Letters from the Brown Jug

Note: Camp Ibis was opened in March 1943. Click here  for more information on this location. Desert Training Center, California Monday June 21, 1943   Dear Folks:   Well I’ve been in the California Desert for ten days now. It’s not a bad place but there is nowhere to go unless you get a five day pass. This sure is a big country out here and there are many miles of desert in this section with mountain ranges all around and a few passes where highways & trains go thru. When you get across the mountains you just run into some more desert. The only things that grow are greasewood, chapparal, several types of cactus and sagebrush. The closest river is the Colorado which is about fifteen miles east of here and the desert runs all the way to it. Our camp is called Camp Ibis and is on the Santa Fe Railroad to Los Angeles. Las Vegas, Nevada is 86 miles north of here and it’s pretty easy to get a ride up there I hear. I’ve really got a good suntan and another fellow and I take ...

Tuesday July 6, 1943   Dear Dad:   Finally got a spot and will answer your letter that I received last Sunday. We just came back from going thru the infiltration course which is about a hundred yards long. You run about twenty yards, hit on your belly in the rocks and cactus and crawl flat on your belly for about fifty yards and then turn over on your back and go the rest of the way thru barbed wire entanglements. Finally you get to a deep ditch and you stay there until the officer in charge tell you to return to the trucks. All the while your going thru there are two 30 caliber machine guns cross firing over you approximately 30 inches over your head and they set off dynamite charges and land mines and they really rain the sand on you. Incidently Mr. Janis’ little boy was the first one thru and I beat the others by about a minute. There was about fifty went thru at a time. Pat and I do six miles road work every night and about 1 ½ miles of it is running so I guess I’m in pret...

Note: I looked up the Cyclone Racer; it was demolished in the 1970s. According to this website , its top speed was 50 mph. The Highlands mentioned in the letter is likely the Comet , which was demolished in the 1960s. The Santa Anita Racetrack is still in existence. According to Wikipedia, " In 1942, racing at Santa Anita was suspended due to the Second World War. Santa Anita was used as an 'assembly center' for  Japanese Americans excluded  from the West Coast.  For several months in 1942, over 18,000 people lived in horse stables and military-style barracks constructed on the site, including actor  George Takei , then a young boy." Desert Training Center, California Wednesday July 21, 1943   Dear Folks:   Received all your letters and cards & sure thank you for them. Hope this letter find the tribe all in good shape. I guess this desert sorta grows on a fellow and I like it pretty well here by now. I don’t know as I ever felt better in my life as I do...

Camp Ibis, Calif. Saturday August 14, 1943   Howdy Tribe:   Well it’s only 134° today and that’s pretty cool to what it usually is out here at noon. Sure thank you folks for the swell box of candy. B company sure enjoyed it. Also for the cards and letters. There’s nothing new going on out here except a lot of desert training. Went swimming in the Needles pool last Sunday and last Tuesday we had a baseball game in Needles with the Maintenance Bn. We beat them 6-2. Guess I’ll go swim at the Needles pool again Sunday. We go in army trucks and swim from 4 to 6. It costs the Sup. Bn five dollars an hour to rent the pool.   No Dude I ain’t got no Hollywood ambitions because you couldn’t graze a cow within two hundred miles of there. It’s just desert from here to San Bernadino and Orange trees from there to the ocean. Los Angeles gets its water from the Colorado River 300 miles of pipeline and it only rains there in Jan. & Feb. The rivers are all dry. Well that’s all I know ...

Note: Here's some information on Camp Young . Ogilby is now a ghost town. Monday November 1, 1943   Dear Folks:   I’m a little behind in my writing but I’ve sure been hitting the ball as far as being busy is concerned. I’ve got a squad now and that amounts to eleven men and myself and six trucks that I have to look after. After I got back we moved to Camp Young near Coachella, California. This camp is about 125 miles from Los Angeles. Four days after I got back we were on maneuvers again. We are camped about eighteen miles northwest of Yuma, Arizona at a little railhead called Ogilby, California on the Southern Pacific Railroad. We been hauling gasoline about eighty miles north of here for the Blue Forces which are maneuvering against the Red Forces up there. They tell us we will be on the desert for about four to five months yet. I don’t know how long we will be on maneuvers this time. My furlough sure slipped by fast, sometimes I wonder if I even had one. I thought we had i...

There are a few postcards to Clarence, but the dates aren't included. I believe they're all from his time in California in 1943. One postcard I'm unable to read. I've done the best I can on these. Howdy Dude:   Thanks for the sew kit & the frog sticker. Sure has everything in it alright. Playing a little baseball now. Remember the time we went to Sportsman Park and you wouldn’t go on on account of the picket. Tell the tribe howdy & keep writing.   Your pal Mel Howdy Dude:   How’s the old boy. Not thirsty I hope. This old sorrel pony in the picture is a little rougher on dudes than old Banjo. Of course one of them buckskins might do the same as this one. Hope you have a Merry Xmas. I’m near Yuma now but will move from here soon. Note new address.   So long Mel   P.S. Notice spy glasses & pants this dude’s wearing. Howdy Dude:   Just got back from the Imperial Valley. Good land and irrigation and yea [??] makes farming profit there. [??] [??] get ...

  Tuesday January 18, 1944   Dear Granny:   Hope this letter finds you and the tribe at its best. As for me I’m feeling ok as usual. We’re getting some tough training now and have to be ready for oversea assignment by February 15. The weather here is very nice and today it was about 75 degrees. A lot of the snow has melted off the mountains but there is still plenty that can be seen. Of course it’s about thirty miles away but looks to be only a mile or so as the air is so light and clear.   A couple weeks ago we went up near Death Valley and hauled an outfit to a new location. They say Death Valley is a hot place but it sure was cold the day and night that we were there.   Last week I went to an anti aircraft gunnery school. The school was on a high flat and wide open from the north and it sure was plenty cold. We had three days of class, one day of firing and one day review. I sure was glad to get back to Camp Young as the weather is always much warmer here and...