“Dear Dad Copeland,

I was so happy to receive your letter. Skip has talked so much about you all it makes me feel as though I already know you.

You asked in your letter when we were coming to see you. I would really love to come. But to be very frank with you, we both cannot make the trip financially at this time. Skip and I have discussed this problem very thoroughly and we have decided that he should go home by Air Force Transportation as soon as he finishes his typing course. This should be about the middle of next month. He has a thirty day leave coming and I would like for him to spend as much of it as he possibly can with you all. Of course Skip doesn’t want to leave me here and I hate for him to, but we have decided that this is the best solution. I know you all must be very anxious to see him and I certainly know how badly he needs and wants to go home.

By the way, Skip got his military driver’s license yesterday; he made “100” on his written test.

As soon as we get a camera we will certainly send some pictures. How about sending us a few?

Your son bought me a lovely box of candy yesterday, but by the time part of the children on the base came around with “trick or treat” I hardly had any left.

You also asked in your letter to tell you something about myself; but I don’t know what you would really like to know. I have a brother, Bobby. I suppose he is about the same age as Bill; he was fifteen in Aug. I went home to see him play on the junior team of football last week. They took a terrific beating. I have one sister who is twenty-three. She lives with her husband at Great Lakes, Ill. where he is an instructor at the Naval Base. They will be home this Xmas. I went to visit them a year ago last summer when they lived in Newport; I thought Rhode Island was so pretty that I didn’t want to leave.

I’ll be hoping to receive a letter from you soon.

Love,
Carol"]]>