May 10 & 11, 1943. On the 10th Stanley writes to Dad with the news “I am a happy soul right now. I got what I wanted.” His furlough was approved! He figured correctly that it was best to apply for a furlough before his squadron was moved out and more men were assigned to it and the workload increased.
Being the squadron clerk, he writes, “Of course, I typed my own furlough out. I was so excited I forgot to sign it…the captain had the furlough in his basket all morning and then he signed it and brought it over and said ‘I thought maybe you did not want the furlough as you did not sign it.’” It turns out that Stanley was approved for a seven day furlough plus 2 three day passes, so he will have plenty of time to visit friends and family back home in addition to the travel to and from Albany and Washington State. He plans to leave on the 13th and will be back on the 25th before his group ships out on the 27th. He wraps up his short letter “I think I better tell mama that I am coming or else if I ever should walk through the door without letting them know they would probably faint.”
On the 11th Stanley writes another short letter. He relays that he received a watch that his sister had sent him as well as pictures of the baby. He also writes of a few more random goings-on.
- Work on the barracks for the WAACS has been completed and he expects that they will be moving in shortly.
- He still weighs about 154 lbs.
- The daily routine for the week continues to be reveille at 5:45 AM followed by 15 minutes of calisthenics.
- Tomorrow he will be at the gunnery range for target practice with a 30-30 Springfield rifle and a Thompson sub-machine gun.
- Inoculations continue as he received a cholera shot and a typhus shot, commenting “my arms sure did hurt yesterday as he sure stuck us pretty deep.”
A WWII soldier fires a Thompson sub-machine gun.
He promises that he will certainly write after he gets back from his furlough and that he “still may write a letter from home”, so it looks like it may be a little while before we hear from Stanley again.
For those of you receiving these posts by e-mail make sure to check out the new page on the Family War Letters website where I’ve compiled the family photos that have been a part of this blog. You can check them out here. Additional photos will be added to the Photo Album page as they come up in the narrative.