January 30, 42

January 30, 42

My Dear Mother:

Well I am quite homeless this evening. That is, from our regular barracks. This evening I have my belongings in one of the other barracks across the court. This morning after inspection the Major told us to go in and get our belongings such as shaving articles etc., which we were supposed to have packed and that we did not need much – only 24 hours, and to fall out and we would sleep in the Assembly Hall tonight. Well, that was the first we had heard of it and we had nothing prepared. We had heard that they were going to fumigate but not this soon. So pandemonium broke out and we had to hurry and get our things out and the boys had already left for the hospital some 150 of them from our section and they had no way of getting into their lockers when they came in this evening so some of us took a few of their things for them. I took one of my friends shaving things for him but I could not get into his locker for his coat. And I grabbed my case which I keep packed all the time and out I flew. We had to tear our beds apart etc and before I out they already had the windows and doors partly taped and believe me did the entire barracks look a mess. Like the evacuation of Atlanta. And after being shoved around for a couple hours we were found beds but there is still a few going to sleep in the Assembly Hall tonight without even a mattress, only a sheet and blanket. Some of the boys at the hospital returned to find they had nothing to their name for twenty four hours except what they had on. Some of them had money left in their lockers and other food stuff which of course will be ruined. They are using cyanide and they have a monthly fumigation for cockroaches and bed bugs. The barracks sure need it too. The cockroaches are thick here in Texas.
Well the old bunch has left and we have taken their places in the hospital and believe it or not I have been assigned to the operating room whether I will be able to take it or not I do not know because I have been exceptionally lucky to be able to have the practice ward the first week of the four weeks actual training.
We had quite an experience the other evening that is the evening or night or really morning the other boys left someone or some people came in in the night and went through about 6 of the barracks and stole pants including the money in them of about four on our floor and three of four below or downstairs and the pants they took they left some of them laying on the stairway and around the building. Some of the boys have not found their trousers as yet. And the next morning when it was reported to the First Sgt he made the reply of. A person should know better than to have their money in trousers lay around and that the army would assume no responsibility for it. But I think someone has turned it in to the FBI and they are investigating it because they have been to see a couple of the victims. The belief is that it was one or two of those who were going to leave so decided to make a haul before going.
As for me I leave nothing laying around and put my wallet inside my pillow case so I suffered no loss.
We also had the experience of having a general from the Surgeon General office make an inspection this week and when he arrived he was being chauffeured around by a WAAC and had two or three aides and our colonel showed him the school and sis we go over the place with a fine tooth comb. And when he left our majors and captains told us he approved of the state of the school very much, but today we heard a different story. The colonel and top major called the sergeants in and told them the general disapproved of the conditions of the barracks and that they were the worst he had seen as far as cleanliness goes and that if the sgts didn’t see that they were cleaned up they would have their stripes ripped off them. If you ask me the barracks are in very good order and we have sure worked hard enough to keep them clean, but those generals don’t seem to realize that for what we have that they are doing quite well. The barracks are about five years old and are in good condition and therefore they shouldn’t be run down as he says they are and if they need repair he should see that they are fixed. I wonder what he will think of Barkeley when he sees the mess that exists there. And then let him rave.
I am writing in the library which is upstairs in the service club and they are having a show downstairs and when ever I think that it will be something good I go out onto the balcony. Nigel Bruce was just out and they had some very good acrobatics, some of the best I have ever seen and one very beautiful violin solo otherwise nothing of importance.
