June 7, 1942
Kelly Field
Sunday, June 7 [1942]
Dear Mom,
I have been planning to set up sort of a schedule about writing you letters but I don’t think I will. In the Army writing is about the greatest pleasure we get. What I mean is, when I get an hour off from my duties the first thing I think of is writing a letter so you can expect at least one a week from now on.
I sure was shocked to hear about Will’s getting killed. The last time I remember Will he was walking from Aunt Matt’s down to Cleo’s. I had been down there to see her and met Will at the gate. He wished me all the good luck in the world. I told him I would see him after the war
From the way accidents have been happening from this man’s corner it looks as though one is a lot safer in the Army.
I haven’t had a payday yet and from all I gather on the peawire [?], I won’t get paid until my course here is over and then I will get it in a lump sum. The course here only last 4 ½ weeks though.
We go to classes all morning and drill all afternoon. In my classes I have mathematics, military courtesy, customs, etc. Also we have a course in organization of the Army Navy Marines. This course is going to be the hardest for me because it is so complicated. It is very interesting though as it teaches also the tactics of all different types of battles.
I have gotten three letters since I’ve been here one from you one from Bill and one from Margaret. Margaret had been to Louisville Kentucky to meet Bob and from her letter she had a good time.
The cadets are having a tea dance this afternoon at the Gunter Hotel downtown but at the present it looks as if I’m left out.
I have just been to dinner today and it was really swell. We had Swiss Steak, fruit cocktail, peas, potatoes, corn, salad, milk, lemonade and cake. They let us loose in mess hall on Sundays and we all really go to town.
I would have gone to church this morning but we had personal inspection which knocked us out of going. If it ever happens again I’m going to object to our captain.
I find it very hard sometimes to take and follow orders. For instance, the other day I was in the orderly room (Headquarters) to get a post exchange book (soldier’s bankroll). Maj. Bruton, the big mucky muck here, was in there. He came over and spoke to me and I snapped to attention. He asked me what I wanted and I simply said PX Book, sir. I got “reamed” for that, as I found out later, a subordinate may never use slang in conversation with an officer.
When we get “gigged” around here it means we have been awarded demerits. I have already received one for a dirty floor which looked to me like it was perfectly clean.
Our Cadet Major here, (a Cadet major is just an honorary title given to cadets who have had drill and etc. before) is a “crud” as we all dislike him. We all like our Cadet Lieut. who was directly over us. His name is “Woodring.” But the Cadet Major Wagoner is the one who dishes out most of the demerits. If we get over six in any one week we have to walk them off. One hour walking for each demerit over six –
Goodbye & Love,
Rogers
William W. Whitehead, a Lone Mountain fixture and close friend of the Payne family, was mentioned in Roger’s first letter. Will was a long-time live-in lodger, farm worker, and “honorary”almost- like -family member of R.W. Payne, Roger’s Uncle Bob. He was a good friend of Roger’s father, Byrd. He was also the Uncle of Hazel Whitehead, later the housekeeper and companion of Roger’s older brother, Tip Payne.
At age 52, Will was killed at the railroad crossing at Lone Mountain. It was in the wee hours of Sunday Morning, May 31, suggesting a typical Saturday night of too much drinking – a well-established Lone Mountain tradition in those days. Will is buried in the Payne Family cemetery.
Roger had twin uncles in Lone Mountain – Uncle Fate, who lived directly across from the Payne Brothers’ store, and Uncle Bob, who lived down the road toward the graveyard. They both married women named “Mattie” so the family called them “Aunt Matt Fate” and “Aunt Matt Bob.”
The one Roger refers to in this letter is Aunt Matt Bob. Uncle Bob and Aunt Matt Bob lived just above the home of Cleo Payne, and Will was walking from their house to Cleo’s when Roger last saw him.
Dear to Roger his entire life was Cleo Payne, wife of his first cousin Paul Payne. Cleo lived at the bend of the road between our Lone Mountain House and the Payne Cemetery, so she was a close neighbor to Roger as well.
There were two “Williams” who were especially close to Roger from childhood. One was Bill Breeding who was called “Eli.” The other was his nephew Bill Payne, oldest son of Roger’s brother and sister-in-law, Clarence and Bertha.
The one mentioned in this letter is Bill Payne who was only two years younger than his Uncle Roger.
Margaret is Roger’s older sister. She was a nurse and was headed off to WWII as well. Margaret, born in 1905, was sixteen years older than Roger, who was born in 1921.
Mentioned in this letter is a boyfriend, Bob. who lives in Knoxille. I am not sure (yet) who he is.
Just a few days before Roger wrote this letter, news began coming out about displaced Jews being gassed in eastern Europe.
In North Africa, Rommel has begun a successful new offensive against The British 150th Brigade.
For Japan, two operations are underway. First was The Battle of Dutch Harbor which begins their Aleutian Islands Campaign. Second was the Battle of Midway in which the Japanese fleet begins attacking the US air defenses on Midway Island
This is the top half of the Claiborne Progress front page on June 3, 1942, and it was certainly read and reread by my grandmother, A Payne, and all the Paynes and Jenningses and other Claiborne County residents whose loved ones had left home for military service. All the main stories involve gearing up for war. The production of planes is emphasized as well as the war effort at home – collection of scrap metal and old tires for rubber, as well as blackout drills. So early on in the War, they were preparing for everything, including attacks on the US homeland.
In the society pages of this issue of the Progress was also a note about area college students arriving home for the summer. Among them was Norma Jean Rose who would marry into the Payne Family within the year, becoming the wife of Roger’s nephew Frank Ault. At the time of this article, Frank was in Officer’s Candidate School at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland
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