Oct 2, 1943
Dear Folks,
I wanted to write last night but I didn’t have time. I may not get finished now but I have a few minutes before breakfast. As you can see I am at Ft. Benning, Georgia and that I am in an ASTP unit. I will first get 13 weeks basic training and then will be sent to school somewhere if everything goes off right. Our 13 weeks does not start till a week from Monday so I will be here a little over 14 weeks.
We started from Ft. Ben at noon on Thursday and got here about 1500 Friday. This made us about 27 hours on the train. We were on the train just about all the time except for about a half hour out for supper in the terminal at Cincinnati. We changed trains too in Atlanta, Georgia but we went strait from one to the other.
We came through Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Georgia. I slept through most of Kentucky and Tennessee so I never saw much of their scenery. I did see the Ohio River though. I looked about as wide as from the north side of the yard to the water tank (only a rough estimate). We slept in a day car. The seats laid down and made a solid bed the whole length of the car but it was so crowded that it wasn’t very comfortable.
When we got here we had several forms to fill out and were issued more equipment. I will tell about it when I have more time.
I now have a permanent address so you can send anything you want. Write whenever you can and I will write a long letter when I have time. (Tell Grandma Carver)
Love, Donald
Pvt. Donald Tappan 35893186
Co 13. 6 Ting. Reg. ASTP
Ft. Benning, GA.
(Ting. Reg = Training Regiment)