I received your letter today and was glad to hear you had been to see the doctor, you had not mentioned it before. But do not let things of your health go too long. Maybe someday I will be the doctor or surgeon of the family. Who knows?
To give you something amusing and an idea of some of the well trained technicians wonderful tricks they pull.
A major about three months ago had a 10 day leave. He had ingrown toenails so he decided to have them taken care of over here and they told him it would take about six days so he entered and the toes were getting along well until a nurse told one of the well trained technicians to put two hot water bottles on his legs so the technician did and he put water which was much hotter than 120F and then to top it he didn’t wrap them well. So the next day the doctor in making the rounds noticed the major’s legs were seriously burned. Well anyway the major was in the hospital three months getting skin grafts etc. I can just hear him raving about the wonderful nurse. Another of the patients asked this friend of mine to hold his cigarette while he was not smoking it. He was only a Sgt, some nerve. Believe me some of the stories that come from there are both of the stories that come from there are both amusing and very interesting.
The civilians that are in the hospital are the ones that are in some way connected with a soldier. And believe me there are enough of them over there.
The teaching I spoke of merely consists of staying here from one to three months teaching in the practice ward or in class.
No. a gang does not mob me when I get a package and on top of that I am the mail clerk for the barracks which merely consists of going over and getting the mail and calling it out and of reading all other notices etc.
The reason I believe Marshall may have written in such a way me be they have gotten word that they might return home after duration. Any way I shall write him a letter and mail it in San Antonio with the house address on it.
Yes Joe is always complaining that his things do not belong there etc.
The sights I speak of in San Antonio I hope you will soon see some of them via post card. The Alamo I speak of and I always thought along with everybody else was a fort is only a church which was built in the early 1700s and the settlers took refuge there when Santa Ana advanced on them and after a while he finally broke in and only three people remained alive to tell the story of the Alamo. It is in a good state of repair in fact a little too much so. It is right in the center of town at Houston street and North Alamo, the town has been built around it and the Alamo river runs through town and the WPA has made a very good and attractive job out of what I suppose was a mess before large retaining walls and nice stairways leading down to the river and boating on it in the evening. I suppose it is quite a resemblance of Venice. You shall also see some pictures of that also and of some Spanish moss hanging over the water from trees in Breckenridge Park which I took while there.
Muriel has never mentioned nelson in any of her letters to me. Only once she mentioned going to the park with him. And her letters are quite short but I do enjoy her sending me letters and shall have to write now that I have more time.
I want you to call up Frank Wiggins and ask them where my diploma is and just give them the devil if they don’t seem to know and if they don’t get in touch with Mrs. Vosberg or have them to do. They are not too busy their student roll has decreased. SO don’t let them tell you they have been too busy.
Joseph has not as yet answered my letter. I am beginning to wonder if he ever received packages from home that were sent and also letters and more yet have sent letters which never seemed to reach their destination. There was quite a rumpus at Barkeley about some of the letters laying around somewhere or other I will write him again today and ask him about it.
I see where Rosy has had his nose over in Africa seeing all and telling how we are going to win the war. I am writing in pencil for the library is not open as yet and I left my ink in my foot locker and my writing is awful along with it also my letter is getting heavy also. So I shall close and will write again soon. The pictures are being made I think but they are slow. I am going in tomorrow to see about them. Perhaps too many soldiers pictures.

