Monthly Archives: May 2017

I was in Joplin today after a load of raincoats.

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Our dad was a native speaker of Danish. He never finished high school here in the States; he quit school to work on the farm. So it’s been interesting to read his letters about going back to school in a military setting for a couple of different reasons — well, three actually.

  1. I’ve never read anything Thorgel wrote before. Really, I haven’t. Oh, maybe a grocery list, but never what I’d call “content,” nor original writing. He never wrote me a letter. Mom always did the writing for both of them, whenever I was away from home. I didn’t find these letters until many years after he died.
  2. He always liked to learn new things, he was a whiz at arithmetic (always done in Danish), and he had incredible mechanical aptitude for building and fixing — especially from repurposed materials and found objects. A true dumpster diver long before the term became common. I’m sure he felt very positive overall about the training and “schooling” he got in the military. He didn’t do a GED process in WWII, as far as I know, but he certainly could have earned the like.
  3. Thorgel never quite mastered a few words/phrases in English and he used what he thought he heard, not what would have been correct in written form. Of course, the favorite mom and I had was the way he used to say, “nipped in the butt” instead of “in the bud.” You have to admit the mental picture is memorable. He confused several homonyms, punctuation was arbitrary, there are run-on sentences. He thought “sequins” were “sequence” and he spelled “Santa Clause” with an “e” at the end, 50 years before the movie title. But I have college students whom I teach today whose writing is far less clear and direct and engaging than T. K.’s narratives in these letters he wrote to mom.

1942, the week of Christmas. Stuck in small-town Missouri…

crowder2

Dec 20, 1942.

Dearest Ruth:

Just a few lines to let you know I got your package today but I can’t open it til Xmas Eve. Our Captain wants to be Santa Clause (sic). He is really going to be busy, there must be over 150 packages for our barracks alone.

I was in Joplin today after a load of raincoats. It’s rained here for 2 days and a lot of the boys did not get a raincoat until now. It’s 32 miles from here and that’s the only town around of any size. It’s around 8,000 population. Had to wait 1½ hours to get loaded, so I went around town and got a few things. The small towns around here have been sold out long ago so I was about to give up hopes of doing any Xmas shopping until today.

When I got home tonight I had 12 cards and letters, most of them from Minn. They must have got my address from my buddy at Miami cause they had been there first. I am ashamed of myself for not writing to some of them but I guess they won’t mind too much.

Here we wear our O. D. trousers and tan shirts and black ties, with blouse for dress. We have coveralls for everyday. I really like them better than trousers and jacket like we wore at Miami.

You were wondering if I had rode in a Jeep yet. Yes, ever since last Friday I drive one every afternoon out in the woods a few miles to a receiving station out there for the A. C. W. school. It’s just like riding one of these Mo. mules, herding it down the trails in the woods, but they can really plow mud and climb the hills.

We are going to have both Thursday and Friday off here, there will be services Xmas Eve at 11, and 9 and 2 Friday. There will also be a play at the Field House Friday afternoon so it won’t be bad after all, although it won’t be like home, by far. But the Army is doing its best for each and every one here so what more can be expected under the circumstances.

Sunday I sent you a picture. I had 6 like it taken at Miami. I was also to have 2 big ones like the one the folks have. You can see it when you go over home. But I shipped out before they were ready so if I will ever get them now is a question. I had intended to give you and Harold one of those instead of the small ones.

I hope it’s a picture of you that’s come today. It’s a good thing it’s only 3 days to wait or it would maybe mean K. P. (A few have tried to open their packages and that’s what they get.) It’s kind of rough but orders are strict here and it’s best to stick with them.

Well, I think this will be all for tonight, I haven’t read all my letters yet and we have another mail call at 10. We have 3 a day now until after the holidays. So Good Night and lots of Love, Thorgel

Tell them all Hello! from me.

It’s all military secrets we are not even supposed to mention

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42-12-20Almost Christmas, 1942.
WWII training in Nowhere, Missouri.

crowder

Dec 19, 1942.

