February 17, 1969

Fort Jackson, South Carolina

Left home February 12th; Flew eastern airlines; Goes to basic for 8 weeks in Fort Gorton next week.; Talks about travel, donating blood, basic training timeline, his company men, funny story about them and scary Sargent.

February 19, 1969

Fort Gordon, Georgia

First letter in Fort Gordan; Blood draw injury, helicopter shooter, third year question, note to Danny

February 20, 1969

Fort Gordon, Georgia

Dear Mom + Dad + Dan Well, we got up at 5 pm this morning (20 Thurs.) and shaved, got dressed, and had a formation at 5:15 pm. We ran about 1 ½ before…

February 23, 1969

Fort Gordon, Georgia

Waiting in line for phone booth/Talked to his mom; Asks about Mr. Day and Gra; Talks about a big meal he ate (strawberry shortcake); Jokes with Danny about being chubby, writes directly to him at the end; Writes to Clem; Sweet note about missing home and feeling like he took for granted how good he has it.

February 28, 1969

Fort Gordon, Georgia

Hi Mom, Dad, Dan Well, we got paid today. ($34.00) I also got a truck for the day—a 1 ¼ troop trans. I do any errands that the First Sergeant Befford wants. We…

March 1, 1969

Fort Gordon, Georgia

Hi Mom, Dad, Dan It’s Saturday March 1, 1969 or 9060 in truck driver language. That means 9-69 and the 60 is the 60th day of the year. This is the way we write…

March 2, 1969

Fort Gordon, Georgia

Hi, Mom+ Dad + Dan Well, it’s Sat. night, March 1st, 1969. We had the afternoon off. I’m going to mass tomorrow morning with a bunch of guys. We all went to…