Over Hill, Over Dale . . . Over Seas April 21, 2014
Posted by nrhatch in Humor, People.comments closed
After basic training, dad received a furlough and went to Vermont for a quick visit before taking the train to Chicago and on to California:
“There are an awful lot of soldiers trying to get on the train. All headed for Camp Stoneman. We had reserved coach tickets this far, but from now on we will be lucky to get a seat.”
“Arrived 3 PM yesterday. We saw some of San Francisco Bay when we came in. We will probably see more of it in a few days. On the way out we came over a bridge across the Great Salt Lake. It is quite large. This will let you know I arrived O.K.”
Wikipedia ~ Camp Stoneman (in Public Domain)
On October 1st, 1946, he wrote:
“It’s not official, but we will probably ship out Sunday for Yokohama. That spelling is probably wrong. Most of the fellows I was with in Alabama are here. It looks as though we may stay together.”
Two days later, he added:
“Today is the last of our processing. We still expect to ship out this weekend. This morning we were issued sunglasses, insect repellent, salt water soap, and louse powder. I now have 12 pairs of socks. Seems as though that should last for a while. I think I am ready to be alerted for shipment. The sooner the better. Last night, Healy and I got a pass and went to Pittsburg. It is a small town, somewhat larger than Windsor. There are quite a lot of Mexicans there.”
On October 6th, he wrote:
“I received my shipping orders. I leave Tuesday, October 8, for Korea. Healy is in the order with me, but Gibbons has not finished processing yet. Last night, I bought a set of Eversharp pens and pencils at a price considerably lower than the price we saw at Claremont. I am sending them home. You can consider this your Christmas present from me. Speaking of Christmas presents, I wish you would look after getting some for me for Marjorie, Margaret, Aunt Lucy, Uncle Webb and Aunt Pete, and Uncle Frank and Margaret. You can take $10-$15 from my account for this.”
He wrote his sister Marjorie the same day:
“You will probably be surprised to get this letter because I don’t write to you very often. Healy and I just came from the movies ~ Errol Flynn. It was quite funny. I noticed that Northeastern has won all three football games and Dartmouth has won two. Today, I listened to the Red Sox-Cardinal World Series game. Glad that York got the home run. After tomorrow, I may not be able to keep track of the sports very well. I wish you would see that someone sends me the scores for Northeastern and Dartmouth each week.”
“The food here is a lot better than at McClellan. We sometimes get pie and cake twice a day. And what is more it tastes like home cooking. The cooks are young and try to see which are the best cooks.”
Aah . . . that’s better!
Continued next Monday . . . A Slow Boat to Korea
Spirit Lights The Way 