Dearest Ruth:

Thanks a lot for your letter, got it just before chow tonight. I did not get to read till afterwards cause I was really hungry. The Miami gang < guys who trained together there the month before > all had another shot just before dinner < immunizations >. This makes 9 now. It makes a person a little dizzy for a couple of hours so it was very little we had for dinner.

We really have a swell Captain in this Co., he came around right afterwards and told us we could go to a show this afternoon in place of school. The King of Kings is on for 3 days here at the field house. The only thing none of us like about it is we have only wooden benches to sit on and they get plenty hard hard to sit on for 2½ hours.

Have now gone to school 8 days. We have nothing but open classes, so there is no studying to do after school. It’s all military secrets we are not even supposed to mention anything about it to other boys at the barracks. I could now tell you exactly what you would hear from a plane coming over Sioux Falls wanting to make a landing but I guess it’s best not to. You would maybe land it right in the middle of your tree garden or over in our chicken yard.

The best I can do describing our schooling is like playing Dominoes only it’s done by head and chest phone and the fellow you play with is across the street telling you what ones to use. It’s really great to be in the Army playing games 8 hours daily. Most of us don’t seem to think we are even earning our meals after 5 weeks of this.

I think I could best you in a game even if you are the best bowler, you are doing all right with that left of yours.

You should see all the Xmas packages we have here. We have an 8 ft square in the corner of our barracks with a pile about 4 ft high. No one is allowed open their packages before Xmas Eve, so there will really be some time here then. A few have tried and got caught. That means a day of K. P.

By the way, you were mentioning about that in the last letter I got. I haven’t been on K. P. yet, but after being here 2 weeks everyone gets 1 day. Every 2 weeks they are picked by alphabet, that way everyone gets a fair chance. By the way I forgot to thank you for the snapshots. The one I have in my billfold and the other is hidden in the footlocker. that’s the one on the fireplace. < T. K. built a brick fireplace out in the yard at mom’s house. > The boys say they would really like to have something like that to back up to and make hotdogs in the moonlight. That’s something we don’t have here at Crowder.

It’s been cloudy and raw ever since I came here and we wear our raincoats most of the time back and forth to school. We also had a blackout here the same night as home. They fired 3 shots from the cannon, by the last shot everything here was dark.

The boys here thought it was funny, but us from Miami were used to that every night so we thought it was just to have lights in the evening. Here we can stay outside every night till 11 o’clock but there is nothing to go to outside the camp. The towns around here are only small ones and everything is so high < expensive > it’s terrible. We can get the same things at the P. X. for almost half. Homes around here look like the ones in Arkansas. That house of your Uncle Charley’s would be a mansion here so you can imagine what these would be.

All of us were really disgusted when we came here after being in Florida and then landing out here in the sticks, but the boys here are all swell fellows and we have lots of fun together the best we all know how. So I suppose a couple of months here will pass by too. From here it will either be back to Tampa or Fort Lewis Wash. The ones that finished school when we got here went to Fla. and the ones before that went to Wash. It seems to be every other shift that go to the opposite direction. I would like to go to Wash. from here then I would be only 30 miles from Harold < his brother > and the rest of our relations out there.

From there it’s an A. P. O. in about 6 weeks. I am going to try to get a few days off before leaving here but at the present time it’s impossible cause so many have gone over the hill lately < AWOL >. 2 were brought back yesterday and they will be in the guard house 6 months at least. Every day the Captain warns us that it’s best to stick around through the Holidays. After that he will try his best for all and he is a man that don’t say much but he has served 27 years so he really knows the ropes.

Well I guess I must quit for tonight. Have ½ hour before bedtime. I am going over to the P. X. for a malted milk first, so Good Night and lots of love, Thorgel.

Merry Xmas to all and don’t eat too much candy and nuts.

