--- audio_path: --- # Letter — 10 Feb 1943, to Mom and everybody **Sender**: Pvt. Arthur M. Yena — 1125 Tech. School Sqdn., Flight 443, A.A.F.T.T.C., Basic Training Center No. 9, Miami Beach, Florida **Recipient**: Mr. & Mrs. John Yena, [Quaker] Lane, West Warwick, Rhode Island *(ChatGPT read "[Lumber?] Lane" — almost certainly cursive misread of "Quaker")* **Date written**: Wednesday, 10 February 1943 ("its getting on 8:30 P.M., Wednesday, Feb. 10, 1943") **Postmark**: Miami Beach (not separately captured in this scan) **Stationery**: Plain — no letterhead noted **Type**: Handwritten, multi-page **Scan location**: `scans/processed/1943-02-10_to-mom/` *(scan-mapping pending)* **Transcription source**: ChatGPT vision pass 2026-05-27 (batch group-02, letter 1) **Confidence**: clean (~95%) **Note**: ⭐ **EARLIEST LETTER WITH BODY TEXT IN CORPUS** — pushes prior earliest (17 May 1943) back by 3+ months. A Feb 6 letter is referenced in the Feb 12 to-Ma-Pa letter but not present in this batch. --- ## Transcript (ChatGPT clean) > Pvt. Arthur M. Yena > 1125th Tech. School Sqdn. > Flight 443 > A.A.F.T.T.C., B.T.C. #9 > Miami Beach, Florida > February 10, 1943 > > Dear Mom and every body: > > How are things going along down there? How is the weather there? I haven't seen that kind of weather in a couple of weeks now. It must be different. Out here its always warm. I got a sunburn already from being outside all the time. It's really beautiful here. About 10 yards in back of our hotel is the beach, nice and cool. A lot of rich people are still around here. You can always see a ship way far out. It doesn't get dark until about 7:30 P.M. here and it becomes light just about the same time in the morning. We have lights out at 9 P.M. We also have a blackout and I do mean a blackout. You can't see a thing after 8:00 P.M. > > I saw Robert Pearson the other day. There is a fruit stand right across the street from our hotel that sells all kinds of fresh fruit and fruit juices very cheap. I got a great big tall glass of orange juice for about 10 cents. It took about 3 or 4 oranges to make it. They squeeze the juice right in front of you so that you know it is fresh. I went to Robert's room and he came in mine and we went out to the drug store together. He got here about 3 days ahead of me so that he'll be leaving most likely about the same time as I will. He was at Fort Devens when I was there only I didn't know it. Four of the fellows that left Providence with me are still with me right in the same hotel, so that it isn't so bad. I took an Air Corps examination this morning and I probably will be classified tomorrow. I'll be able to tell more about what I'm going to be after I get classified. > > I thought that I was going to be here only about a month, but now I don't know exactly when. You hear all kinds of rumors. The officers say though that I'll have about 5 days processing, then about 18 days of basic training. Sometimes they say you'll go quicker, but the average amount of time they stay here is about 24 days. Then I'll go to school and study the subject that I get classified for. I'll most likely be away from here. That can be anywhere from 3 or 4 weeks to 7 or 8 months. After that I get stationed to a camp for a while, I think. After that I don't know. There's a lot of rumors about [cameras?] [unclear] and send them to you. > > I sent Ma a pillow case from Fort Devens and one from here. I don't know whether or not they got there. I also sent a couple of handkerchiefs to Anna from here. That's all I could think of for her birthday. If you haven't already sent me a letter telling me so, let me know if they got there all right. When you write, please use an air-mail stamp if you can because it gets here much faster. Make sure too that you get my whole address down correctly because if you don't it might not get here, and if it does it'll take a long time. Tell me how everybody is! How did Al come out with the Army? I wrote him a letter asking him to write back but he might not have gotten it in time, so if you know how it came out let me know. How is Walter and Howard? Is Howard still working in