ENPages
1
Sir, your letter of well wishing and inquiry reached me today and I am taking this opportunity to write and express my feeling toward Stanford.
Some two years I was called to service in the Marines and forced to leave Stanford in the middle of my second year. I was unfortunate in having to leave but was assigned to duty at the University of California as a V-12 trainee. Here I was able to complete another year of my education. Since then I have been doing duty on the Atlantic coast at Pania Island, Camp Lyenne, and now at Quantico, Virginia. There remain only six weeks before I graduate as a second Lt. from the officer candidate school here. This will mean being able to return home and to visit Stanford for a short time. This somewhat lengthy autobiography is perhaps inexcusable but this changing so often has broadened my outlook upon life. I have learned that what I learned at Stanford both formally and socially has made me better able to serve my country in many ways. The university has left me indebt to it in many ways. I can mearly say thank you.
2
Your questions are the type one likes to have asked by his university as they exhibit a continued interest in the future.
I plan to return to Stanford when I am released to continue my studies. History was my major subject with the hope of law school after graduation. I plan to continue with both objectives. My knowledge of these fields as taught as pre-war subjects at Stanford is limited to observations of a lower division student. From my memories of the methods employed I should say that they were satisfactory.
I live at Encina most of my time at Stanford and still entertain the desire to take up residence at my fraternity. This is an old desire that may fade with age but holds true today.
Extra-curricular activities as offered before the war more than took adequate care of my wants. With the amount of activity our present life demands has left me with a desire for a more quiet life in the future.
Thank you for remembering those of us who are absent in body only. Our spirits are still with you at Stanford.
Sincerely, Clarence W. Boyd Jr.
Pfr. 515504 A Company, 5th Platoon Commanders Class B Barracks, Marine Barracks, Quantico, Virginia
(Enc to Records Bureau)
