January 8, 1944

                                                            Jan. 8
Dear Folks:
            We are still here. Have been trying to leave every day since Wednesday but some little thing would show up on the ship that would have to be corrected and so it went until Sat. When we were all set to go yesterday it started raining. It has stopped this morning so we may get away.
            I met a man here that I hadn’t seen since 1939. He was standing in the mess hall and I remembered his face and name, McLaughlin but couldn’t remember where I saw him before. We got to talking and found out we had been in Prof. Cardwell’s Physics class in 1938. He is a captain and bombadier. In a show the other nite they flashed on a “Community Sing” reel which consists of words of songs on the screen with music and the audience is supposed to sing. Then it would designate the boys to sing one line and the girls the next so the G.I.s sang the “girls” lines in falsetto. When a picture of Frank Sinatra was shown they screamed in falsetto.
            Had a touch of the flu. Since we were waiting for the plane we had nothing to do so I stayed in most of the time and am O.K. now. Horridge has been telling his wife goodbye every day and then calls her up in the afternoon to say he’ll be home that evening.
            I won’t get any mail until we get over. I don’t suppose they’ve sent you my A.P.O. number yet. Did you read the article in Jan. R. Digest about the Ascension Island? Well, things are kinda slow around here so guess that’s all for now
                                    Yours truly,
                                                John