Morse Code!

Army Technical School 

A.A.F.T.T.C.

SIOUX FALLS, SOUTH DAKOTA

3-16-43

Dear Mom:

I had my reason for holding back this letter so please excuse the delay. The last 3 days I’ve been concentrating pretty hard and today I passed my first code check. I’ve been taking 4 words a minute and barely getting them and now I’m on 8 w.p.m. So it’s time I sent you a letter. Yesterday morning it started hailing and turned to rain and then ice. All of the streets are like glass and slippery as a skating rink. The temperature dropped to below freezing and snow fell all night. We woke up this morning and found a blanket of snow on top of our [streets.] (?)

 It wasn’t hard walking to school and I felt like turning back twice but I didn’t want to make a fool of myself. This morning I went to the side room and started taking down the cod and did pretty well, so I stopped and went to sleep at my desk. I was determined to pass so I rested my mind. You’d be surprised how hard you have to concentrate on what you are writing. Then he announced over the speaker, “4 Word Code Check.” 

That’s all I wanted to hear. I stretched and started in.

You need only 40 characters in a row to pass and I got 83 and 15 others scattered around to a total of 98 out of a possible 100. This afternoon another fellow whom I’ve been palling around with passed his and sat in back of me. Now we can stall around a bit more and take it easy as this next chen is going to be easier than the first one. I’m sorry, but I can’t send you the articles you asked for this week, but perhaps next.

I lent out $9.00 to a few friends who haven’t been paid since they left gunnery school 2 mos. ago. Heard  the other gunners are sergeants. Also when I finish this school I’ll wear 1 stripe or a first class private and then might be sent to gunnery school if I don’t pass my  physical for the cadet training.

Coookie sent me a box of things today. It was very sweet of her. I received chocolate chip cookies, a pipe, tobacco, candy, and a can of  oranges. I wish you would personally thank her for me. Does she visit you now and then? How is everthing back home. I still have my watch and am trying to mail it home but I just don’t get a chance. The post office closes at 5:0 and we don’t get through calesthenics until 4:30. By the time you get dress and hike over there it’s closed.

Here’s a little note to Will:

MORSE CODE -- see below in original

Well I have to write to LaVerne [Cookie, his girlfriend] and thank her for the package. Lil wrote me and told me your morning greeting to my picture. I ope that it will be bordreed by one in uniform soon. Well, till I write again, I’ll keep as good as I can.

Love Frank 

XXX

Radio Days Devotion

A radio similar to theone on which my 
grand mother set Ebner's photo to 
greetMorning and Night

My grandmother explains how she and Grandpa say "Goot Morning, Ebner" and "Goot Night, Ebner" twice daily my uncle's photo, set up as a small shrine atop a radio the the one posted here. It's kinda sweet, picturing them trying to keep a connection through a picture. A refresher on names: Will is my grandparents' oldest son, then Fred, my dad (whom the family called "Sam." I changed it in the letter to [Fred] in brackets, to avoid confusion. Lil is my mom. She and Dad had married just two months, on November 8, 1942, before Ebner's draft date.

Chicago, Ill 3/14 1943

My Dear Ebner,

I was waiting till 7 minutes before 10 pm Sunday for maybe you would call me on the telefon. But it was for nothing. Were you so busy or have you got school on Sunday. I hope and pray for you in our church that God should bless you everywhere you go and in everything you do. He should be with you, my loving son. The letter you send to [Fred] I heard about two days after and wish to help you.

As soon as [Fred] read me the news I send you 1/2 salami, a little bread [and want to find out if] everyting reach you. Was the bread dry out or is it o.k.?

[I sent you dill pickel and some fruit and nut candy Will bought, so I packt it tight, hoping [it] reach you good.

[Fred] and Lil send you a package. Sam mail mine with his on Sat 5pm time. Send me a few lines so I kan know and keep going [to send you] the next one.

How is it with the money? You have still or do you need a littel more. As much as I can I will do. Write me more about yourself. Please don’t get discourage. Read some time the verse I give you [from] the Bible or hymn book. I am sure God will be with you if you think on him.

Page 2

My Dear Ebner,

Your watch you were sending home is not here--or did you change your mind? Your dad is busy. Same [with] Will. Both working so hard, often we have our meal [supper] at 9:00 or 9:30

[At the six flat, a contractor [put in] new front steps to the basement. All the tenants’ leases begin on May 1, 1943, so I was going with the painter and contractor for all the cleaning [of the apartments] and [paid] the last bill of the income tax, and paid the painter, so [that’s the reason] I was not writing.

I don’t know if you can read all. I try very hard with a dictionarie.

Every morning [first thing] I say “Goot Morning, Ebner” to your picture on the radio, and Father, he says it as soon as he comes home...and prays for your blessings for the day. Then [again I say good night to the picture] the last thing before I go to bed.

Those two lights [flanking Ebner’s photo] burn as soon as it gets dark. Often our living room is [lit] only by those green lights.

So chin high. God will be with you all the time and [will] always bless you. It is now 12 o’clock Sunday the 14th. So good night on paper. Before I go to bed, I stand by your picture two times.

