October 31, 1943

                                                                                   

Oct 31, 1943

Dear A.P.

            I was very glad to get your letter the other day and seeing yours was the last I thought that I would answer it.

            We are not doing very much important but are just biding our time until Pre-flight opens next week.  When we get there our program will really start.  Right now we are doing details one day and classes the next day.  The classes are not anything to talk about except the code class and that is just there to give us an idea of what is to come.  We are just learning numbers and no letters.  We go into a large room with tables covered with earphone and they are connected to an automatic sender.  They give a number ten times and then change for about 4 numbers and then run through the series 5 or 6 times and then give you the numbers in a mixed order.  Not much too it.

            I haven’t done much talking about the meals around here because I thought that may be they would get better as the time went by.  But that is not the case.  I am really loosing weight not fast but steadily.  You can’t get enough to eat under any circumstances.  Maybe all the food is going to the Army but very little is coming here.  It seems to me that there is some poor management somewhere.  For example.  Here we are in the heart of the orange growing country but our fruit consists of Oregon apples and S. American bannanas (not many) and other fruit that is grown outside the state.  To show how much some fellows want something to eat, several fellows have been washed out for trying to buy food from the mess sgt. and the sgt was caught later selling pies to certain people whom he knew well.  Well, I hope we will get fed better at pre-flight but that doesn’t seem likely because we drew M.M (KP to you) in a mess hall at pre-flight and didn’t get fed any more than usual.  Well food isn’t everything anyway.  California is a pretty good state.

Original WW II P38 Training Video

            You would think after awhile that we would be tired of looking at airplanes but on the contrary we look up as much as ever.  I have got so that I can tell a P38 and B12 by the sound of its motors.  We also can tell these Basic Trainers by the roar of the motor when the prop is in low pitch.  Otherwise it sounds just like any other plane.  Today we saw some of these new Navy “Corsairs” that are doing such a wonderful job in the South Pacific.  Those fellows just dive the plane straight down when they want to come down.  The P38 is the one that really whistles as it comes down and when it flies close to the ground over the barracks, the whistle is one way of identifying it from the others.

P38 "Whistling Death"

            Maybe I haven’t told you about the visual education we have had so far.  It seems that the army is try to train men by showing “stills” or motion pictures.  The reason seems to be that they can reach a lot more men with less wear and tear on the vital instructors.  Also they say that it is much easier to remember pictures from a screen rather than pictures set up in your mind that might be false.  Before we had the high altitude test they showed us some pictures of the effects it has on the individual.  They were very good.  Along the same line are books that are composed mainly of pictures with a little explanation of the picture.  It was from a book like this that we read during that hour at 30,000’.  It seems much easier to comprehend the story when you have pictures to along with it.

            Our Physical Training is much to talk about except we are getting in condition for Pre flight where we will really have to work again.  It would be tough hitting P.T. after doing nothing for over a month along that line.

            I am glad to hear that you got the potatoes in all right.  I wish I could have been home to help.  I also saw your add in the Paper so I guess you are trying to get them off your hands. Tell Mother not to send any.  There are too many hungry boys here for her to feed.  Well good luck with them.

With love

Austin

October 30, 1943

Good News!

October 25, 1943

SAAAB                        

                                                                                                            Santa Ana Calif

                                                                                                            Oct 25, 1943

Dear Pops (I forgot; A.P)

            I suppose you have been wondering just where this letter got lost.  Well it got lost before it started more times than you can tell mainly because time around here is very limited and what time you do get off you would rather spend at pleasure rather than at letter writing.  As it is we are not going on parade so I am spending this time before chow in the best way possible.

            Today has been very interesting and rather exciting too.  We had our altitude tests today and those who were in physical good condition made the tests in a pressure chamber.  The whole thing was to test your ability to live properly at 38,000’.  We made a “check run” to 5000’ to see if everyone could clear their ears quickly with the changes in pressure.  After 2 had left because they couldn’t clear their ears we went to 18,000’ to test for symptoms of anoxia, a condition resulting from lack of oxygen which results finally in unconsciousness. 2 fellows passed out and removed through the “air lock” and were brought down.  So far I had no ill iffects.  After being at 18000’ 12 minutes they asked for a volunteer to leave his oxygen off as the altitude went up so that anoxia in all its forms could be studied by the other 15 in the chamber.  No one wanted to volunteer so I did just for the heck of it.

            At 18000’ you suffer very little from anoxia but as the altitude goes up and you get less and less oxygen you get slap happy and act very drunk and laugh a giggle just like the joke was on everyone else.  First you loose sense of judgement, then eye sight, hearing, feeling, and finally you lapse into unconsciousness even though you don’t realize it and might continue to go right on feeling good but be unconscious.  The finally stage is fainting and complete unconsciousness.

            At 18000’ they told me to write the little rhyme “Mary Had a Little Lamb.”  This I did for the 1st few lines and then I found it hard to dot the i’s and make periods; then I couldn’t see too well and the surroundings turned gray.  Things got harder and harder to do and see.  When I got to the sentence that has “teacher” in it I couldn’t remember what came after that.  I just sat and tried to think; and think, and think, and think and just sit and think hard.  They then took the paper I was writing on away and I looked down and saw that my oxygen was turned on and I could see, hear, and feel better.

