Feb 21, 1943 (mistakenly labeled as Jan 21)
Sun. 6:30 P.M.
Dear Folks:
Well folks I have some spare time. I will write as much as I can now because I won’t have time to do it afterwards.
Tomorrow is Dad’s birthday. Happy birthday Dad! I was going to send a card but we moved and everything and I haven’t been to the P.X. over here yet.
Happy birthday Meredith! I won’t be able to send you a card either.
This place is so dumb. The upperclassmen really keep after some of the boys. I don’t have them bother me much. I can keep a straight face and I keep my mouth shut.
We have to do everything an upperclassman tells us to do. They make us do a lot of things. Some are good and some are silly.
The reason for the system is this: If we can’t take orders, we can’t give them. We have 4 1/2 weeks of taking orders and then 4 1/2 weeks of giving orders. Someday if we come through we will be officers and be giving orders.
This is no place for sissies or weak hearted. It is a rugged tough place. You have to be able to take it as well as dish it out. You must have perfect control over yourself.
When we leave the mess hall, underclassmen start running as soon as we hit the door. This morning an upperclassman came walking down the walk. I ran into him as hard as I could. I didn’t knock him down but I will the next time one of them gets in my way. I thought for a minute I had run into a brick wall but he knew he had been hit.
When I get done here I will be as hard as rock. The P.T. is tough and the cross country is 2 3/4 long. We must run this in 18 min before we are done here. You should see the chest on me now. We have our chests as far out as we can get them at all times.
We sit on 4 in. of our chair at the table and sit at attention. That’s for the underclassmen.
Our beds have to ripple the whole length when we touch them. It’s really a tough racket. Most of the boys in my barracks have gone to college. So you see what kind of competition I will have. But being a Bessey I figure I have more brains than they have so I’ll be to the head of the class before many weeks pass. (I hope)
I’ve learned a few things already. Well I will try to write to Pug and to Murell some day but you tell them I am pretty busy and tell them to write to me.
With love,
Alva
P.S. I signed the payroll today.
A.B.
Meredith turned seven in February of 1943. This picture was taken several years later.
Ancestors Across the Ages 