Truly “going green” at the cemetery

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Screen Shot 2017-05-28 at 6.31.18 PM
Given that it’s Memorial Day weekend, we have been to the cemeteries where our folks and our relatives are buried, and I’ve been thinking about how much I’ve always liked cemeteries — they are quiet and cool, full of history, beautifully landscaped, and seeped in stories of long lives and short ones. And even, sometimes, we find beautiful art and architecture, masterful craftsmanship and typography, and inspiring sentiment.

Although I completely understand why many people these days feel that they want to be cremated when they die — it is the norm in many cultures, and it sounds good to me — many of our elders are more “used to” the idea of being buried, especially if there are family graves in the same cemetery or if their spouse is already gone. That’s the way it was with my mom. Our dad died over 15 years earlier.

So when the time came, our mom was very pleased that Mt. Pleasant Cemetery was the first in South Dakota to “go green” and facilitate burials that are simple, eco-friendly, and less wasteful of resources. Her parents and other family members are buried there, and so is our dad. She wanted to be with them but she didn’t want “all that fuss and denial.”

Mom was an avid gardener all her life, she maintained a chemical-free zone in the back yard for some 50 years, for growing food crops and perennials, and she saw no point to the idea of “preserving” her dead body by any of the funeral practices that are still common. She didn’t want a formal funeral and I can hear her saying, at age 99, “I’m already done with this body. Why would I ever need it again after this life?”

We went through the casket-and-vault routine when our dad died — only because mom thought she had to do so — but she was relieved and pleased we would bury her in a woven wicker basket and she would be allowed to decay into the earth over time, like mulch.

Funeral practices like chemical embalming may have made sense when there was no refrigeration available — as during the Civil War — but I believe it’s time we moved on and treated the land and the groundwater in our communities with as much respect as we do our deceased loved ones.

Surprisingly, there are not many cemeteries in the Midwest listed as certified by the Green Burial Council. At least this surprised me. This is an area of the country where agriculture is familiar and widespread, where seasons are significantly different from each other, and where the “cycle of life” is well understood. It baffles me why the natural order of life, growth, death, and decay seems to work for crops and gardens, yet doesn’t extend to people. I am not being disrespectful, I am being reasonable.

So, I would encourage families who have “always done it that way” to do some research and consider the options in their area for more “eco-friendly” burials. Maybe your local cemetery would consider “going green” also, if enough families asked about it and inquired why they haven’t yet done so.

More info here: Green Burial Council

1944 satire: MEMORANDUM • “Just send copies 13, 14, and 15 somewhere.”

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satire1944MEMORANDUM:

It has been brought to the attention of this office than many civilians in the office are dying and refusing to fall after they are dead. This must STOP!

On and after 1 September 1944, any civilian caught sitting up after he is dead, will be off of the Payroll immediately (i.e.: within 90 days), in those cases where it is clearly shown that the employee is being supported by a typewriter or other property clearly marked “U. S. Government”, additional time (90 days again) to clear the property during which civilians shall be carried from the rolls, may be granted. The following procedure will be as stated below:

If after several hours it is noted that a worker has not moved or changed his position, the supervisor will investigate in an apologetic manner, of course, considering the highly sensitive nature of civilians and close resemblance between death and their natural working habits. It is specifically directed that investigation procedures be done quietly, so as not to disturb the civilian if he is asleep. If any doubt exists, as to the civilian’s condition, it has been found that extending a government check serves as an acid test. If the civilian does not immediately reach, it may be generally concluded that he is dead. In time, you will be able to know the difference between death at work and quiet repose. Be on your guard that in a few instances that instinct to grab is a reflex, a spasmodic clutch.

If the civilian is dead, fill out Special Form No WDGRT 67593343, making 15 copies. Mail the first three copies to the office, together with the tops of three first aid kits. Copies 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12 will be forwarded to the Messenger Boy of the office concerned. If the man serving in the capacity of Messenger Boy of the office is an Army Officer, (as is usually the case) be sure his serial number is clearly indicated. Just send copies 13, 14, and 15 somewhere. This is a must. In all cases, a sworn statement by the dead man covering his history for the past ten years must be included. If the dead man cannot write, his signature must be witnessed by two live persons (they are hard to find except on pay day) giving full names and addresses.

