The Durant news. (Durant, Miss.) 1882-1985, 1941-01-30
LETTERS TO EDITOR

Corporal Gene Dollahite. son of
Mrs. J. E. Dolahite, of Durant and
a member Of Battery Il, Hath Field
Artillery, Holmes County's unit of
! the Mississippi National Guard, now
! in Federal service at Camp Blanding,
Fla. writes this interesting letter
, from camp:
Camp Blanding, Fla.
January 9th, 1941.
Dear Hazel:
Well / have put off writing this
for so long that ! hardly know how
to start. l will make some kind of an
attempt to tell you what we are
doing down here.
Hazel, you asked for human in
terest events and that is something
| haven't seen. This has strictly been
a working proposition. In the next
paragraph l will give you an idea
Of a complete army day.
Reveille is at six o'clock. 1t is i'm
possible to sleep after six for bands
are marching right past your tent
playing full blast. Bugles and whis-
ties blowing all around. Exercise
comes first at six fifteen and lasts
for fifteen minutes or till six thirty
and that is time for breakfast. Be-
tween six thirty and seven you have
to find time to eat breakfast and
make UP your bed and sweep
out. This job is not done halfway for
the tents are inspected by an officer
Of the Battery and there is a good
woodpile for those men whose tents
are not cleaned up properly. In the
cleaning up of the tents, the bed is
made a certain way and everything
is out Of sight except the lockers.
At seven o'clock we have sick call
and for those that are not sick it
is time to clean Hp the Battery area
The men that are sick are carried
to the Dispensary and given medical
attention. If you are really sick you
are sent right on to the hospital.
The remainder of the men fall out to
clean up the area. This means that
every cigarette butt, match, leaves or
anything that is not. dirt or sand has
to be picked up and hauled to the
trash Pile. This lasts for As min
utes and at seven forty-five we be-
gin gun drill and this lasts till
twelve. This is a monotonous job but
they are drilling into each mans
head his job until he can almost do
it blindfolded. We have dinner at
twelve thirty and then back to gun
drill at one and this time it lasts until
four fifteen. Retreat or lowering o.
the flag at five. Supper at
five thirty and then the Buck Pri.
Yates day is over unless he happens
to catch Guard duty. The non com.
missioned officers 60 to school from
six thirty until seven thirty and then
his day is i've unless he catches
Corporal of the Guard. From thi:
you can see we have a full day anG
no time for play.
About this Florida weather, one
day it rains, then next it turns cole
and the next day it is hot, when il
turns hot its getting ready to raiY
again-The Chamber of Commerce
or somebody told a lie.
Hazel, we have everything We
need. Good food, medical attention
and good beds. The only thing We
are short on are clothes and / an
enclosing a little poem written by
one of the men that describes the
situation better than l can.
One of the best rights to me, come!
! every morning. This is when the In.
fantry is marching out for their daily
practice. The sun is just coming ur
and it shines on their bayonets, the
band is playing and soldiers march
ing as far as the eye can see. This
is a sight that will thrill any fres
American and make them proud O,