| dc.description.transcription | 4thJuly, 1943Dear Folks,If there isn’t too much excitement going on, I guess Ruth &Iris are saying again, “He could at least write a postcard.” Maybe I could and maybe I couldn’t but any way here goes a letter.The best of my recollections tellme that I have done naught toward writing home since I moved into my new room except a clever postcard advising you of my change in address. I’ve written Brother and Gert telling them about my room mates but not you. This time there is just two of them and, Praise the Lord, they are both Texans.One of them is from Dallas. He is married and is about 22 years old. His wife isin Nashville living in an apt. close to Peabody. She has a job uptown to help pay the expenses. His name is Harvey M. Harrison. I bunked right across the aisle from him at Sheppard Field. I don’t know whether I have mentioned it or not but he is one of those poor unfortunate characters that got a month’s guard duty for talking in ranks. Talking in ranks in the regular G.I. Army is an offense that draws no more punishment that “Shudup” and a dirty look from the sergeant. But here along with anything else that you do out of line it means a month’s guard duty and perhaps he washed out.My other room mate is a real Texan, the kind that you read about in books. His name is Robert A. Harman and he claims San Antonio as his home. He was born in the U.S. but when he was but a few months old his parents moved to Mexico so that they could look after their ranches and oil property that were there. When he was about five years old, Mexico started all of this confiscation of U.S.’s oil property so he and his parents came back to San Antonio and started little Bobby to school. He couldn’t and wouldn’t speak English at the time but lonesomeness got the best of him so he learned. When he was about 14 years old his old man gave him three ranches which he now owns and runs at his own dispersion. Two small ones are in East Texas within about 50 miles of Tyler, and the other one, a big one is in South Texas close to San Marcus. He attended a Military School during his high school days and enrolled in the U of Texas at the tender age of 16. He had completed threeyears of work when he was notified that his Uncle Sam had need of his services. He is just 19 now and is really a swell fellow. Both of my room mates are tops and I hope that I get to stay with them next month, which is supposed to be my last month here.7-5-43I didn’t get to finish this yesterday as I knew that I wouldn’t if I went to church. I didn’tthink that you would mind getting this one day later if you knew that your little Jobie went to church. I didn’t go uptown to the Christian Church as I usually do with Carl Hathaway, but went to an Episcopal Methodist or something that is about a block South of the campus just across the street almost from the Belmont Theater, Ruth. Rob’t Harman and I went together. Now for the reason that I didn’t finish it yesterday afternoon. We had to put on a show that is continuing through today for the poor little 17 & 18 year old boys that are about to join something but can’t decide what. We had to march in ? formation out to Centennial Park where our band played a concert and then march back here again. Then when we got back we put on a formal retreat for about a hundred visitors and then I had to stand guard mount and then go on guard. | |