TO ALL OFFICERS, DEPARTMENT HEADS, AND CIVILIAN SUPERVISORS::
::::::::::PUSH THE BOY ASIDE AND MAKE ROOM FOR THE NEXT CIVILIAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Signed,

Rigor Mortis
Captain, USA

Camp Crowder, out in “the sticks”

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On the way to his next Post, Thorgel is transported from sunny Miami Beach to somewhere in Missouri. No going home for Christmas, and nothing to do but wait.

42-12-14

Camp Crowder Mo.
Dec 13, 1942.

Dearest Ruth:

I am now at Camp Crowder Mo. a hundred miles from nowhere. This is the worst I have seen since I left home. This is really what you call out in the sticks.

The nearest town is 12 miles and nothing there, it’s just a small town. I am supposed to be here 6 weeks for schooling. Started Friday a.m. taking Aircraft Warning. It’s all like greek to me but I guess I will try to make the best of it.

There was some 20 boys that went over the hill < deserted > since we got here so you can imagine what it’s like here. You will have to let me know what Christmas will be like this year cause I won’t see anything here. I guess we are all here to make up for the time we had in Florida.

I don’t know of anything more to write about for tonight so I guess I will roll over and try to dream of the past.

Don’t forget to write cause that will be more of a treat than anything here.

Love
Thorgel.

address
T. Klessen U. S. Army
Co. D. 37th Sig. Tng. Bn.
Camp Crowder, Mo.

 

The last time under a Miami moon

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42-12-06-2

I love the wings/propeller and the logotype at the top of this military notepaper where our dad went for gunnery training in 1942. I can’t remember having seen that design anywhere before. For my Printing students, notice the gap designed into it between the red ink plate and the blue ink plate. That makes it less expensive to produce, as the registration is not close at all. Even the red initial caps on the right will “work” ok if they’re not aligned perfectly.

It’s December 1942 and soon Thorgel will find out where the war will take him next…

Air Forces Basic Training Center
Miami Beach Schools
Miami Beach, Florida

Dec 5, 1942.

Dearest Ruth,

I am now through with my training here, wish I could have stayed here this winter. It’s really nice to be where it’s warm this time of the year, but I guess there is nothing to do about it.

Tomorrow I am on shipping order, hope it’s to the west coast from here. I would like to see some more of this southern country before leaving.

The last lecture we had this afternoon was by Capt. B. Bie < ? > and he told us this squadron would be in combat zones within 60 days. I hope we have some good hunting where we are going cause them machine guns are a lot of fun shooting. This last week I had 6 hours every day, we shoot as high as 400 rounds a minute so you can imagine what a chatter it really is.

I am on guard duty tonight at 10 so it won’t be any use going any place till then except for a lunch. My buddy from Minn. left yesterday so it’s quiet here tonight except for a few British boys that came in this morning. They think it’s a treat for them to come to this country for training. They have a lot of interesting things to talk about but some of the Scotch (sic) are hard for us to understand. They seem to cut their words so short.

I had some more pictures taken, will send them when I get to a Post Office somewhere. Haven’t been able to get away during the day here to send them.

How are you getting along with your bowling? It’s too far here to go bowling, 47 blocks, that’s a long walk and no transportation here after dark.

Well I guess that will be all for tonight, have 45 min left until I go on duty for the last time under a Miami Moon.

Love,
Thorgel

I am going to build a shanty to live in

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Addressed to…
Mrs. Mary L. Buswell, R.F.D. #1, Sioux Falls, S. Dak.

Toppenish, Wash. • Oct. 25 – 08
Dear Mother,

I received your letter of the 18th inst, also the paper. I have been working for the Washington Nursery Co. again this week putting in some more skylights in their ware house.

