June 15, 1942 - Dear Audrey

Jan Palson

15 Jun 2026 — 4 min read

No, that's not my Dad. It's Wikipedia.

...it has taken us three days to come fifteen miles.

When he says "big guns" the one in the picture is what he's talking about. No that's not him standing atop - would be cool if it was. It's all part of the Harbor Defense of Boston. So they're not just going to Fort Ruckman to practice fire the big guns, they'll be stationed there until further notice. They'll get settled, figure out the floors, and get to work. And learn to love cowboy songs? Note that Eddie is Mom's brother.

Original Letter

Transcript follows.

Transcript - June 15, 1942

Btry H - 9^th C.A., Fort Ruckman

Dear Audrey,

Well we are over here, but far from settled. The Army has long been known and has boasted of its ability to move anywhere anytime quickly, but it has taken us three days to come fifteen miles. I never knew Battery H owned so much stuff. A fellow picks up quite a bit of stuff for himself in a remarkable short time. I had two barracks bags full and also a foot locker and then my bedding and bed so you take 140 men with the same amount and you’ve got quite a pile. There was a lot of confusion. Everything is new and it is going to take time to settle down to a regular routine. So many things have to be changed. It sort of shatters an illusion that I have had of the Army. I figured that we could step in anywhere and take it in stride but I don’t think this is the case here. No one seems to know what is really going to happen unless they are keeping it to themselves. I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt. The floors are going to be hard to scrub. They are of rough pine and they pull the mop apart. But that doesn’t mean we will give up mopping the floors. It will be a slow process, but we will gradually wear it down. It will cost a lot of brooms and mops. It seems awfully damp down here. Boy was that pool table heavy and we brought the pianio over too. (I can’t remember if you spell pianio this way) I can’t ask this fellow next to me because he can’t read or write.

He plays the mouth organ and a banjo and I’m afraid he will drive me crazy with his cowboy songs. I can’t figure out how he got next to me. You should see the rocks and piles of dirt laying around here. If I mentioned this before it’s because I can’t get over it. It wouldn’t surprise me if we didn’t man the anti-aircraft guns but instead went onto the big rifles here. I think the latter would be better. It they train us for an anti-aircraft outfit, it will mean that we are apt to be moved anyplace. It is too early to worry on that score. The letter I wrote to Eddie has come back to me. He couldn’t have left a new address when he left. The dishes belonging to the Battery are still packed in boxes and so we still eat out of our mess kits and they are not so good. After using regular dishes these mess kits spoil your appetite and they are hard to manage. What is the story on your job? Are you going to change? I hope you do but of course it was very nice to have you all to myself on my passes. But if you can better yourself do so by all means. Did you decide to send June anything? I signed the payroll yesterday and so that means we will collect only $21.00 this month. The pay master seemed to be quite confident that they would make up the difference the first of August. Right now that seems like a long ways off. They are still moving beds around. I am going to sleep right here and if they want me to move they can wait until morning or else. Or else I’ll move now…. My new address is the same except a new fort. No mail from my wife today! That’s bad. I’ll probably get five tomorrow from her. She is a nice kid and I love her and only her.

Lots of love, Leonard