Letter from a recruit Dear Ma and Pa: Am well. Hope you are. Tell Brother Walt and Brother Elmer the Marines beats working for Old Man Minch a mile. Tell them to join up quick before maybe all the places are filled. I was restless at first because you got to stay in bed till nearly 6 a.m. (!) but am getting so I like to sleep late. Tell Walt and Elmer all you do before breakfast is smooth your cot and shine some things -- no hogs to slop, feed to pitch, mash to mix, wood to split, fire to lay. Practically nothing. You got to shave, but it is not bad in warm water. Breakfast is strong on trimmings like fruit juice, cereal, eggs, bacon, etc., but kind of weak on chops, potatoes, beef, ham steak, fried eggplant, pie and regular food. But tell Walt and Elmer you can always sit between two city boys that live on coffee. Their food plus yours holds you till noon, when you get fed. It's no wonder these city boys can't walk much. We go on "route marches," which, the Sgt. says, are long walks to harden us. If he thinks so, it is not my place to tell him different. A "route march" is about as far as to our mailbox at home. Then the city guys all get sore feet and we ride back in trucks. The country is nice, but awful flat. The Sgt. is like a schoolteacher. He nags some. The Capt. is like the school board. Cols. and Gens. just ride around and frown. They don't bother you none. This next will kill Walt and Elmer with laughing. I keep getting medals for shooting. I don't know why. The bull's-eye is near as big as a chipmonk and don't move. And it ain't shooting at you, like the Higsett boys at home. All you got to do is lie there all comfortable and hit it. You don't even load your own cartridges. They come in boxes. Be sure to tell Walt and Elmer to hurry and join before other fellows get onto this setup and come stampeding in. Your loving son, Zeb
I suspect there is more truth than fiction in the premise of this wonderfully funny letter. The only flaw I see is that Zeb can write. In real life a ridgerunner like him wouldn't be able to read or write. He would have had one of the city boys write the letter for him, and would have said so by letting the family know his literate friend was helping him out, and there might have been some mention of the local preacher or other town feller reading the letter to his family. Duckbill
I believe this letter to be True, and I got my reasons Why. Meet few Redneck Marines in my time, and sounds just like them 110%, and heard those same words and statements by them. Country boys are brought up Tougher then City Boys, that's with out a doubt.
I remember reading in Marine, The Life of Chesty Puller, Davis, 1962, where Chesty reorganized his company early in WW2. He had the entire unit shuffled around to put rural-raised boys in all the squads. They had had having problems navigating through the woods at night because the city boys didn't know how to determine directions. After the reorganization, the problem was resolved because the country boys could lead the others through. Just a note. Rednecks and country folk are not the same. You can be one without being the other.
