Last half of 1942 (Maggie)

We have just three letters from Jack to Maggie in the last half of 1942, and there are no corresponding letters to Gram during this period.

June 27, 1942

Dear Maggie

I got your letter today and was glad to hear from you. I thought you had forgot me all together. I know how we were running around befor we left but that was for only a period of 3 days not a month. 

I still don't like Wash, wish I were back in N. Mex, but will stay while I am making money. I passed my test and am working on the U.S.S. Nevada, too bad it wasn't sunk at Pearl Harbor. It is a hot and dirty job. I only work about 2 hours a night though, just stand around and wait on the ship fitter.

You think you have soldiers there you ought to be here, we have sailors , soldiers, and marines plus a few forgien " & etc. They are just every place all the time thats all you see, it gets tiresome after a while

I may move in with Louie after a few weeks I don't know, I would have moved in befor this but I hate to move.

Say have I've been smoking latley, more than a pack a day. I've got to quit or it will kill me (I hope)

Am I smart, I just took my watch off and put it on backwards.  It has been nice the last couple of days, the sun has actualy been out for more than a hour.  I have to close and get some sleep so write soon and let me know what you have been doing.  

 

Bill

 

Again, a letter written on folded paper. It starts on the upper right, then lower left, lower right, and ends on the upper left.

Oct 4 1942

1243 - 5th St

Dear Maggie  

 

Well it is Sunday and I woke up early & thought maybe I should drop you a line to let you know I am still alive.  

 

I am still putting in my time here but that's all. Things have been rather dull of late, no work just stand around and hope a naval officer doesn't find you loafing. I haven't done a real days work in a month. I am still on the Nevada but it is almost done so I'll probable  get changed over to the U.S.S. Tenn. or new construction in the near future.

You ask what I have been doing in my spare time. Well we have been boating several times but out side of that not a – – thing. The only thing there is to do on our day off is go to a show or Seattle, if we go to Seattle we always end up at a show. I have got so I go to sleep in every show I see. I went to a good show, last day off, and really wanted to see it, I tried hard to keep from going to sleep but did any way. Louie bought a car so that helps break the monotny once in a while, we have seen some very pretty country while we ride around. I just wish I had a movie camera to take some color pictures of it.  

 

You talk of Alb. soilders – if you want soilders, sailors, marines, English salors and air pilets both RAF & RCAF and our own you should come here we have them all. You see them all if you stay here a little while the English salors are in town most every day, they are crazy & drunken. You can't understand a word they say, it sounds like a hog grunting.

You say you have reformed as far as drinking goes, well you should see this little boy – hasn't even smelt a cork since he's been here. Oh of course tried to drink a few beers but this stuff here isn't fit for nothing or no body.

In this state they don't serve whiskey by the drink – bottle only & you have to be setting down to drink beer. You can't even carry it to your table a waitress has to.

You talk about N.Y.A. it is one big laugh up here. That N.Y.A. training doesn't do any body any good, they put you in whatever shop needs you. The Nyaa gives you training then you come here and they have to train you all over. My training in welding actually didn't do me a bit of good. I had to start all over again when I came in the yard. We don't do much of any thing the way we were taught in N.M. The only thing they do that helps the boys is send them out here. I just wish I could get some time off & come back and try to show those instructors just what they want up here.

Talking a bout getting off to come back – a guy can't get off for love nor money now. The only way you can get any time off is to quite & then the army has you so there you are again  

 

Well I guess I ought to close now. Write soon.  

 

Bill.

 

 

 

Nov 14 1942

 

Dear Maggie

 

I guess I owe you a letter in – – fact I have owed it to you for quiet a while.  It has been rather cold here, not by the thermometer but by feel. It just goes right through you like nothing. It has been raining too not hard but rather steady it has come down for better than 24 hours now and sure makes a guy want to come back to N. Mex. 

