Tatton
Douglas Tatton (1943)
F.A.

[Castle Logo]
FORT BELVOIR
VIRGINIA

Sunday

Dear Miss Thompson,

It
fs pretty difficult to begin this letter as I have really been so thoughtless in not writing sooner. I
fm not much of a letter writer, and it has been a big job even keeping some sort of correspondence with the people at home. But I haven
ft any real excuses, so I
fll just have to ask you to forgive me.

Probably it would be best for me to start right in and give a complete account of myself since I left last May.

Of course we all went to Dix that Saturday. I managed to stay there just short of three weeks. I could have guessed that beforehand as we would have gotten weekend passes after three weeks. I missed mine by one day. While at Dix I had an interesting detail. I worked on decorations for an officers
f ball of some sort. While there I met quite a few interesting people ? all yardbirds like myself. I met Darryl Austin the artist, Nanjo Singh the wrestler, Jeffery Lumb the actor and many others less well known, but just as fine. One of the fellows I met down there bunks in the next bed from me at this camp.

We shipped out on a Thursday and came to Fort Belvoir, Va. the garden spot of the nation, and the home of the Engineers. I suppose I was sent here with the idea of entering camouflage later on. We took basic training with the combat engineers ? as rough a proposition as has so far been invented. I don
ft suppose I have to report that in general it was very distasteful. All basic training is as far as I can discover. Weeks went by and I had visions of forever remaining in the labor battalion. The Engineers do back breaking work, and do it well. They deserve lots of credit for being a hard hitting, hard working outfit.

But after seven weeks I was put on shipment. Our company was scheduled for a three day pass at the end of the seventh week. I was lucky there too, as they arranged for me to have mine a few days earlier. That
fs quite unusual to have anyone in the Army go out of their way to help you. I appreciated that very much.

I didn
ft have any idea as to where I was going, of course. We loaded up one Sunday morning and came over to the Engineer Specialist schools on the Old Post ? the permanent part of the camp. All the Engineer Schools are at Fort Belvoir. It is the center of the Corps of Engineers. I was sent here to attend a 12 week course in Engineering Drafting, which surprised me quite a bit.

The camp here is pretty swell. We live in huge brick buildings somewhat similar to a public library. That
fs a far cry from the temporary wooden barracks I was accustomed to. This was more like a huge campus than an Army Post ? you know, large stretches of lawn, swell class rooms, and most important of all, trees.

I studies Drafting for 8 weeks, until last Saturday (yesterday) Most of our work was topographic drafting rather than Engineering work. I really enjoyed map making. It is terribly interesting work. Much more to it than meets the eye.

But as I was saying, I finished my school 4 weeks too early. Tomorrow morning I start in as an instructor, at least for a while. I hope it turns out all right. It
fs pretty terrifying to me, as I haven
ft had any drafting to speak of and the fellows in the classroom are usually accomplished draftsmen. Well, what will happen remains to be seen. I hope it turns out for the best.

That seems to take care of me up to the moment. Right now I plan on going to the service club and working on some cake and ice cream. That is one thing that can be said of Army life. I get much more ice cream and other things that are just as bad for you (in large quantities) than I ever did back home.

We are treated pretty well here. Uncle Sam seems to take good care of his soldiers. Everyone seems to try very hard to make it a little like home ? I mean the various clubs and agencies. They say that you learn to take care of yourself in the army, but that
fs not strictly true. Right now I have more bosses than you can imagine ? a Lieutenant to watch over me day and night. And that isn
ft to mention any of the other guiding lights in my life. It hasn
ft turned out badly all at all though. I
fve had all the good breaks and less than my share of the bad ones. I
fm doing the kind of work I would have chosen above everything else. That
fs all that matters beside the growing prospect of coming home someday soon.

Thank you all for being so kind in not completely disowning me. Give my best luck to everybody in school. I think of them and promise not to neglect them in the future.

Lots of love to all,

Doug