the mill? Does Papa [unclear] Lucille and Johnny and Kathleen, but in case I don't get a chance, let me know how they are. > > Well its getting on 8:30 P.M., Wednesday, Feb. 10, 1943, so I guess I'll get ready for bed. I get to bed early now. There's nothing else to do but go to the show and that lets out late. I've seen all I could around here so that's the best thing to do. I've been in the Army about a week and a half now and it seems about a year and a half. Well take it easy Mama and everybody and don't worry about me because I'm fine, but do write because I'm anxious to hear from you. > > Love, > Arthur > > P.S. Remember me to everybody. I hope after I get shipped to school from here that it's close to home and then maybe I can come home once in a while. But don't count on it too much because I'm not sure where I will go. --- ## Major content / narrative significance - ⭐ **EARLIEST DATED LETTER IN CORPUS.** Pops has been at Miami Beach Basic Training Center No. 9 for about 4 days at this point ("I've been in the Army about a week and a half now") — he arrived Sat Feb 6 1943 (confirmed later in Feb 15 letter). This is the first written window onto the start of his Army life. - **The Air Corps classification exam happens the morning of this letter** — *"I took an Air Corps examination this morning and I probably will be classified tomorrow."* The classification that follows ultimately routes him through Aircraft Armorer → Gunnery (Kingman) → Intelligence (Salt Lake) → Cryptography. This letter catches the moment of the fork. - **Sent Ma two pillow cases** (one from Fort Devens, one from Miami) and **handkerchiefs to Anna for her birthday** — Anna's birthday is in early February, confirming a tradition of small gift-sending even from boot camp. - **First mention of Robert Pearson** as Miami Beach companion — they overlap at Fort Devens unknowingly. Pearson reappears throughout the Feb batch and ships out Feb 27. - **Florida environment vivid**: 10 yards from beach, fresh orange juice (10¢ for a glass taking 3-4 oranges), strict 8 PM blackout, hotel rooming, "ship[s] way far out" — coastal U-boat threat era. - **"About a week and a half… seems about a year and a half"** — concise Pops voice on the slowness of Army time, foreshadowing the recurring time-warp note across the corpus. - Mom's first wartime gift package not yet acknowledged here (acknowledged in Feb 22 letter, when the cake/sausage/tuna/candy box arrives). ## Family-tree refresh from this letter - **Al** — first mention, hometown contact, also being processed for Army service. Status uncertain to Pops; he asks repeatedly across the Feb batch. - **Walter** — *"How is Walter and Howard?"* — likely Walter Becker (named explicitly in Feb 17 to Anne) or Walter Hillebrandt (named in May 17 to Pop). Two Walters in the network. - **Howard** — *"Is Howard still working in the mill?"* — distinct from Pop. Possibly Howie/Howard Mullin (the mail man's son? — Mullin is named later as Anna's boss in 1943). Lives in West Warwick, mill worker. - **Papa, Lucille, Johnny, Kathleen** — family group at home. Lucille = Aunt Lucille (paired with Uncle Karl later). Johnny = brother. Kathleen = niece/younger sibling per memory. - **Robert Pearson** — Marine Terrace hotel, Miami Beach. West Warwick hometown soldier, shipped from Fort Devens with Pops without their knowing it. ## Open questions - **What was Anna's exact birthday in early Feb 1943?** Pops sends handkerchiefs "for her birthday." If we can pin the day, it tightens the Anna-related timeline. - **What was the classification result?** Pops promises *"I'll be able to tell more about what I'm going to be after I get classified"* — the answer comes in subsequent letters (Aircraft Armorer / Mechanic / Gunner track). Worth tracing. - **Did the pillow cases survive in the family archive?** Specific keepsake — Mom-interview question. ## Themes EARLIEST-IN-CORPUS · miami-beach · btc-no-9 · 1125-tech-school-sqdn · flight-443 · air-corps-classification-exam · blackout · orange-juice · robert-pearson · pillow-cases · annas-birthday · al-status · ma-pa-johnny-kathleen · howard-in-the-mill · walter