SvcMen WW II Letters FULTON COUNTY, INDIANA HANDBOOK Service Men, World War II, Letters 1940-1943 SERVICE MEN, WORLD WAR II, LETTERS See: Service Men, World War II __________ PAUL BOWEN WRITES OF LIFE IN NORTHWEST ARMY CAMP Editor’s Note: Paul Bowen, former Rochester boy, is in Camp at Seattle, Washington. His recent letter to Harold Remy is one of the most interesting we have seen. It is reprinted herewith. Co. A. 69 QM Bn. A.P.O. 3-P, c/o Postmaster 8-25-41 Seattle, Wash. Hello Harold: I received your card the other day. Sorry I failed to receive your last letters. I have moved around quite a lot. Left Ft. MacArthur last May 17th. Was up north to King City on maneuvers until July 5th. Had quite an experience living in pup tents and living in the woods. We ate out of our mess kits, did our own washings and usually shaved in cold water. Got to climb a few of the mts. there. We climbed one which is about 1400 ft. Not nearly as high as some we’ve seen, but required a little time in which to gain the top. While on maneuvers our work was to keep trucks serviced and repaired when necessary. There’s nothing much I can tell you about the maneuver battles as we always worked in the rear. We did have to retreat a time or two and then come back to our original place later in the affair. I went swimming in several mt. rivers. I saw several deer, heard some coyotes and bob cats. We killed a few rattlesnakes, some tarantula spiders and scorpans. I’ve taken a number of pictures while in the woods. I’m filling an Army Photo Album so can show in part what I’ve seen while in the Army when I get home. After leaving King City we went to Camp Callan at San Diego. By the way King City is a small town, about 1500 population and southeast of San Francisco. Upon arriving at Camp Callan we were much disappointed to find all barracks filled. We slept in pup tents again until we could get larger tents and still ate out of mess kits. Callan is just a new camp. The streets and roads are just now being built. They have an Army theater, postoffice and several post exchanges. We had several recreaton halls in which civilians sponsored programs. They have built three new churches and are building more barracks and some maintenance shops. SvcMen WW II Letters On Aug 7 we left Callan and headed north, by train to Washington. A few of the fellows left a week early and drove the trucks up. We were told we would be on maneuvers again but upon arriving found we were headed for Alaska. To some it was quite a surprise. Although we knew we were taking all our eq uipment, even the Day room chairs and pool table. We also knew they had sent other groups ahead. We had a very nice trip north. I saw orange and lemon groves and a lot of truck farming in southern California besides the oil wells. We took the island route, so farther north we hit the desert. The air was hot and dry. Saw very little of anything except sage brush and the bare soil. Further north we came to the mts. again. There we saw Mt. Shasta, snow-covered. We saw shacks of copper miners. Saw old cables across a river which gold miners had used. We saw one of the large dams under construction and lots of very pretty scenery. The road was very winding and the train only made from 15 to 25 miles an hour, so we had plenty of time to see it all. Some time on Friday night we hit Oregon. The air got rather chilly. In the morning we found we were in some of the great pine forsts. It was a pretty sight to see such large and tall trees, canyons, mountains, rivers with logs bewing pulled to saw mills and many other things, In northern Oregon we saw farming ground. They raise mostly little grain, hay and cattle. Most the whole west is irrigated. Here in Washington I’ve saw farming ground, apple orchards and pine forests. Haven’t saw any of the Redwoods as yet. Was in Olympia the capital of Washington. It’s about twice the size of Rochester. Here in Washington the people can’t get through telling how much nicer their state is than the others. They do have some very pretty lakes and parks. Last year they said the grass was green the year round here, and only had a couple light snows. Mt. Rainier is just a little south and east of us. Another fellow and I went to Tacoma Sunday. He knew some people there. They gave us a chicken dinner and then drove us around over the city and to the Defiance Park. They showed us many places of interest including part of the Puget Sound. Our Company now is divided in three groups. The first group went to Sitka, an island off the coast of Canada, about 800 miles north. Clair Strong was on that boat. The next group goes Friday to Kodiak, an island just south of the mainland of Alaska. I think the group I’m in leaves about the 3rd of Sept. We go to Dutch Harbor, the farthest away, about 2,000 miles up in the Aleutians Islands, just below the Bering Sea, and not so far from Siberia, Russia and Japan. The fellow at whose house we ate dinner Sunday, told me there was a funny thing about these islands. He says they’re volcanic and some have just disappered and others would rise. Sounds interesting, doesn’t it? We are expecting a change in the weather anyway. We have been issued more clothing. They say it’s rather stormy on these islands through winter months. I can tell you more about them in a week or two. I don’t know how long we will be there. All I can hear is rumors. It seems as though all the fellows who have run around together have been broken up. The morale of the Army here is very poor. None of the fellows here have had furloughs, and now heading for Alaska with some extra months added to our year, makes it a little bitter to like. So far there has been three of our Company went over the hill, including one sergeant. I guess the rainy season has started here as it’s been raining all day and last night. How’s the store and everybody coming now? The stores here are more similar to those in the east than those in California. How was the trip east? My address will still be the same while I’m in Alaska. Possibly I can tell you a little of interest later on so will stop for this time. Hoping to hear from you again. ---- Paul. [The News-Sentinel, Monday, September 8, 1941] LETTER FROM ROBERT F. OWENS Veterans Home Yountsville, Calif. Feb. 10, 1942 Rochester News-Sentinel Rochester, Ind.. To my friends back home: SvcMen WW II Letters I arrived in state, at Yuma, Ariz., and crossed the Imperial Valley through El Centro on to San Diego, which city is sure preparing for war. All you can see here is soldiers and sailors and they have a look in their eyes which tells yo they have not forgotten Pearl Harbor. I talked to several of the boys and they are really anxious to go and woe be unto those slant-eyed hornets when our boys do get started. Everything is very secretive here as the whole west coast is now in the war zone. I came on up the cost to Los Angeles and here one could see a more serious look in the peoples’ eyes. They seemed to look upon each other with suspicion, instead of being a happy, care-free looking people I met here in 1938. They now have their eyes open to a grim realization of a war which will eventually leave its disastrous mark on the beautiful city of movie fame. Here the Japs and Italians are being watched very closely and are to be moved to concentration camps soon. I left Los Angeles and went to San Bernardino, then on north over El Cajon pass into the Mojave desert, across this piece of waste land into Antelope Valley to a little city called Lancaster, which is a thriving city on the edge of the desert; hay and copper mining being their main industries here. The people do not seem to take the war quite as serious as they do along the coast. I left Lancaster and went to Gorman on Route 99, on over the pass into the beautiful San Joaquin valley which is filled up with Japanese vegetable farmers, and with all their cleverness they could not hide their hatred toward the Americans. I did not talk to any of them for I hate them too bad. I came on through Bakersfield which is a great oil producing center and the oil fields are sure well guarded now. I came on to Tulare, on to Fresno, and Fresno does not know a war is on as far as business is concerned. Just a big city in the center of the vineyard district of San Joaquin valley. I went into the McMahan Bros.