Dear Ma and Pa,
I am well. Hope you are. Tell Brother Ryan and Brother
John the Army
beats working for old man Coleman by a mile. Tell
them to join up quick
before all of the places are filled.
I was restless at first because you got to stay in bed
till nearly 6 a.m.
but I am getting so I like to sleep late. Tell Ryan
and John 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 Ryan and John you can always sit by the two
city boys that live on
coffee. Their food plus yours holds you until 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's 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 school teacher. He
nags a lot. The Captain is like the school board.
Majors and colonels just
ride around and frown. They don't bother you none.
This next will kill Ryan and John with laughter. 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
Mathison 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
Logan. I only beat
him once. He joined up the same time as me, but I'm
only 5'10" and 145 pounds
and he's 6'8" and near 300 pounds dry.
Be sure to tell Ryan and John to hurry and join
before other fellers get
onto this setup and come stampeding in.
Your loving daughter,
Alice
Home 
Jake is the one on the red bike.......he can handle Alice....
I know, he can carry me now..............
