Camp McCoy in the Words of My Uncle: POST THIRTY-SIX (Burned His Clothes Off) 24 May 1943

May 24, 1943

Monday

Dear Mom,
Here I am again deep in the woods of Wisconsin. Don't ask me where for we traveled quite a long time before we stopped. It has been raining all night and day. It is now pouring outside while I'm in this tent trying to keep dry. You can see nothing is dry here. We have still the two small thin blankets but couldn't bring our overcoats. I have my rain coat over the front as the rain doesn't seem to come all the same direction due to the wind. I did bring out a suit of heavy underwear which I intend to put on at night. I can feel the dampness coming through one of the blankets I've laid down. Guess I'll have to build a fire just outside the door with a back to reflect in the heat, that will help dry it out I think. We are out here for two weeks.
By this time you must have a little surprise. I mean the record. Maybe next time I'll do a little better. The first time seemed funny. You have to be careful because every little mistake you make will record.
Marian wrote me a letter and wanted me to go to Madison, Wisconsin, with her. She has a sister there that has not been married very long. We left La Crosse at 5:15 pm Saturday and arrived in Madison at 10:15 pm. She had never been there before and didn't know her way around. Madison is a big place. The capital of Wisconsin. (1940 population was 67,447) It was late so we took a cab. It would have been quite a walk we found out later. Only 10 cents and it was worth it after the long ride. We left Madison at 7:15 pm Sunday and arrived at La Crosse at 12:30 am. I still had a 1 hour 15 minute ride back to camp after walking home with Marian. (Gee, it is raining hard now.) Sunday morning we all slept a little late but after a while we took a walk around town. Look on your folder I sent from Madison and find the Capitol building. I went up the big stairs and inside the building. I had just bought the folder at a drug store and so I dropped it into one of the mail boxes inside the Capitol building; took a second look and found I had put it in an airmail box with only a 2 cent stamp on it. If we had a guide with us we could have gone to the top. As it was, I kept walking upstairs until I reached here. (Drew a small picture of the dome to show how far he went.) I couldn't see out. Guides were there but we didn't have time to bother. I wouldn't have the money to do it if Marian wasn't a good sport.
She has a chance for a job for the Badger Ordnance Company or powder works (for ammunition) about $40 or $50 a week. ($598 to $747 worth in 2020) It is way past between here and Madison. Too far to go and see her much. I sure will miss her if she goes. She has asked me to take another trip with her to Wisconsin Dells. We went by the place on our way to Madison. It is a a place the river has cut through the rocks. Do you get the idea? A nice boat ride with a pretty city to see which has an Indian Settlement nearby. Wisconsin Dells is a noted place Marian told me. She gives me something to look forward to all the time. Now you tell me I won't miss her if she goes.
Oh yes, the Badger Company is so large that one day's production of powder now would last the Army and Navy for a year in peace time. We went quite close to it Saturday night. What a place with all the lights and a fence with a road all around the outside. Guards walk along the road all the time. Funny thing, most of the land is hilly but that place is on a flat piece of ground and I was told it went 9 miles back.
Have pictures of home come yet?
I just went out to get some mail and found the letter with the pictures. Oh! Oh! the little pigs. I showed the pictures to Dan. He said I had a nice home. Dad sure did a swell job on the barn.
Oh yes, one of the cooks went to heat some water. He picked up a can of water and someone had made a mistake by mixing up a 5 gallon can of gas with the water cans. He went to pour the water into the pan (as he thought) and the pan was on one of those outdoors gas stoves. You can guess what happened. Poor fellow burned his clothes off, but I don't think he hurt his face much, only on one side. They rushed him back to camp to the hospital wrapped in a blanket.
Magna Nelson sent me a nice box of candy. Frank Hall wrote me a nice letter. Waneta (sister) wrote a long letter.
Mom, put the Date on that record, Thursday, May 20, 1943. Put on the folder May 23, 1943, Sunday.
Mom, do not think I'm going to get a furlough right away but I'd like the money on hand in case. Please send $60.00. Do not use any of your money to send it. You wrote me I had a little more than that once. When you sent me the $5.00 I did not expect you to send it yourself. I know you have it hard. But I'll have my pay fixed up soon. I wrote to Clyde Sawyer for the $2.00 but he never sent it. I'm going to send him another letter later.
Not much more news to-night and I have to try and get things fixed up for to-night. We are camping in the woods on the side of a hill. There is a small hill in the valley below about 75 acres. I'll look out and start to my left as I sit in my tent I'll draw you the hills just beyond the fields. Starting to the very left of my tent.

Hope you can partly make it out . Say does that chief carpenter belong to a union? I'll work for him at $57.00 a month. Ha Ha! No less because this job pays better than that (maybe).
Give my love to Eugene, Helen, Joe. Give the pigs a scratch on the back and tell them it's from me. (Here we go for some more hard rain.)
Good night, Mother dear. Sleep tight and don't worry.
Love from your Son
Charles xxxx xxxx

^^May 17 Millionaire Howard Hughes crashes into Lake Mead, while test flying his Sikorsky

Howard Hughes Sikorsky

The crash killed Civil Aeronautics Administration inspector Ceco Cline whose body was never found and mechanic Richard Felt.

Howard Hughes

^^May 18 Allied bombers attack Pantelleria, an Italian island 100 km southwest of Sicily

^^May 19 Berlin is declared "Judenrien" (free of Jews)

^^May 20 French, British and US victory parade in Tunis, Tunisia

May 20 Gen. Eisenhower saluted by French, British

and US victory parade in Tunis, Tunisia

May 20 French, British and US victory parade in Tunis, Tunisia

^^May 23 -24: 826 Allied bombers attack Dortmund, Germany. The raid was considered successful with around 2,000 buildings destroyed. There were 600 killed on the ground with another 1,275 injured. There were 41 aircraft downed causing 189 deaths and 68 POWs

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^^May 25 Trident conference in Washington, D.C. (operation plan '43 against Japan)

"This model was manufactured in the mid-1940's. Pictured with the record cutter is a Recordisc cutting needle store display (complete with packages of needles), the original Astatic microphone, two blank discs, and a hardcover book titled "How To Make Good Recordings."
Record cutters played an important role in American history, allowing average Americans their first opportunity to record in the privacy of their homes.

https://www.retrothing.com/2009/01/vintage-1940s-record-cutter.html