Letters to home ? from a serviceman ? during World War II

Editor?s note: A couple of years ago the Mt. Pleasant News featured an article on the 82nd. College Training Detachment of the U.S. Army Air Corps at Iowa Wesleyan during WWII. Recently Bob Willits of Mt. Pleasant was loaned several letters written home by a soldier, Ellis Mercer, who was stationed here taking flight training from September to December, 1943. These letters were loaned to him by Mr. Mercer?s niece, Patricia Skillman, of Mt. Pleasant. Mr. Mercer, after the war, remained in the Reserves and became a teacher. He passed away during the early years of the 21st Century. If you have any questions, Mrs. Skillman said to contact her, at 319-385-3773. Following are excerpts from his letters, starting with Sept. 13, 1943.

His first letter is started while still in Miami Beach, I presume the location of his Basic Training. He had just received his orders to proceed to Mt. Pleasant. The letter is dated Sept. 13. 1943.

?About 500 of us left but only 86 got off here at Mt. Pleasant. I enjoyed the trip much more than the trip down from Omaha, the reasons were because of coming closer to home, back to the Midwest and in a better climate. We arrived in Mt. Pleasant at 1:30 A.M., were woke up at 3:00 A.M. to carry our baggage to our barracks, and then slept until breakfast. The barracks we are quartered in are the kind they have up at the Alliance Air Base, They aren?t near as fancy as those we had at M.B., but they are easier to keep clean.

?The weather here is cold. It seems like winter here because I am used to the summer weather of Miami Beach. The Army sends on south for the summer and north for the winter, but I guess I can?t complain. Most of the boys here came from Jefferson Barracks, Missouri. I pity them.

?We can?t get a furlough here and one of the boys I came with only lives 35 miles away, although we can get an overnight pass, therefore letting one off from 4:00 P.M. Saturday to 9:45 P.M. Sunday. Also these are the only hours us AV/5 men can talk to civilians.

?The food here is better as far as the basic parts are concerned, but they don?t have the fruit we had at M.B. The best part is we can have as much milk as we want to drink.

?That reminds me, we have strict discipline here. We have to have everything shipshape all of the time. As an example, when we go to chow, we stand at Parade Rest while we are waiting, then when we get our food we go to our table and stand at Attention by the chair until all eight have gathered around the table, then a student officer tells you when to sit down. The left hand is in the lap and isn?t moved unless absolutely necessary. There is no talking at any time except formally. If you want something, you say for instance, ?Sir, does anyone care for the salt, please pass the salt.? You must sit with all matters of Emily Post. If you don?t, you are ?gigged?. Gigs are demerits you get for anything in the leastwise wrong. Eight gigs make a tour; a tour consists of one hour marching on the Drill Field.

?We will be here for not over three months, and then we will go to Santa Ana, California for seven weeks. We are Aviation Students. At M.B. we were addressed as ?soldier?, but here we are addressed as ?Mr. or Sir?. It sure sounds better.

?We will get 10 hours of flying time while here; it will come toward the last of our time here. The studies we are taking here are History, Math, English, Geography, Physical Training and Civil Air Regulations.

?We are confined here for a month, but t is ten time better than confinement at M.B. Here we have a Day Room in our Barracks which has two Coke machines, 1 popsicle machine, 3 candy machines and a cigarette machine, They have a ping pong table, cards, checkers, and other games.?

His next letter is dated Sept. 18, 1943, in which he tells:

?We have watermelon here three times a week, and all we want of anything we want. We seem to be getting the best of everything here in the Air Corps. The Lincoln boys say the Regular G.I. Army never feeds this good.

?The schools I have to go through are College Tng., Classification, Preflight, Primary, Basic and Advance. That makes seven steps counting the Basic Training we already had. They may be each at different school, or I could have some of them doubled or tripled up on me.

?I had my first Physical Fitness Record Thursday. It consists of the most Sit Ups one can do, the most complete Chin-ups one can do at the time one can run the three hundred yard dash. They are done one after the other and it sure winds one before he is through. I passed alright, you had to do 36 sit ups, I did 43, run the dash in 56 seconds, I did it in 53, and do 7 pull up or chin ups, I did 8. My stomach muscles are very sore from the sit ups.

?I will probably receive flight pay for the month of December. That is when they consider we will probably start on our ten hours of College flying.

His next letter, dated Sept. 26, 1943, he says:

?We have to get a haircut once a week. The barber does it in about 2 minutes. I know it sounds fantastic, but before they can work for the Government, they have to be able to cut hair at a certain rate.

?My letters aren?t censored. That usually doesn?t come until one goes abroad.

?I didn?t get any gigs this week. I hope I?m as lucky next week. Some of my buddies walked tours last Saturday.?

On Oct. 2, 1943 he wrote:

?We had inspection after dinner, and then the boys walked their tours. There were 47 different boys walking tours. Again I was lucky and didn?t get any tours, but I did get 2 gigs for not saying ?Sir? to my civilian instructor once.

?We marched for the Bond Rally of this County. We also put on an exhibition of marching. It got us out of a 4 ½ mile run in P.T. we were to have. Our Band (82 C.D.T.) played a few pieces, then to top it off about 30 of our boys fell out and bought some War Bonds besides their regular allotment.

?I?m getting along fine with Math, Phys. Ed and History. I?m not doing so good in Geography and English. I don?t mind any of them. I really enjoy being back studying again.?

On Oct. 24 he writes:

?We are planning to leave for Santa Ana, California on the 6th of Nov. That is the usual time for the squadron to leave. I am sure going to hate leaving this place. It sure is a swell town. Everybody is so friendly and easy to get acquainted with.

?I now have 5 hrs. 15 min. of flying time in. I had my check flight Saturday and received an 87. I got a different instructor than my own and he just rode along. I took off and went out of the traffic pattern, then we have lots of elementary exercises to go through. They keep cutting your engine off and saying, ?Forced landing!? I had it done on me six times, and he complimented me on them, and said I picked the right fields to land in.?

On Oct. 31 he writes:

?This is Friday and we leave sometime tomorrow for Santa Ana. Boy! It seems like we just got here, and now we are leaving. I have been in the Army 15 weeks now. By the time you get this I will probably be crossing the Rockies, or maybe further.?

Mr. Mercer survived the war, and married and he and his wife had three children, two boys and a girl. He passed away the early part of this century.