December 30, 1942

                                    Dec 30
Dear Folks:
            The weather has been warm once again today. The wind changed to the north here Saturday nite and the temperature dropped to 26° finally. The are setting palm trees and shrubs in this squadron area. Will be a pretty place in another 6 months.
            My barracks is under a 21 day quarantine for mumps. One man came down with it last Sunday. We eat by our selves and after every one else is through. Cannot go to PX, show, etc. We drill & have calisthentics by ourselves. We get up at 6:30 instead of 5:15. Boy, do the rest of the squadron keep away from us!
            Two boys here have barbers scissors and are giving haircuts. Their haircut is better than the ones we got at the barber shop. By the time the 21 days are up we will all have had our hair cut twice so the boys are going to be professionals by then. We spend our spare time playing volley ball on the court next to this barracks. It is usually warm enough in the afternoon so we wear only trunks. Have some real games.
            In order to get anything from the PX we make up a list, collect the money, and call a runner from the squadron orderly room to get it for us. Also have our mail and laundry brought in.
            It is surprising when you get to talking to some of the men and find out what they were doing before enlisting. In this barracks there are 3 that I know of that have college degrees. One was a principle of a grade school.
            Better not send anything unless I ask because have to carry everything with me when moving. As to mailing papers from here, it is lots of work to get a pass to the P.O. over in preflight. We were issued 3 overseas caps and one service cap (beak on it).
                        Yours truly,
                                    John