Stewart Letter #19

Letter # 19: January 8, 1945i
A letter from Stewart, in Lincoln, NE, to mother.

Dear Mother,

Only three weeks left now, and it seems that I have been here a lifetime.ii Only two weeks of classes left, for the last week consists entirely of college tests and the National Army Achievement Tests, on G.I.'s.iii

My average for the eight weeks mark is 84 without counting my P.T. grade, which was only sixty, just passing. iv My strongest subjects are math and English, and these are the subjects I had the most of in high school. The main trouble is trying to regulate my study and sleep.v

I'll need twenty dollarsvi for my round trip fare on the Rocket. I made my reservation yesterday, and I should buy my ticket as soon as possible.

I felt rather bad immediately after coming back, vii but it wore off with time and work. After being home for a week, I wonder how homesick I will be.

Incidentally, we will receive our first typhoid shots tomorrow, Jan. 9th, and that will mean that we will receive our third typhoid vaccination and also a smallpox vaccination just about the day before our furloughs begin.

On Jan. 4, I was Cadet Officer of the Day and got to sleep in the office. Also, I had to get up at 5:30 by alarm clock, wake the cadet Charge of Quarters and the cadet Hall Orderly so that they could wake up the other men , and wake up the administration O.D.

We have had a number of good training films in our military classes lately. Last Saturday, we had a reel on first aid procedure. Also, the ERC's in our bunch are learning infantry fundamentals. 
 

This building may include the necessities of life, but some details are missing insofar as convenience is concerned. There is not much room on the shelves, especially since two have to share a locker. The beds are not wide enough, and the springs sag in the middle. But, however, I do not believe that I would want to quit now, because I can see that this life won't finish me, although at times it is a little trying. 
 

I'll need about five dollars besides the twenty so that I can get my laundry back, buy some toothpaste, hair tonic and send some other clothes to the cleaners. If necessary, draw some money out of my savings account to send me. 
 

Don't worry about the typhoid shots, because I have gone through them before without mishap.

Your loving son, Stewart 


Marginal note written by mother to dad:
Barney, I thought I would send this to you it sounded to me as if Stewart was none too happy in this. I wonder sometimes if he should have gone into this; it is so hard to know what one should do and say.viii 

Notes:
i This letter is over a month since the last one. We can assume that since the Christmas and New Year's holiday have taken place, that Stewart did go home, if but briefly, and thus did not need to feel the need to write. In 1945, he will write fewer letters than he did in 1944 about half as many. Also, as mother's marginal note makes clear, this is the first letter that is not pretty upbeat. 

ii This is not said in a positive sense, I think. It's not "I'm living an incredibly full and interesting life here," but more, "I'm struggling so much that a few weeks seems like a lifetime."

iii I'm not able to find anything about these tests specifically. 

iv This must have been discouraging for Stewart who was accustomed to getting top grades in high school. 


v I'm sure Stewart was plenty smart enough to handle his courses, so it must have been that he wasn't able to sleep/and or concentrate, probably because of noise.


vi This was a lot of money: $276 in today's $$ according to one inflation chart online. That seems like a lot for a train ticket and I have no idea how mother could have come up with that. The Rocket was a train that ran from Minneapolis to Texas on the Rock Island line and went through Kansas City. I don't know how Stewart got to the train. Maybe there was a bus.

vii I think Stewart is saying that he was depressed, or as he says, "homesick."

viii Mother was right to read between the lines and send this to dad. I would love to read what he wrote back to Stewart. He was pretty good at seeing into a situation from a distance and offering some insight. 

The Rock Island Rocket