Tues. noon.

Dear Folks,

About all I ever get a chance to do is start a letter but they are easier to finish after starting them than it is to sit down and write the whole thing out in 10 minutes.

We are suppose to have three one hour study periods during the day but they are really about 15 min. in length. Bu the time we march back from the class it is usually 15 min. past the hour and then there have to be announcements made then by the time we fall out early the time in between isn’t much.

I wrote you a card last night thanking you for the candy and cookies but thanks again.

(Thurs. evening)

This typewritter belongs to my roommate Sam Ashcroft who is at math class now. He told me not to seal this letter till he gets back because he wants to add something. He was going to N.U. ^[1]Northwestern Universitytaking an education course. He and Steve have a lot in common. I guess I was pretty lucky in getting out of math class. It meets every night of the week where as navigation only meets on M.W. and F. nights. They say it was based on the tests we took at Fresno but I know was one fellow that had college math through calculas and still has to take this. They start right out with adding, we all get a big kick out of hearing these fellows do their math. Ex. of one problem: If an airplane weighs 2 ton empty and they load it with a half a ton of material. What does the plane weight? Difficult isn’t it?

That breathing bug has been bothering me for the last few days but seems to be getting better now. I certainly hope so anyway. Personally I think this is a heck of a climate to cure that. It is plenty dry and where it is dry it is dusty and you know what that means. However, it rained just a day before we got here and all the flowers came out and now the air is filled with pollen. Probably after everything gets good and dried out it will be O.K. at least we aren’t drilling as much here as we were in Fresno. Here we have an hour of drill at 7:00 then classes till noon and one at 1:00 in the afternoon. Then from 3 to 4:30 calesthenics. In my opinion it is a little easier than Fresno but one thing there isn’t any fooling around. When you do calesthenics, you do them and you don’t do any goldbricking on the job. We have a swell bunch of officers and non-coms but not enough of them. There is only three commissioned officers on the post. The worse part about this whole thing is that we don’t get to leave the post. Maybe in a couple of weeks we might get a few hours pass over the weekend but that will be a while yet. We are not allowed to talk to any of the girls going to school here but they haven’t been enforcing that rule very much. I don’t see how they could. The courses I am taking are Navigation, First Aid, English and Geography which isn’t very bad but we never get any time to study them. Most of the profs understand that but the old lady we have in English must think we have all the time in the world to write papers for her. Our first aid course is pretty complete. The zoology I had comes in mighty handy.

You remember the letter you sent me from home when you were there. Dad sent it to me today, it had been sent back there. It was very interesting even if it was a little late. This letter is turning out to be pretty awful. The typewritter is aboutt 6″ on each side and the ribbon is shot. It is one of the first portables put out. It looks like it.

I don’t know how the situation is at home now but from the sound of Dads letters they are both doing just about as they please. I imagine he is about ready for another trip to Chicago. ^[2]He’s referring to his father, Dr. Cartmell, and his second wife. Tom’s mother died in 1934, and his father remarried. This sentences suggests there was some issue or conflict, but I … Continue reading

How many teeth does Karen have now, one or two? The first thing you know she will be taking my place at the table. It seems like only yesterday that Stanley called me from the hospital. Time certainly passes fast.^[3]Stanley is Tom’s sister, Elaine’s, husband…or Tom’s brother-in-law.

It has been plenty hot here and I am getting a nice tan but as yet our gym uniforms haven’t arrived so I haven’t got the full benefit.

There really isn’t much more to tell you and it is 7:30 and time to start studying. Don’t forget to send me one of those pictures you spoke of. I had better leave some room for Sam. This letter is so sloppy I am ashamed to send it.

Hoping to see you in several months.

Use this address from now on. Those cartons you have been sending aren’t ver far wrong.

Love, Tom

This is just one of Tom’s buddies, appending a note of appreciation for the very fine cookies you sent which he so willingly shared with us. Just to have a bite of something homemade is a rare treat for an army man. Thanks again.

Sincerely,

Sam Ashcroft