52

COMPANY A
353RD ENGINEER REGIMENT. G.S.

CAMP WHITE. OREGON

20 February 1943

Dear Aunty Clara:

Here it is eleven twenty-five and I have begun my letter to you. However, it is not being written under the circumstances which I imagined in yesterday's letter. 0ne thing after another came up this morning and began accumulating on my desk and the climax came when they said the payroll would be due this afternoon accompanied by a bond extract. That means a lot of work; but no more than what I can take care of in an hour or two.

I haven't been doing a thing for the last hour. First I was helping Jack Molyneaux figure out his income tax arid then I received your letter telling about Doris's baby etcetera and a letter from Mrs. Reed and finally squirrelly rations from Aunt-Aunt.

The fellows were kidding me that I didn't get any mail. They said that all of my mail was heading down to San Francisco. After a while of that they gave me my letters which I have mentioned. I didn't receive any answer from Lana yet although it would be very fast if I had. After all I first sent out. the letter on Tuesday morning.

I didn't mind your writing about Doris's baby and everything that took place when you were downtown that day. It was interesting. Field's even has highchairs for them, eh? What doesn't that store do to satisfy the customer?

I don't know whether I will be able to send a telegram when we begin our little troop movement. What you could do is occasionally drop off a letter or two to San Francisco with idle chatter and comment which I can read anytime; so that when I do get down there, I will have some mail from you waiting for me. I will not read all of them at once thus giving the new mail a few days to arrive, I suppose that we will he able to write when we get down to the port of embarkation and it is only about 400 miles from here so we shouldn't be on the road more than one day. It will be nothing like the long, long trek from Camp Grant to Camp White.

The latest word is that the colonel is going to have a five day notice as to when we will move and as of yesterday afternoon that notice was not received. Evidently it still hasn't been received because just make one guess as to what we are going to turn in this coming Monday? What did I tell you I did last night? I washed my clothes right? 0. K. so in another day we are sending in the laundry once again! 0 well, I'm not mad because I did such a poor job on the things that I can well afford to send them out to be given a good job.

By the way, I mailed out one of those cards and forgot to put any address on it so it came back to me in a few days. The postmark was stamped "Medford, Oregon." Is that the postmark which all my mail has? Or does some of it bear an inscription from Camp White?

So Marty and Virginia and the Infiestas hit it off. That was pleasant to hear about all the joviality. I could picture Marty laughing and all the rest of you joining in with him.

Last night the artillery was out on a night problem and a night maneuver. From dusk to dawn we heard the constant BOOM BOOM coming from over thataway. That will be about as close as this outfit will ever come to hearing the real thing. At least from its present composition. If we were to ever get into actual combat, I believe the entire regiment would he wiped out within 12 hours.

I guess I'll have to knock off now. Lunch time you know. Can't write letters during lunch time. I just had to laugh to myself. Using that expression time reminded me of that colored fellow in GWTW arguing about who was to say "Quittin' time." Maybe just about the time the war is over they will he having a reshowing of the picture and we can go over to the Annetta Theatre about 10:00 and take it in.

Solong,
/s/ Roman
Roman