On Maneuvers After All - Nov. 30, 1943

Nov. 30, 1943

Dear Mother,

You can disregard that last letter, sense it was pure propaganda. The happenings of the past week have convinced me that I was over optimistic. Right now I am sitting out here in the beautiful south dam near freezing to death. Perhaps I should start a little further back and explain how I came to be sitting out here with the rest of the division on maneuvers.
The 612 Ordinance Battalion that we were attached to got orders to move. Their orders came so suddenly that there was no time to arrange for us school boys to be transferred to another outfit. Some of our Battalion came in and hauled us out to the field. You should have heard the ha! ha! they gave us when we appeared in the chow line.
If anyone ever tries to tell you it's hot in the south during the winter, hit them over the head for me. I was on guard the other night and I had on every thing I could find. Summer underwear, winter underwear, coveralls, field jacket, and overcoat and I was still cold.
Thanks for the book on architecture. The Sportsman model would best suit our needs. With the wheels on the back you could grab hold and haul it around to your hearts content.
How are all the teeth coming along? I hope Dad is feeling better or maybe he's feeling worse cause he's got some more coming out. You should have yours finished by now. How about Rosalyn has she finished also? At least I won't have to worry about getting home before all of you finish with the dentist.
Don't expect any Christmas present until about February. They pulled me out of camp before I could get around and there is absolutely nothing out here in these Louisiana swamps. I had a three day pass all planned for Christmas if I had stayed in camp as per the original set up.
Well it's getting kind of late and I'm just a little tired, so it's off to bed I'm going. Goodnight.

Love
Kenneth