CarryingMarine
01-30-08, 09:53 PM
Dear Ma and Pa I am well. Hope you are. Tell Brother
Walt and Brother
Elmer the Marine Corps beats working for old man
Minch by a mile. Tell
them to join up
quick before maybe all of the places are filled. I
was restless at first
because you got to stay in bed till nearly 6 a.m.,
but am getting so I
like to sleep late.
Tell Walt and Elmer all you do before breakfast is
smooth your cot and
shine some things. No hogs to slop, feed to pitch,
mash to mix, wood to
split, fire to lay.
Practically nothing. Men got to shave but it is not
so bad, there's warm water.
Breakfast is strong on trimmings like fruit juice,
cereal, eggs, bacon,
etc., but kind of weak on chops, potatoes, ham,
steak, fried eggplant,
pie and other regular
food. But tell Walt and Elmer you can always sit by
the two city boys
that live on coffee. Their food plus yours holds you
till noon, when you
get fed again. It's no
wonder these city boys can't walk much. We go on
"route" marches, which
the Platoon Sergeant says are long walks to harden
us. If he thinks so,
it is not my place
to tell him different. A "route march" is about as
far as to our mailbox
at home. Then the city guys get sore feet and we all
ride back in
trucks.
The country is nice, but awful flat.
The Sergeant is like a schoolteacher. He nags some.
The Capt. is like
the school board. Majors and Colonels just ride
around and frown.
They don't bother you none.
This next will kill Walt and Elmer with laughing. I
keep getting medals
for shooting. I don't know why. The bulls-eye is
near as big as a
chipmunk head and don't
move. And it ain't shooting at you, like the Higgett
boys at home. All
you got to do is lay there all comfortable and hit
it. You don't even
load your own cartridges.
They come in boxes.
Then we have what they call hand-to-hand combat
training. You get to
wrestle with them city boys. I have to be real
careful though, they
break real easy. It ain't like
fighting with that ole bull at home.
I'm about the best they got in this except for that
Tug Jordan from over
in Silver Lake. He joined up the same time as me.
But I'm only 5'6" and
130 pounds and he's
6'8" and weighs near 300 pounds dry.
Be sure to tell Walt and Elmer to hurry and join
before other fellers
get onto this setup and come stampeding in.
Your loving daughter, Gail
Walt and Brother
Elmer the Marine Corps beats working for old man
Minch by a mile. Tell
them to join up
quick before maybe all of the places are filled. I
was restless at first
because you got to stay in bed till nearly 6 a.m.,
but am getting so I
like to sleep late.
Tell Walt and Elmer all you do before breakfast is
smooth your cot and
shine some things. No hogs to slop, feed to pitch,
mash to mix, wood to
split, fire to lay.
Practically nothing. Men got to shave but it is not
so bad, there's warm water.
Breakfast is strong on trimmings like fruit juice,
cereal, eggs, bacon,
etc., but kind of weak on chops, potatoes, ham,
steak, fried eggplant,
pie and other regular
food. But tell Walt and Elmer you can always sit by
the two city boys
that live on coffee. Their food plus yours holds you
till noon, when you
get fed again. It's no
wonder these city boys can't walk much. We go on
"route" marches, which
the Platoon Sergeant says are long walks to harden
us. If he thinks so,
it is not my place
to tell him different. A "route march" is about as
far as to our mailbox
at home. Then the city guys get sore feet and we all
ride back in
trucks.
The country is nice, but awful flat.
The Sergeant is like a schoolteacher. He nags some.
The Capt. is like
the school board. Majors and Colonels just ride
around and frown.
They don't bother you none.
This next will kill Walt and Elmer with laughing. I
keep getting medals
for shooting. I don't know why. The bulls-eye is
near as big as a
chipmunk head and don't
move. And it ain't shooting at you, like the Higgett
boys at home. All
you got to do is lay there all comfortable and hit
it. You don't even
load your own cartridges.
They come in boxes.
Then we have what they call hand-to-hand combat
training. You get to
wrestle with them city boys. I have to be real
careful though, they
break real easy. It ain't like
fighting with that ole bull at home.
I'm about the best they got in this except for that
Tug Jordan from over
in Silver Lake. He joined up the same time as me.
But I'm only 5'6" and
130 pounds and he's
6'8" and weighs near 300 pounds dry.
Be sure to tell Walt and Elmer to hurry and join
before other fellers
get onto this setup and come stampeding in.
Your loving daughter, Gail