Take It Easy!

Ben is at the University of Connecticut for A.S.T.P. school  which is the Army Specialized Training Program.  Link over to his website to listen to the ASTP song from "Take It Easy" musical about WW11.

October 7, 1943  
Storrs, Connecticut
Wednesday

Dear Folks,
(That’s as far as I got before chow sounded).  Speaking of chow, we still can’t get over the good food and atmosphere in which we eat.  Leather chairs instead of benches, not having to wait for the command “eat” before we pitched in, a bottle of milk every meal, a napkin, jelly & butter, not having to dip our dishes (& hands) in greasy soapy water, getting another napkin after taking our tray to a disposal table.  That second napkin astounded us.  Oh, this is heaven.  You can take that star out of the window, I’m not in the Army, at least not until Monday.

We started out today by getting up at quarter to seven after having a beautiful night’s sleep on a nice thick mattress.  Then we had about an hour of close order drill, without rifles.  That’s all we did all morning.  In the afternoon we had a couple of lectures on history with a couple of international professors.  The rest of the time was spent walking around the campus or in the College Store which has a fountain, toilet articles, etc.  There’s also a post office connected to it.

Oh, I forgot to mention that there are about 850 friendly women here.  We were talking with some of them in the Store & on the Campus.  Probably won’t have much time after school starts.  After I write some cards notifying people of my address, I’m going out for a while.  There are also about 850 A.S.T.P. men here with about 200-300 4-F’s.

How about hunting around for a razor for me.  My G.I. is made of plastic & is beginning to stink.  Something on the order of Bob’s or anything you can get.  These buildings remind me of the University of Rochester.  Same type.  They’ve got a beautiful library here, too.  Well, haven’t got anything else to write about, so

Love,
Ben