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NAVY DEPARTMENT
OFFICE OF NAVAL OFFICER PROCUREMENT
PHILADELPHIA 7, PA.
WIDENER BUILDING CHESTNUT AND JUNIPER STREETS
177TH FLOOR TEL. LOCUST 4380
Naval Aviation Cadet Selection Board
10 December 1943.
The Bryant Service Club,
Bryant College,
Providence, R. I.
Dear Gang:
It was certainly a pleasant surprise to get your letter and the wonderful box of candy. Thanks from all the members of the board. They went around looking as if they had the mumps. The only difference was the pleased expression on their faces. It is wonderful to hear from the friends and home and to be remembered.
I have been working here in Philadelphia a year come the 23rd of this month. It really doesn’t seem that long, for the time goes by quickly. I do yeoman work, typing, shorthand, and being a sailor, griping. But we haven’t much to do that about here. People are wonderful to us, and we live in a big central-city hotel. Remember the Business English class and the hyphens we had to learn? I still remember faintly. Getting back, I have three roommates, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania. We get along fine and have a wonderful time drinking tea and eating cookies at midnight.
They are giving me four days leave to Christmas, so that song I’ll Be Home for Christmas” doesn’t make me as homesick as it did. There is something about the fresh air in New England that I miss. Don’t let the CofC hear this, but they haven’t introduced that item down here in Phillie.
More about work. I suppose that you have heard about Naval Aviators. Well, we sorta “mother” the brats while they are yet babes in arms. 17, to be exact. They are a nice bunch of kids, and on the whole, we can be mighty proud of the aviators we are going to have when these boys finish two years of training. Let’s all hope that the war will be over by that time.
Well, there doesn’t seem to be much more to tell you. I wish I could drop in and hear “Pistol Packing Momma” on that new juke box. Never can tell, thought, I might make it yet.
Thanks again for the letter and gift, and that goes for all those who shared the candy with me.
-May your days be merry and bright….
Jean Hempel
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