Letter Written by Katherine Trickey to Her Folks Dated April 29, 1944

[Transcription begins] WAC Det, IRTC 29 April 1944 Dear Folks, Mother, I got your two cards and your letter saying that you had really arrived. I am so glad for you. I certainly wish that I could be there with you. Bobby and Janice must be so cute now. Mae, it’s been such a long time since I’ve seen you I hope I’ll recognize you when I do!! This has been another busy week. Monday, Marjorie & I went for a walk after supper. It wasn’t raining for a change. We’ve had so much rain this month. Tuesday, we went to the movies to see Andy Hardy’s Blonde Trouble. It is the one of the best of that series. Really funny. The lines are better than some of his. Wednesday I worked at the office until 10.45 trying to get somewhat caught up. It is difficult to keep ahead of the game with Minnie on furlough. She wired last night that she was sick and would need an extension. So she won’t be back next week either. I hope I get some help before then. Thursday night, our Detachment had a dance at the boys’ Recreation Hall. We were all supposed to go and I guess nearly everyone did. I reallly had a pretty good time. I even danced three dances. I also got a date for next Wednesday with one of the overseas boys. He wanted obe (sic) (? typographical error possibly) so I decided I [would] give it to him even if I didn’t think he was much. He is cooking at Headquarters Co. He has been in both the Pacific and the Atlantic theaters. He says it’s good to be back. Last night, I was just tired and just loafed. Nearly all the girls were hanging around last night so there was plenty of talk and gossip to keep things interesting. I still claim we’ve got the best possible group of girls in my wing of the barracks. I expect to go to the library tonight with some overdue books. We can keep books two weeks, then they send us a notice but their (sic) is no fine anyway. Sunday will be a quiet day I expect. Maybe I’ll work a while if I feel like it. Payday isn’t until Monday so I shan’t do anything very expensive I’m afraid. Surprising where the money goes each month! We really do have considerable expense however, Cleaners bills, new caps this month, more insignia, (sleeve patches for our shirts now that we go without jackets). They never give one quite enough of anything. This month I have to have all my winter things cleaned and buy mothproof bags to put them in. We are going to store them in one of the empty Cadre rooms. By the way, that word “Cadre” which you may hear army people using means the people who run the companies. For example in our company it would be our first sergeant, our supply sergeant and her assistant, the company clerk, the mail clerk, the cooks, etc. Not the girls who work in the offices or elsewhere at the camp. For the whole camp, it means those who are permanently stationed in comparison to the trainees who are here only temporarily for training. The roses are gorgeous this week. The birds are quite numerous now but [there] seem to be only a few kinds as far as I can find out. Mocking birds are most prevalent with meadow larks coming next, some blue jays, and Monday we saw a whole flock of Bobolinks on their way north. I must stop now and get to work. Love Kay [Transcription ends