September 18, 1943

(Letter from Paul to brother Rudy, sent from Oakland, California to Passaic, New Jersey. Letter is sent on joke "The Krapp House" stationary at right. The Krapp House probably did not exist. )

Dear Wally, Ann & Rudy,

Thanks so much for your letter which I received the other day. Your questions are rather numerous so I attempt to answer a few.

I get $1.20 per hr. as journeyman Marine Machinist (in name only). I started at that rate but in the machine shop and transferred to the outfitting docks. I work for for Permanente Metals, a division of Kaiser, in Richmond yard #1, where we build Liberty ships, but soon we're going to build Victory ships.

Our yard has the world's record for building a ships to the launching stage in 4 1/2 days and also the world's record for the number of ships per month per way. Our crew installs and aligns the steering engine.

That's all for now. Hope you can get out of bed soon, Wally.

Best regards,
Paul