About Letter 86

Bill continues to progress at code taking. He is attempting 10 words a minute and "doing fairly well." Bill remarks that the weather is adding to his "state of misery- "yesterday...80 deg.--this morning it SNOWED."

Letter 86- April 4, 1944

April 4, 1944
“Chowder”
Dear Mudder and Dad,

I don’t even intend to send this letter if I can help it, but last night I was on guard and tonight I must help G.I. the barracks so I don’t know whether I can get time to write a real letter or not.

Yesterday I received the Easter package and letter from you. I concluded from certain “derogerary” remarks in the letter that I had better write. I’m writing this in class and therefore the “yaller” paper and G.I. printing. I’m having a wonderful time eating the eggs. They’re delicious. I cut the chocolate eggs up into slices. (not in class)

I’m progressing a little better in my code at present and it seems that the crisis may be passed. I’m now attempting to take 10 words a minute and am doing fairly well.

With every day that passes I get more fed up with the state of “misery”. Yesterday the temp. was actually 80° --this morning it snowed.

I just got back from lunch and mail call. I received 3 letters from you. The pictures are swell and I was sure glad to get them.

Well, I guess this damn thing is going to have to do for a letter after all. It’s late in the evening now, and after being up all last night I just haven’t the courage to start a letter. Hope you’ll forgive me.

Bestus, Love
Bill

About Letter 85

Now that he is up to receiving 10 words a minute Bill is feeling a bit better about his code work. He is also working as an instructor in demolition, mines, and booby traps. The additional responsibility suits him. Bill complains that most of the men in his barracks are "the dumbest bunch of Bohemians I ever saw." He says that he does get to "talk a little common sense now and then with a few A.S.T.P. men and a few Chinese fellows here", including Tall Kay Loo, a cousin of the actor Richard Loo. Bill closes the letter with a comical sketch.

Letter 85- April 1, 1944

April 1, 1944
(Camp Crowder, Missouri)

Dear Mudder and Dad,
At last! After not receiving any mail from you for over a week today I got a pile of letters and also two packages. I received the money order too. It seems that my mail has been floating around all over the camp for the last week or so. And I thought the Camp Abbot P.O. was bad. Thanks a lot for the money and the packages.

Today is G.I. Sunday. It’s really Saturday but for the first time I’ve been in the army I’m getting a two day weekend. It’s really sumpin’. I slept this morning until 8:00. That wasn’t so late but after getting up at 5:30 all the time it was like staying in bed all day. After getting up, getting a shower and shaving I went to the Service Club for breakfast. Then I went to the library and started reading the March “Atlantic.” I got pretty interested in that and the next thing I knew it was noon. Since then I’ve been reading my mail and eating those swell cookies.

I’m picking up a little in my code work. I was getting pretty discouraged awhile there but now I’m up to receiving ten words a minute so I feel a little better. It’s funny but my trouble lies in distinguishing between the characters. I have them memorized perfectly and can transmit quite fast but when it comes to receiving I have a tough time. I am getting there though. I’m determined not to fail. Fizzling out on things was always my great weakness but this army life has made me so aware of the necessity of succeeding that I’ve just got to make it. Of course, there’s no reason to believe now that I won’t succeed.

I’m enjoying life around here more and more all the time mainly because I’m now treated like a soldier instead of a trainee. I get more work and responsibility but I’d rather have it that way. Being an Engineer they’re using me now as an instructor in demolition, mines, and booby traps, the basic techniques of which are being taught to the Signalmen in this company. Life is pretty easy compared with Abbot but this sitting all day long is ruining my appetite. I now weigh a good ten pounds less than I did when I came in the army—160 now. However, my shoulders are becoming better developed and I’m hard all over.

Here in the barracks everyone’s from New York. You know the kind. Either you’re from New York or from the sticks. What saps! Here’s some of their names—Wasielewski, Wartislavski, Merriaslowski—the dumbest bunch of Bohemians I ever saw.