With loving and more loving from your Mother and Dad and Will

The War-years work schedule

Long hours were common during the war years, as women and the men left behind had to do the work of the men deployed and in training. It was no different for my parents. My Mom, Lillian, was executive secretary for the president of the Bayer Company in downtown Chicago. She was an expert typist, resulting in letters like the one below. It needs no transcription, but if the print seems too small, just hold your command or control button and press the + key to enlarge.

What's the Pitch? What Gives?

Frank Von Arx

Frank Gartz's first letter from a pal.

Fun Lingo from the 1940s crops up throughout this very first letter written to my Uncle Ebner BEFORE he was even drafted. That's because his best buddy, Frank Von Arx, had already been inducted into the military the previous December (1942). Here Von Arx chides Frank Ebner Gartz for not writing to him. (Seems the pattern started early, but won't last for long!)

 Its lighthearted scolding and teasing tone, tell us a lot about these two young men and the friendship they shared. Sounds like Ebner was pretty hard to pin down, always on the go. Frank VA is is doing his best to wheedle a letter out of his buddy, Gartz, still in Chicago. Von Arx is already demonstrating his scribe skills which will eventually land him in journalism.

I chose not to post it on the date it was written because that was before Ebner's induction, and I started this thread on that date, 1/23. Here it is now.

January 7, 1943

Dear Frank,

Boy are you in for it now. All you better hope is that we get called out to the drill field before I get started here.

To make myself perfectly plain to you I will put it this way–––
What the hell goes on in Chicago?
Yes, that is what I said. What’s the pitch? What gives?

Here is the situation. Two old pals who knew each other for practically all their lives are separated by a cruel stroke of fate. They bid tearful goodbyes and make stout promises to send a good word as often as possible.  So here is what happens.

The galoot who stays home [my uncle] send the track-maker one high-class letter on stolen stationery and then promptly leaves his poor lost pal in the lurch, alone in the world to tear out his hair and beat out his brains trying to guess what possibly could have happened at home.

Now to make it all the worse, you must consider the one pal who made his goodbyes at home. If he were an ordinary guy, one could just about guess what makes at home, BUT this guys is different. Never try to guess what he is going to do or is doing. You just can’t do it! I know I tried. And that makes all the worst, anything could be happening and this poor pal would never know it. Oh Dear!

Gartz, are you lucky there are five states separating us (or are there? I wouldn’t be too sure of even that ?) or else I would make it tough on you.

(Pause of approximately 5 hours)

So, as I said, What goes on in Chicago? Especially around Keeler and Madison [where Gartz family lived], even though you aren’t at home long enough to get a good night’s sleep at least try to write a letter saying--”Dear Frank, Am feeling ok -- or am not feeling okay, whichever the case may be.

Get the idea?

Now I know this isn’t a very good way to talk to a guy’s best friend, but then I haven’t bawled anybody out for a long time so it might as well be you. You at least, have sense enough not to listen.

I forget when I last wrote you so therefore, I cannot tell you an accurate account of all the heroic deeds I have performed down here in Florida. In fact, just for punishment for not writing, I think I shan't tell you any of them all. So there!

We are now in our third day of Basic Training (15 more to go). This morning we started drilling at 7:45 am, although we had been up since 4:45, and kept at it until 8:30 when we wit and got a lecture on battlefield first aid. At 10am we went to P.T. (Physical Trn.) and got a dose of exercise and a couple of simple lessons on breaking a choking grip or likewise. Now it is 12 noon and we are in our barracks waiting a call for chow.

This afternoon I suppose we will get more drilling and then an hour of P.T. Before we go off duty at 5pm. For the afternoon P.T. We can put on our swim suits and take the exercises on the beach, after which we all take a nice swim. It really is nice in ocean water despite the salt. You can’t swim much but the waves sure knock you around a lot.

There are several basketball outdoor courts, tennis court, volleyball and baseball fields which we get to use in our spare time. I hope to get quite a tan before we get sent to school.

Which reminds me, did I tell you that they have classified me for either metal worker or armorer mechanic schools? That is just what I wanted. I want to get this in the mail at chow time so I am going to close now. Just want to let you know everything is all right -- except for a couple of tired bones -- and I can’t kick on a thin--except your mail.

Say hello to your mother, father, and brothers for me.

Your Pal,
Frank

I'd hate for you to go haywire.

Austin High School, Chicago, Il

Frank's former science and division teacher at Austin High School, Miss Hartley, was a regular correspondent, not only to Frank Ebner, but to many of his buddies from his high school class. Harvey Duck was in Frank's same division (see photo above), and his name comes up in this letter as Miss Hartley is keeping all the boys apprised of their classmates doings and whereabouts  (See 3/3 posted letter from Frank's Mom.) Miss Hartley also mentions that Cookie, Frank's girlfriend, took over Duck's job. 

I'm not transcribing this letter. A teacher's handwriting is pretty easy to read. It's an example of how everyone on the home front rallied behind the boys in training and kept their spirits up with a regular flow of correspondence. Frank's teacher adds a few notes of chastisement for some of Frank's apparently not so "mature" behavior in high school, but, like all good teachers, also leavens her critique with guidance and encouragement.

