After Pearl Harbor (12/7/41)

Mike writes Mary and Mickey on December 17, 1941 and tells them he is back at Shelby now.  His unit was guarding rail road bridges, and power and water works along the Gulf Coast. Mike assures them to not worry about anything, and that everything is OK there.

He writes that he was sorry to read in the paper about that explosion at The Firestone killing a chemist.

Mike asks that whenever they go to the farm to cheer up Father and Mother.

He also informs them that he will be sending all of his personal belongings home soon that it is compulsory to do so.

Mike can not think of anything else to write so he asks them to say hello to Jerome and tell him to be a good boy.  He then signs off: "Your Brother, Corporal Mike"

According to Mike's Military Record Papers, Mike was promoted to Corporal on December 2, 1941, just 5 days shy of the Pearl Harbor Invasion.  At this point, Mike must have felt, as his earlier letters indicate, he would never get out of the army.

Mike' s last letter written in 1941 is on Christmas Day to Mary, Mickey, and Jerome.  The brevity of the letter and the weather indicate a real low point for Mike.

He tells them that this Christmas Day at Shelby is a dreary one.  It had started to rain in the morning and was still raining.

Mike thanked them for the box and cards he had just received from them.  He tells them everything is OK there, but they are prepared to move out at a moment's notice.

He asked them to tell Jerome Hello, and that he will write again later.  "Your Brother Mike".

[The previous four letters suddenly shifted into his draftsman printing from long hand.]

The first letter of 1942, (and I believe the last letter Mike writes from Camp Shelby), is written to Mary and Mickey on January 19, 1942.  In this letter, Mike tells them that he has not forgotten about them, he has just been quite busy.  He asks if they had seen the pictures of himself that he had sent home, and that he will send some to them soon.

About two weeks previous to this date, he applied for flying cadet officer training, and two days ago he took his physical exam and passed it.  He was to appear before a board of examiners some time that week.

Mike then switches into the weather.  It was a good bit warmer than it had been a couple of weeks earlier.  He asks if they have been having a lot of snow, and then muses that he sure would like to see snow again.  One day they did have some ice on the puddles around camp.

Mike asks how Jerome is behaving and speculates that he is probably getting to be big and strong and into plenty of mischief.

He asks about the factories in Akron, and says he hears that tires are really hard to get now.  "Once the war gets underway", Mike says, "everything will be hard to get".

There training schedule is pretty tough with lots of bayonet practice.

The men have been getting lots of shots lately for typhoid, tetnus, and diptheria.  Mike had even gotten a shot that day, which his files show was for smallpox.

He asks if they have been out to the farm lately.  Mike says he sure would like to see that place again, and concludes:  "Well, so-long for now.  Write to me.  your brother Mike".

Mike has now been at Camp Shelby since February 11, 1941, almost one full year with two furloughs, one in July, 1941, and one in November, 1941.

Then on January 29, 1942, Mike received Special Orders from The Aviation Cadet Examining Board. Mike and 25 other candidates at Camp Shelby were appointed as Aviation Cadets.  The orders went on to state that the appointment was effective on February 1, 1942.  On that date, the candidates would be granted 30 days furlough until March 3, 1942, when they were to report for duty at The AirCorps Replacement Training Center (Air Crew), Maxwell Field, Alabama.  The Quartermaster Corps would furnish all necessary transportation.  [Mike must have been overjoyed at this change of venue.].