Dear Ma and Pa,
I am well. Hope you are. Tell Brother Walt and Brother Elmer the
Marine Corps beats working for old man Jed 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, pie and other regular food. But tell Walt
and Elmer you can always sit between 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 lie 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,
Betty Ann
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