The Coolidge examiner., 1944-10-06
s/sGT. LON HARRELL, serving

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rival.
S/SGT. LON HARRELL, serving
with Company D, 158th Infantry, IN
the South Pacific, writes his faith
er, ]. P. Harrell, that he had let
ter recently from his son, S/Sgt.
Lon Harrell, Jr. HE is where l was
last June" the sergeant writes, but
the name of the place was censor
ed. at is a long way from where
am now, and there are not any
Japs within miles of it, so don't
worry about Junior" The big news
in the letter was that Sgt Harrell
was waiting for a plane to start
the long journey home" He and
other members of the "Bushmast-
ers" have been overseas for many
months, in the thick of some of the
most bitter fighting When he gets
back in the states, Harrell says,
he will call his parents on the
phone and tell them when to kill
the old red rooster. boy, it sure
was good feeling when they told
me to get my things ready to go
home. Only the day before we
were out hunting Japs. We got a
few. but not the bag limit, as there
isn't any limit" He sent his faith
er Jap rifle the day before he
wrote, Harrell says, and it should
arrive in about a month. He has
a brother, Sgt. Phil Harrell, serv-
ing at Port of Embarkation.
PFC. JOE MARLER writes his
wife from England on their we'd
ding anniversary and also sent her
a cablegram, which he thought af-
teerward that she might be afraid
to open. He spent the day in an
unnamed English town looking for
a gift for her, which was a hope
less job with the stores so depict
ed of merchandise. What a dis
appointment, | couldn't even find a
good anniversary card" But he
saw some interesting things, "an
old cathedral with a man buried
inside who died March s, 1926. He
laid the cornerstone of the cathe-
dral April %, 1920. l spent quite
some time looking the place over
just think, that was 724 years ago!
| also saw one of the oldest clocks
in England. / could spend hours
telling what l saw, but can't
write it," Marler entered service
in September, 1943 and went over
seas in June, 1914.
PVT. EDGAR A. SHOEMAKER,
JR., writes his parents, Mr.. and
Mrs. Edgar Shoemaker, from
France that they are sleeping in
pup tents now, "and l sure get wet
last night" They are camped in a
grape vinyard, he says, and it
would really be nice if it would
only stop raining. He is glad to get
out of Italy, which was a dirty
country and the people were dirty,
but they are both nice and clean
here" The crossing to France was
plenty rough and he's glad it's ov-
er, Shoemaker says.
PVT. CURTIS ASHCRAFT
writes his parents, Mr.. and Mrs.
Clinton Ashcraft, from FIT. Sill, Ok
lahoma, shortly after his arrival
there to let them know, Its not
so bad out here, but all we do is
go to classes. | guess I'll know
something about surveying when |
come home, as that is what l am
training to be. At Camp Roberts
trained for guns and truck driving
and now I'm to be a topographer in
the surveying section! You sure
get shifted around" He has to
close and get back to work, Ash
craft says, as he is room orderly
for the day. He was on guard duty
the night before and K. P. the day
before that, 80 you can see they
don't waste any time" He asks
to be remembered to his friends,
as he hasn't time to write them