You asked if I was disgusted with the whole world, no not quite, just this part of the country. I guess I wrote those two letters to you when I was down in dumps. It gets very tiresome just putting in your time and not feeling like doing anything when you do have a day off. It is hard to do anything here, unless you want to spend a lot of money, and then you don't have the fun we use to have.

On our day off all Louie wants to do is go over to Seattle and ride around. Well to my notion he isn't the driver he thinks he is and it soon gets on my nerves so I come home all worn out.

I am working on the U.S.S. Idaho now, I meant putting in my time I welded for about 30 min. last night so you see I really work. Every once in a while I get to talking (as usual) to a sailor who has seen action and they really can't tell some real stories. Not the kind you read in news papers but the straight stuff.

One gave me some money from Iceland and told me all about it up there. In fact I have been around the world several times. I have heard stories about almost all the foregien countries except Africa.

You ask about Wayne. He is still in Aberdeen as far as I know he hasn't written me in a couple of week. And for Malcolm she is in Vegas from what Ma says. I guess she goes up to see Ma every once in a while. She never has written me so I have done likewise.

No I haven't been on a spree since I came out here (almost 7 months) but one of these days I am going to realy through a big one. I am going to get as drunk as I did the time we went out with Claude, J.C. Quack & ect. If I ever get back to Vegas & Wayne is there I'll really go on another one, maybe we could talk to you on being there too. That is if I ever get back there. If the weather doesn't start getting a little better I am afraid I'll die with my boot on. You ought to see the boots I have now they weigh about 10 lbs. Boy they are really heavy.

I almost fell over board the other day. I fell on a platform on the side of the ship and tried to get up befor a officer caught me. Any way I skined up my shins and did they hurt for a while.

I guess some of these mexican kids are going home. They don't like it here and want to go back to their girls. Dick the kid from Alb went home to join the army, I told him to look you up I hope he did but doubt it. His brother referred to you as Miss Murphy – I didn't know who he was talking about. 

 

Well I better close now and get some sleep. I am still on the graveyard shift so I need it.  

 

Write soon  

 

Bill

Well, well! Jack and Maggie were drinking buddies! The things we learn!

 

May 1942: Welding Woes (Maggie)

Information from my sister Margaret/Peggy/Peggers/Pagrs:

 

Re Dad’s nicknames. We asked the aunties about all the nicknames at the first EutslerFest in ABQ back in the 1990s. When Dad was a little fella, their milk was delivered in a horse-drawn wagon pulled by a horse named Bill. After the milkman had made his delivery, he’d get back on the wagon, shake the reins, and say, “Gid up, Bill!” Auntie Bobo said her little brother would race around and holler, “Gi up, Bill! Gi up, Bill!” Our grandfather, the source of many of the nicknames (his sister Minerva was “Pinny Pinerva” and eventually Penny), called him “Bill,” and I remember that many of his old friends in Kansas still called him Bill in the 1950s. 

 

Where did “Jack” come from? From the nursery rhyme “Jack, Be Nimble.” He learned the rhyme, Bobo said, and ran around the house leaping over everything that remotely resembled a candlestick all the while reciting the rhyme. (She said he made them all nuts, because he was indefatigable with running and rhyming.) We have Grandfather Eutsler to thank for that one, too.

*

These letters have a bunch of money figures so I've embedded the value in today's dollars [in brackets].

  

 

 

 

May 13, 1942

4026 Brooklyn

Seattle Wash

Dear Margaret I got your letter of May 8 yesterday but had to go get it. I had several letters or rather cards & letters out at the camp and went and got them to day after work.

