Day and Night

Ralph's letter of May 24 is post marked Brinkley, Arkansas and explains that he is here on loan to the 527th Engineers Combat Battalion. He finds himself without pay, running out of money, and missing the letters from home that are going to his home unit, the 147th, still in Texas.

On top of that, the work has become very demanding. "We're working night and day, seven days a week. Last Thurs. evening at 5 o'clock a bunch of us went out on the other side of Little Rock to a rock quarry to load rocks on trucks. We were there all night, and got back to camp at 10:30 the next day. They never brought us a bite to eat in that time. Some of the boys have been working 24 to 36 hours, and sometimes longer, with little or no sleep. There is no reason for most of it. It's just poor organization and too many looies running things who don't know what they are doing."

"What few clothes I brought along are filthy dirty, and no chance to get them washed. I haven't had a bath since I left Camp Swift, either."

"....Yesterday, I was on another rock loading detail. We left here about 6 in the morning, and got back at 9:30 last night, but they did bring our dinner out this time, so it wasn't quite so bad. I had a terrible time getting it into my head it was Sunday. I took our truck to haul the men out there yesterday and the Lieut. had 10, 55 gal. drums of gasoline loaded on it. It's still on the truck, and I have to stay with it til they make up their minds what to do with it. That's why I have time to write letters. I won't mind if I sit here all day."