Letter # 96 September 23, 1943

Sept 23, 1943
My sweetheart;
Hello. How's my Chubbins today? Hope you are over your cold by now. I don't know, maybe you've thought of it already, but if I were you, I believe I would get a box of those vitamin pills like we had at the store last winter. I think they did me some good. When you are continually exposed as you will be this winter they are well worth the cost. I didn't have a cold after I started taking them.
So Mickey is in Texas. I've heard some of Camp Barkelay but don't know much. It seems to me it is a specialized camp. The location ought to be fair. Abilene is a fair sized town and from all I have ever heard a nice town, but of course an army camp can change all that in a hurry. I'll try to find out what I can about it. Someone here ought to have been there. I just asked out in the barracks and while none of them were from there, two fellows were from Camp Bowie. That is about 70 miles south east at Brownwood. It isn't a specialized camp. They say the 16th Armored Division is there. I wonder if he is attached to them. His address doesn't indicate it. They say it is hot and dry all summer and rather nice in the winter. Never gets very cold. They say it is a nice place to be. Well I hope he has a good place. At least he has a start on his medical training, even if it isn't veterinary. The training in that branch isn't likely to be as tough as a fighting unit. He has one break at least. In the south for the winter.
I imagine it is about 500 miles west and 150 miles north of Camp Polk. I'll write to him as soon as I can find someone from there and get some dope.
You old devil, you be careful who you get to take care of you. You mentioned Ed Selzer might take care of you if you got too cold. You could do a lot better than that honey. Of course I choose to believe you meant as far as coal was concerned, but you didn't state it very well.
Don't hesitate to use the wood. It should be just the thing for fall days. Use the bigger pieces from that pile out back and there ought to be plenty of heat left for you in the morning. You'll just have to start it every night. I imagine you still have plenty of kindling but if you haven't use the smaller pieces from the front piles. They're dry and should make good kindling.
I got another letter from Marg and as yet she doesn't know if she will be free or not but will wire me if she is coming. She plans to stay Sat night with her friend "Cris" and I will go in Sunday morning and meet her at the bus station.
I told Angie that he had made a hit with the gals back home and they wanted me to bring him home with me. He said he would take the invitation if he could, because he always did like country life and country girls. Didn't care if they were married.
He and Gus and Ernie are about the only ones that didn't get leaves. All three disapproved. So you can tell the girls, no luck, and blame it on the army.
You won't have to follow me around like any little puppy dog. I won't get far enough away from you, so you can follow. Honey you can bet I'll stay plenty close, the closer the better. I love you and I'm going to make an attempt to show you how much, because, after all, 15 days isn't very long and who knows when I'll have another chance. I don't have any plans and don't intend to make any. Just let circumstances take care of that. All I have in mind is a third honeymoon and very few plans necessary for that. I'm going to spend as much time at home alone with you as I decently can. That's both threat and promise.
Chubbins, I'm surprised at you, saying there was a tapering off point on our 2nd honeymoon. You may be right to some extent, but I lay a lot of it to damn hot weather. I know of 3 or 4 times when that stopped me before I really wanted to quit. That shouldn't bother us this time so if there is a tapering off point this time, I won't have any excuse except old age.
We had a rather interesting experience in school this morning. At 8 o'clock they told us that would be out last break until 12, because we were going to be visited by some English officers and soldiers. Kinda made us mad at the time. Have to give up our chance to rest and smoke for 10 minutes every hour for 4 hrs. That makes a soldier mad. Well the first bunch, mostly officers, came through about 10. We had all been told to be on the ball and look like we were working like hell. It looked like it alright. We had just started to paint "Torchy" and most of the other groups had their tanks all torn apart. Looked like a real assembly line. By the time they got there we had "Torchy" about half covered with a new coat of paint and we were all 2/3 covered. They just walked through and paused here and there to look.
About 11 another bunch came along. One captain in charge and the rest were just soldiers like ourselves, Sgts, pvts, etc. They marched in, in formation. Of course we were all watching and trying to appear busy at the same time. When they march they swing their arms far backward and forward. We swing ours 3"inches back and 6" foreword, and when they halt they do a cute little jump step. Funny to watch but looks good. They are dressed in uniforms much the color of our O.D.'s. The trousers have large patch pockets on the front of the legs that come nearly to their knees, and they wear a very short legging, just over the shoe top, the trousers are caught in them. The shirts looked more like a light weight lumberjack with a shirt collar, but were worn inside the trousers. The cap is much the same as ours. They wear chevrons upside down in comparison to ours and they are much larger.
They fell out and scattered around the building and seemed very much interested. One bunch of 5 gathered around our tank. Angie and I were just putting her name back on. Angie was holding the stencil and I was doing the painting. From the way they watched every move we made, it must have been a new operation to them. It was all wet paint. Then they asked a few questions, and honey I'm telling you, I never knew English could be spoken so I couldn't understand it. But that was nearly it. One asked about the armor thickness and Angie says, "Huh?" I happened to catch it and told them a little about the tank. I guess they didn't understand me very well either. Then another asked how many passengers the tank carried. Sgt.Finnegan says, "It doesn't carry any passengers, just the driver, assistant driver, tank commander, and gunner." It was rather funny to us but I guess it wasn't to them. I would have liked a chance to talk to them but no chance. They soon left on their tour of the camp. They are from a crack anti-aircraft battery and are supposed to be here for a rest.
Angie says they are over here to make room for our soldiers over there. After they left we all took a twenty minute break and then cleaned up and it was time to quit.
We now have "Torchy" nearly ready to run again. Still have a little painting inside to do and a few adjustments to make.
All these tanks are painted with white enamel inside and are supposed to be kept spotless. When the hatches are all closed as they would be in battle the white paint reflects the light and makes it a lot easier to see.
Well honey it's chow time so I'll have to quit. Gus and I are planning on a show tonight.
Bye darling, I'll be seeing you in 16 more days.
Your loving hubby
Norm.