Presbyterian College

Her Words

Third Bee-mail letter

Date: June 9, 1943

		"I know life there is much different from the campus life when I was there. I hope PC can pull through these days so that when the war is over no time will be lost in giving to men the only real kind of education in the world." Capt. Powell "Pop" Fraser

Dear PC'uns:

Since my last letter to you another commencement and another registration period have come and gone, and more things have taken place than I can begin to tell about. All of our junior ROTC men have been called out for June 15, but the War Department is permitting the seniors to remain through September, which means that most of them will graduate.

Last Sunday Cpl. Milton Roberts came to see us. During his induction at Blanding, he was happy to find a kindred spirit in the form of pc's Wandell Williams ('38), who saved him a good bit of time and gave him and a friend two of his precious Pullman reservations to Benning. On the train that night, after he had lifted himself and his tremendous shoes to his upper berth, Milton called across to his buddy in the opposite upper: "Are your feet blistered, too?" After a weary "Yeah," a third voice, from the berth below Milton asked, "Are you boys in the army?" "I'll say we are," piped Milton, "and boy, you don't know the half of it." Again from the lower: "I'm in the army, too. I am Major General -—."

Now for a little home-town bragging:

The Greenville News of May 30 tells of still another PC and Clinton man on foreign soil. In describing a recent visit with Capt. J. Paul Todd ('35), Mr. Ernie Pyle says, "The nicest American camp I've seen in the fighting area of North Africa is the one innafetted by about 100 men who run the smokescreen department around a big port to help confuse German raiders. . . . The boss is Capt. J. Paul Todd of Clinton, SC. He was a schoolteacher before the war. . . . We spent a comfortable night with this outfit and tarried around a couple of hours the next morning, just chatting. Then they gassed us up without our even asking for gas, and we finally left feeling that we'd visited the nearest thing to home since hitting Africa."

	A few days ago we heard from the wife of another PC man. Mrs. E. W. Evans wrote: "At the request of my husband, 1st Lt. Ernest W. Evans ('37), now in active duty overseas, I am enclosing a check to be used as you deem most advisable. "Hawk" often mentions you in his letters, and I assure you of both our interest and good wishes for the future." Charles Louis Anderson ('38) writes: "... I hope everything points to a successful year ahead of you, and I'll always hold PC dear to my heart, wherever I go. Hope to hear from you soon with more news of PC." 1st Lt. Miles "Hamp" Ferguson ('41), Van Dorn, Miss., writes: "I'm living hard trying to get my G.I.'s trained when they have to attend all kinds of schools, undergo various tests, etc. Half the time I don't even know where most of the company is. ... I'll continue trying to get into the fracas because Drew and Bob will swear they won the war all by themselves if I don't get in my two cents worth. I wish you'd tell me where all my classmates are as I haven't seen a bit of one since two years ago. Please tell me all that you have been able to learn." 1st Lt. Charles B. MacDonald, Camp Blanding, Florida, gives us the following impressions about Blanding: ". . . I'm convinced that it's the original LOST COLONY. If anyone in Virginia claims otherwise, please remember that it's designed merely to deceive enemy bombers. This is THE PLACE. To top things off, one of my trusty re-capped tires blew out Sunday, ripping said article practically beyond recognition. I am having a lovely time staying in camp writing a thesis on the acute recreational problem existing during the army's ten-minute breaks." On May 4, Capt. Powell "Pop" Fraser ('41) wrote from Australia: "I know life there is much different from the campus life when I was there. I hope PC can pull through these days so that when the war is over no time will be lost in giving to men the only real kind of education in the world." To Pop and to all of you, I want to say that we of the Home Front will do our best to keep alive that something which has endeared PC to each one of you. Soon I expect to send you my mailing list, which has grown from 34 for the first letter to over 100 who will receive this letter and the two "back numbers" [Volumes 1 and 2]. Waiting for your letters is like watching for daylight on a Christmas Morning. Good Luck to you all.