August 23, 1943

Dear Mom, Pop, Mary, Jerry, and Mat,
   Here it is Monday morning, first period of class for my last week at R.P.I. Thank goodness for that.
  Well the dance went off OK and this fair city of Troy was blessed with beautiful weather over the weekend.
   This is really a riot going to school. We take tests on the work buy it doesn't go on our records. What's the sense in taking the tests. Last Saturday, the fellow wanted to had in the test papers before the class even started. No one gave a darm whether they got a 0 or 100%.
   As far as we know we will still start our leave on Thursday sometime. The Navy loves to keep secrets until the last minute. The scuttlebutt going around is that we will receive our leave as soon as a house inspection is made Thursday morning.
   One of the boys looked up the history of Las Vegas and here is a few interesting items. The field we are to fly from is on a high plateau 8000 feet above sear level. A few of the prominent gentlemen that have resided in the town are "Billy the Kid" " Hatchet-face Johnny" " Pan Cake Benny"and "Flap Jack Harry". As near as we can figure, the train ride will take about 3 1/2 days, six hours by stage coach and the last three miles on Indian trails. We are really going to wild country so you had better have Jerry oil up my shooing irons.
   I had better close now. There is a shortage of writing paper among the fellos so we are only allowing each other one sheet per letter.
                                                                   The Navy
                                                                                Jim