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In the wake of AR8Jason’s postcards, I thought I’d share a little Army post card humor. The card is postmarked from Monterey, California in 1943, and therefore the soldier was most likely serving at Fort Ord, California, which was a major training center during the war. A lesser possibility would be the Presidio of Monterey. The letter is signed "Ethel" and there was definitely a Women's Army Corps presence at Ft Ord then. I spent two tours on Ft Ord, and was a volunteer museum tour guide before the post closed back in the 1990s. Now I live about 16 miles from the house the card was addressed to. Funny thing is, I found the card in Monterey!

The front depicts a soldier wearing a blue denim work uniform. These uniforms were eventually replaced by green herringbone twill (HBT) fatigues starting in 1941, but the blue denim work uniforms continued to be used on work details stateside for years afterward. The structure the soldier stands in is shown with a canvas tent cover. During the WWII build-up, thousands of “temporary” structures were erected (many continue to be used), but in the meantime, recruits slept under canvas.