| dc.description.transcription | 8-30-43Dear Folks,Dagnabbit, Maxwell Field, Alabama!8-31-431:15 A.M.That first line is as far as I got before we had to fallout to get our hair cuts last night. And you ought to see the haircut around the sides it is clipped as close as possible and on top itain’t much better. If you were to get an idea as to how I look go out to the garage, get an onion, peel it, hold it up in the air, and observe. I’ve had short hair cuts before but this is the first time that I have ever been skinned. The by-word is, “My what a wonderful head of skin you have.”I suppose you wonder what I am doing writing at 1:15 in the morning. Well I am a guard, stationed in the latrine. My duty is to watch out for fire. If I find one, I don’t know what I am supposed to do with it, but I am supposed to watch for one anyway. After my two hours is up, I will go wake someone else and let him finish until reveille. I will start with the news at the time of the call Sat. morning. I knew that I was leaving Sunday afternoon but I had been warned not to tell. And to make the warning more emphatic we were told that the wires were tapped on the telephone. So the call was mostly social, but wholey enjoyable. We spent Saturday and Sunday getting ready to ship and raising cain. One of the hardest things in my life was saying good bye to the boys that didn’t make it. The hardest was Jay Lewis. If you remember, he was one of my first room mates and the one that we were talking to under the [hole in page]when the guard told us to be quiet. Something is the matter with his back that he never knew about.The train pulled out at 9:30 Sunday night. There were no pullmans but all chair couches. At 11:30 when we pulled into Maxwell Field, we hadn’t eaten for 18 hours, and hadn’t slept except for about2 hours, for 36. We were one bunch of tired hungry boys. From the second we stepped off the train our training as officers, soldiers and Gatemen really began.I don’t know much about service here. I’ll write more about it when I learn. While at the tableeating we sit straight and don’t talk. When we want something passed we say, “Would anyone else care for the butter? (pause) Please pass the butter.” Everything here is done just so. The whole set up is copied directly from West Point. Up to now the Army has been toughening us up, now the polishing off of the rough edgeshas begun.Some of the boys are already resistingit but I likeit.Once again the food is good to eat. There at the classification center was not. They have promised to keep us busy here and I believe them. So look for another letter when you see it in the mail box. Love,Joe | |
