John F. Zeller Papers
The pictures arrived. Thank you for sending them. I think Don Ross did a good job -- in other words, he flatters me enough to make it a fairly decent picture. I think its the best I've had taken since I graduated from high school.
Thank you very much for the birthday present. I'm just as glad you couldn’t find shirts or socks. I already have 8 khaki shirts, 4 wool ones, and one pink -- and my drawer is so full of socks, I hardly can get the lid closed. I have all handkerchiefs, and underwear too, that I can use -- so I don’t see what you could possibly send me. And I do appreciate the money.
However, I think its sort of silly to keep sending money orders back and forth. I send them home for you to deposit and you send them back as gifts. The postoffice department is making too much money off of us. I suggest that you just deposit the ";gifts" to my account hereafter and then be sure to write me about it, and I can draw a check for it when I need it. O.K.?
Don't won't about my not being fed properly. Monday I signed up for the Officer's mess run by a china man who can really cook. It's not exactly your cooking, Mother, but its better than most restaurant food and it has the G-I mess beat a thousand ways. Of course it costo $44.50 a month -- but it's well worth it -- even if I don't eat breakfast.
Today we had ham for lunch and steak for dinner. Vegetables, rolls, salad, beverage, + desert are all on the table in turreans. The meat is served to you direct from the kitchen on your plate -- and they don't skimp. My steak tonight fully covered the plate. I'll be gaining back all that weight I lost.
Monday I reported to O.C.S. Material. I was assigned a desk in the faculty office. It's a grand piece of furniture -- perfect for pupping up my feet and for a game of checkers.
I taught one class Monday, one Tuesday, + one today. I've also been sitting in on conferences + lectures to refresh my memory of OCS procedure. Tomorrow afternoon, I go out on the range, taking a class out for small arms firing. And that's all I do this week.
Once I'm thoroughly broken in, I'll be teaching 4 to 6 hours a day. Most of it will be in practical lab periods. I'll give a 10 or 20 minutes lecture, discussion, or question period at the beginning mof the period and then turn the class over to enlisted instructors who take care of the practical work and do the real teaching. All I have to do during this part is stand around & look intelligent. Later on I suppose I'll be giving full hour lectures too, but just now there are so many Majors around that the lectures aren't entrusted to 2nd Lt's. It looks all to simple.
I'll draw study hall beginning next week -- and it won't be long before I'm due for Saturday afternoon duty taking my charges to the weekly demonstration. Then too we have Review class each Tuesday night -- and this Saturday we have a Service Practice (firing guns ourselves). Sunday night we have a special job -- giving an orientation lecture at compulsory study hall.
But even with all that, there will be plenty of free time -- and I'm afraid I'll get lazy and lose all the good training I got by being on the ball every minute in O.C.S.
The 4 "next in size" pictures were all intended for someone. Cousin Emma, Allen + Mary, Uncle Tom, + Tommy, are all possibilities. But I'll leave it up to you.
I can't tell you how nice it is to have the radio. I'm listening to Kay Kyser now.