Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1918-07-11
Letter From william johnson.
Newport, R. l., 6-2s, 1918

s sOu vvuuuu&U1 Johnson.
Newport, R. L., 6-28, 1915
Mrs. o. A. Sorenson.
& Missouri Valley, iowa,
Dear Friend Ole:-
In the beginning let me sa,
that your letter came to me a!
the one greatest surprises of m,
life. | may as we'll say as to tina
check, was indeed another kint
surprise. l can only admit tina
too at the present time. 1 an
somewhat financially embarrassed
as it were. The pay for the frs
three months is somewhat less
than nothing. At the last &C.
counts L had which included m,
pay until July 4, 1913, | was still
in debt to Uncle Sam, in thesum
OF 81 cents. But next pay day
should pull down about ~ Nucks
When recruit enters the
service as I, did his assets in
clude salary at $1,000 per month
On arriving he is given clothing
amounting to $1O4.8O. OF this
he has to pay himself $44.80, the
other $50 being included in a
government clothes allowance
Besides all this l pay $3.50 per
month for a $4,000 life insur-
ance policy. Then too, as my
clothes wear out, l am forced to
draw new ones, shoes at 81 a
pair, don't have a great amount
to buy Bull Druham with. But /
can. see better days coming for
my account will be in my favor
and then I'll get a fair shot at
Jack every time.
And so please accept my best
of thanks for that check and I'll
assure you there always has been
warm spot in my heart for the
Northwestern railway company,
and l know there always will be.
And now, what do think of the
Navy?
Naturally when enlisted I had
wonderful expectations of what il
might be. In some of these I
was mistaken and in others was
agreeably surpassed. Taking it
all in all however, my realization
has been by far more pleasant
than expected. l like the work
much better than any ever did.
And the life itself or the chow as
call the meals and the men in. the
service are the best ever.
The first six weeks | was here,
1 took regular seaman's training,
standing by the Radio school.
There the greater part of my
duties lay in drilling. Drilling
and myself at first did not agree
very we'll. It was the hardest
work ever undertook. Standing
on ones feet and walking on the
average Of twelve miles day is
not as bad as it is cracked up
to be.
Joined the navy weighing 200.
In four weeks was down to $50.
There ! stayed and as l got used
to it all got along much better
and landed a guides job. This is
about the same as a sargeants job
in the army. In this training
regiment l learned military drill,
which included seamanship, tying
knots, swimming, rowing, leaving
dead and many other duties
aboard ship, too numerous to
mention.
Az 4 said before I was in train
ing regiment. And | learned it
all pretty we'll too, for the New
port training station is conceded
by all to, be the stiffest in the
navy. They send all the seamen
from the Great Lakes down here
for q month to finish up, before
sending them aboard ships.
But now I am down town in
the Radio school. In many re-
spects this is like high school,
only the feminine force are alb
sent. We study periods of one
hour each On every day of the
week except Saturday and Sunday.
The course of study includes Ra-
dio operating, drilling, electrical
theory and bluejackets manual or
navy regulations.
On Saturday in the morning we
have Captains inspection. At
noon Saturday until Monday
morning we have liberty. Then
is the time we rear, believe me.
That is what they say here. They
don't let us out very often, but
when they do, rowdy, dow "a!
After I finish my preliminary
training here in Newport, I will
be sent to Harvard university to
the Electrical Engineering school.
There I'll take the advanced
course in Radio work for 10 weeks
Harvard, as you probably know,
is at Cambridge, Mass, 20 min
utes ride from Boston. l believe
l shall like it fine up there. At
49, Il 49,. :, a,,on .l..a1 r1I.-