Leonard's Story: June 23, 1944

Note: VOCO means "Verbal Orders of Commanding Officer"

[June 23, 1944, page 1]

              UNITED STATES ARMY

              CAMP RITCHIE

              MARYLAND

                             23 June

Dear Arnold,

     I have just received a six

day leave. Eighteen hours after

finishing the course I was alerted.

I am due back the 29th. I

am trying to fly home, I have

a priority which will take me

through, however, it is raining

here and the weather has been

bad all week so I don't know

if I will be able to make it.

If not I'll come up to see you

sunday night. I don't know

how much time I'll have

when I get back from leave.

If I fly home, I'll try to

get a 24 hour VOCO sometime

[page 2]

soon after I return and go up and

see you some night. I'll say hello

to the folks love

                 Leonard

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Leonard's Story: June 20, 1943

[June 20, 1943, page 1]

(A A)

CAMP DAVIS

NORTH CAROLINA

                             June 20, 1943

Dear Arnold

     So you're in the army now!

Well it isn't too bad, although

I think it will take you about

four to six weeks to get use to

it. I imagine you will get a deal

similar to the one the UCLA

ER.C. boys got, thirteen weeks of

basic training and then O.C.S.

     Army life isn't too bad,

fairly good food, clothes, nothing

to worry about, $48.40 a month for

spending money (they deduct $150 for

lanudry), a bunch of fellows to

horse around with, and the work

isn't too hard. You do have to get

use to somebody thinking for you

and telling you what to do all

the time, lack of women and

homey things, tough sgts who have

only a mouth and no brains, and

                     -1-

[page 2]

lack of contact with the outside

world.

     Don't buck or try too hard, try

to do your bucking so that although

you don't work any longer or harsher

your stuff always looks just a

little bit better than average.

Watch yourself during obstacle

courses, calesthenics, and heavy

work that you don't injure or hurt

yourself, I've seen a lot of fellows

break an arm or leg or hurt themselves

lifting. The result is that you get

hospitalized and set back a couple

of months. However always do you

part and don't ask to be let out of

something or go on sick call unless

it is really necessary. If you are

asked to drill or take charge of

a group of men, do just that,

don't be superficious but do "sound

off" and don't let anybody get

                     -2-

[page 3]

away with anything.

     You'll meet all kinds of

fellows from the guy that can't

read or write and doesn't take a

bath but once a year to the

fellow that can speak several

languages and has only the best

tastes and manners, yet both

are just G. I., Joes. Well I've got

some personal stuff I have to

buck so I guess I'd better

close. The best advice I can think

of is what an old soldier gave to

me. "Keep your mouth shut and

you bowels open." and you'll do

O.K.

                  Your brother

                   Leonard

                     -3-

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Leonard's Story: March 27 1943

[envelope]

AIRMAIL

                                   Arnold Nevis

                                   Calif. Inst. of Tech.

                                   Dabney House

                                   Pasadena, Calif.

[postmarked]

              CAMP DAVIS

              MAR 28

              1943

              N.C.

[March 27, 1943]

                                                  [something cut off at top]

                                                  271935EWT

                                                 [arrow ==>]  military 27 - 27th of month

                                                  1943 - 7:35 PM + EWT - zone

                                                  time

Dear Arnold,

How are you bud? What a life - we only

have to work seventeen hours a day for fifty dollars

a month and room and board. I have a cozy little

room that I share with twenty eight other guys.

I am on the second floor of a nice white two-roomed

bungalow - oh! pardon me we have a latrine and

trunk room - that makes four rooms for about sixty

men. We have eight wash basins, four showers,

five toilets and one wash tub. We can crowd

eight men in the showers, sixteen can shave at one

time and three can use the wash tub together, but

as yet we haven't figured out a way for more than five

men to sit on the five toilets at one time. The

room service is rather poor here, so we have to

do some of the work ourselves, - this afternoon,

which is marked free time on the schedule, we scrubbed

the barracks inside, and then we even scrubbed the

outsides - I'm not kidding. Tomorrow so we

were informed - we will scrub them again -

only this time we are to get them clean, immaculate,

spotless, super perfect.

(over)

[March 27, 1943, page 2]

The weather here at Camp Davis Country Club is

one of the outstanding attractions. The other day the

sun was shining, it was snowing, and it blowing

sand - in fact they claim that this is the only place

in the world - you can be up to your ass in mud and have

sand blowing in your face. We had nice weather last

week for our physical recreation - calisthenics - tumbling -

obstacle course - cross country hikes.

