7-10-1943

Dear Don;
I sure as hell was glad to hear from you! This is real ‘ole Boot Camp with a 19 hour college course thrown in. We do our own washing, scrubbing, pressing, cleaning, etc. Have calisthenics in the morning at 600 and physical exercise & swimming at 1600. I passed my strength test with an average of 59 which was high. As I recall you got about 62 or sumpin’.---Damn good. I also passed swimming.
We all have sore arms because we got shots yesterday but I don’t feel tooooo bad.
We get a liberty tonight but we can’t go unless we have black shoes (wha have complete uniforms except for shoes (get in Monday) I borrowed a pair from a funny little “Pimp” (and that’s all he is but he’s a good free hearted egg) We call him Danny and he is a regular Navy Man. He always carries a razor sharp knife in this comb pocket & I’ll bet he’s used it before. He has been down in the South Pacific ever since Pearl Harbor & just come back because his “can” caught a “fish” aft.
He said it killed 68 of his buddies in the mess hall. He said he was hiding under a machine gun cover. (scared to death)
There are really a lot of wonderful guys here although there are some thieves a number of guys have had their skivey shirts & socks stolen from the wash room. I have most of mine stenciled so I don’t think I will be bothered. (I hope)
I guess you have a hell of a lot of studying to do besides your watches etc. so I will let you stop reading for a while. Best o’luck to you & hope I will see you soon. ( I guess I won’t though because we don’t get any leaves).
Shoving off;
Bill
P.S. It sure is too bad about Lynn but I don’t see how his heart left him in the first place.
Bill
Write when you can.
If you need Handkerchiefs bad I have plenty & will send you some. Tell me in you next letter. Only have 5 skivey shirts though.