France Oct. 13, 1944

Dear Mother,
         Well here I am in France. I
did have quite a trip in traveling
over her. I have seen quite a few
places of interest here already, and a
lot of places you probably have read
and heard about on the radio. I
hope some day this war will soon
end I won't know where to begin
to tell you about the war.
      We have been sleeping in our
pup tents and tonight will be the
first night to undress and sleep
in a cot. Boy that is sure going to
be swell again.
     I received some mail tonight also.
Had a letter from Luella and two V
mail from Lenore and one from Jane
Battle. She is the one I met in
St. Louis. Remember when I went to

school there. Gosh I didn't think she
would remember me. She is married
now. I guess everyone is getting married
at home, I mean in the States. Irene
sent me the ring also. So goodbye to
her.
     No one can say France is sunny.
I think it rains more over here than
in England. But I think the French are
better than what I have seen so far
than the English. They have suffered a
lot though. I don't know just how
to make myself understood as yet over
here but I guess I will get around
ok.
     Well I must get some sleep for
now. Will try to write more later
on. Please don't worry about me.
                            Love Ralph.


The next letter will be posted on October 15th.

Background Information (and comments):

• Here's a photo and some information about pup tents:

The fundamental unit of shelter for the U.S. Army in the field -- since the Civil War -- is the two-man pup tent. Each pup tent is made up of two shelter half pieces that fasten together with a row of buttons (up to late World War II) or snaps along the ridge line and, with poles, ropes and stakes, make up one pup tent. The buttons are matched to a row of button holes. The snaps are two sided. With either system, any pair of shelter half pieces can be fastened together with a watertight closure along the top line. The shelter half is approximately 7' long by 5' wide.

The tent half with its stakes and poles weighs about 5 lbs. for each soldier, 10-11 pounds total. To erect the tent, two soldiers work together as shown in this section from FM 21-15 "Care and Use of Individual Clothing and Equipment" (15 Feb 1977). The rectangular part of the shelter half forms the pitched roof of the tent while the triangular end forms a back wall at one end and a flap door at the other. The early World War II tents had no front flap so the tent was open to the elements. Grommets along the base of the tent have loops of cord which attach to the tent stakes.

The unit of issue is this set of components:

• One shelter half (cotton duck material during World War II, cotton sateen fabric since the Vietnam War era).
• One folding tent pole or 3 pole sections to make one pole.
• Five stakes (wood during World War II, stamped aluminum today).
• Rope guy line, approx. 7 feet, loop on one end.