I’m not going to transcribe this lengthy exchange verbatim, but it’s an interesting discussion. Walter received a letter from George Decker, with whom he’d worked on grasshopper control in the 1930s. Decker is now working on chinch bugs in the midwest, and has heard rumors that the USDA is desperately seeking entomologists with field experience for the war effort. He asks Walter if he should offer his services. Walter writes back to describe the Army’s current recruiting efforts for science officers, and to point out that those working on domestic crop production are already considered critical to the war effort and therefore unlikely to be allowed to transfer.

January 20, 1943