Transcribed Letter 1942-09-05

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 <title>Zeller Letter 1942-09-05</title>
 <author>John Zeller</author>
 <respStmt>
 <persName>Susan Falciani Maldonado</persName>
 <resp>University Archivist and Director of Special Collections</resp>
 </respStmt>
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 <persName>Diane Jakacki</persName>
 <resp>Digital Scholarship Coordinator</resp>
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 <distributor>Special Collections/University Archives, Bertrand Library</distributor>
 <authority>Bucknell University</authority>
 <address>
 <addrLine>Lewisburg</addrLine>
 <addrLine>Pennsylvania</addrLine>
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 John F. Zeller Papers
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 <dateline> Pvt. John F. Zeller<lb/> F-10-4 F.A.R.C.<lb/> Fort Bragg, N.C.</dateline>
 <salute>Dear Mother &amp; Dad + Grandma --</salute>
 </opener>
 My address is above. We were put on quaranteen immediately upon arrival, so I could
 not phone or telegraph. We are confined to our company street. for 14 days. I'll get
 off on the 20th.
 I will not get a furlough until I have completed basic training, so I guess it will
 be impossible for me to get home before Christmas. 
 <pb facs="https://leaf.bucknell.edu/sites/default/files/2025-04/1942-09-05_002.jpg" n="2"/>
 I am in a field artillery regiment. We will set up communications - telephone lines-
 for observors and between batteries. My years on the switchboard at BU got me in
 this.  I am the only one of our group here. The rest of the fellows are also in field
 artillery, but they are in other companies. I won't be able to see them before the
 two weeks are up and perhaps not then. There are 85,000 men here and the camp
 stretches for 25 miles.
 It is very nice, and I have no doubt but what I'll <pb facs="https://leaf.bucknell.edu/sites/default/files/2025-04/1942-09-05_003.jpg" n="3"/> like it. I'm going to
 work hard and do the very best I can.
 Basic training here lasts at least 8 weeks - perhaps 13 - then I'll be shipped
 somewhere else. I shall hope it will be to officers training school.
 The initials in my address means this - Battery F, 10th Batalion, 4th regiment,
 Field Artillery Replacement Center.
 There is a great deal to tell, but I went to get this out, as I know you're anxious.
 I'll write more details tomorrow <pb facs="https://leaf.bucknell.edu/sites/default/files/2025-04/1942-09-05_004.jpg" n="4"/> night. Mail at regular rate takes two
 days. This will go air mail. I'm posting it at 6:00 P.M. Let me know how soon you get
 it.
 <closer>
 <salute>Yours til tomorrow's letter,</salute>
 <signed>John</signed>
 </closer>
 <postscript>
 P. S. Please send me a pair of slippers. I want the kind that consist of nothing
 but a sole + heel + straps over the feet - made of rubber or [illegible] or
 something like that. I'd prefer not leather, because I want them for the shower
 room. Ken Wolfe is here, but of course I can't get out to see him. J.
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