Here is the fourth in a series of letters I am transcribing which my Dad wrote home to his parents during his first ten years in the military.
Part One http://bladeshandy.blogspot.com/2010/10/amanuenis-monday-letters-home-william.html
Part Two http://bladeshandy.blogspot.com/2010/11/amanuensis-monday-letters-home-by.html
Part Three http://bladeshandy.blogspot.com/2010/11/amanuensis-monday-letters-home-by_08.html
February 1, 1941
U.S.S. Livermore (429)
N.Y.C. N.Y.
Dear Mom and Dad:
Getting along good, having a good time. We just got through having our ship’s magnet d mines tested in Yorktown, VA today, tomorrow we are going to Portsmouth, VA to have one of the engines overhauled and will probably stay there for a couple of weeks. Then we go to the Plantation Flats in the Chesapeake Bay for a test run. We are in the command of the Atlantic Fleet and latest news is that we will have Northern Shore Patrol along the N.C. Coastal waters so that means that I will be home quite often, unless they are ordered to go to Cuba. We don’t have to do any washing, we have a laundry and I pay a dollar a month and have all the clothes I want washed. If we go to Cuba I won’t be home until March sometime. We painted the whole outside of the ship last Thursday and Friday. I had to buy 2 sets of working clothes and they cost me $2.80 for both of them. I had to buy two locks for my lockers and I had my dress blues tailored. We might get paid Monday and then again we might not get paid until the 15th of February. If you have sent mail and I haven’t got it because we have been moving around so much every day and the post office in Norfolk burned down so it might have been in the fire. All we do for work is swab decks, shine brass and have liberty. I have only gone ashore 4 times since I have been on the ship. I went everywhere when we were in Washington, D.C. The Capitol, Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, the Agricultural Building, the Smithsonian Institute of Natural History. We past the Mount Vernon home going up the Potomac River and coming back down. I’ve seen the President’s private yacht, the Potomac. It is a beautiful yacht you can see anywhere. I am enclosing some pamphlets I got in the buildings. Well I guess I’ll hit the hay.
Love “Bill”
P.S. Write back soon.
February 11, 1941
U.S.S. Livermore (429)
N.Y.C. N.Y.
Dear Mom and Dad:
Still going along good and strong. We are leaving Norfolk tomorrow morning and going out in the Chesapeake Bay to test the ships magnetic mines. We will stay out in the bay and come back to Norfolk Saturday to get paid. Monday or Tuesday we are going to Charleston, S.C. and don’t know why we are going there or when we leave there. Word is going around that we will go to Bath, Maine for the final acceptance run. In case they do, give me Carl Maine’s address. An air mail stamp will get to me in a day and it costs 6 cents. I can go from Norfolk to Boston by train for $8.50 round trip. So if we are laid up in Norfolk for 10 days or so I will be home. I would have been home this week if we got paid sooner. We have movies every night that it is possible, that’s where I’m going when I get through with this letter. I’m on a sick list for two days I had a slight fever and a cough so the doctor told me not to work for a couple of days. Well I guess I’ll go to the movies. Give my regards to Hank, Lorraine and the other folks.
Love “Bill”
February 17, 1941
U.S.S. Livermore (429)
N.Y.C. N.Y.
Dear Mom and Dad:
Getting along good so far. I received a letter from Lorraine today and was glad to hear from her and the folks. She said Grammie and Uncle Will looked pretty bad. If anything should happen write right away and I can get 4 or 5 days leave to go home. I got paid today and I drew $12.00 and left $3.00 on the books so in case of any emergency I have the money on the books and I can get leave much easier. The next pay day I have $3.00 that they owe me so I can leave as much money on the books as I want to. I will try to draw as little money as possible in case anything does happen. If I haven’t the money I can always borrow it. The picture at the top of this letter is exactly how the ship looks. We are leaving from South Carolina Wednesday afternoon and I don’t know how long we will be there. I heard yesterday that it will be the home port of the ship, here’s hoping that it isn’t. One of the mess cooks comes from Ohio and he worked for the Consolidated Biscuit Co. and he know some of the fellas that I know that came to Boston to run the factory up on Baker Street. I know a fellow on the ship that knows Mildred and Sandy from Gloucester. It isn’t such a big world after you start traveling around a bit. Today two fellows and I had to go up on the mast and paint it, and boy it is high. I was made a fuse setter on a gun and I have to set the fuse in the shells to go off at a certain amount of seconds. We have gun drills every other day in the morning and the afternoon jus for a couple of hours. This is a big Navy Yard there is 23,000 men working day and night and do thy make a racket riveting at night. In case anything happens, when you send the letter, send it special delivery so I will have time to put in for a leave. When you write the letters address them to Charleston, S.C. and it won’t have to go the New York. Well I think I will go to see the movies in the Marine Barracks so I will close and write again soon.
Lots of Love “Bill”
P.S. Give my regards to the folks, and the kids.
February 24, 1941
U.S.S. Livermore (429)
N.Y.C. N.Y.
Dear Mom and Dad:
Getting along good, weather is fine. Received your letter and was glad to hear from you. We are leaving for Brunswick, Georgia tomorrow morning for our final test runs and we will be back Saturday the first. We will stay here until the 5th and we will leave but nobody knows where we are going. We just got through painting the entire ship today and boy does it look nice. I received my course book for 1st Class Seaman today so I have plenty of time to study between now and September. I will be eligible to go up for my exam in September. I put a six cent stamp on letters because they go by air mail and they get delivered quicker. There isn’t much to write about so I will write again when we come back from Georgia. It sure is beautiful in South Carolina.
Lots of Love “Bill”
