Camp White, Oregon
11 March 1943
Dear Aunty Clara:
We are still in Camp White and from the looks of things we will be here for the duration. Nothing is ever said about moving anymore. Now that I have said that and broken the spell, we will probably be taking off within a few days. A long ten car Pullman train pulled into camp last night but it brought in a new shipment of fellows. That is what we looked like coming in last November. The lapse of four months, however, has not had any effect on me though and I still feel as little a soldier as I did when I first came into the Army. I guess you have to be in the mood for soldiering to get to feel like one.
This business of studying at night has ruined my letter writing to you. In addition to that it is the new mood I am in. Remember back in October and November, I said that I would write every day so that in case I would die you would know exactly what I felt and thought up to the last minute. But with the new philosophy, death seems far away and I'll be back shortly anyhow. That's a poor excuse for letting my letters become spaced by days instead of hours but I guess that is what accounts for it. Perhaps you would rather have me back in my depressive spirit of yesterday.
During the daytime yesterday and today we were and are working on the payroll; so there was and will be no time to write letters then. At night last night and the night before, I went to the Library and pored over my mathematics. The two entire nights were taken up by reviewing logarithms and doing simple problems here and there. The only trouble is that once I am in the Library, I do not go directly to my math but brush up on current events by reading Time magazine and little odds and ends that are laying around the tables. And then I spend a few moments browsing around the shelves.
Before going to the library last night, Curry got hold of me for a short chess game. It was short and we both tried to hurry it up. The total time was 35 to 40 minutes. It so happened that at one stage of the game he put terrific pressure upon my king and the outcome was that I unwittingly lost a knight or some such major piece. From then on I played a reckless game and bore into him steadily until he was trapped into surrendering his advantage with interest. After that, with the strength of our forces about equal, he gave me an opportunity to win the game and I did not see it until after I moved and then he too saw his boner. Then I had to laugh because he had seen how close he was to defeat, he was now willing to compromise for a draw or tie game. That was just what I wanted and within three minutes I had queened a pawn and won the game. It wasn't a well thought out battle and we both made continual mistakes but it was a rough and tumble affair which I enjoyed.
This letter could ramble on and on because there is so much to talk about once again but it is going to be the same old story in that a few minutes from now I will have to start work.
The clerks are working in their fatigue clothes today. The reason: Our other suit of O.D.s are in the cleaners and we shouldn't get our good O.D.s too worn. Then too, we may go on that bivouac and we will be all ready for it. That caused quite a bit of comment in the barracks this morning to see Cpl Klick in fatigues and they all thought I was going back to line duty. Another comment was regarding my practically new set of fatigue clothes. They wanted to know if I ever did wear them before.
So long,
/s/ Roman
Roman
More later (at noon, I hope)