Well I am working a Puget Sound Naval Yards as a welder. I found out that I don't know a thing about welding. Yesterday the instructor started me in on flat beds & I have to learn all over a gain. We certainly got good training under N.Y.A., we hardly use any thing they taught us down there & a lot of what they did teach us was wrong. Well any way I am making 8.48 [$138] a night & 6¢ [$1] a hour for graveyard. I forgot to tell you I am working on the Graveyard shift from 12:30 to 8:15 so I have changed my way of living. I also do a lot of fast walking & running here belive it or not. Well going back to the money end of it after I have worked for 10 day as a 1st class welder & don't pass my test I'll be lowered to a trainee and only make $6.00 [$98] a day & the 6¢ [$1]. You can tell Ray & Zorn & everybody that they don't work us hard & let us smoke on the job & rest any time you take a notion for as long as you please. Boy don't think I don't take advantage of it too. Every one takes there own sweet time & are all swell guys. They all just treat a guy as nice as if they had known him a long time.

Boy there is a lot of work in the yards & they are plenty big. They have 6 cruisers, in one dry dock, that they are building & the Saratoga, that they are repairing & the U.S.S. Nevada also under repairs. There I go reviling military secretes. 

Boy it is hard to get in over there, we spent 2 days going through all the government red tape. But now I am in I can't get out with out about twice as much red tape. We have to wear a badge all the time, it has our picture, you should see me, thumb print, height age, when taken, race, signature & evey thing about us. 

Well Louie & Carl Dick (from Alb.) & I room & board together in the same house. Louie & I are on the same shift so that makes it rather nice. Carl is on the Day shift, Dick on the swing. So you can see we are in and out all hours of the night & day. 

Well we have to put in about 13 hours to get 8 hours of work in so you see I have a lot of time to run around. We have to ride the ferry back & forth & that take a hour each way. We would move over to Bremerton if we could find a place but we can't. You can tell Malcolm I would look up her uncle but I never have time while I am over there or I'll miss the ferry. 

Well I have been getting all of 4 to 6 hours sleep a day so you can see I changed my way of living again. I usually go to sleep on the job for a hour or two but didn't last night because I was working out side & it was rather cold. It looks like it will be colder to night than last so I'll have to put on the rest of my cloths. I had on about ½ of what I brought with me last night. 

Well I guess that is about all I can think of at the present time so I'll close. 

Bill 

His joking about running or walking fast meaning he is "changing his way of living" -- Ha! I always thought through the years that he walked sooooper sloooow because he was old. Nope, he was just Jack.

 

 

Sat May 23, 1942

4026 Brooklyn

 

Dear Margaret

 

 Here I am writing again. I see you write letter about like I use to. If you write once a month your doing rather good.

I haven't been doing much except go to work, come home go to bed & get up to start all over again. I am in training now and realy learning how to weld, not like I did in N.Y.A. The instructors here are certainly good welders & they can teach us how rather good. I work in a dry dock which is about 20 feet below sea level, all we have is a roof over us & it does get rather chilly here at night. I have been working a little harder latley more than I did when I started, because one instructor informed me I better or else.

I saw the Vegas boys, the last bunch) as I was getting of the ferry this morning. They were just going over to try & find room & board. Well I guess Dick, Louie, & I will move over there the first of the month. We have a apt rented, it sure is a nice place. It has a front room kitchen, bed room, sleeping porch, & private bath. The kitchen has a electric stove & a electric ice box. Does that sound like its worth $50 [$813] a month. It certainly is nice though & is only a bout 15 minets walk from the yards, not the way I use to walk either. 

Our landlady here realy put the spurs to us, for 2 week room and board she charged us $17 [$276] then the next week she charged us $13 [$211], some fun.

Well I made some money last week, my check was for $68.45 [$1112], but I don't have ½ that now. I won't make that again untill I pass my welding tests though, I probable be dropped to a bout $40 [$650] a week & will I have to save to make any thing.

I got a letter from Wayne yesterday & he told me what he has been doing and how much he had been spending so I took & sent him $5 [$81], I'll bet he loves me for it.

Well I'll have to stop & go to work now. And I do mean work.

May 24

Well I worked last night and had quite a time trying to keep a wake. I didn't do much except talk to a couple of fellows. I got my derating last night, from now on I'll be making $6.96 [$113] a night I don't know if I can live on that or not. 

