August 8, 1942
August 8, 1942 Ft. Ord, California Dear Folksies, Lois and I walked on the beach quite a way to get some much needed exercise. Since we’ve known we were moving, the principal exercise has been packing — then finding something else that was needed, therefore requiring a short walk to the Post Exchange. […]
August 7, 1942
August 7, 1942 Ft. Ord, California Dear Folksies, We got our second Typhus shot. Cohn, Halter and I gave them all to the whole outfit. Then had some more jiu-jitsu instruction. Loads of love, . Next letter… Roy Cohn, MD Bert Halter, MD * About René & Dear Folksies ⇒
August 5, 1942
August 5, 1942 Ft. Ord, California Dear Folksies, First of all, thanks, Mom, for coming down here. It was swell to have you here, though in a way it is often just better to be able to leave without having to say good-bye. It is all very confusing, however, since rations for the […]
July 21, 1942
At Ft. Ord in Monterey, René was close to home, so he wrote fewer letters than he will starting in August. Instead of a letter for July 21, 1942, enjoy some photos of him from 1915-1918… Alma with René, born July 12, 1915 Four Generations: Grandmother Lillian, Great-Grandmother Bertha, René and Alma (left to right) […]
July 14, 1942
July 14, 1942 Ft. Ord, California Dear Folksies, Just a short line to thank all for the good birthday wishes, check, and all. It was swell to have Bobsy here with Sal and Dave at Del Monte. Yesterday was kept busy as platoon leader again and trying to help Frank Gerbode for a […]
July 9, 1942
July 9, 1942Thursday Ft. Ord, California Dear Folksies, Thanks for the swell weekend last Sat. and Sun. I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I know I did. Monday I had a couple of lectures to give and was kept moderately occupied during the day making preparations for the next two […]
July 8, 1942
Next letter… Nurses serving in the Army Nurse Corps at this time were not allowed to be married. Ultimately that rule was changed in October 1942, but a nurse was still not allowed to serve in the same unit as her husband — she would be required to transfer out to another unit. Lois & […]
June 28, 1942
June 28, 1942 Ft. Ord, California Dear Folksies, This week has been a rather busy one, particularly for the four of us who were platoon leaders. I may as well go back to the beginning of the week and proceed in chronological order. First, thanks loads for the swell week-end. Our excursion to […]
June 18, 1942
Next letter… Five days after they met at the Officers’ Club dance, René and Lois went on their first date — a double with Roy Cohn and his date. * About René & Dear Folksies ⇒
June 16, 1942
June 16, 1942Tuesday night Ft. Ord, California Dear Folksies, I think, perhaps, that one of the reasons for not having written sooner was that in the last week I have done so much typing for lectures, etc. that typing for letter writing appeared to be too much of a self-inflicted drudgery for the time […]
June 13, 1942
Next letter… Lois McFarland – a nurse in René’s unit * About René & Dear Folksies ⇒
June 9, 1942
June 9, 1942Tuesday night Ft. Ord, California Dear Folksies, Thanks for coming down last weekend. Sunday was really a swell day and I hope that the lengthiness of the trip was worth it to you. This morning was routine, but this afternoon we had a demonstration of various gases, getting whiffs of all […]
May 31, 1942
May 31, 1942Sunday night Ft. Ord, California Dear Folksies, Yesterday I was Officer of the Day and spent most of my time catching up on my correspondence, as there were only a few duties attached to the O.D. However, since I had to stay over in the office and even sleep over in Headquarters, […]
May 29, 1942
May 29, 1942Friday noon Ft. Ord, California Dear Folksies, We have taken three pretty good hikes this week. Two were down along the beach and we found that we would not like to be sent to Libya, particularly if we are going to wear these heavy shoes. One sinks down so much in the […]
May 19, 1942
May 19, 1942Tuesday night. Ft. Ord, California Dear Folksies, The last few days have been rather uneventful. We have done a lot of routine things and had considerable exercise, yet the time has passed rapidly. Saturday morning we took a hike – in formation – just the officers – to the area where […]
May 15, 1942
May 15, 1942 Fort Ord, California Dear Folksies, As you no doubt gathered from my request for some of my communicable disease notes, we are at last doing something at least vaguely connected with the practice of medicine. We have to teach the enlisted men, by giving a series of lectures. Some of the […]
May 6, 1942
May 6, 1942 Fort Ord, California Dear Folksies, We arrived here at Ft. Ord on Monday at 10A.M. The troop train had been way ahead of time and consequently we were kept on a siding at Castroville (about eight miles from Ord) for almost five hours. Even at that, they unloaded us a half […]
May 3, 1942
May 3, 1942 Ft. Lewis, Washington Dear Folksies, Thursday we graduated from Officers’ Training School. We received fancy diplomas direct from Commanding General White. He handed the diplomas to each one separately, after making a short speech which he read! The whole thing was very nice but we all felt that a General should […]
April 27, 1942
April 27, 1942 Ft. Lewis, Washington Dear Folksies, Since my last letter things have been really humming. Friday morning we started out on a hike and so-called Bivouac. We hiked with our gas-mask packs, our “musette bags” full of extra sweater, toilet articles, extra underwear, extra socks, etc. We also packed our bayonets and […]
April 23, 1942
April 23, 1942
Ft. Lewis, Washington
Dear Folksies,
Yesterday we practiced “dry firing” in the morning then walked two miles to the firing range, and each shot 15 shots with rifles from the prone position. Most were better than we expected to be.
April 19, 1942
April 19, 1942
Ft. Lewis, Washington
Dear Folksies,
We really don’t need an alarm clock to be up at 6 A.M., because of Father Clark, otherwise known as the “Padre”, gets up at about 5:45 A.M. by alarm clock, to go to the nearby church to say Mass, and most of us are awakened while he is getting dressed.
April 15, 1942
April 15, 1942
Ft. Lewis, Washington
Dear Folksies,
Yesterday we learned marching, facing, etc. and also how to clean our rifles and our brass insignia. Today we took a short hike and then had a demonstration of field sanitation methods.
April 13, 1942
April 13, 1942 Ft. Lewis, Washington Dear Folksies, We’ve really begun today! We were given rifles this morning and we work on a regular routine. I think I forgot to tell you that we all had Saturday night sore arms. Yes, we had typhoid and tetanus shots Saturday. A few of the boys […]
April 11, 1942
April 11, 1942 Ft. Lewis, Washington Dear Folksies, Please forgive me for not having written much sooner, but we have really been kept BUSY!! Yesterday morning we awoke to the startling announcement that we were moving right away over to the “Officers’ Training School.” We moved and since then have had every minute […]