It is quite interesting to see them pack the trees ready to ship. They employ 10 or 12 men to pack besides those that do the digging. They bring in trees by the wagon hay rack load. Their large size boxes when packed weight 800–900 lbs. and contain 800 to 3700 trees, according to the size of the trees.

Am glad that you have had such a good garden this summer. I expect to plant one in the spring if I stay here, which I intend to do now.

I have bought two lots in Toppenish. If you look on the map of T— that I sent, you can see the location. They are in Robbins Add. lot 2 in blk 8 ($125.00) and lot 9 blk 3 ($250.00). The new concrete block school house which they are building is on block 9. I pay 1/3 down and balance in six years. I think I will build on one of these instead of in Zillah, as I will not be able to get any work there and I can work out a good deal here, and do my own at odd times when the weather is bad, etc.

Next year when the railroad is built in Zillah there will be lots of building and I can get plenty of work there, and will have the same advantage that I have here now. I am going to build a shanty to live in myself next week, as this building is too cold. I cannot read, write, or do anything but hover over the stove in the evenings, no matter how much fire I have.

It will cost about $25. for lumber and I will have to pay 12 or 15 more, for a stove and pump. Then I will not have to pay any more rent, and be much more comfortable. Lots of people have been living in tents, working on ranches, etc., are coming into town and want to get houses to live in.

I could rent my house very well if I had it built. Mr. Nelson who owns this house says that there is a family who is very anxious to move in as soon as we move out, and I do not doubt it. the $5.00 per mo. which he gets for rent just pays his monthly payment on his lot.

Mr. Lown’s wife is coming back in about a week, she was anxious to return as soon as she got home. He bought a lot (Robbins Add. No. 11 in blk 3. $250.00) and is building a house to be ready when he gets here. All the lots in blks 1–2–3–4–9–10 are restricted in the deed so that no houses may be built that do not cost at least $800. This is so that if you build a fine house your neighbor can not build a shack next to it. This does not prevent one from building a shed-barn, etc., to live in at the back of the lot.

Mr. Lown is the greatest dog man you ever saw. Almost any dog will leave his master to follow him off, even tho he does not call it. He cannot resist feeding one if it comes around. There is one fine large black one named Watch — the kind they always call Watch — the people that owned him moved away and left him, and he came home with Mr. L., and I am going to keep him if he will stay when Mr. L. moves, and I think he will.

I got my suit from M.W. Co. [Montgomery Wards] and it it very fine. I fits better than any I have ever bought at the stores. They sent the second choice which was the one I sent you the sample of and I am glad now that they did. I advise Fred [his brother] to send there for his next one.

I have the cutest bean pot you ever saw, it is about as large as a 4# butter jar and shaped like a very wide-mouthed jug, and has a lid. I have baked beans twice and they were very good — just like mother used to make. I wish you would send me some easy receipts [now known as ‘recipes’] for pan cakes, rennet pudding, etc. I tried rice pudding again and it is good. Also send me 2 or 3 needles-full of black yarn to darn my gloves. I have needles.

I think I will get the material for my house on time and pay for it out of the rent, or let the man pay for it who buys it.

I will give you an illustration of what I think Toppenish chances are for growth. If you would imagine Lincoln Co, S.D. to be the reservation and all the country around settled as thickly as it is, and the town of S. Falls as near as it is. When the reservation is opened there will be about 3000 people (I estimate) settled on the land. Had not that ought to make the principal and almost only town on the reservation and situated on the reservation as Canton in Lincoln Co— grow a good deal.

Of course there might something happen to prevent or delay it. But if I wait to invest until it is a sure thing there will be no chance for profit. I have been saving my money ever since I quit farming to invest in something like this and this looks to be a good deal better chance than I had hoped for. The lots in Zillah I hope to make even more from, tho it will take longer. The prospects look better all the time for the R.R. to come there and there will be an electric line there anyway.

There was some more hay burned last night and they had a chance to try the new fire engine. It worked fine but they were too late to save the hay, but prevented possibility of the barn burning which was close by.

