Nov 3, 2015

Sat, Nov 3, 1945: kids wearing discharge buttons

"The campus here is alive with students back to start the new term.  It seemed pretty drab and lonesome around here for two weeks while only gray-uniformed language students were around; but today a lot of red sweaters and sport coats are walking around to relieve the monotony.  This means the first taste of college to a lot of freshmen girls.  And veterans are coming back in droves to start in or start over.  I think I mentioned that the University has taken over half of our dorm to house them.  The youth of some of the kids wearing discharge buttons is amazing.  Most of them were in the army air corps and got out at 18 or 19 with a handful of points.  Seeing them getting off to this start makes me think twice about spending 18 months tucked away in some obscure corner of Japan translating telephone directories.  I hope the experience I get in my job and adventure of a trip to a foreign country outweighs being in the navy - and for that long."

-- Letter from my father, Boulder, Colo., to his family, Bloomington, Kans., Saturday, November 3, 1945.

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