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