I saw some Andalusian chickens at the Fair. They are blue like some blue ones we had but have long feathers on the head like the black crested Spanish we had once, but longer. I wish you could plant some apple seeds in the garden by the fence, where there is not much manure. They will be the right size to graft when I get home and I want to try it. Plant them this fall and they will come up in the spring.

Your loving son,
W.J. Buswell

This war surely could go on much longer the way it looks now.

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On the back:
THIS ENVELOPE TO BE USED ONLY MY MEMBERS OF THE U.S. ARMED FORCES.

Camp Ritchie Md.
Nov 19, 1943

Dearest Ruth:

Received your letter this afternoon. This makes two now since I have gotten around to write. Even though we are in nights, it gets late before we have everything ready to move out at 6 a.m. Now it’s 9:30 and I have yet to shower and shave before the daily routine is completed. These days we go out in teams, and then when we get in, take a couple of hours BSn around trying to settle the arguments which ones have had the most experience through the day.

At times it gets almost as interesting as the tales like those old fellows tell. I always like to listen to them telling about what they used to do years ago.

Whereabouts in Minn. is that uncle’s farm of yours? Maybe I might know it cause I’ve almost been all over up there.

You know honey, I was just thinking next time I get home you will maybe have the piano out on the porch < This was at the front of the house, not outside. >

I remember you saying something about moving the radio out there. You kids could play it more without disturbing your mother too much. I don’t think I ever heard you play that I remember of. Are we going to have a piano in our living room or haven’t you found a place for it yet? Now I know what I can use for picture frames.

The boys sure got a big kick out of it. This will be one more to hang on the bulletin board. At times it’s covered with poems and stories so there’s hardly room for what’s supposed to be on there.

I don’t know what to say about that list of things you wanted to have me make, of things I wanted for Xmas. You know Ruth, the more stuff one has the more you have to move around with. There is only one thing I would really like and that’s one of those sleeveless G.I. sweaters. Some had them given to them by the Red Cross. When I came in the Army they gave me a shaving and sewing kit.

WWII_armyvest_RC

< I found this photo of one such vest at http://www.sid-vintage.com. >

You are way behind with your Xmas shopping honey. I done all of mine the last time we were out of camp.

I remember last year it was all sone at the last minute. Here one never knows when you get off. So that’s one thing that’s over with except for the wrapping. I haven’t decided on what color of ribbon to use but I think it’s going to be the lavender. < He must mean this as a joke; he was color blind. >

A little while ago some of the boys were talking  about what they were going to get their girlfriends. I believe Sgt. Williams has an idea. He said he was going to get his girl mad at him till after the holidays. That way he would get out of it. Isn’t that some way to talk about his girl?

He’s about as bad as the Bodens. I sure can’t see why Albert quit a job like his to get to driving a cab. Something like that may be alright for a side line but not for steady. Unless he wants to get acquainted with some other lady soon, then he is on the right track for sure.

This last week we have also been having swell weather. It’s just like when I was home except here we really have a cold gray dawn. So about the first thing we do when we get out in the morning is get a real fire going here. There are woods all over so it don’t take long.

You know honey, I was just thinking that if it would have been this year I would have been at Crowder < Ft. Crowder in Missouri > you could maybe have come and seen me there. Wouldn’t that have been swell? That’s one time a person wants to be home more than any other other time that I know of, but let’s hope that next year we can be together by then. This war surely could go on much longer the way it looks now.

< Occasionally Thorgel was sent to bring back a soldier gone AWOL. Sounds like they got kitchen duty as part of their punishment. >

The way our K.P.s tell us they even look to be back within another year. By now we are getting pretty well acquainted with some of them. It beats all how fast they catch one. After this month two of us CSU men can take one of them along the movie when we wish to. I guess they figure when there are 2 to 1 it’s O.K. Ever since they started working at the Mess Hall were are all getting too fat cause they give us whatever we point to as much as we want.

Well there’s not much space left so I must quit for now. Lights out, 11 p.m.

