The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1943-02-18
NEWS ABOUT
SERVICE

quests Tor the names ana addresses
of all the Ely boys at my camp" The
amount of work involved prohibits this,
and in many cases the number of
men transferred almost weekly is so
large that the addresses would not be
up-to-date by the time they were re-
ceived by the soldier requesting them.
cts the same old story with me,
with only the names and places
changed" declares Pvts. Elmo A. Koi-
yllla and Louis j. Alemini who are at
a desert training center in California.
"The main reason for our writing is to
try and put our appreciation for re-
ceiving the home paper into words.
| That is hard to do, and all we can say
is thanks a million to the VFW and
others for making it possible for us to
get the paper every week.
"Now for a little about this new
camp out here in the waste lands OF
California. We have the whole divis-
ion in one area with all the other units
that are attached to us. All are quar-
tered in tents.
"There is no electricity, no run
ming water. Just sand.
Sometimes when the wind blows WE
have sand to season our meals with
Yet most of us have GAINED
WEIGHT. M-m-m-m Pretty gooc
sand at that. Very niurishing. Oul
holiday meals were well seasoned with
it. The only time we have had light
showers was Christmas eve and last
week.
1.-THE training has been stepped ur
quite bit more than before. Even the
water is rationed, gallon and fifth
per man daily.
'"This includes drinking, cooking,
and washing.
Some times we nave to wait fol
many hours before getting any water
We don't shave very often. Only
twice week. On weekends we are
given passes to go to one of the many
small cities nearby Almost all thu
cities have a very historical back.
ground. I'll write about some of then
later.
It'd like to send my regards to al
my friends in Ely. The same goes foI
my buddy, Louis CKoivula penned thu
letter.. A former Ely man, Pvt. JOSEPH
Brodnik, is in our company"
|
Frank Hren, aviation machinist'
mate, third class is now somewhere il
the East, after completing a four-weel
course on the handling of 80 and 81
caliber machine guns at the naval ali
gunners' school, Purcell, Okla. He vii
receive more training from the air al
his next base, but he did not know hi
destination when leaving Oklahoma
He sends worls of appreciation for thu
paper.
give been assigned to the regimen.
tai postoffice," writes Pvt. John j
Petric from Camp Claiborne. La. EN-.
ployed in the Ely postoffice when hi
entered the army, Petric is still sort
ing mail
'The office here is only about q
feet square, and is not near large
enough for the volume we handle. Thu
103rd division of which I am a memhe,
is made up of three regiments, 4O9th
410th and 411th. Then there are sew
eral separate units. We handle the
mail for the 411th infantry regiments
The service company supplies the reg.
iment with clerks, mechanics, drivers
etc. (He is assigned to the service com.
pany).
Besides our work at the postoffice
we also have to put in some basic
training. But we miss out on a 10
of drilling and hiking.
There are quite. few Ely boys al
this camp, but so far I've seen only &
few. Paul Lobe, in Co. L of my regi-
ment, is the one I see most. Thank!
for the paper"
will trade you one week of Louis.
lana mud for two months of Mime.
sofa winter" offers Pvt. John Roman
Camp Claiborn, La. Must have beer
cold in Ely from the reports.
Finally started basic training aftel
being here nearly a month. We have
medical officers as instructors Che i!
a member of the 410th infantry's med.
ical detachment. We have quite 6
program crowded into Is weeks If VIZ
can absorb all that is intended, We
certainly will have liberal education.
CThe Miner acknowledges the receip'
Of two very fine pictures of Private
Roman and they are now being viewed
by large crowds at the James Drug
Store, where he was employed before
entering the service.)
One of Ely's veterans of the selective
service army, Sgt. Ernest j. Lobe, ha;
left the Chico, Calf, army flying
school and has gone into two-engine
flexible gunner school at a location
not yet sent in to The Miner. Writes
Sergeant Lobe:
81 know the ships on Chico field in
side out now.
I've been crew chief for 16
months and they're all still flying.