"The cake came through in fine shape today. And now we're through with the cake. I opened it at evening chow to pass around to the other five boys at my table. But to my surprise I suddenly cultivated a multitude of friends of the backslapping variety - so I gave them all a piece - some of them mighty small - but large enough to give them an idea of its deliciousness. I emerged from the dining room - while our packages are pressed out - with barely two moderately-sized pieces of angel-food. I don't mind, though. They'll have birthdays, too....
"From the looks of reports in recent papers perhaps it's just as well that I'm getting out of the V-12 program. One anonymous Congressman says that he can't see any sense in drafting married men when we have thousands of young men 'who are just the type we need for 'combat duty' in the colleges of the country. The army college program seems to be overbooked but V-12 may stay to produce some of the needed officers of new ships that are constantly being launched."
-- Letter from my father, Cape Girardeau, Mo., to his family, Bloomington, Kans., Monday, January 31, 1944. V-12 was the Navy program through which my father took classes at Southeast Missouri State College, Cape Girardeau, Missouri, as a uniformed enlisted sailor, in preparation for officer training school.
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