Alva age 21
Feb 9, 1943
Tuesday 7:00 P.M.
Dear Folks:
Well folks here it is my birthday. I’m 22 now. I celebrated by working extra hard today. The army gave me a birthday present haha. I got my toilet kit today. I got a comb, razor and blades and a shaving brush. I don’t know whether they expected me to wait this long to shave or not. As for the comb, I don’t have much use for that just now. Must be they expect to let our hair grow out a little.
My little Chinese friend is in hot water. He is about the laziest person I know. He has been sneaking out of a lot of formations. I warned him time and time again but he still does it. Now he has to walk the ramp. He is always complaining about being sick. They have been mostly easy on him so far, easier than they would on the ordinary person, but they finally clamped down on him.
Well I got your cookies etc. yesterday. One box of them was pretty well busted up. The other box was in pretty good shape but I didn’t get many of them. They tasted pretty good. I got a card from Pearl & Eddie, from Aunt Hattie, and from Clare and Charlotte besides the ones from you. I also got one from Garnet and I got her picture. Meredith is a better writer than I am. So is Jim. Tell Jim there is a lot of planes going overhead down here, some of them go pretty low too.
I’m not going to code class tonight. There is a show there instead. Boy! It was hot today.
This afternoon we had P.T. I played football most of the period. I made the only touchdown for our side but we got trimmed. We then had drill for
1-1/4 hours. We then had ten minutes to get back into our P.T. clothes. We marched out on a field where the whole classification center gathered. We done a few exercises while we had our picture taken. I wouldn’t dare tell you how many there was out there but there was plenty of us. It was quite a sight to see so many men in ranks like that and all with their gray sweatsuits on.
I was pretty tired when we got done tonight. We had chocolate milk for dinner today. It tasted pretty good but there wasn’t enough.
Yesterday I got hooked on a work detail. I spent all day picking up stones and leveling the ground off for a future lawn. I was pretty disgusted. I didn’t work very hard and we worked until retreat parade and then quit and took a shower.
It seems the more willing a person is to work the more they give him to do. Well folks I can’t think of much more to say now so I’ll close and I will write soon. Which reminds me, you don’t seem to tell me very much in your letters. Tell me about things around home and on the farm etc. Also how everybody is feeling etc.
Yours truly,
Alva Bessey (Mr.)
P.S. I don’t feel much older. I feel just like a yearling. I had my hair cut yesterday but I didn’t have any taken off the top.
A.B.
Note: People mentioned in this letter and their relationship to Alva.
- Pearl and Eddie – Alva’s older sister and her husband.
- Aunt Hattie – Alva’s dad’s sister
- Clare and Charlotte – Alva’s 45 year old cousin and his wife. Clare is Aunt Hattie’s son.
- Garnet – Alva’s girlfriend
- Meredith and Jim – Alva’s younger siblings.
Ancestors Across the Ages 