Lots of love

Your son

20 December 1942

December 20, 1942

Dearest Folks,
I suppose you have been worrying about of late because I have not written you since a week ago. The reason is this. They have been planning on moving for weeks now and the first of the week they started on some of the supply, sgts and headquarters tents. And of course the usual confusion that takes place whenever they do anything here started, and I do mean started. And on top all this confusion there are once 20% of the company in the hospital with the flu or severe colds. With these conditions they continue to feed starches potatoes every meal and the big farce of a ceremony in the morning (roll call where they do not check whether you are there or not, which takes about 6:45. It doesn’t get light here until 8:10 and it is usually quite cold also and they would tell us not to wear overcoats after breakfast. So, Monday night they pulled another trick and had a nice road march and I was perfectly well up to that time, they had us carry loaded stretchers and then had us sit down and rest that is where it started and I got chilled as soon as we got back. I gargled my throat good and poured the Vicks on well. The next morning I awoke with a minor sore throat. Some of them were not able to come out at all. I continued the same procedure because I did not want to find myself in the hospital with the rest of them. I attended classes Tuesday and Wednesday when my throat was practically well but you know my old fault of losing my voice which I did, so Thursday I decided to stay in the tent. My throat was probably just overworked for every time you speak you have to speak twice as loud as is necessary to be heard over the constant noise that goes on here 24 hours a day. Then Friday we moved into our hutimets? And more confusion well as soon as we got moved in I got into bed again to be still and have some rest and I stayed yesterday also and am here today also although my voice is much improved.
They are taking measures to control it now forbidding spitting on ground which used to almost make me sick. Of course I do very little of it as you know and they are cramming us into stuffy mess hall classes either well, I hope we are all on the road to good health again and that I managed to escape with what I did.
Our new hutiments (?) are very nice. They are brought in in sections and put together and the walls and roof are about 1 in thick of some kind of pourers material coated on both sides with a type of tar. It is made by Johns Manville[1] because the initials J M are printed about a foot large on each peace. Jonnie Manville should be able to get rich of a few more wives with what he is making on this war. And of course they are all built lower than the ground around upon cement blocks these dumb Texans do not know any better and don’t want to and the government lets them put up such messes. Then they dig trenches around them to keep the water out. And on top all these conditions the government picks out a site like this for a camp so large. The old outhouses they used when we first came here became full. They started to fill them in. It flooded then they had to spray the entire length of house locations and what a sensed they have down there now then the brilliant sargeants got the idea of building raised walks yesterday so they did making them sloping towards the center and if everything is not a mess now for is rained all night and parts of today in fact right now.
Well enough for the woes of Camp Barkeley and to a more agreeable subject. There are fourteen in a building and thankfully we have quite an agreeable bunch. One in particular who has an IQ of 131 which by the way is ten higher than mine which is very good and you would think him to be a regular rattle brain to see him, but anyway he is inclined to gamble and never loses. He is supposed to have won a thousand dollars or more. In fact a few have seen it but I haven’t. They had quite a rumpus the other evening. One of the lieutenants mishandled one of the boys gambling who I guess he shouldn’t have and the boys were quite a few drunk. I think this boy has a pull of some kind I think.
Yes, I received the package Thursday and it is upon the shelf unopened, we had to buy the four electric light bulbs ourselves for our hutiment, quite a joke is it not. And I sincerely want you to know how much I appreciate it and I am quite sure I will be overjoyed when I open it.
But as to the presents for you, Muriel and probably Frances. I have not been able to get into town as much as I regret to say it so. I will make it up to you after Xmas although I am awfully sorry for it doesn’t make them seem like a Christmas gift if you get it afterwards.
I received a very nice card and note from the Miners, thought some of sending them a card but did not know their address then thought better of it. Is there any one I have not contacted that you think I should write to. You might get me Mrs Bourgonne’s correct name spelling and address and I will write them a note for she asked me to and I am going to send Paul and Thelma a card and addressing it Chappin. If I am wrong you can call her and tell her I made a mistake to cover up for me, She sent me a nice Birthday card I cannot understand Marshall not mentioning my letter if he got it. I will mention it on my Christmas card to him. He is not as prompt as answering his letters and he probably has quite a lot more time now also. I do not have Clarence and Frances Wilde’s address. You might send it to me and I might drop them a note. I also wrote Jay a line.
You asking me if it has seemed a long time since I have been away. Yes, it does. It seems months but I might be him soon for time sure flies especially as busy as they keep us here. I understand the next place will not be so bad then I hope to be able to keep up with my correspondence in a more business like manner. Fred spoke of going out for truck driving, yes I suppose he will. They have literally hundreds of trucks and ambulances. I have seen as many as one hundred ambulances in a driving test convoy, most of them are Dodges while most of the trucks are GMC and the big ones have ten gears in them including reverse and they also have quite a few half tracks. The average training class usually manages to do 1000 dollars damage to the ambulances and trucks and some of them are wore out at 10,000 miles and they are now claiming the Dodges are no good, use a quart of oil in one night fifty miles, quite an expense. Of course they are all governed(?) to 35 miles per hour. If they didn’t they would be wrecked sooner I suppose.
My letter is perhaps getting very long and boring by now, but it is perhaps my last one to you before Christmas. Has Marie returned the pictures as yet?
And Mother, whatever you do, do not work too hard Christmas. Have you gone to see a doctor about your arm and have you as yet gone on the dinner I told you anniversary if not you had better or I am going to do something else about it. Have you seen Matson’s recently, it is funny they have not answered my letter, it seems that people mention me not writing but when I do they don’t seem to answer it. How funny. Did Mrs. Barrow take the job at Matsons? If so, does she like it as well now. By the way what do you think of their house. Do you think it is very nice or is it what you expected.
I suppose Grandpa keeps the room all closed up now that I am away?
Have you found anything more on the camera as yet.
How is Uncle Bill coming with the draft?
I had better be closing now and I hope you have a very happy Christmas and lets hope we can look to a better and happier New Year.
Your son, Stanley
[1] Johns Manville, a Berkshire Hathaway company, is a leading manufacturer and marketer of premium-quality building and specialty products. In business since 1858, the Denver-based company has sales in excess of $2 billion and holds leadership positions in all of the key markets that it serves. Johns Manville employs about 9,000 people and operates 43 manufacturing facilities in North America, Europe and China.
1945: Government mandates production of asbestos-containing insulation products (silica/asbestos combination) to insulate Navy vessels, and products for other war purposes.
1939: Johns-Manville shifts into wartime production.