it must have been the deepest spot in the whole thing. I sunk in at least up to my knees and splashed enough water to get myself wet up to the hips. The afternoon was warm, luckily, so I soon dried off.
We have been having some really cool nights lately but it gets pretty warm in the daytime. It is getting to look an awful lot like spring now. The season is about a month and a half ahead of that at home.
Well I’ll sign off and try to write some more before too long.
Love, Donald