            While I sat there just thinking (that’s what I thought) a number of things went on that I didn’t know about.  When they noticed that I couldn’t remember what came after “teacher” they told me to write down a number.  This was when I passed into my sub-conscious mind.  I wrote the number down and when told to write down the number which I was to multiply the 1^st number by I just continued to write the zeros of the 1^st number.  When asked to subtract 6 from the number, I just wrote a long scrawl down the page.   They then gave me oxygen and I came bak to consciousness trying to think about “teacher” and what came after it.  I lost about 2 minutes of life and went to 38000’ before getting oxygen.  Even then I didn’t pass out but just lost all my normal faculties.  Most of the fellows lose consciousness at 32000’.  It was just a lot of fun for me and I have no ill effects.

            Altitude is a dangerous thing if you are not in good condition.  Many get the “bends” and have to be brought down to an altitude of 30,000 ft.  After that few have trouble.  These “bends” are like those suffered by divers but not so bad or so dangerous because they can be fixed very quickly by bringing them to sea level or in most cases 30,000’.  Some people develop “chocks” cough, sinus trouble, ear, eye and nose trouble, tooth aches and just every thing in general goes wrong all because the air inside of you expands 5 times larger than normal.  You burp all the time going up and all the air in side you just comes up.

            The oxygen apparatus is the best in the world and the most recent perfected.  You can really use it at high altitudes and have no after affects in fact you feel better when you get down than when you went up.  All but your ears, but everyone has a little trouble with them for a while until they have done a lot of this work in the pressure chamber or do a lot of high altitude work.

            It is getting cold around here in the moring.  The temperature is between 38F and 50F when we “fall out” at 0500 every morning.  We are now wearing O.P. uniforms.  There are the all wool uniforms and are a lot warmer.  At noon however it is really hot and we wish the sun would hide behind a cloud.  Of course there aren’t clouds here, only the low hanging fog or ground fog.  I get to like this place better and better each day.

            I hope the potatoes are coming along.  I don’t know very much about potatoes because I wasn’t exactly brought up on a farm.  I suppose they are all out of the ground and put away by now.  I wish I could have been home to help but Calif. is a long way from home.  I would like to drive that tractor or just drive anything.  I haven’t driven for 4 months anything but a plane.  You probably wish you could drive something but an auto, well that’s life I guess.

            I get letters from Aunt Emma and Grandpa every now and then and I try to answer them as soon as possible.  Grandpa seems to be just about as ever.  He sends along little inspirational poems and notes about the Air Corp which he gets from his magazines.  They are really rather good and I enjoy them a lot.

            I would like to hear from you again soon but until then

With love

Austin

October 22, 1943

SAAAB

                                                                                                            Santa Ana Calif

                                                                                                            Oct 22, 1943

Dear Mother,

            Well I suppose this letter is rather late but my time for the last few days has been rather limited.  We have completed the M days and I have just one thing to say about them. I have made the grade.

            Now that I have passed the days of trial I can talk about them and not feel that I am speaking too soon.

            M-12 day was the climax and it became at 4:00 when we got up and made our beds and set the bunk house in order, made our beds and rearranged our foot lockers.  At 5:00 we fell out for revielle  and roll call.  We then got into our good clothes and went to chow after which we came back and shined shoes and brass.  And they did really shine.  You could actually see yourself in my GD shoes and my brass was so clean it looked almost white.  At 7:00 we fell out for a preparatory inspection.  At 8:00 we were inspected by 3 captains from the General Staff and they found things in such good order that they gave us a superior rating.  We then got our “Cadet Issue” and that is really a laugh. Instead of the sharp outfits that they used to pass out they give you 2 pair of under ware 5 pair of stockings and some insignia.  No more Cadet Blouses, Cadet Caps or shirts or anything.  We then had our cadet graduation exercise and it was here that we found out if we got our first choice or anyone of the other 2 choices.  I made the grade for my first choice. Pilot.  Was I glad when I saw that written across the top of the folder with all my qualifications.  In fact I was the happiest one there.  The rest of the day was all ours and we had started to draw the $75 per month.

            Of course some of the fellows washed out and I feel rather sorry for them but some of them were expected to wash any way and no one expected them to come through.  About 15% of the fellows have washed out or will soon because they are still unclassified.  My room-mate Jack Pagen was illiminated because he was said to be not mentally stable and could not endure the period of training that will soon follow.

            Well now that I am an A.C. you will have to change my address a little and replace the A.S. with the A.C.

1 day later

            I might just as well start all over again. I have been trying to finish this letter so many times it isn’t funny.  I started this letter yesterday at 11:30 and now it is 18:30 the next day.  They are just making it uncomfortable for the fellows keeping the schedule full so that they get little time for rest or pleasure.

            We are now getting more classes each day and the classes are taught by 1^st Lts in long classrooms, so long in fact it is almost impossible to see the black board when sitting in the back of the room.  These classrooms will seat approx. 300 students.

