Capt. R J Mac McKelvy, 02/09/1945

9 February 1945
France –

Dear Colonel –

I haven’t heard from you for a long time so I thought that I would drop you a line or two. I am now at the R. D. and waiting with some impatience for reassignment. I could write a book on the replacement system and why it doesn’t work. I have never in my life seen such waste of both time and manpower. But who am I to get excited? But it burns me up and one of these days I am going to start sounding off in a place where it will do the most good.

Pye is here with me. He has been reclassed also and feels pretty bad about it. He has aged so much that you would probably not recognize him. We have been to Paris together and had a fair time but wasted most of the day trying to get something to eat.

I wrote Jim but haven’t had any reply. But then all my mail has been slow and I still am waiting for the November crop to catch up with me. I have moved around so much lately that I guess I have outrun all the APO’s and it will take some time for it to reach me now.

Did you see the December – Inf. Journal? There is quite a good article by Col Gillespie on the 100th in the action at Pozzilli. I sent mine home for the scrap book and edited it a little. I think that it was substantially correct but there were several changes that I made. It was one of the first that I have seen in the Infantry Journal but my wife is on the trail of something that appeared in the A & N Journal during the past four months. She is a regular newshound where the 100th is concerned. Family pride I guess –

Well that’s about all the news from here. Life in a R. D. is not very exciting and as a matter of fact is slightly destructive in so far as morale is concerned.

Write when you can. Give my best alohas to Mrs Turner and any of the old gang that you may see –

Sincerely,
Mac