APO [postal] detail in evening.
Friday, January 15, 1943
Go on all day pass. Restricted to company area for one week because tent fails to pass inspection.
Saturday, January 16, 1943
Work, nice day.
Our "homemade" battalion newsletter called the "Bars and Gripes" kept us updated on the news in and around the Second Battalion. This is my one and only surviving copy.
Sunday, January 17, 1943
Work, nice day.
Monday, January 18, 1943
On K.P. [mess hall detail]. Nice warm day.
Tuesday, January 19, 1943
Warm, work.
Wednesday January 20, 1943
Nice day, usual work. Get 3 shots [vaccines] in arm.
Thursday, January 21, 1943
Air raid last nite. Nice day, work. My 28th birthday.
A German Stuka dive bomber -- a familiar and dangerous part of life in Oran. [courtesy: www.rafbombercommand.com]
Friday, January 22, 1943
Nothing unusual, regular work in dump.
Saturday, January 23, 1943
Rain, work.
WAR UPDATE: January 23, 1943. General Montgomery's Eighth Army takes city of Tripoli, North Africa.
Sunday, January 24, 1943
Work, load freight cars at railroad. Rain. Go to church in evening.
Monday, January 25, 1943
Rain, work in warehouse.
Tuesday, January 26, 1943
Work in warehouse. Get letter from Mom. This is answer to first letter I wrote from Africa.
Wednesday, January 27, 1943
Nice day, start work as checker in dump. Get package from Sarah.
Thursday, January 28, 1943
Working as checker in "C" dump, nice day. Cold nites and forenoons, warm afternoons. See show, "Million Dollar Baby."
Million Dollar Baby, starring Priscilla Lane, Jeffery Lynn and Ronald Reagan [courtesy: www.whosdatedwho.com]
Friday, January 29, 1943
Air raid last nite, work as usual.
WAR UPDATE: January 31, 1943. Germans surrender at Stalingrad.
Sunday, January 31, 1943
Good weather, regular work. See show "Ride 'em Cowboy."
Ride 'em Cowboy, starring Abbott and Costello [courtesy: www.imdb.com]
Monday, February 1, 1943
Same routine
True Story:Tuesday, February 2, 1943
We had a kid overseas that was kind of a dummy. He couldn't do anything right. You couldn't trust him with anything. They didn't know what to do with him. They got the idea of sending him to battalion headquarters to be the colonel's orderly. One of his jobs was to keep the latrine clean. They had just make-shift outdoor toilets. Someone told him if he would pour gasoline in the latrine, it would keep it sanitary. It was a two holer. The colonel went in there one morning and sat down. He was a cigar smoker and he dropped a cigar butt down the other hole and 'BOOM!' The colonel had his bottom singed. He wasn't badly burned, but had to go to the hospital a few days. The other officer said that did more good to boost the morale of the battalion than anything else that had happened during the war!
Company is taken off job at "C" dump. Company is split up. We get trucks and will now be a transport outfit. I will be assistant driver for Clarence Schuster.
We are suddenly a transport unit. Above is the Diamond T four-ton truck, which I am now very quickly learning to drive. [photo (left) courtesy: www.autogallery.org.ru; photo (right): public domain]
1 comment:
thanks for making clear about the vaccines! I first I was thinking oh my Grandpa got shot and I didn't know that!
Keep up the great work!
You getta A+
Post a Comment