March 7, 1943

Sun 3/7/42 [1943] 10:45PM

Dear Mom & Dad:

I’m thru studying for tonite & I don’t feel too tired, so I guess this is a good time to drop a few lines to the folks at home.

Daddy – your portfolio came yesterday & boy – what I mean – its just what the Dr. ordered. We have scads of paper to carry around here throughout the day & they just fit swell in the case. So thanks a lot – it’s really going to come in handy.

After one week out of the hospital – I feel swell & right back in condition – almost forgotten that I was sick. This last week has been the ruggedest since I’ve been here at Sill. The wind has been blowing strong from the North every day & plenty icy. Seeing that I’m still kickin’ after going thru last week I guess I’ll be able to stay out of the hospital for awhile.

Last Friday we went out on the range for service practice. I got to fire an Axial Bracket problem. That’s adjusting the fire of two 75mm guns on the target. I got my bracket in 3 shots & then pushed a volley right in on the target. Wasn’t as nervous as I thought I would be on my first problem. It was the most fun of anything we’ve had yet. We really had to fire under adverse conditions. First of all – it was so cold that we had to observe from the back end of a truck & secondly we had no field glasses so we had to sense bursts with our naked eye & measure all deviations with our fingers & fists. You see we all have our hands calibrated so we know how many mils each part of our hand represents.

We fire again this Tues., Thurs., Fri., & Sat. This is the 3rd week of Gunnery coming up. The boys call it the “slippery 3rd” because so many men are set back to another class to take a part of Gunnery over again during this week. After the 3rd comes the “Bloody 4th” which is the roughest week of Gunnery – they throw everything at you – tests, service practice, survey, & more tests, etc. But why worry about that ‘till I get there. Just wanted to give you some idea of what it’s like.

Went in town (Lawton) last night with Cook & Wheeler – had a nice meal & saw “Immortal Sgt.” Pretty fair show but I guess I enjoyed the chance to relax more than anything.

It’s now 11:15 & time I hit the bunk so good night. I’ll write again soon.

Love, Dorance