            On class is on the basic principles of the present war and a study of the causes in back of the war.  The class is a study into the background of the countries that are the main participants, Japan, Germany, Russia, G. Britain and ends with Post War Problems.  You can see that as well as teaching us to fight in the air they are teaching us a little about some of the problems in a Post War world and giving us a little hint as to what to expect from our “Reconstructed” world.

            We have another class on Stratosphere Flight and this proves to be the most interesting I have ever had.  This is a series of 6 lectures the last 4 of which are made in a decompression chamber and the class is conducted in stimulated altitudes up to 38000’.  You go up the 1^st 18000’ with no mask and at that height many queer things happen to the body.  The rest of the way up is made with oxygen and can be very uncomfortable if the conditions with in the person are not just right.  I am just waiting until we hit that chamber.

            I think that I shall go to the movies now or soon after I have written one more letter.  This letter will be to Cousin Emma Johnson in Hollywood.  I got her letter the other day and haven’t been able to write until now.  I will do it right away because I feel that seeing she is so close I will really be able to see her in about a month.

With Love

Austin

October 16, 1943

                                                                                                            SAAAB

                                                                                                            Santa Ana Calif

                                                                                                            Oct 16, 1943

Dear Mother,

            I haven’t written for several days but I was very glad to get your letter.  It came in 3 days all the way across the country.  In fact it came a day ahead of mail sent from Beloit when they forward it to us.  Anyway the mail seems to be coming through pretty well.  I am now beginning to realize that I am far away from home.

            Well M days are continuing although all of the tests are taken and the results are coming in.  Some of the fellows have been “eliminated” already and the rest of us are beginning to hear about our tests and some of us are rather worried, in fact everyone will live under a strain for the rest of the M days.  My roommate was washed out by the psychiatist (no dictionary) and the reason seemed to be that his nervous system was not built to stand the strain the cadets will have to go through.  He was very disappointed but still has hopes of passing when he goes before the board today.  The examiner seems to be able to tell just how you will adapt yourself to training as well as tell if you can complete the kind of training you want.  As for me, no news is good news and if I don’t get called with the names on the list today I can feel a lot safer.  There will be 25 names today from 270 men.  I have got my fingers crossed.

            I never told you about the hair cut I got.  It’s a beaut and that’s what I mean.  When you get here you really get a GI hair cut and they took more hair of my head than I have ever had cut before.  I’ll even wager I had more hair when I was born than I had when I hit the door to get out of the barber shop.  I have a wiffel or something.  I can’t get my hair to sit down.  Even when wet it stands on end.  I can’t part it and it seems rather unruly to me.  However I don’t have to comb it any more and I can wash it every night.  My head don’t itch any more and I may not get bald because I don’t scratch my hair out anymore.  I sure would hate to go home now and let you see this mop-less head.

            I better explain that film.  Before we left Beloit our flight got “off the ball”.  We fooled around too much and just because we were leaving some of the fellows got wise with the instructors and everyone in general.  As a result instead of getting a lot of free time the 4 days before we left we got nothing but hard work and a lot of grief.  We got up at 6:00, cleaned our room went to chow and came back to do our details.  At 7:00 we fell out with gas masks for drill. We had drill to 12:00, 2 hours of which with gas masks on.  We then had chow and had our first class at 13:00 and another at 14:00.  From 15:00 to 17:00 we had P.T. and from 17:00 – 20:00 our time was taken up with evening chow and other duties.  We had to study until 22:00 and then could go to bed only if we didn’t have more than 3 giggs for each week.  Other wise we went out for 2 more hours of drill.  Therefore our day ended at 24:00 (if you weren’t on the ball).  It was rather rough and you can see time for picture taking was nill.  Also our open post for the week was taken away.  We were going to get out Friday night to say goodbye to everyone and get out Saturday morning at 9:00 to go to town and do our shopping for the trip.  We got neither.  The biggest slap in the face came when we got just 1 hour to go to town and get back.  It took us at least 20 minutes to sign out, 10 minutes to get to town and back giving us a mere 30 minutes to do all we wanted in town.  That was not enough time to do anything but the bare necessities and you couldn’t hear many kind words around.  You can see therefore that I just couldn’t use the film that was sent because I did not foresee our future at Beloit to be so strenuous.

            Well it is still foggy around here and the aerial activity has been cut down some.  I haven’t been able to see the hills for several days. Usually about noon and after enough sun comes through to allow take offs and landings and we see a lot of B17’s in late afternoon. Often in the morning the fog is so heavy that you might think that it was raining.  It is much like the dewy days we have at home some times.

            Well I don’t know what to write.  I wish that more news would come and I am glad that you are going to have the paper sent. Of course I won’t all ways be in this squadron as long as I am here but will move from the C.C. area (classification center) to pre flight.  They will get the paper to me and I can send my new address when and if I get one.

            Please write more news about what goes on in the neighborhood if you can.  Probably you do write as much as you can think of there probably is much going on.  Well I have to get to fall out soon so I will close.

            With love,

            Austin