Private Martin E Conlon
US 51213731
Co. D 34th INF. REGT.
APO. 24 c/o P.M.
SAN FRANCISCO, CAL
TO:
Mr. & Mrs. William Conlon
9 Elizabeth Drive
Bethpage, Long Island
New York, USA
June 22, 1953
Camp Fuji1, Japan
Dear Dot & Bill:
Well, I hope everything is fine and that everyone is in good health. Except for the weather, everything is swell here. As usual it is either extremely foggy or it is raining out. I don’t believe that I have seen the Sun shine two days in a row since I’ve been here. We had a rain storm the other night that will top all that I have ever seen before or expect to see again. It rained so hard for about an hour that the water started coming into the barracks. You see, we have no cellar and not a very high foundation, so the doors are right level with the ground. After a while we had about an inch of rain in some parts of the barracks floor near the door.
I received some more back mail today and your very nice birthday card was with it. The fellows got quite a kick out of the jokes on the card. It was about the most original card of that type that I’ve ever seen.
In a letter from home the other day was a picture of John Hooker in his army uniform. He is going to be an MP and I’ll bet he will be a good one because he likes all those fancy uniforms and all the prestige that goes along with the job. Most of the fellows over here don’t have very much use for M.P.’s of any kind. It should be a good job because he will probably be stationed in the States permanently for his two years and his folks will like that very much. In a way I’m glad that I’m over here because where else could you see this part of the world for nothing, and meet all the people and see their habits and customs? This weekend three of us are going up to a service hotel not far from here and stay Sat & Sunday. They have boating, swimming, dancing, all kinds of sports and I imagine plenty of scenes to take pictures of, etc. It should be a good weekend.
They told me today that I may be sent to another camp in Japan to attend leadership school for a month. I am not too keen over it, but if I have to go there is nothing I can do about it. A couple other fellows are supposed to go with me.
By the way Leo Hurley2 has been assigned to someplace in Alaska. I guess he will stay up there about the same time I will stay here. He will probably get home a little sooner than I will because it won’t be such a big trip from there to Washington as it is here to San Francisco.
What do you think of all those prisoners getting out over there in Korea? It doesn’t look too good to me. I wish the UN would either finish it off over there or get out, one or the other. The outfit I am in was in Korea early in the war and they lost their colors so they can’t go back to the States for quite a while. I don’t mean the men, I just mean having a permanent Sta. in the US. Right now their home base is in Hawaii.
If you want me to pick. You up anything over here, just let me know and I will be glad to do it. They had a lot of very beautiful articles that you can get fairly cheap.
I’m still enrolled in that Army education course, but after I finish this one, I think that I will take one on gasoline and diesel engines. It ought to be a pretty good one. I guess that Joe is going to try and sell my car for me because I want to get to a new one when I get out anyhow. It’s pretty hard to think. of anything more to write about so i guess that I will close for now give my regards to all the folks
Love
Ed
Notes
- Camp Fuji is at the base of Mount Fuji and has been a military installation since medieval times.
- Leo Hurley gave an oral history of Whitman.
