I found of box of letters my father wrote home to his parents during his first ten years in the Navy, which he joined in November 1940. I plan on posting one or two every Mondy until I get done. There are a lot of letters. This is going to take a while, but by transcribing his letters home I will learn more about him. Here is the first one he wrote just after arriving at the Navel Training Station in Newport, Rhode Island.
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| William Robert Blades U.S. Navy 1940 |
November 30, 1940
Dear Mom and Dad:
I arrived here Friday at 4:00 pm signed a lot of papers, ate chow, when to the movies, then to bed. Today we got up at 5:30am received $108.00 worth of clothing, 2 pair of shoes, 3 hats and 1 dress hat, 4 pairs of white pants, 4 pairs of blue pants, 4 blue tops, 4 white tops, 1 sweater, 12 pair of stockings, 4 sets of summer undies, 4 of winter undies, 1strong box, all toilet articles, shoe and clothes brush, writing matter, pair of rubbers, pair of sneakers, an mackinaw. When writing back, send some stamps and a couple of dollars for cigarettes. We go in detention Monday or Tuesday for 3 weeks and come home for nine days at the end of 5 or 6 weeks. I saw Bob Friday night in the show but just to say hi. It is hard to get stamps. I will write and let you know when you can come and visit. My company No. is 79.
Address like this:
Blades, W.R.
Naval Training Station
Newport, RI
Co. 79
P.S. All I have is 8 cents. The weather is pretty good.
P.S. Give my regards to everyone
Love “Bill”
December 4, 1940
U.S.N.T.S.
Newport, RI
Company 79
Dear Mom and Dad:
I have been going from 5:30 am to 9:30 pm. Monday we had a blood test and today we were vaccinated and had shots for Typhoid we will have 3 shots, 1 every seven days in detention. After 3 weeks of detention we have a leave Saturday afternoon and Sunday afternoon within Newport. You can come down any Sunday you want, you can bring any amount of visitors you want. I will be out in six weeks so that means I will be home after New Year’s about Jan. 14th. I’ve seen Bob and we had a good talk together. We move to "D" Barracks Saturday, that’s were Bob is staying. We wash clothes every night and drill in the day with 9 pound rifles.
Love “Bill”
P.S. Try to get down some Sunday
2 comments:
nice letters! It's though letters that we glean so much info and get to know the 'real life' our ancestors left. You are fortunate to still have these
Great treasures! Thank you for sharing.
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