Dad recieved this letter from his buddy Ed in `42. Dad had tried to join the marines with Ed & a couple other boys from Danbury,Ct. but couldnt enlist because of blindness in his left eye. He was later drafted into the Army in Nov 42.
postmarked Parris Island, SC. June 7, 1942
Hi! Stan,
What`s cooking? Please dont mention beer to me because we got a tavern here but us boots cant go in yet. This is boot camp & until we go through it they call us boots or sh$tbirds. It`s pretty dam tough down here but i kind of like it in a way. I just saw "The Shores of Tripoli" down here and is it a lot of Bullsh$t. Us guys dont see many uniforms just dungarees all the time. We scrubb them at night and in the morning put them on wet. We get up at 4 and if the sarge is sore we get up at 3 and go to bed at nine if
they let us. They take us for a hike and if we look tired on the way we run all the way back. Our rifles weigh about 9 lbs, on a hike we have them slung on our back when you run the butt keeps hitting you in the a$$ and beside the cartrige belt, bayonet & canteen of water. The water here tast like pi$$ & in the afternoon the sun gets it pretty hot. I only been here 9 weeks but my shoes need retreading. I almost got in the brigg for pulling a guys bunk on the floor. Last Sunday we turned the place upside down, four guys like Chet Oseicki were trying to take me down but they didnt make out we had a lot of fun. We shot 22`s today in a week we`ll shoot for record with our 30`s. I got to show some of these Tenessee boys some shooting because if i get 237 out of 250 shots thats expert and they give you a medal and 5 bucks a month raise. Theres a guy here named Pearson from Danbury here says to tell you not to spoil any more hats. I heard Abe joined the Army.
I learned how to throw hand grenades anyway so far and how to use a bayonet they tell us to go for the throat becase all you need is not more than 2 inches of steel and it pulls out quicker. Tomorrow we shoot in the morning and work pick & shovel in the afternoon. I`ll send you some action snapshots as soon as we get some freedom after boot camp. We got some nice beaches here but theres stingrays in the water & there poisonous.I hope they send me to Cuba because you can get layed for a cigarette or a bar of soap.
Every week we have inspection, two of the guys had the crabs but no hand clapps yet. I dont know what write about anymore so if you write ask alot of questions & have a dozen or so beers for me because it will be long time before i get any. I got 5 bucks pay coming in about 3 weeks. I`ll close now so take care.
Your Pal
Pvt. Ed
P.S. Tell the boys i was asking.
