Dear Bryant S.C.

Just a few lines to keep you informed as to my whereabouts. I have a change of address once more:

Pvt. William A. Bliven 31243912
HQ & HQ Co. 4th Repl. Depot
APO 703 c/o PM
San Francisco, Calif.

I am enclosing this in my letter home and it will be forwarded from there. You ask that we keep you up to date on our address so there you are. Thanking you for your trouble I remain

Bill Bliven
'43
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ASTU
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS
15 December 1943

Dear Bryant Service Club:

I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for your wonderful Xmas remembrance- thought maybe you had lost my address for a while but I know just how big a job you have in getting your work done on time.

The package was received this week in good condition + I was certainly pleased with it. We are, at present, in the second week of our basic course, second term, after returning from a 7 day furlough which ware given every 12 weeks to those who are fortunate to continue in the program. This program is one which keeps us on the move from 06:30 to 2300 every day except for weekends.

We now have to learn and learn fast of we will be too far behind to keep up with the studies. Life has a little too much military life so we can only say we are the army getting an education- not college students. Everyday is routine; very little excitement.

Best Regards to all
“Bill” Bliven.

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Cambridge 38, Mass

8 Sept. 1943

Bryant Service Club

Bryant College

Providence, Rhode Island

Dear Chairman:

I haven’t written very much lately but there has been a change in my duties and my address. As you will notice I am writing from Cambridge, Mass, the home of Harvard University which is the place I am attending. We start classes the 13^th of this month and then it will be a rushed or rather a very much accelerated affair for three months and then, seven enjoyable days for a furlough. I am about to undertake and pursue a course in basic engineering, which will be a great deal different from the type and nature of the work I had formerly been doing. We now have the opportunity to enjoy Boston and its recreational facilities for a week and tomorrow we are looking forward to seeing the Red Six play the Yanks at Fenway park tomorrow afternoon. I was wondering if there was a chance to obtain a copy of the 1942-43 yearbook as I would like to have one for my own.?

Yours Sincerely,

Pct. William A. Bliven, 31243912

Co “C” Gore Hall I-21

A.S.T.U. – S.C.S.U. #1144

Harvard University

Cambridge, 38, Massachusetts

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16 June 1943

SUBJECT: Acknowledgement of Receipt of Package.

TO: Bryant Service Club, Bryant College, Providence, R. I.

1. This is to acknowledge the receipt of your box of candy in a military manner. I wish to thank you for it as it is great to know that so many remember one after they have left College. I wish to take this opportunity to extend congratulations to those classmates of mine who were able to finish the year and earn their degree; they are the envy of many in the service. There is a great number of men in the service who had to discontinue their schooling in order to enter the service, some had no choice in the matter at all.

2. The weather is getting very uncomfortable right now, and working inside all the time isn’t what everybody on the outside thinks the life is. Once in a while a hike or two breaks up the monotony of the office routine and they have quite a bit of athletics and calesthenics [sic] in which everybody must participate. To work in a personnel office, nobody should worry about the work being too hard, or be afraid that they couldn’t do the work. Anyone who has interest can do the work, and it really can prove interesting, in turn, to them.

3. Things happen in this outfit so fast that you never know when your [sic] going to move or what is next on the program. The night work as a rule is eliminated, but at times, the work is a little heavy, and then night work is the only solution to our problem. It is nice to be only twenty-eight miles from home for a while so that you can get home even when you only have a short time off, such as an evening. We fellows in the army feel the gas shortage as well as the others, I mean, civilians, the number of which, in the male, is suffering a great reduction.

4. The routine of the office work in the army is quite a bit different than that of college. Even the style of letter and method of answering is a great deal different. This is an example of one of the many letters which I type during the course of every week. Tonight is an extra busy night, you would think that it was only noontime in the office but when there is work to be done, it must be done or else! Hoping to be remembered to those lucky classmates who will finish the year and thanking you heartily for the package and what the club is doing for a great many fellows in the service.

Yours truly,
William A. Bliven ‘43
WILLIAM A. BLIVEN
Pvt 1cl AUS
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Co “G” R.C. SCU #1112
Fort Devens, Mass

Service Club Number One
Fort Devens, Massachusetts
14 April 44

Dear Bryant Service Club-

I had thought maybe you had forgotten some of the boys in the Service because of changes in address and was glad to hear from the organization which was started while I was still in attendance at Bryant. I was moved from Harvard Univ, when the Army’s College training program was halted + have been in Devens since the 8th of March awaiting my new assignment which is only two week[s] away. I was wondering if you have a mimeographed list of the boys in the service and their current addresses. I would like the address of the fellows in the class of ’43 A + F who are still in the service. Phil Cornell, AAF, class of ’43 if we had been able to finish is on his way overseas if not at his overseas base already. I keep in touch with quite a few of the old gang as often as possible.

I want to thank you for your lovely Easter package which I received today. I’m sure all the fellows appreciate the packages. Have some work to do so I’ll have to cut this a little short- so till next time.

Yours in the service
Bill Bliven

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Chairman
Bryant Service Club
c/o BRYANT COLLEGE
Providence, Rhode Island

An informal letter just to let you know that I received you [sic] most welcomed gift. I received it the other day during our movement from our former station to our present location. It brings me a little nearer to home and also brings all of the company at least closer to connections for travel facilities, that is the one grand thing about our present station.

I am working in the office of the Battalion and am, at present an understudy to the present Company Clerk. The work is really interesting and is of the nature which makes you want to really work at it once you get started. I want to take an opportunity to thank the BRYANT Service Club for the gift because when you get something like that, then you have a [sic] attitude that there are groups that actually aren’t in the service but at least are doing thier [sic] best for those in the Service. The only reason for no previous correspondence was because of the amount of work which we have been doing lately has kept me fairly busy. I want to be remembered to those classmates of mine who are left and also, if possible, I would like to have the address of one classmate of mine who recently left if you have it. His name ‘Philip Cornell’; he left and I didn’t have the chance to really know he was going, and I have had no correspondence from him.

The weather here has been cold but during this summer we expect to have real warm weather and go swimming right on the post. The fellows in the service like to write, but there isn’t too much to write about, so, until next time, there is no more.

Yours in the Service

Pvt 1cl William A. Bliven
Hdq 706th Military Police Bn.
Camp Niantic, Connecticut.
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Co D 706th M.P.Bn.
Holyoke, Mass
Jan. 1, 1942

USO

Bryant Service Club
c/o Bryant College
Providence, RI

I want to take this opportunity to thank you for your most welcomed box of candy which I received on Tuesday of this week. I did not receive it in time for Xmas although it was mailed from Millis, Mass on the 19th of December. Even though it was late, it was still greatly appreciated.

The package arrived in good condition and everything was intact. The other boys here are still getting packages from home so, you see, the mail is still rushed with Xmas packages.

We have had a stormy week and as a result been confined to lectures for four days. When we do get back outside again, we’ll start training more intensive. I happen to be lucky to be stationed only about 110 miles from home but that is only for the winter months. Even though we have an M.P. address now, I hope to get to doing some type of clerical work after my basic training is complete.

Best Regards to ally my former classmates at Bryant

William A. Bliven

The Young Men’s Christian Association – The National Catholic Community Service – The Salvation Army – The Young Women’s Christian Associations The Jewish Welfare Board – The National Travelers Aid Association

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