August 16, 1943

(Letter from Paul to brother Rudy and wife, Ann. Written from Racine, Wisconsin to Passaic, New Jersey)

Dear Folks,

Thanks for you letter, which we received today. Seems as if you never received out last letter of some time ago since you said it was us who owed you a letter.

Yes, Ruts, I was ailing on the lakers (only was on Lakes Michigan, Huron, & Superior) for a short time. I was on two ships, one a steelboat, the M.S. Steel Chemist, & the other an ore boat, the S.S. Col. James Pickands. I was a deckhand (ordinary seaman) on the Chemist & wiper - coal passer on the Pickands.

I liked sailing, but didn't think much of the work - your just a flunky on either one of those jobs. Besides on the wiper-coalpasser job you have to blow flues and the temperature is about 150 degrees between the boiler where you stand.

The only way to ship out on fresh or salt water is to go thru Maritime training first, & to do that you've got to have a 1-A classification. If you get reclassified, don't hesitate to enter the Maritime Service because its a pretty good set-up and the dough's pretty good. There were quite a few Maritime trained men on the ship I was on. Once you've completed training and ship out, the government has no further authority over you, that is no more than over any other merchant seamen.

We are sorry to hear that Wally injured his foot so severely. We hope it heals rapidly and does not impair is ability to walk.

Pa is still working for Oscar Seyforth and occasionally they work on Saturday so that helps on the pay check. I'll ask him what the scale is when he comes home.

The big news with me is that I'm finally going to get around to leaving for California as I planned for so long. I'm going to Oakland, leaving sometime Wednesday, providing I can on a train. I plan on working in the shipyards until November 1st, when I intend entering the University of California at Berkeley. I would go back to Mich. State, but since I can't seem to take the climate, I'd better go further south.

Right now it doesn't look like Ma is coming down there on a visit, at least not until the Fall of the year. She is as undecided as ever so it's anybody's guess.

It's nice to see that you & Ann could get on the same shift at Wright's How is the union coming along? How are you getting along on your gas rations & is the Olds still ambulating? The ration here were just cut from 4 to 3 gals per coupon.

Howie De Fault & Bill Fiala shipped out of Chicago at the same time I did. Howie's on a barge and says he's going to stay on it thru the season, wheras Bill's on an ore boat and says he's coming home in about a week. On thing about the lake boats is that they really feel good. We had two "coffee periods" to break the monotony of work on the Chemist & in the evenings the mess room is always open with pies, cake, fruit, and coffe at your bidding.

Pa is home now and I asked him about the paintin scale. It's $1.35 for most work & $1.45 for "swimg stage" or high work which Pa is doing now. There's a 3 cent raise per hour pending on both of these scales.

Have you been to any of the Soviet movies in N.Y. lately? I saw "Black Sea Fighter" which was one of the best action pictures I ever seen. Also saw a French weird-chiller "The Last Will of Dr. Mabuse" which was plenty screwy. Saw the play "Maid in the Ozarks", too, in Chicago.

Glenn Johnson is home on a furloough and I'm going out with him tonight. He's still in the paratroops and he's made 17 jumps, many of which were at night. He likes everything but the long hikes.

I'm going to sign off now and the next time you hear from me I'll be a long way from here.

Best regards Paul
Best regard from Pa