Home Front to Battlefront. Frank Lavin
program, the officer training school for the navy.
But for Carl, not much happened in the ERC. There were no monthly drills. At first, there was not even a uniform. In many respects these months had a peacetime aura to them.
Still, America was at war; talk of gas and meat rationing had begun;10 and while Carl sent chatty letters home, some tweaking his family, Dorothy must have been worried about her younger boy going off to war. In the fall of 1942, Dorothy began saving Carl’s letters.
. . .
November 30, 1942
Dear Mom,
It’s probably a good thing I didn’t write you last week. I spent all my time studying for the nine week exams (sounds good anyway) with these results: Business—incomplete (missed the test and took it later but I don’t know my grade yet—I believe it is an A); Math, A; Geology, A; English, A; and history, A!—Honest, it was three times as much a surprise to me as it is now to you! The very worse I can have is a 3.8 average and it’s probably 4.0. Whoppee!—but don’t go expecting it every time now. I was just darn lucky.
Yes, a yellow scarf and gloves would come in very handy. And how about sending down some more ties. I need them very badly, about 10 or 12 of them. Just pick out the clean ones I’ve got and send’em along. AND SEND ME THE DAILY REPOSITORY [the Canton newspaper]—right now!! Please!!!
I’ve been waiting for it for at least two or three weeks now.
I told the guys down here about your having those tickets on the Canton-Massillon game 50 yard line and not going—they didn’t say anything—just ran around in circles on the ceiling!11 But I suppose the excitement down here was nothing like it was in Canton—and I also suppose that you’ve talked about it so much that you’re tired sick of hearing about it.12
By the way, my roommate is now about three food shipments up on me. Why don’t you send some more down before Xmas vacation? It’s cold enough for orange juice to keep—and we could use some more cheese, and some meats, and some dates, and some fudge most of all—also anything else you can think of would be greatly appreciated.
Love Carl
P.S. Any big dances going on this Xmas?
Tell me what’s going on between the U.S. govt. and the Sugardale Prov. Co., willya?
Got drunk a couple of weeks ago to see what it was like—fine, but I don’t think I’ll try it any more.
I went to Cinci last week and had a lot of fun—behaved myself too. Don’t bathe Spitzy [the family dog] any more this winter—she can’t take it. How’s the gas up there?13
. . .
Sunday 12/13/42 only four, 4, more days (to Christmas break)!!
Dear Mom,
I hope by this time you have sent down the 25 or 30 dollars we will need in order to buy the tickets and get ready to come home. We are leaving at 8:15 from Oxford on a special to Dayton. From there we take the Cleveland train up to Crestline where we change to the Canton train. We will get in some time between six and ten o’clock, and perhaps later if we are held up so much that we miss a connection at Dayton or Crestline.
I’m not sending any of my soiled clothes home because I only have enough room for some suits and pants, and I think I’ll bring home a Hudson Bay, too, because I don’t need it here and I have an idea you’ll be needing it there with us coming home.14 However, I’ll hang all the soiled stuff up and give it an airing out while I’m home.
I’m getting a lot of sleep these last two weeks so don’t tell me I look like a fugitive from Molly Stark [mental institution] when I get home. I’m going to have a good time when I get home because this will be the last time us kids (we kids) will be together.
I’m awfully anxious to get home. Just thinking about it gets me all excited (pant, pant). The only thing I don’t like about it is going around saying “hello” to everyone. Why don’t all you mamas get together and work out some kind of a system whereby all that will be done away with?
By the way, ask Daddy if he knows any way of finding out about all the different kinds of services in the army and how they differ. I’d like to decide pretty soon what branch I want, because I probably won’t be here after this semester. Love –Carl
. . .
Carl was back at school after the holidays. As the school year went by, the boys were disappearing; classes were constantly dwindling in size due to enlistments and call-ups. Indeed, in the course of the war, some five thousand Miami men and women served in uniform.15
Carl’s enthusiasm of the first semester gave way to a sober pragmatism. War or no war, he needed money and food.
Figure 1-1. Carl’s Miami transcript, with a strong first semester and a devil-maycare second semester. Author collection.
. . .
Jan. 1943
Wed.
Dear Mom,
Here I am, back again in the old grind. Everything’s just the same here—except that some of the guys aren’t around any more.
I didn’t get my laundry yet. I hope you sent some pajamas along. I only have one pair. My pecuniary supply is also alarmingly low. When are you going to start sending the remittances? And don’t forget the $2.00 raise—due to the increase in the cost of living down here.
We arrived in Oxford at 3:00 instead of 6:00 and didn’t have to wait at all in Lima. Just after we got there a train came in going to Hamilton—so we took it and we came into Oxford on a bus.
Nothing exciting happened on that trip except that I lost my hat.
I narrowly missed serious injury yesterday from a violent explosion. I opened my mailbox and the door almost blew off under the concentrated pressure of two weeks of Repositories. When is that supply shipment coming? This is the first time in three months that we haven’t carried at least something in the larder. The whole third floor is complaining. I started off the new year here with a complete new leaf. I shifted the beds and chairs around until now we have an entirely different floor plan. Charming effect—charming.
Well, s’all now. I’ll be waiting to hear from you—in several different ways.
Love –Carl
. . .
In January, Carl all but stopped serious academic work. As he explained later, all the guys were waiting to be called up, so they mainly played poker all day. The view was “it’s going to happen any day” so students just didn’t go to class. This wasn’t something that Carl’s mom liked to hear, but Carl, being Carl, wrote about it anyway.
. . .
February 1943
Dear Mother,
I can see that everything is going along very nicely back home. You seem quite serene, in fact. I think that what you need is a good war job. You need something to take care of all that spare time. I can just see you every day trying to look busy. It’s bad for you to just sit around. You start thinking up ideas—such as buying stock. I’m surprised that daddy let you buy all that much and especially at that price. The market is about normal now but after the war it will go way down. If it gets around nine you’d better sell it. And don’t buy any stock from my savings. That means “do not.”—in other words, no. I am trying to convey a negative impression in regards to your buying more (RCA) stock for me. I trust it registered. But don’t sell it either—unless it gets over eleven. By the way, I bought it at 5-1/2, not 4-1/2. Why don’t you just buy bonds with all that surplus money? If you’ll remember, every time in the past twenty years that you’ve had money you’ve invested it. Every time