U. S. S. PRAIRIE
25 January 1946
Dearest Family
This is one of those normal civilian typewriters and since I&m used to the abnormal Navy letter choppers please try and bear with me while I peck my way through this letter.
I arrived safely to the mighty 'P' yesterday afternoon and found everything slightly confused and well torn up. The radio shack looked as if it had been hit by an atomic bomb. The bulkheads what used to be weren't, and a thousand and one changes all over were well under-way making a total mess of the ship. The compartment where I usually live while on board had been painted, but the painters hadn't made any effort to protect any of the gear- and so much of my clothing is an odd shade of white. It was nice to see a lot of my buddies again and to re-hash all the important factors of our respective leaves. None of the boys got married, but from the way they talk marriage didn't seem to make much difference.
Immediately on return I inquired about my status as to discharge and other things and learned the following: The Prairie is scheduled to leave Mare Island on 16 Feb. for a shakedown cruise to San Diego and thence to Pearl Harbor to pick up ComDesPac. Naturally I was worried when I was told that, but my fears were calmed when I was also informed that it is almost definite that all rated men in the radio gang will be transferred to shore stations to await accumulation of points and discharge. The ship has been assigned an entirely new compliment- to be made up of regular navy personnel, therefore releasing all reserves eligible for discharge or not to shore stations. My next move is to see if I can possibly swing a deal whereby I can be transferred to Great Lakes, or preferably Toledo Ohio. In other words, if I am to be transferred before the ship leaves here, it means that I'll be gone within 20 days- so help me, god.
I also got all my back mail today including packages from mother and Mary etc. I really appreciated that book of plays- and am sure to have many well read moments now in spare time- which I should have a fair amount of, since my job now is to type general messages to the captain- hence, much leasure, for there aren't many messages.
I am being paged for a loan and a bowling match- It's past working hours now - so so long- and
lots of love.
[Signature: "Bud" in handwriting]