Pvt. D. Street
24th TSS(Sp)
Sec B Plat. 6
Ft. Logan, CO
Saturday, Sept 5, 1942
Dear Dad,
Thanks a million for the $15.00 it comes in mighty handy as I haven’t got paid since coming into the Army.
Signed payroll this week may get paid this month perhaps not until next. Thanks a lot anyway Dad it was a swell gesture. Had another nice surprise this afternoon was notified that I am on KP for Labor Day. We have a double holiday so I would rather have it on Monday than I would on Sunday as Sunday is the only time during the whole week that we have to ourselves.
Expect to go to school from 1:00 in the afternoon until 9:30 at nite soon it won’t be so good because there will be less time than we have now to ourselves. Now we get up at 7:15 back from breakfast by 9:00. Then we have some formation for shots or for clothing or something like that. At 11:15 we leave for Drill field. From 11:30 – 12:00 is calisthenics from 12:00 – 12:30 we march. Go to chow at 12:30 back to barracks about 1:30 study from then until 3:00. We leave for school at that time staying there until 12:15 at night. We have eight periods with one hour off for chow. In our spare time which we have so much of we have to make beds, clean barracks, shave and shower. Sunday is the only free day, have to be back at barracks at 11:00 Sunday night. In school I have four periods of Engineering & Operations, 1 period of Military Publications & Organization, 1 period of Military Correspondence and 2 periods of typing. E&O is the best of them all and the only one I really understand a little bit about. In E&O we learn how to fill out flight records and reports. Every flight must have an operations order before it can take-off we must know how to make out these. Must check pilot’s flying time. It is really quite interesting. But Publication and Organization and Correspondence would take a Philadelphia lawyer to figure those out. This same thing goes on for eight weeks day after day. Last week’s marks were: typing – 95 E&O – 94 Publications – 93 Correspondence – 93 this week they are not nearly as good I don’t know what all of them are yet as I received all ranks. But I know that they aren’t so good as they should be.
I know of this Mosher fellow, Burleigh I think his name is, he was very good friend of mine while I was in Atlantic City. When this place gets settled down it will probably be a good post but right now it is a little irregular in its requirements and restrictions. It isn’t a bad place if you can overlook some of the minor details.
Received a Star-Herald that you sent to Atlantic City, will probably get the issue of Sept. 3 about Monday or Tuesday. Thanks for the subscription Dad. The paper is a great help when you want to know what is going on in town. I see that there are quite a few changes and I have only been gone a month.
Hope that you are enjoying your work now that you have a different schedule. Ruth mentions you often in her letters; she thinks quite a bit of you, as I do Dad. Ruth is a swell girl, a fellow couldn’t ask for any better. Thanks again Dad for the money and everything you’ve done for me. Write soon.
Your loving Son,
Dana
(Editor’s Note: The letter from Dana Street to his father was one of several Dana’s daughter, Barbara (Street) Kennedy, shared with the Star-Herald. In the letters, Dana, an Army private, gives details of his life in the military. Like his modern-day counterparts, Dana still relied on his father for monetary help from time to time. Dana, much like youth of today, sought approval from his father through good grades and noted the basic training classes he preferred and the ones that weren’t so easy for him. Barbara provided additional input, sharing the following Web site which provides an interview with an instructor at Ft. Logan, although she could not confirm that he taught her Dad but he provides some insight into what life was like:
http://www.csus.edu/indiv/s/scottjc/rstewart.html.)
Photo courtesy of Barbara Kennedy
PERCY STREET and his son, Dana Street, are pictured here sometime in 1942. Dana served in the Army beginning in 1942, regularly writing letters to his father back in Presque Isle. In the letter, Street tells his dad about life in the Army and what it was like to be away from Aroostook County.