However, there are also some A.S.T.P. college men here too, so I do get to talk a little common sense now and then. We have quite a few Chinese fellows here and you couldn’t find a nicer bunch. One sleeps right next to me and we pal around quite a bit. His name’s Tall Kay Lou and he’s a cousin of the Richard Lou who is in the movies. He’s a swell fellow. He was born in this country but was brought up in Hong Kong. His family is evidently quite wealthy. His father runs several businesses in Seattle and several in China. Most Chinese here are pretty stiff in the way they act until they see you don’t hold their color against them but then you couldn’t find a more pleasant people nor as sensible. Lou is really a funny duck. He was asking one day what I thought of England. After I told him, he said he (was) surprised so many Americans dislike England. Then he told me what the Chinese think of England—Wow! What a speech.

The war news sounds pretty good these days. Despite our air losses and the Italian fiasco, the Russian drive toward Czechoslovakia and Hungary looks pretty good. So does our raids on islands like this Palau—so near the Philippines. Maybe this war is nearer over than we think—I hope.

Must close,

Best Love,
Bill

P.S. If Richard is still around say hello to him for me.
Bill


(sketch here)

About Letter 84

Bill laments that "Radio code is getting worse and worse for me." He learns to his dismay that he is a "guinea pig" in Signal School whereby low scorers in the Signal test are taught under a new system. Worst of all is the boring repetition of code where "a man becomes a machine." Bill undergoes the Signal Corps version of booby trap training which he lambasts saying, "just about everything they teach here is wrong."

Letter 84- March 29, 1944

March 29, 1944
(Camp Crowder, Missouri)

Dear Folks,
I planned to make this a long letter but now I have a nosebleed and I don’t know.

Well, things are getting pretty rough around here. Radio code is getting worse and worse for me. It’s funny but I think I’m working harder for this than anything I’ve done yet I’m doing so poorly. I asked one of the officers about it and he said I was doing alright but that I was at a disadvantage since I received such a low score in the Signal test I took at MacArthur. I found out that certain of us in my class are guinea pigs. We are supposed to be somewhat inept at distinguishing signals, but under this new system they think they can teach us anyway. I hope so. I know I can make it if they give me time. I do have a lot of trouble, however. I’m taking your advice, Mother and not worrying. That’s the worst thing a person can do.

It’s certainly boring though. Radio sounds interesting but it isn’t. When receiving code a man becomes a machine. He automatically takes the stuff down and doesn’t even know what it is since it’s all in cryptograph.

XLCK WRMP YL4L etc.

The sets we have are practically useless as far as interest is concerned since they can’t pick up much. Between you and me it’s the nuts. I do want to succeed though. I haven’t failed in anything in the army yet and I don’t want to S.N.A.F.U. now.

The other day we had a big inspection by the Chief of the British Signal Corp and a lot of other officers. It was the usual “baloney”. We had to pretend we were new students and everything we did was rehearsed. The Eng. general was supposed to get a true picture from that----Phooey!

As you know we have an hour of basic every afternoon after school. The boys are now on an Engineer Specialty, “Booby Traps”. These poor guys won’t have a chance on the battlefield. Just about everything they teach there is wrong. The cadre here knows nothing about such things but they get sore if you try to tell them anything. I shoot off my mouth anyway. I’ll be damned if I’ll let ‘em give these poor guys a bum steer that may kill them. The rest of the Engineers feel the same way. They should teach them only 2 things about booby traps-how to recognize and mark them, and then HANDS OFF. I’ve had a lot more experience with explosives than these guys will ever have and I wouldn’t fool with ‘em. I’d let the demolition men handle them.

Boy! I’m sure hepped up over those cookies---drool! Talking about food I bet you’ll be surprised to hear that I’ve become a tea fiend in the last 6 months. Ain’t it a laugh?

Congratulate Ann for me on becoming a citizen.


Best Love,
Bill

About Letter 83

Bill is now copying code at 7 words a minute but has not yet started sending. A rumor that Roosevelt and a "bunch of big shots from England" are going to hold a conference at Crowder fails to materilize. In typical fashion Bill sarcastically states, "They were probably all somewhere hoisting a few." He closes by sending a coded message to his folks.