I still don’t know when I’m going into the army. But I’m doing very little work and cutting a lot of classes, so it had better be before grades come out again. I don’t have much to do with myself and I’m really enjoying it down here. Maybe I’ll come home the week-end of the 20th. But don’t expect me. I probably won’t.
I just got the worst haircut of my life. I look like an egg-head now. It’s a combination of a bowl and a butch. Gives a rather startling effect.
I’m not dating the gentile girl any more. It was her idea, but I guess it was all for the best.
Could you please send quite a lot of extra money? There’s a prom coming up—lot of things are doing that week-end. Since you’ve got so much you don’t know what to do with it, I’ll help you spend it. Really, though, I need it—Soon as possible.
Our supplies are running pretty low, too. Please don’t send any Swiss cheese this time. Don’t we have American anymore? And tell me, what all has Sugardale cut out, and what’s going on there, and what’s been changed? Please tell me.
Has Spitzy gotten any older? Give me some more home town news.
All my Love –Carl
. . .
Sun, Feb. 21, 1943
Dear Mom,
Well, here it is Sunday—and everything’s all over. I went through more complications just getting Alice down here (for the prom). Stop worrying so much.
I needed the extra ten dollars to join Phi Eta Sigma, the freshman’s honorary.
What prompted that heavy barrage of character-building? I don’t know what I said but it must have been something—I was probably joking about something. Anyways it was unnecessary. If you’ll remember while I was at home going to Lehman, and had the benefit of innumerable lectures, I stood at about the middle of my class. While here, where I am on my own, I am doing considerably better.
And now for your question: Meteorology doesn’t interest me—I don’t intend to get stuck in some boring hole for two years. When are you sending some more food? I also need towels and handkerchiefs.—Love Carl
P.S. The prom was pretty good. Had a swell time this weekend.—Still nothing definite about the E.R.C. I’ll let you know as soon as something happens.
. . .
The army called Carl up in May.
. . .
Ft. Hayes, Columbus
Sat. May 22, 1943
Dear Mom,
Got my uniform Thursday and will probably get transferred to a permanent base around Tuesday. The chances are that I will get in the administrative branch of the service or Supply or Air Corps, but of course that is very indefinite. So far Army life has been quite nice. I live with mostly E.R.C. men, so it’s pretty much like college to me. Bye. Love Carl
. . .
Pine Bluff Ark
May 28, 1943
Thu.
Hi Maw,
Left Columbus Wednesday morning at 10:30 and made St. Louis in 8-1/2 hours (420 miles). Then we went the next 110 miles in 11 hours. It is now 10:30 P.M. and we are waiting here in Pine Bluff, Arkansas (pop. 52,000) until 1:15. So far the army has been a lot of fun. And this trip has been no exception. Just finished riding for a couple of hours with Don Curtis. His dad is a lodge bro. of pop’s. I’ll write when I get to the base.
. . .
His youthful confidence notwithstanding, Carl did not know when, or if, he would ever be home again.
So Carl was inducted into active duty, joining millions of Americans who were being called up for war.
The good news: the new soldiers were going to serve their country and join a noble cause. The bad news: the army was coming out of the Great Depression and wasn’t ready for a war.
In 1940, the War Department had announced that the use of the sabers by officers on duty with troops “will be discontinued.” In 1941, the department announced that the army had just supplied itself with 20,000 horses, the most since the Civil War. The army had to sprint to grow from some 225,000 regular troops in 1939 to 1.5 million troops just two years later.1 The incoming recruits had to sprint, as well—enduring basic training in the Texas sun as they prepared for combat.
Carl was shipped to Camp Hood (now Fort Hood) for basic training. The base, located some 160 miles southeast of Dallas, had been established just one year earlier. Set upon 108,000 acres of converted farmland, Camp Hood was used to train soldiers, instruct anti-tank units and hold prisoners of war (POWs). When it first opened, 38,000 soldiers occupied the base; by the next year, 95,000 were there, Carl being one of them.2
Basic training is not meant to be fun. It can range from physically demanding to tedious. The rules can be arbitrary. And the weather was downright unrelenting. Those were just a few reasons why Carl wanted to get out of the infantry. Camaraderie offered a bulwark against what one writer called “this drab khaki world” with its “boredom, cold, exhaustion, squalor, lack of privacy, monotony, ugliness and a constant teasing anxiety about the future.”3 So while making the best of Texas during wartime, Carl contemplated transfers to Officer Candidate School, West Point, or a college-based program called the Army Specialized Training Program (ASTP).
Yes, Carl was keen to find a way to bypass the infantry. All he needed was time—and a little creativity.
. . .
May 31, 1943
Dear Mom,
This makes two weeks that I have been an active member of the armed forces, and tomorrow the activity starts. So far I haven’t done a thing—altogether about 14 hours’ work in 14 days. It’s just been like going to a boy’s camp with a bunch of college men, for that is all I’ve associated with so far. I’m still learning some more bridge. Oops—they just turned the lights out and I’m writing this in the dark. There are a few things I would very much like to have. First of all at least six to eight coat hangers as soon as possible. Very important—I also need some of that Upjohn’s foot powder.
I have to take eight weeks of basic training before I can get into officer’s school or specialized training. I believe I got into something pretty good. It is connected with none of the 13 branches of the army and entirely new. In fact this camp officially opened the program.
I may not have much of a chance to write from now on as I’m going to be very occupied.
Love Carl
. . .
June 6, 1943
Dear Mom,
So far I’ve been writing you that the army is a vacation. Since last Tuesday, however, I have definitely changed my mind. Every minute of every day is taken up in either instruction or exercises. We are taking a 13 week basic training course and a Basic Unit Training Course at the same time in eight weeks, so you see we are pretty busy. Wednesday we took 50 minutes to march 3 miles in 90 degree heat with full pack. But I’m living through it good enough so don’t write any letters to my company commander telling him what a sensitive boy I am.
In our barracks we have 11 E.R.C. men and 23 hillbillies from N. Carolina—all in their teens. And we really have some time together! We fight the Civil War over every day. Yesterday was a holiday and Ohio played N.C. in a ball game. We beat them 35 to 9! By the way, three days ago the banks were all closed in Texas—Jeff Davis’s birthday! But that didn’t affect us much because all new men are put in