Capt. T.G. Leske
633 T.D. BN.
APO304
Fort Lewis, Wash.
8-6-43 (Postmarked Aug 6 1943, Tacoma, Washington.)
Miss Jane Axtell
538 S. Normandie
Los Angeles, California
Hello Jane!
If you think your typing was difficult to read just wait until you finish wading through this. For a desk I have my knee and a magazine and am sitting on a wobbly cot. You see, I am in a new outfit and they are here on the firing range at Yakima and we just don’t have all the comforts of barracks.
By this time you are probably angry with me, again, for not writing sooner. But, you see, I was on leave back home in Jersey. Manage to get a plane reservation and went right straight through both ways without getting kicked off. Had quite a bit of fun while home and also a hell of a lot of work as my brother, also a dentist, got his commission and duty orders so I had to help him clear out his office, pack equipment and furniture, and do a hell of a lot of running around.
My plane trips were good, also. Stewardesses were very chummy. In fact, at four o’clock in the morning I was playing rummy on the floor of the tail of the plane with the hostess and another girl. Of course, it probably would have been much nicer just playing with the hostess on the floor but I think the air line has some sort of regulation against it. I was even allowed to go up into the cockpit with the pilots and spent a nice hour there with them, telling stories and asking a lot of questions.
My transfer came through on the same day I was to go on leave. I damn near didn’t get to go as the [unreadable, maybe 71st] no longer had the right to give me leave. As the outfit I was going to was not in Fort Lewis at the time, matters became more complicated. Finally 4th corps gave my leave about an hour and a half before the plane departure from Seattle. What a hustle and bustle!
After making up my mind I wanted to get out of the 44th Div. I started working for it and now I am with this outfit. I don’t like it at all but after all I have been here just one day. The size, too, is strange to me – 650 men, 34 officers, 17 men in the medical detachment with just one medical officer and myself. (71st – 3600 men , 177 officers, 125 men in medicine with 8 medical and 2 dental officers)
Hear the story of two morons walking along and a pigeon flying overhead made a deposit on one of the morons’ head. The chosen one said "Gee, I wish I had a piece of toilet paper." Whereupon, the other moron said, "Don’t be silly, you would never be able to catch that pigeon." Well?
Gonna get a ride into town and mail this. Let’s hear from ya.
Ted
New address 633 Tank Destroyer Battalion
APO 304
Fort Lewis, Wash.
Going to be here in Yakima until the 18th and then we are going down to Bend, Oregon maneuver area.