Letters To Home - November 14, 1950

Fort Dix, New Jersey
November 14, 1950

Basic training rolls right along. Went to the top of Taylor Mountain this afternoon to let the field artillery shoot over us. Taylor Mountain is a mountain only to New Jersey. Wouldn't make a decent manure pile in Pennsylvania. Height-wise, anyway.

Artillery fire is exciting and impressive. The target was an old tank about a half-mile away from us. An observer called in fire to try to hit it. He didn't do a very good job, though. The noise of the shells going over, and the sounds of impact near the target was sobering. I have changed my opinions of most war movies.

Tonight, we are under orders to get this filthy barracks clean. As usual, not enough brooms, buckets, mops, etc. Hope the persons in charge of armament do a better job of furnishing supplies to the troops that need them than the people around here. Not enough toilet paper, either. Two of the braver (and larger) souls in our company (Company "M", by the way) went down to "I" Company on a little "moonlight requisition." A very successful job they did, too. We now have more than enough cleaning supplies, and "I" Company doesn't.