Excerpt from Robert Milasky letter to his folks in Chicago, May 29, 1943: 'Hi Everybody. Saturday afternoon here and it's a swell day. We've taken it pretty easy today, although we did take a six-mile hike, but that was alright as it was very nice out here this afternoon. You seem to be worried a little about church. Well, while we're out in boot camp, everyone has to go, Catholic, Protestant or Jewish. We have a 9:30 Mass in a big auditorium with about 2,000 kids there. They have temporary kneelers there and prayer books. I think I'll go to confession tonight if I can find where the Catholic chaplain is. About that quartermaster business, it is supposed to be the most respected position, besides the officers of the ship. A quartermaster is the assistant to the officer of the deck, stands on the bridge with all the gold braid, plots courses, must know how to navigate, read the stars, know different signals, read compasses, and is in general an all around man. When you tell the boys around here that you have been recommended (I want all of you to keep that in mind I haven't been selected yet, only recommended, and I won't know for sure for about 3 weeks.) Well, as I was saying, when you tell somebody you were recommended for quartermaster, they say, 'Yeah!' or 'Lucy you,' or 'Brain!' or some other mark of respect which is due a Milasky. Right, folks?! Love, Bob'