Getting Started at Boca
2/26-8/43 Friday: My Dearest Hillie, Well, here I am, & what a dive – a 53,000,000 club, [No unit is given. This is probably an example of his use of hyperbole.] - huge swimming pool, tennis, golf, and rows & rows of palm trees. It is beautiful, and I don’t believe that you could find a more ideal place to be. Today, we arrived here at 10:15, 5 hours late, & I haven’t done much today except wait around.
Saturday noon. Things are rolling along merrily, & so far I’m enjoying it thoroughly. Last night we six cleaned this room as clean as a room ever could be – even to individual slats on the Venetian blinds. Yes, we have Venetian blinds – private bathroom, shower, closets, double decker bunks. I’m on top. In my room we have fellows from Oregon, Tennessee, Penn., N.Y., & they’re a pretty good gang. I’m not permanently assigned to it, but I may be in a couple of days.
The school has enlarged and expanded tremendously in the last 3 weeks, & we probably won’t get uniforms for a week. I didn’t even bring a spare pair of socks – so mine will soon be standing up alone. I’ve bought a T-shirt, & that’s what they call them. I’ve had to buy towels, & athletic suit – also a haircut. You’d never know me now – hair ¼ inch long all over, but irregular as a ploughed field. I really look pretty. Got the start on my sunburn, yesterday, my forehead.
[Postcard: Written on reverse after two room moves]: Am living now (#165) on outside of first floor of left (West wing, near front, facing golf links. Last room (#414) was on front, 4th floor, see arrow. First room was overlooking Patio on 3rd floor of East wing (#352).
The school has enlarged and expanded tremendously in the last 3 weeks, & we probably won’t get uniforms for a week. I didn’t even bring a spare pair of socks – so mine will soon be standing up alone. I’ve bought a T-shirt, & that’s what they call them. I’ve had to buy towels, & athletic suit – also a haircut. You’d never know me now – hair ¼ inch long all over, but irregular as a ploughed field. I really look pretty. Got the start on my sunburn, yesterday, my forehead.
Boy is it hot! I haven’t got over the beauty of this place – a long very wide plaza with rows of tall palm trees, then a patio, with a lovely nude statue, the “Queen of Boca Raton”, and we have to salute every time we pass her. There are orange trees with large oranges growing, poinsettias, & many other flowers in bloom. The club itself is huge, 5 stories in the main part, & 3 stories in the wings. All done in fancy Spanish style with very ornate decorations. They’ve taken the tapestries, floor coverings off the inside, but it still is a swell place. Blue sky & comfortable breeze make the weather perfect. There is a swimming pool & opportunity for all sports.
[Postcard: Written on reverse]: Front view. It only shows a very small part of the front. Rest hidden by palms. This is the Plaza where we fall out for formations, assemblies, drills, etc. Just to the right, all along, are entrances to swimming pool & tennis courts. To the left is the golf course. These are all cocoanut palms. Behind that arch at the end is the Patio, a courtyard. The room I was in for 5 weeks is the one just above the left hand corner of the arch.
There are a million rules for conduct, & I’m slowly getting them down. In our room, everything has to be done just so – shoes, etc., placed to the eighth of an inch. We had inspection today, and no “gigs” - the term for demerits. A man is thrown out of here if he gets 81 during his stay. For lower numbers, you get punishment hikes, with a full pack.
This is being written in 10 or 5 minute intervals. There are so many darn things to be done, it’s a constant stream of Fall In & Fall Outs. Then when you are out there and at attention, it will be “At Ease”, “Attention”, “At Ease”, until you get to the point of nervous collapse. We have to learn drilling, & know how to conduct the same. My shoes are going to be worn right through if I don’t get a uniform soon.
We have just been to “retreat”, a nice time of day. The whole force is all lined up in the Plaza. This means 10 squadrons, with 75-100 men in each squadron. A little drilling, then attention & salute while the bugle blows for the lowering of the flag. Then time off (the present) from 5 to 6:50 PM.
We had a movie this afternoon, illustrating the Articles of War, - law for soldiers. Tonight after supper we may go to see “Immortal Sergeant” in the club house theatre, & what a theatre!
[Postcard: Written on reverse]: This is the back view. We can sit out here, on the steps leading down to the water towards the right, and eat ice cream, write letters, watch pelicans, and see the fish. This water is a lagoon between the “mainland” where the club is and a narrow strip of land outside which is the ocean. This is the way the coast runs, this strip of water separating W. Palm Beach from Palm Beach; Miami Beach from Miami.
Classes really start on Monday, so they say. Most of our training is physical; calisthenics, cross-country, touch-football, ju-jitsu, & lots more.
Writing is an awful effort, - there are 8 other fellows all talking in here – the 5 who belong and 3 visitors. So far, this has been just like college, - but it will change soon. We have lights out at 10 PM, & get up 6:15, and I can use my electric razor. No kidding, it’s just like staying at an expensive hotel.
I miss you so very much, especially when a few minutes of relaxation & inactivity arrives. I’ve written a letter on this every time I have had a few spare minutes. Please say “hello” to everyone. I’ll drop a few cards when I have time. Remember to call on Mother, & pass along what I’ve written here, (some of it). Tonight I’ll write her, which I haven’t done yet, except for a card.
Honey, we are not allowed to have cameras on the post, & I’ve got mine hidden in the bottom of my bag. Can’t get a snap for a while, I guess, but when I can, I will.