[Letterhead showing the eagle of the Great Seal of the United States with accoutrements. Shaded in blue.]
UNITED STATES ARMY
Sept. 26 1943
Dear Miss Thompson:

Well, here I am down here in Camp Van Dorn, Miss. as you know.
This Camp is about one year old and it is the training grounds for the new 63rd Division. This Division is just being formed and Basic Training will start Oct. 15. The officers and noncom
fs are all veterans with at least 3 yrs. service, and before an officer could be assigned here he had to take a four month course at Ranger School.
The Anti Tank Unit I am assigned to is completely mechanized. Which means that during field drill we ride in a truck and pull our 2800 lb. field piece behind us. There are 10 men to each gun and after we finish our training it will be our job to stop all tanks which break through our front line.
In real action we have a very dangerous job.
We will fire our gun in a open position. Which means that we do not dig our gun in. In fact we can only fire about 5 rounds then we have to move, because it would get to hot for us.
Well that
fs the story. Some big strapping fellows sit behind a desk pushing a pencil, and the 4F
fs and men who are over 34, of which there are at least 20%, do all the hard work.
Give my regards to all my classmates and don
ft let them work to hard.
Best regards,
Carl