I was talking to a fellow that has just got back from Pearl Harbor. I may go there If I can pass my welding test and can get a transfer. It pays $1.26 [$20.48] a hour and I guess living expenses aren't to high.

Well I guess I'll close & get some thing to eat and get to work.

Bill

May 25

Well It looks like we lost out on the apt. I don't know what we will do now except look for another place. Write soon.

I remind you: Jack just turned 19 years old. Maggie was a couple months from turning 22.

 

Here is the post with Jack's letters to his mother from this period: May 1942: Jack Arrives in Seattle and Bo's Birthday

 

SCREEEEEECH!

 SCREEEEEECH! <throws this machine into reverse>

Another long-lost cache has been found!

Jack's letters to my mother Margaret (Maggie) are in hand and are begging to be scanned. 

Before we go forward, we are going to back up to 1942 and catch up Maggie's letters. Once we're caught up, we'll dovetail the letters. Jack wrote to Margaret much more infrequently, so it will be a (relatively) quick catch-up.

While we're talking speed -- I have to apologize for stalling out. It's for a couple reasons. First, I'm working a job and a half, and it got a little crazy over the last couple months. Secondly, I want to add details about Jack's missions, and my brain was still working out how to do it. So I stalled. 

 

For now.....

Let's throw this machine into reverse and git her goin' again!

 

 

Postcard postmarked April 18 1942

Dear Maggie

We arrived in Denver to late to get 8:30 train so will have to lay over till 5. 

Have had a fair trip so far. It has been raining on us since we left Springer. All of us caught a lot of sleep last night. We slept from about 2-6. there isn't very many boys this trip. 5 from Albuquerque 4 from Santa Fe and our bunch. Louie found his sister and went home with her so I don't have anything to do for a while. I sent Gene a wire and maybe he'll come over from Greeley. Thanks a lot for the billfold. 

 

Love Bill

 

Bill is Jack, and Jack is Bill. Neither are his given name (Bernard). Jack's family is The Family of the Eternal Nickname. Not sure how he got either of them.

 

 

April 22, 1942 (in Margaret's handwriting)

Dear Marg

Well here I am writing you. I just came back from breakfast and don't have any thing to do untill 4 except eat again. Boy how I eat here. I eat more in one meal here than I did all day there. The food has been good so far & so has every thing else.

Carl and I got the swing shift on K.P. all the N. Mex boys got K.P. It isn't bad though all we do is eat while we are on duty. I have been washing pots & pans, even garbage buckets.

Carl & I went to Seattle yesterday morning and walked all over town. It is a rather nice place about like Vegas only Vegas is a little better. You could put Vegas on on block & still have plenty of room. It is a very hilly place every place you go is either up or down hill.

Every thing around here is nice and green the weather is rather chily in the mornings but warms up in the after noon.

We have been having a lot of fun since we started for this place. All we do is eat & sleep. 

Well I had to stop and clean the windows behind my bunk. We have to keep our beds made and every thing clean. It is just like being in the army only with out the strict disiplin. 

It looks like we are only going to stay here 10 days total time. We will then go to work in the naval yards. I will start at $8.48 a day for at least 10 days. I then will take a test. If I don't pass I will get 75¢ a hour for 20 day then take the test again. If I still don't pass I go to school for 30 day at 75¢ It seems like I can't lose. 

I think Carl & I will go over to Bremerton Sun and see what it is like because that's where we have to work. 

 

We have to wear buttons all the time here. If we are caught with out one we get 4 hours extra duty. It also looks like we won't get any training befor we go on the job. Just work in the kitchen.

I wrote Ray a letter, as you probable already know, and told him all about it here. 

Tell Malcolm we might try to find her uncle Sun.

Well I have run out of every thing to write. You see I am not as windy with my writing as I am with my talking. 

Yours 

Bill [with a flourish]

6677 Corson Ave

Seattle Wash

 

$8.48/day is about $128.35 today (about $16/hour if he worked 8 hours). 75¢ an hour is worth $11.35 now. 

