70

Camp White, Oregon
13 March 1943
Saturday Night

Dear Aunty Clara:

I did receive a letter from you after all. It came in the afternoon mail. About these letters to you: You know that I just rattle on and on in them and if I really began getting particular about typographical errors and natural slips ups in grammar, these letters would never get out.

I guess the golfing for tomorrow is out. Last week it drizzled intermittently throughout the time we were out on the course and it really started coming down when we headed back towards town. This week end has proved to be miserable right off the bat. All day long the rain has been turning the showers on then off and then on again. And in this country the rain usually stays for a few days; so, that puts a serious crimp into any plans for outdoor activity.

Incidentally, speaking of that rain, we have had several novel sights around here because of it. The other day there were two rainbows in the sky. Isn't that unusual? Have you ever seen two in the sky at one time? And this evening around 6:00 P.M. the sky to the east was dark and ominous while to the west, the sun was shining and the camp was being bathed in sunshine and rain at the same time. But the most extraordinary feature was the rainbow which was complete. We could see it come out of the ground, arch itself high into the heaven and come down into that proverbial pot of gold at the other end. I think that after this war is over, I will get myself a job as a publicity man for the Oregon Chamber of Commerce.

And one more thing in connection with Oregonian wonders: Have I mentioned to you the fact that we have never heard thunder in this valley? For some reason or other there is no static electricity in the clouds or else it is all drawn into the hills. Next time I'm at the library I'm going to see what I can find out about that phenomenon.

During the first part of this evening, I went over to the library to return the trigonometry book and the French book which were overdue by one day as it was. While I was there I did a bit of browsing around reading several magazines and thumbing thru one or two books. There is one book on pencil drawings which I am pretty sure Clarence has in his library; but, if he hasn't got it I know he would sure have liked to have had it. It was full of the type of faces he liked to draw best. The Yank which is a weekly magazine for servicemen is always available and it is quite interesting.

The O.D.s were ready this afternoon and in going over to the Service Club this evening I just about took the press out of them again with all the rain. And for no good reason I just happened to call to mind that yesterday when Ray Gradler and I were passing the ball around, my knee did two curious catches and this evening I had a faint symptom of that old Christmas time trouble.

My o my, Aunty Clara, you are getting to use regular army slang calling supper "chow". We have enough Jews in this outfit to run a synagogue on Sundays if they wanted one. There is Simonoff, Goldenberg, Weiss, Frank, Isaacson, Blumenfeld and quite a few others but I don't know them so well. I would say Isaacson is the most sociable and most companionable of the bunch. And that book "How Odd of God" which I started and never finished has disappeared from the library shelf. It hasn't been there since that day I first saw it.

This morning I spent most of my time writing a letter to you and very little time doing any work. In the afternoon I started to write other letters but never finished them until finally at three o'clock I became tired of staying in the office so (since both Warner and Nyalka were not in the office) I took off to the barracks and had a little rest on the bed until supper.

Hanton was back to his old tricks today. Just as I was ready to go in and eat, he has me come to the Orderly Room and requested that I type up a formal report on that inspection we had last week. I told him I was going to eat and would do it later. Surprisingly enough he didn't object to my eating supper.

Did Eddie have on his uniform? Did he look good? What else did he have to say? Gosh, aren't those guys lucky being able to come home? First Jimmy now Eddie. What was Eddie doing during his furlough? Did you see him again? It just doesn't seem possible to go back home. I hope that in case I ever do get a chance to come home that some of the others come in at the same time. That is a lot to expect; but it would make things seem as though maybe when the lousy war is over things may once again return to a semblance of normalcy.

What on earth could Ulysses want to send to me? I suppose that if he sent whatever he did intend to that by the time you read this I will probably know.

Do you mean to say that I never told you about the stuffed dates? I received them just about the time the last of Jennie's plain dates were in my locker. Probably you thought I was still referring to them. You are darn tootin' that I got them and more than right in saying that I enjoyed them. Boy, I tried to hold myself back and just eat a few a day but I would take three out of the drawer and say that they would be my rations for the day until I would reach in for three more and make believe that after I ate those that would be all for the time being. That kept up until there were only about 6 left and I actually did save those for the next morning. I don't even recall sharing them with anyone. I may have given Jack Molyneaux one or two. It was about that time when packages were coming in thick and fast and the fellows couldn't keep track of who had what rations so it was easy to get away with it.

Backtracking a bit --- you must have smiled inwardly when Eddie told you that he had written to me. Am I right?

So the Town Club burned down! I wonder if the "L" had to stop running during the blaze. It is very close to the tracks. How does it look now? Have they torn down the walls? That certainly was one of the more notorious of the Cicero gambling houses. Almost anyone from Chicago's West Side knew that spot in Cicero. I even think Al Capone used to have some connection with the place in his heyday. Remember how I used to keep Uncle Jack hep to all the changes which were taking place on 22nd Street? It changed a lot in the years he has been gone and now the new changes are beginning. While still on that topic, have any of the empty stores been rented and if so, who or what is in them.

Daniel J. Driscoll, First Sergeant, is on a three day pass --- thank goodness. These last five or six days have been swell having only one of the two bosses of the company around.

So long,
/s/ Roman
Roman