Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder!

Subject: LETTER FROM A FARM KID NOW IN THE MARINES



Dear Ma and Pa:

I am well. Hope you are. Tell Brother Walt and

Brother Elmer the Marine Corps beats working for old

man Minch by a mile. Tell them to join up quick

before maybe all of the places are filled. I was

restless at first because you got to stay in bed

till nearly 6 a.m., but am getting so I like to

sleep late.



Tell Walt and Elmer 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 Walt and Elmer you can

always sit by the two city boys that live on coffee.

Their food plus yours holds you till 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 is 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 schoolteacher. He nags

some. 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 Walt and Elmer

with laughing. 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 Higgett 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 Silver Lake. He joined

up the same time as me. But I'm only 5'6" and 130

pounds and he's 6'8" and weighs near 300 pounds dry.



Be sure to tell Walt and Elmer to hurry and join

before other fellers get onto this setup and come

stampeding in.



Your loving daughter,



Gail