 

Apologies for the orientation of this next one.  He wrote on folded paper, and I'm not going to take the time to crop them. I doubt anyone wants to try to decipher his writing anyway!! Start on the upper right, then lower right, then lower left and last page is upper left.

 

 

April 27, 1942

Seattle Wash.

Dear Maggie

I just got your letter and you don't know what a letter does for a guy. Too bad little Bill wasn't there to celebrate with you but such is life.

Talking about washing dishes boy do we wash em. I have washed so many I wish they would use paper plats. We have a automatic dishwasher though. But still theres a lot of work to be done. We have to skrub the kitchen evey other night. 

It seems like us welders won't get any training here but the machinest & sheet metal workers went in the shops today.

Well we went over to Bremerton yesterday and had a nice time. It takes 55 mins. to get over there by ferry. Bremerton is a nice clean little place (30 000) but a very hard place to find room and board. We started to look up Malcolms uncle but allmost missed the boat to get home in time to eat. I had to change my way of living very fast & run (Belive it or not)

It looks like we will leave here 2 weeks from the date we arrived. The pay for me will start at $8.48 a day put will probably be lowered. (read Ma's letters)

Sat we went to Seattle and saw a show & a [____]. You can even smoke in the theaters here. Yesterday we went to Georgetown to mail some letters. It is only about 8 blocks from here but we wanderd off and got lost by the time we got back we had walked about 2 miles. 

I certainly like the country out here. everything is nice and green but rather chilly. It trys to rain every day but that doesn't seem to bother.

There are soilders all over the place here. Every 2 or 3 blocks it seems like there are some soilders stationed. They put up a ballon barage over the whole town every night too. They claim that Seattle will probable be one of the first towns bombed in U.S., but they also claim it is the bet fortified too. Every thing out here is war talk. If this place is bombed we will be in the thick of it because we are only 1/2 mile from Boeing air plant and when we get to Bremerton we will be at the navy yards so things don't look to hot. Talking about navy yards there are a big bunch of sailor in Seattle too.

The camp is swell except for the work. The food is also good when they have some thing I like, but I am getting to eat evey thing except fish. Evey one treats us swell here. 

Say if this gets there befor you send any more boys out tell them to bring all the money they have because if they want to do anything it cost something. The trip to Bremerton cost 95¢ & 2 bus tokens. and etc & etc. Now don't get me wrong and think I am broke because I'm not. 

I have been having a swell time here. Carl & I have been running together but he was changed to Day shift so I'll be the lone wolf unless I can get changed too.

I was telling some Neb. boys about New Mex. Boy I have them scared at even the sight of a mexican. Deep in the heart of Texas is on the radio now I make me just a little home sick. So far I haven't gotten home sick but probable will as soon as I get away from all these fellows & get a job. 

Well don't get to lonesome there or we'll make you come out here. 

Write soon

Love 

Bill

P.S. Don't feel to bad about the dog, may be its for the best.

He's a little looser with Maggie than with his mom. He didn't mention to his mother -- understandably -- the danger that Seattle was facing.

 

Barrage Balloons were large balloons tethered by steel cables and worked to defend against enemy aircraft. Aircraft had to fly at higher altitudes or risk hitting the balloon cables. The balloons could also fire upon the enemy. Notably, the 320th Barrage Balloon Battalion at Normandy was manned entirely by African American soldiers, the only battalion at Normandy manned exclusively by black soldiers.

 

Just to remind you: Maggie worked for the National Youth Administration (NYA), a New Deal program that sent women and men to school and work. When the war started, they sent them to work for the war effort, but the agency soon disbanded. It's part of the story of how they met. Mom's friend Malcolm was dating Jack's uncle Wayne, and Jack and Maggie were introduced. Maggie helped Jack get a job as a welder up in Seattle through the NYA.   

I'll be linking these new posts back to the corresponding letters to his ma, but these are earlier than the first ones we had from that cache.

 

This going to be fun!