Love,
T.K.

“Camp Crowder Blues”

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I’m sure my dad got this from one of his buddies, but there are no credits for it. Enclosed in a letter sent to mom just after Christmas, 1942.

CAMP CROWDER BLUES

I am sitting here and thinking of the things I left behind
and would hate to put on paper what is running through my mind.

I have washed a million dishes and have peeled as many spuds.
I have paid as many dollars for the washing of my duds.

The many parades I have stood for is very hard to tell.
I hope it’s nice in heaven, for I know what it is in hell.

I have walked a thousand miles or more and never left the post.
I have studied till the dawning hours for the course I wanted most.

When my final days are over and my life cares laid away
I will do my final dress parade on the golden judgement day.

St. Peter then will grab me, and suddenly he will yell,
“Come in if you are from Crowder, you have served your time in hell.”

A person can’t get a lunch for less than 45¢.

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42-11-25Miami Beach Fla.
Nov 24, 1942.

Dearest Ruth:

Thanks a lot for your letter. It was really a thrill to hear from home. You should see us boys go wild when we have mail call. We have one every evening before chow, like they call it in the Army.

Last Sunday we went for a 50 mile boat ride sight seeing in the largest glass bottom boat in the world. I can’t begin to tell you all we saw but it was a lot of fun. It took 2½ hours for the trip. There were around 200 of us along, we saw Al Capone’s home that was really beautiful. It lays on a little island be itself. Lots of us had cameras along but we were not allowed to use them. I wish we could of (sic). There were many things I would like to get picture of.

I met one of my old friends from Minn. shortly after getting down here. We have lots of fun together discussing the times we had together up there, we are also on guard duty together. We have every night this week from 10 p.m. till 2 a.m.

I wish you could be here and see the place at night. It looks just like some of the pictures you see with a full moon shining over the beach. I have moved to a different hotel now. It’s closer to the drill field. Today we had a real rain shower while we were out there. Everyone got soaked and mud clear to the knees. Still we had to keep on till noon. Good thing it’s nice weather here. I suppose that’s why so many are here for training. I talk to boys from all over the U.S.

You were asking what kind of school it was here. There are several of them. The Government has taken over the whole beach for soldiers. There are very few tourists left here and they are to be out of here by the 1st of the month. The school I go to is a gunnery school. Have 4 hours training on the field in the morning and 3 hours schooling in the afternoon.

I think we walk 20 miles every day and you know how well I like walking, but the only thing is to like it. I really like the afternoon, though we sometimes lay on our stomach for an hour at a time shooting at targets out in the ocean. They are all the way from 200 to 1600 yards away from us. When I get home again I ought to be a pretty good shot. These rifles get plenty heavy handling. They weigh 9½ lbs. Next week it will be machine gun practice. Them are the ones that really mow the targets down.

After next week I am due for shipping orders. You can still send mail here. If I am gone when it gets here they send it on to the next Post. When you write again would you please send Ma Parson’s street number. I am going to send out some Xmas cards. We are supposed to have our Xmas mail sent before Dec 5 if it’s to get home in time.

I haven’t got much more time to write tonight. It’s just an hour till I go on duty. I’m going across the street to get a lunch first. Meals are high here. A person can’t get a lunch for less than 45¢ and dinners are from 1.50 and up. And still it’s mostly fancy dishes and nothing to eat.

The Army food is really good here. I have gained 9 pounds since I got here. We all eat like pigs, they say. Thanks a lot for looking after the Folks. I guess they are rather lonesome. Had a letter from home today. Had some pictures taken last Sunday. They will be ready in a few days. I must close for tonight. I will write again before leaving here. Tell them all Hello! from me.

Love,
Thorgel

address.

T. K.
U. S. Army.
1145th T. S. S. — TS 1226
Miami Beach Fla.

< See the envelope image with the return address for the full name of the training location. And notice the little airplane image in the lower left with the slogan: “KEEP ‘EM FLYING” >