September 6, 1945

Sept. 6, 1945

Dear Mother:

I don't suppose you actually did leave home last Tuesday as you said you might in your letter.  If you had left I am sure I would have heard from you by now and I could plan but I am just assuming that you are at home.

I have no idea how far you could of gotten with your plans but from your letter I got the idea you were coming and to get ready.  So I did the best I could in the short notice I had.

Maybe you all are thinking I am making excuses but you have not seen San Antonio.  It is the closest thing to a mad house I have ever seen.  It is so crowded it surprises me where the people all sleep.  The streets are crowded all of the time and everything looks like Saturday night.

Hotel reservations have to be made 2 weeks in advance unless they have a cancellation.  All of the motor courts and motels are full and I believe that the park benches are pretty well taken care of.  It is next to impossible to eat unless you go in at odd hours.

I had no idea you would decide in a hurry to come or even had an idea that you would take me up on it.  That is why last Friday I took off without checking the mail or anything.  I did not return until Tuesday late and found all the telegrams (one) and the letters.  I should have wired you right away but decided to call on the plane.  I placed the call at 1730 and it finally was through at 2330 and they rang for several minutes with no result.  It would have been 12:30 at home and I don't suspect anyone was up.  But I wish someone could have got up and answered because I felt it was very important, so much so that I sat on marble stairs for 6 hours.

Now I don't know if your plans went so bad that you don't want to try again or not but here is the deal.  Tell me in time to make reservations in Austin which will be a lot more comfortable.  I can really get things fixed up then.  Also I can get a V.O.C.D. and get off for 6 days or more.  It all has got to be arranged but please don't try to get in touch with me on a weekend especially a holiday weekend.

Now if you have left Stoneham and are already home again just disregard this and tear it up.

I went to my first and I hope it is my last military funeral today.  A very good friend and a swell fellow was killed in a crash last Friday.  He was my roommate here and I had known him all the way from B17 transition at Roswell.  He was from Alaska and because of that he was buried at Ft. Sam Houston not far from here.  The Army really did a swell job and made it a very impressive ceremony. His name was Varnell, you may have remembered the name from some of my letters.  He, Bill Ayers, and I had been triple dating together for some time.  His girl in Austin was very broken up; I guess they had planned to get married but maybe it is a good thing they didn't.  Well so ends the tale of another who gave his all but will be remembered only by his friends and relatives.  This sure is a rough life if you don't take it easy and take too many chances.  I am going to have a lot of grand children.

Well Addie Mae and I had a little misunderstanding last Monday.  So I don't know what is going to happen.  I wrote her a letter that was a little on the nasty side so I guess my future in Austin is all taken care of for me.  She is such a good kid I hate to hurt her but sometimes I get so mad I could lick wild cats and I happened to write a letter while in such a mood.

Theodore Roosevelt saying to William Howard Taft, "I can lick my weight in wildcats, C.Q.D!", and Taft replying, "Oh, that’s nothing; I can eat my weight in ’possums, P.D.Q!" 1906.

Well I guess I have written enough.  I wish you had come because I am sure we could have managed.  

With love

Austin