Well anyway I am learning or should I

say "broadening" my education - for one thing I found that

I can wear my leather slippers to reveille and never be

noticed (the’re quicker to put on than G.I. shoes) because

it is so dark here at 6:00 AM. Although I sometimes

have to struggle to get into formation in time - I

am always in plenty of time for mess. Also I

am learning the names and methods of shoe shining to

the utmost technical degree. Tell Flavell to write -

I will write him soon. My address:

Candidate L. J. Nevis,

AA school

30th Battery 1st Platoon

Camp Davis, N.C.    [<== arrow] 30th battery, 1st Platoon

                                                      Camp Davis, N.C.

out of ink

                              Love

                              Leonard

you may show

Flavell this letter

write soon

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Arnold and Newlin: Dortmund, May 1970

Before we head back to Denmark and Sweden, the final stop in West Germany is Dortmund. We see a building that looks as if it was patched from the bullet holes of World War II.

our Volvo with the Dortmunder Actien brewery in the background

Dortmund building

next post  Arnold and Newlin:  Finland, June 1970

previous post  Arnold and Newlin: Heidelberg and Würzburg, May 1970

first post in Flashbacks  How the Nevis family came to California

first post in Arnold's Story  July 1943

first post in blog  Leonard's Story: May 29, 1943

Arnold's Story: November 16, 1950

Bill writes to his son Arnold with a $100 check enclosed. We see mention of an excursion to Portland, Maine, back in late September, when Bill visited Arnold in Boston.

next post  November 23, 1950

previous post  November 13, 1950

first post in Arnold's Story  July 1943

first post in blog  Leonard's Story: May 29, 1943

Arnold's Story: September 23, 1949

In his fifties age-wise, Bill is at a sweet spot in life where his business efforts have worked out extremely well, so that no longer have financial worries at home or at work. His family is staying on top of their health issues, they have renovated their house in Glendale to be a "modern home" and the family can now enjoy the good things in life.

His company moved from 136 Liberty Street around the corner to 6 Church Street, into a building that no longer exists on account of the World Trade Center complex.

Like his younger brother Arnold, Leonard wants to got to medical school but is not confident he will get in (in part due to mediocre grades from college before the war and in part due to challenges from his current undergraduate studies). Bill urges Arnold to give Len a pep talk to encourage him.

next post October 3, 1949

previous post  September 19, 1949

first post in Arnold's Story  July 1943

first post in blog  Leonard's Story: May 29, 1943

Arnold's Story: February 1946 Japan and Korea

It appears they visited Tachikawa Airfield or departed from there for Korea for his next post. The primary defense of Tokyo, Tachikawa also produced fighters, troop carriers, and bombers, and was also the site of imperial technical schools. It was subjected to intense bombing by the U.S. Army Air Force near the end of World War II and ultimately rendered inoperable. The U.S. rehabilitated the airfield and designated it as a transport base, providing transportation for passengers and cargo in the Tokyo Area. It served as an air base for the U.S. through the Japanese occupation, the Korean War, the Cold War, and the Vietnam Conflict before being returned to the Japanese government in 1977.

Fritz Finley, February 1946, at a U.S. Army Air Force base in Korea

next post  February 22, 1944

previous post  February 1946 arrival in Japan

first post in Arnold's Story  July 1943

first post in blog  Leonard's Story: May 29, 1943

Arnold's Story: October 16, 1945

Although World War II is technically over, Arnold is now posted to Camp Pinedale near Fresno, California. He mentions his stay at home (by which he certainly means Glendale), so perhaps that stay included the visit to Mount Wilson. 

Suntan pants and shirts are trousers and shirts of lightweight tan or khaki fabric that make up the summer uniform of some branches of the military.

There are no more letters from 1945 — a gap in the record. The next information from Arnold shows him in Japan in early 1946, then moving on quickly to Korea, where he will spend several months.

I could not figure out the date of this black and white photo; it looks to be in a desert. Perhaps it is from the San Joaquin Valley, with the Sierra Nevada Mountain foothills in the background.

next post  February 1946 arrival in Japan

previous post  1945 Mount Wilson

first post in Arnold's Story  July 1943

first post in blog  Leonard's Story: May 29, 1943

Arnold's Story: December 15, 1944

We see from Ralph Winger's letter that a lot of the Caltech guys are in and out of MIT, and mostly in radar school.

next post  December 21, 1944

previous post  December 14, 1944

first post in Arnold's Story  July 1943

first post in blog  Leonard's Story: May 29, 1943

Arnold's Story: October 2, 1944 Mrs Hall

A letter from Mrs. Elmer Hall with news of her son Elmer Hall, Barbara Painter, and others. 

next post  October 2, 1944 Al Rose

previous post  October 1, 1944

first post in Arnold's Story  July 1943

first post in blog  Leonard's Story: May 29, 1943

Arnold's Story: September 30, 1944

Al Grote writes with news of his personal life and of classmates from Caltech.

next post  October 1, 1944

previous post  1944 Poem

first post in Arnold's Story  July 1943

first post in blog  Leonard's Story: May 29, 1943

Arnold's Story: September 9, 1944

Elmer E. Hall writes from McCloud, California, with news about some of Arnold's friends and acquaintances from the lumber camp, though I think Arnold was really friends with his son Elmer.

next post  September 11, 1944

previous post  September 9, 1944

first post in Arnold's Story  July 1943

first post in blog  Leonard's Story: May 29, 1943

Arnold's Story: July 29, 1944

While Arnold was in college, he spent his summers working at a lumber camp. He used to keep his scratchy wool plaid lumberjack shirt in his closet into the early 1980s, and I think each of his sons wore it at some point until we got too big for his shirt. Arnold had a slim build, but none of his sons were so slight of build, so by age 14–15 we had already gotten too large to wear it. I assume that McCloud is the location of that lumber camp; perhaps it was the famed McCloud River Lumber Company he worked in.

next post  July 31, 1944

previous post  July 24, 1944

first post in Arnold's Story  July 1943

first post in blog  Leonard's Story: May 29, 1943