March 15, 1956

Dear Rosetta:

Received your birthday card and the St. Patrick's Day greeting, which I have tacked up on the wall.
So far, it has caused quite a little hilarity, since obviously I look anything but Irish.

Have just come back from the mess hall where for the last hour I have been listening to Major Carrol recount his experiences as a Prisoner of War Camp Commander during the Korean War.  He was involved in that much publicized North Korean uprising of prisoners.  Life and Time Magazines gave him quite the spread. Some of the tales he relates are hair-raising.  When I come home I shall tell you some of them.

The last third of this course is quite hard to take.  The strain is beginning to tell on all of the officers.  Eight hours of constant sitting and listening to lectures is grueling.  Restlessness is apparent in almost everyone.  Curiously enough, the most uninteresting subjects are the ones being given now.  Also, the poorest instructors seem to be teaching.  Apparently, they are trying to cram as much as possible into the remaining three weeks of instruction.  We still have five more examinations to go plus a comprehensive and a thesis.  Withal I am neither restless nor tired.  I has proven not difficult at all.

Have you received any of the erotic letters I sent? (These appear not to be in the package which have survived).  You must forgive my crudeness.

It is a rainy and depressing night.  I shall stay in BOQ and write a few letters. I have quite a few correspondents since coming to this camp.  Some of the boys from the Reserve outfit keep me posted as to current developments in the unit.  I hear that we will have two days at Ft. Dix, New Jersey towards the end of April and that Army Day Parade takes place in May about the second week.

With regard to stamps for Margo (the daughter of Dad's brother Tony)-don't trouble yourself.  Just keep them and I will give them to her when I come home. . .As I've told you, there are only three people in this world for whom I have any affection.  Everything else is surface.

I should appreciate your letting me know how your financial status is to date.

Give Djinna a big kiss for me and a hug.

A Kiss for you,

Buddy