The letters are starting to come with in increased frequency. Everybody is writing nearly every other day. Sometimes there is more time between the letters and at other times Dad is writing every day. Most of what is discussed in the letters is starting to get routine (health, day to day things, etc.) and Stanley is often reporting things to Dad that Anna had communicated in other letters. Nonetheless, I am working my way through.
From where the project stands, I’ve gotten all of the letters out of their original manila folders and into new ones with acid free sheets interleaved between them. This task allowed me to sort out any documents that require special attention. All of the letters from Dad’s mom (Mama) that were written in Polish have been set aside and have already been scanned. These are awaiting translation. I have several feelers out to people to may be able to help with this task. Additionally, letters and documents larger than 8 ½ by 11 have also been scanned. This is thanks to an old friend with a copier/scanner at his office that handles documents up to 11 by 17. All letters through early March 1943 have been scanned. Anyway, back to the letters…
January 28, 1943. From Stanley who is still at school on the campus of Ole Miss in Oxford, Mississippi. The training and schooling continues to be intense “as they pile or try to cram everything on you with the first three weeks.” For the first week his mark was 77%. Average marks for the class are in the 70s. He is typing the letter between class periods and hopes that when he finishes his current schooling that the will be sent to the Officer’s candidate censorship school.
He relays that on the 25th they had some freezing rain and hail in northern Mississippi. “It continued all night and the next morning we had about an inch of hail frozen together…the trees were covered with ice” In other news, he reports that there was a fire at one of the sorority houses that left only the brick walls of the building standing.
February 4, 1943 another letter from Stanley. The big news is that Stanley was moved into another dormitory. He is on the third floor of Garland Hall where they are two to a room. The rooms have parquet flooring, single wood beds, two large closets and Kohler sinks with chrome fixtures. The bathrooms have tile floors. Having been built in 1938, the building is quite new and “sure is a pretty building inside and outside.” He also reports finding pecan trees on campus.
A photo of Garland Hall today. Originally built in 1938 as part of a New Deal project, it was used in 1943 to house US troops that were undergoing training on the campus of the University of Mississippi in Oxford, MS (photo credit: www.misspreservation.com)
Elsewhere in the letter Stanley asks Dad if he can locate some of the metal Army Air Corps insignia pins for the lapels of his uniforms. Apparently there are none available where he is. In a previous letter Anna suggested that maybe Dad and his brother could get together when Stanley gets a weekend pass. Here Stanley realty checks the idea noting that his pass would only be good from Saturday at 1PM to 11PM on Sunday which would barely give him enough time to cover half of the 850 mile one way trip. For now, it looks like a physical reunion will have to wait for another time and place. In the meantime, the brothers will do their best to keep in touch via mail.