Miss Catherine Hartley's Division #451 Austin High School, 1942Miss Hartley, center 2nd Row. Frank Ebner Gartz, top row second from right.
Friend, Harvey Duck, top row-3rd from left

Zero-Dark-thirty-five below

Frank Gartz left Keesler Field in Mississippi and arrived on February 27th, 1943, at the Army Technical School in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, for an 18-week stay. His long days of classes, studying, and drilling in a frigid wind will toughen him up. Here's a good description of the town and the first serious courses for an airman in training. He probably wrote this letter before receiving the one his mother wrote to him on March 3rd too, so I'm posting this a little after the date it was written.

ARMY TECHNICAL SCHOOL

A.A.F.T.T.C.

SIOUX FALLS, SOUTH DAKOTA

3-3-43

Dear Mom:

I had to write tonight because soon I’ll be going nuts studying lots of dashes and electron theory. I just made up my bunk and came back to the day room to write this letter. Soon I’ll have to turn in because it’s after 9 now and I’ll have to get up at 4:30.

Today we went to school (6:50 A.M.) and got through at 2:30. From 3:00 to 5:00 we went for a walk and covered about 7 miles. From about 6:30 to 8:00 I have been studying and now writing letters. At Keesler* I wrote and told you I didn’t have much time to myself. Here the situation is more acute. I have less time and more things to do. I’ll write as often as I can which will be 2 times a week or at least once.

I received your $20.00 and have arranged to have my picture taken as soon as I get to town. [Fred's] letter hasn’t as yet reached me but I know it will soon be here. I received a letter from Duck** today and promptly answered it, my first letter to Harvey since I’ve come in the army.

How is Dad and Will? Tell him I’ll write him soon in code to give him and myself some practice. I bought an extra book today called “The Radio Amateur’s Handbook” $1.00.
This book I hope will give me the needed extra help. So far everything is OK in schoool. Now I’ll try to give you a description of the field.

I can do it in a short sentence, but I won’t. It’s on flat ground which hasn’t an ounce of life on it. It’s dusty and very windy and very, very cold. A mild day is 0∘or two below. A cold day is between -15 and -35 degrees below, but today was nice-only 15∘above. This weather as today was very nice. The wind blows up to 50 and 60 miles per hour. Today only 20 mph. The sun even came out in the late afternoon. When the sun sinks, it throws a red carpet over Sioux Falls and the tall church and water tower throw weird shadows over the town on the hill.

I’m with a fellow from Texas who is one swell guy. He is married and is trying to get a call through to his wife. He is a good conversationalist and has almost got me believing that I want my home in Texas when I get out of the army.

Again I’m going to try to send my watch home. It’s losing time something awful. I’ll have to send home my garrison hat ‘cause they’re not allowed on the field. The rules down here are very strict and sometimes unfair, but that’s the army. This will be my home for 18 weeks or so and I had better make the best of it.

Send me some candy (chocolates) if you would. A package would lease the boys very much. A fellow got a cake and some fudge [and] in about 3 minutes they were all gone. The squadron is restricted at the present from leaving the post, so town will be passed up till Restriction is lifted.

In my barracks all the members are sergeants except the 8 men of whom I’m one who came in last Saturday.*** All the men have passed their aerial gunnery school requirements and now have to take Radio Operator and mechanics courses before they go overseas. Well, I’ll have to turn in now so till I write again,

Love
your son,
Frank

*Keesler Field In Mississippi, where he was stationed just prior to Sioux Falls, S.D.
** [Harvey Duck--see previous post, 3/3/43 letter from Frank’s mom].
***The previous Saturday was February 27th, so that’s when he arrived in Sioux Falls

Original below
again, markings are mine on a xerox copy, easier to scan.

Let me know how you come along

LaVerne "Cookie" Karbach
(bridesmaid photo) Ebner's
high school girlfriend

Chicago, ILL
March 3, 1943

Harvey Duck

Dear Ebner,

I was waiting [for] Will to send you a Letter but he is with his Air Port Working and so busy so I have to try again.

2 March Cooky [Cookie] kam [came] from Work befor going home and we both visit for [a] goot 1/2 hour. She like her work. You know it already [that] she have Duk’s work.

Note: "Duk" is Harvey Duck, one of Ebner’s best friends from Austin High School. His h.s. grad photo (1942) notes, "Ambition: Become a successful sports writer." He did. Read about him HERE.]

My grandmother is writing that Cookie, Ebner's girlfriend, took on Duck's job, a typical transference of a job to women when all the men went into the military). She continues her letter: 

Probably the "insignia" my grandmother refers to

I gave her one of your insignias. [see right]

I just waiting for some lines from you––If only 10 line from you to leave me know how you com allong and how is school. Try hard. God bless you steady and help you to finish what you wish. I will [be] praying steady for you by your picture.

Sunday afternoon I sent you $25.00 with a letter. Do you need some sweater or anyting [so] you not get a cold? Send me lines. [i.e., write me.]

We have very cold here, [and] steady hard working for Papa of course.

I [wish] the best for you [wherever] you go and [whatever] you do. God lead and be all the time with you. With lots of love and kiss.

Mother and Dad and Will