April 27, 1944 Thursday

Dear Honey,

Today I found out a little more about my schedule. Next week I am assigned to the driving section at Battle Training. That means that I will have a rather easy time next week. They have a course here for individual tank tactics. It consists of 20 points with a situation to be solved by the tank commander at each point. Probably I will be assigned to one of these points. I will act as an antitank gun or what have you and toss out firecrackers. The tank will decide how to capture the anti-tank, then I’ll wave them in and critique the problem. This show will be repeated over and over all day. Men go mad on the job, but I anticipate boredom – a change from O.C.S.

This makes certain that I will be on bivouac with a platoon the two weeks before my leave. So let’s get ready as best we can.

K. Erwin leaves to get married this Saturday. He received an invitation to his own wedding tonite. He hadn’t known for sure when it was, or where. He is going home via New York, which is a good way. Fare to N.Y.C. round trip is $21.50. Goes up to Boston from there. Plans to attend his wedding!

W. McCully is in my group, planning the same thing, only he has to go to Colorado. He plans to get married the 23rd, and is also in a position where he will be on bivouac the two weeks prior to that. If I get a tank platoon, there almost surely will be no time to write. They work until midnite or so on maintenance of tanks. I may get a mortar, assault gun, or reconnaissance platoon. If I do I probably will be ablt to write. McCully and I are going in to Fort Knox this Saturday and see what can be done in the way of army blood tests. Also will get our officers’ identification cards.

Two or three of us plan to get married over this leave, so we are definitely in the swim, Honey. I am waiting anxiously for your outlook on all these things.

Today I took my peep driving exam, and passed. Now all I have to do is get to be on a job requiring a peep to go touring around in one. A peep is an armored force jeep. Same thing. They are a great little vehicle.

Tonite I got a letter from my old A.S.T. roommate Bob Mosker. You never met him, but he knows all about you, and hopes we can get married now. He is at Yale tking a pre-med course now.

Suppose you have noticed by now that my serial number has been changed to O547328. What’s in a number?

Tomorrow we go out to Bivouac no. 5 to stay over night. Seems kind of silly, we have no reason to stay out. But the army is like that. I guess it is jut to complete the orientation we have been exposed to.

You know, I have never done so little during the day as this week. We go to an area and wander around and look all day. Say a few words here and there, and try to look like Lieutenants. Which is difficult. Our fatigues re baggy old things, and we don’t look at all dapper. But we try hard.

If there was any kind of a book around here I’d have time to do some reading evenings. Haven’t read much at all lately on non-military things. And I need that. It’s as I thought it might be – if you get saturated with G.I. subjects long enough you get so that you naturally think in a G.I. manner. It’s habit forming – all set and secure, with an answer for every problem. Very easy to sink into it and forget that there is anything else. That’s what the army would like its men to do. That’s not good. Because army habits are unthinking ones and undemocratic ones. They make a soldier a very nice tool in the hands of a person who wants to use them.

We won’t be like that, Bunny, because we know what the bigger things are. We can always keep that idea about you and me and truth alive enough so that even the army can’t take control completely. And unless it does that, our idea will eventually win out. See what I mean, Bunny?

Bye for now. I love you, Bunny, always,
Wallace