Jan. 17, '43
Dear Folks,
I suppose you get tired of hearing how busy I have been. It isn't the work, it's the long hours. We have been going out to the range for two weeks now. The first week my outfit was working in the pits and on the telephones and this last week we have been trying to get our own firing done. Most of us finished last night. Yesterday was the first day in two weeks we have been able to fire the whole day. The fog has been so bad that sometimes we couldn't start until afternoon. Today is sunny and the rest of the outfit which is firing guns other than the Garand are going to the range this afternoon to finish up. I didn't do too well firing but I did qualify with the score of 147 which is the qualifying number. One of the fellows in our platoon made 207. The highest possible score would be 220. The chap is one of the highest scorers in the battalion. Grant made a high score, so Fay wrote me, and was put into Intelligence and Reconnaissance (I&R) which is a rather high-power outfit and apt to move out fast. He is also rated Private 1st Class (PFC) which gives him a stripe when they can get the stripes. Fay says there is a shortage of stripes.
One more item about the firing range I wanted to tell you. In sending the shots on the target you have different colored discs on a long sole which you hold over the bullet hole to show what the score is. On a total miss you wave a red flag and we call this, quaintly enough, "Maggie's drawers." So we say a man got a certain number of "Maggies." Thought you might enjoy knowing this worthless bit of information.
Since we started shooting I have had the rifle to tear down and clean every night and that is quite an operation. It is always time to go to bed by the time I get through.
Your
description of Christmas sounded fine! You really had a white one. I am glad you had some candles and silvered spray left and sorry you rated no green holly this Christmas. I believe I sent it every Christmas I was in Raymond.
It seems you got quite a number of books. I have read Osa Johnson's book [I Married Adventure] and it really is one you will remember. Her descriptions of the elephant country take you to another world. I have read Mrs. Miniver and seen the movie. There is no story to the book but it is very enjoyable. The movie was excellent in bringing to life a replica of what Mrs. Miniver would probably be in the flesh. I never got to read The Keys to the Kingdom but all the critics hailed it as an outstanding work.
New Years at Aunt's with oyster soup and the whole cellar on the table! I wish I could sit down to one of them almost any day now.
[I remember reading and enjoying Osa Johnson's I Married Adventure during harvest when I was about 12 – the same copy that Grandma Ina had read, I'm sure. It's still there in the bookcase on the farm. Maybe I'll read it again. Have you heard of Martin and Osa Johnson? It's amazing how much interesting history -- news of the day, topics people discussed -- is eventually overlooked. Have you read Mrs. Miniver or The Keys to the Kingdom? KW]
5 comments:
Loved the "worthless information" about Maggie's drawers!
Never read Mrs. Miniver, but the movie with Joan Crawford is very good - about a woman who works and sacrifices everything for her no-good daughter. A real melodrama.
"Worthless information" -- now known as trivia.
You're thinking of the movie "Mildred Pierce" (1945). "Mrs. Miniver" was produced in 1942 and starred the much-loved Greer Garson in the title role. Info is readily available online. Here's a couple of lines from a speech given by a minister near the end of the movie: ". . . this is not only a war of soldiers in uniform. It is the war of the people, of all people. And it must be fought not only on the battlefield but in the cities and in the villages, in the factories and on the farms, in the home and in the heart of every man, woman and child who loves freedom." I think this movie epitomized the sense of unification and patriotism encouraged during WWII.
You're absolutely right - very different movie!!
I remember watching Mrs. Miniver when I was in high school. Mom loved it. I should watch it now because I have no clear remembrance of it except that it was a good movie. The Keys to the Kingdom has a familiar ring, but again no clear remembrance. (Hey, is that a sign of old age???)
That title is not quite right in the letter -- it is "The Keys of the Kingdom." The movie was made in 1944 and starred Gregory Peck. I haven't seen it and should make a point to do so. I remember that we did have the book, but I'm not sure we still do. I've seen Mrs. Miniver, the movie, but I'd like to read the book.
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