James “Jimmy” J. Ley attended Grinnell College for two years before enlisting in the U.S. Army Air Force in 1942. Ley’s papers include an extensive series of correspondence written by Ley during his time at Grinnell and in the army air force, as well as personal items, photographs, and military documents.
Jimmy writes home after his first week at Grinnell. He asks for curtains for his dorm room and looks forward to Christmas vacation. He mentions his roommate Jack Metcalf.
Jimmy writes home after two weeks. He says that learning Spanish is hard since he did not learn any language in high school. He visits a Ford dealership.
Jimmy describes “Hell week” and the student assigned challenges he had to complete including marching down Main Street in a kilt carrying a sack of four bricks. He mentions his sister, Betty, and he moves to a new dorm room.
Jimmy looks forward to Christmas. He hopes Betty would fall in love with Jack. He is excited that Smith Hall is going to host a house party in the spring and will spend $700 to pay a band.
Jimmy looks forward to going home for spring break. He talks about the war getting serious. He wants to get a job on campus and asks how the family business is going.
