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
Showing posts with label dam. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dam. Show all posts
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
The Land By The Dam and the Electrical Storm
August 12, 1943
Dear Mother,
It sounds like you might have hit on something pretty good. When the dam is completed it looks like the complete west side of the land should be on or very near the lake's edge. From the sounds of it the building site is a natural, on a ridge overlooking the river. If the lake backs up as expected the building site would be right on the lake shore.
The lower 160 could be kept for a while. Maybe the land nearest the water could be sold at a neat profit a little later. Extra timber land is always nice to have. It can be cut as timber or kept and used for hunting or possibly mining.
I say get that land if at all possible before the price is raised. At $2 an acre that sounds like a steal to me. The location is excellent also, right down in that park section where all the spring parks are that we visited. If you can do business well hop to it.
Sunday we are going swimming at Lake Mead near Boulder City. I don't know just how far that is from Boulder Dam, but it sounds like it should be fairly close. It's a long ride up there but I hope it's worth it.
This must be the rainy season around here. We had another rain yesterday. This rain was accompanied by an electric storm that wasn't so pleasant. The lightening struck a vehicle about a hundred yards from where I was standing. There was seven men around the vehicle and one in it. The seven around the vehicle were knocked out some of them in bad shape. The one in the vehicle was just scared a little. I learned that it doesn't pay to stand too near vehicles during storms.
Say will you write to Illinois and see if you can get my birth certificate for me? I might transfer out of the ninth division to the air corp. Even to transfer you have to have a birth certificate.
I got to go now.
Love
Kenneth.
Dear Mother,
It sounds like you might have hit on something pretty good. When the dam is completed it looks like the complete west side of the land should be on or very near the lake's edge. From the sounds of it the building site is a natural, on a ridge overlooking the river. If the lake backs up as expected the building site would be right on the lake shore.
The lower 160 could be kept for a while. Maybe the land nearest the water could be sold at a neat profit a little later. Extra timber land is always nice to have. It can be cut as timber or kept and used for hunting or possibly mining.
I say get that land if at all possible before the price is raised. At $2 an acre that sounds like a steal to me. The location is excellent also, right down in that park section where all the spring parks are that we visited. If you can do business well hop to it.
Sunday we are going swimming at Lake Mead near Boulder City. I don't know just how far that is from Boulder Dam, but it sounds like it should be fairly close. It's a long ride up there but I hope it's worth it.
This must be the rainy season around here. We had another rain yesterday. This rain was accompanied by an electric storm that wasn't so pleasant. The lightening struck a vehicle about a hundred yards from where I was standing. There was seven men around the vehicle and one in it. The seven around the vehicle were knocked out some of them in bad shape. The one in the vehicle was just scared a little. I learned that it doesn't pay to stand too near vehicles during storms.
Say will you write to Illinois and see if you can get my birth certificate for me? I might transfer out of the ninth division to the air corp. Even to transfer you have to have a birth certificate.
I got to go now.
Love
Kenneth.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
That Place In the Ozarks Aug 5, 1943
Aug. 5, 1943
Dear Mother
That piece about the Ozarks just about hits the nail on the head. It sounds about like some of the places we got into back around that part of the country. I wish I was back there wading in one of those streams right now.
The camp those boys got lost from is about a hundred miles from us. They were in the same place we are going to take part of our training. The men that died wandered off from the rest when their officer went to get water and help. This country out here is very deceiving, you can see for miles yet you can pass within a few hundred yards of a complete division and never see them if they don't move. The main danger is not being lost but running out of water before reaching some habitation.
I'm sort of anxious to hear about your trip into the Ozarks. Is there anything interesting down there? That one place you mentioned where the government is building the dam sounds very interesting. If a person could get ahold of someplace like that early before the dam was built and too many had moved in he might have a nice place. It would be well worth looking into.
After thinking it over I think you might just as well hang on to the car. It comes in handy for you guys getting groceries and taking little trips on weekends. I might even get to use it again after all this desert playing is over. I hope.
We just got paid the other day. Everybody's got money and no place to spend it. When this bunch gets to town again she'll be a wild time in the old town. I'm enclosing twenty dollars, I won't be tempted to spend it IF I get a pass to Las Vegas in the near future.
That's all for now.
Love
Kenneth
Dear Mother
That piece about the Ozarks just about hits the nail on the head. It sounds about like some of the places we got into back around that part of the country. I wish I was back there wading in one of those streams right now.
The camp those boys got lost from is about a hundred miles from us. They were in the same place we are going to take part of our training. The men that died wandered off from the rest when their officer went to get water and help. This country out here is very deceiving, you can see for miles yet you can pass within a few hundred yards of a complete division and never see them if they don't move. The main danger is not being lost but running out of water before reaching some habitation.
I'm sort of anxious to hear about your trip into the Ozarks. Is there anything interesting down there? That one place you mentioned where the government is building the dam sounds very interesting. If a person could get ahold of someplace like that early before the dam was built and too many had moved in he might have a nice place. It would be well worth looking into.
After thinking it over I think you might just as well hang on to the car. It comes in handy for you guys getting groceries and taking little trips on weekends. I might even get to use it again after all this desert playing is over. I hope.
We just got paid the other day. Everybody's got money and no place to spend it. When this bunch gets to town again she'll be a wild time in the old town. I'm enclosing twenty dollars, I won't be tempted to spend it IF I get a pass to Las Vegas in the near future.
That's all for now.
Love
Kenneth
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