THEY NEVER THOUGHT THEIR FARM KID WOULD SAY THIS AFTER
JOINING THE MARINES. THIS IS PRICELESS.
A Farm Kid Joins the Marines
Dear Ma and Pa,
I am well. Hope you are. Tell Brother Walt and Brother
Elmer the Marine Corps beats working for old man Minch
by a mile. Tell them to join up quick before all of
the places are filled.
I was restless at first because you get to stay in bed
till nearly 5 a.m. But I am getting so I like to sleep
late. Tell Walt and Elmer all you do before breakfast
is smooth your cot, and shine some things. No hogs to
slop, feed to pitch, mash to mix, wood to split, fire
to lay. Practically nothing.
Men got to shave but it is not so bad, there’s warm
water. Breakfast is strong on trimmings like fruit
juice, cereal, eggs, bacon, etc., but kind of weak on
chops, potatoes, ham, steak, fried eggplant, pie and
other regular food, but tell Walt and Elmer you can
always sit by the two city boys that live on coffee.
Their food, plus yours, holds you until noon when you
get fed again. It’s no wonder these city boys can’t
walk much.
We go on “route marches,” which the platoon sergeant
says are long walks to harden us. If he thinks so,
it’s not my place to tell him different. A “route
march” is about as far as to our mailbox at home. Then
the city guys get sore feet and we all ride back in
trucks.
The sergeant is like a school teacher. He nags a lot.
The Captain is like the school board. Majors and
colonels just ride around and frown. They don’t bother
you none.
This next will kill Walt and Elmer with laughing. I
keep getting medals for shooting. I don’t know why.
The bulls-eye is near as big as a chipmunk head and
don’t move, and it ain’t shooting at you like the
Higgett boys at home. All you got to do is lie there
all comfortable and hit it. You don’t even load your
own cartridges. They come in boxes.
Then we have what they call hand-to-hand combat
training. You get to wrestle with them city boys. I
have to be real careful though, they break real easy.
It ain’t like fighting with that ole bull at home. I’m
about the best they got in this except for that Tug
Jordan from over in Silver Lake . I only beat him
once. He joined up the same time as me, but I’m only
5’6″ and 130 pounds and he’s 6’8″ and near 300 pounds
dry.
Be sure to tell Walt and Elmer to hurry and join
before other fellers get onto this setup and come
stampeding in.
Your loving daughter,
Alice
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