June 26, 1945

San Marcos Field

June 26, 1945

Dear Mother:

I have had several letters from Stoneham in the last few days so I will write one for a change.

This is the last of the paper for at least of the envelopes.  It has lasted quite a while.  If you remember I bought it up in Lincoln right near the end of our stay there.  I guess it has lasted longer than any paper I have had.  Maybe I haven't written enough but really it was quite a lot of paper.

I got the clipping last week that came out of Press and everyone got quite a kick out of it.  I will keep it until I get home and then whoever can get his or her hands on it can have it.  That is the first time I have ever seen that particular pose.  I think it is the better of the two.  Anyway the boys thought it was good.

Samput got himself a girl in Austin and so I went on a blind date last Friday night.  She was one of these college girls who goes to a co-educational school to study campusology and for the social contacts.  We had a lot of fun dancing but she didn't act the age she was trying to make out to be.  She wished she were 21 but was only 17.  Tell Mary I am a little disgusted with the 17 year olds also.  It's not that we didn't have fun but that she was trying to impress me with what she knew and talking about all her dates and such stuff.  She had a date Saturday so I don't feel that I have to see her again even though I probably will because Samput wants me to go on a date with  him to Dallas next week when they both will be there.

Saturday was a quiet day with nothing special to do except entertain ourselves.  We went to Austin early and went from one air conditioned theater to the next in an attempt to keep cool.  There wasn't much doing in town so it was a rather weary day.

Sunday I went out to Bergstrom Field, near Austin, which is a troop carrier air base.  They have C46s out there and I went to eat dinner and look around.  I finally wandered down to the flight line and looked over the C46's.  They are one of the largest ships I have ever been in.  They are cargo and troop carrier planes but are often used to tow gliders.  They have enough room in them to transport 44 men with full equipment or 10 tons of supplies.  They can put whole airplanes in them if they find the need.  When I got back to town a young lady stopped me to buy a War Bond but instead she got a date.  She and another girl and sold $4,000 worth of bonds.  They took another fellow and I home and cooked us a meal and topped it off with a peach pie.  We had quite a lot of fun getting the meal which we finally ate at about 11:00 PM.  We all had to be up early Monday so had to leave early.

I started this letter last night but didn't have the energy of finish it.  It is so hot around here I just spend about all the time I can resting or trying to keep cool.  If I had a job to do I am sure I could muster enough strength to do something but as it is I have just about enough energy to get up in the morning .  As Ernie Pyle said, when you have anything to do and it is hot the Air Corp makes a lazy man of you.  We have so little on our mind I doubt if I could ever take a job again. 

Ernie Pyle, war correspondent

Most every day I go swimming at a place called Rio Vista Park in town.  They have a fairly good pool and the water is very clean.  It is spring water and cool.  One of the fellows has a pair of swim fins to put on your feet which are a lot of fun to play with.  You can paddle your feet and not have to use your arms.  However when you use your arms you can really move.  You can do all sorts of things with those fins.  I think I will buy a pair even though they cost $9.00.  I think I can have 9 dollars worth of fun with them.

I have some good news.  I am coming home on leave on the 6th July.  I am going to leave here on the 6th and drive with a buddy as far as possible.  We may get only as far as Dallas or Okla. City but may get to Chicago.  From there I will have to take the train.  Therefore I should be home on the 8th.  That will give me 10 days at home I hope.  It all depends on how long it will take to travel.  Most of the the transportation in Texas is so bad that it could take a day to get out of the state and then 2 more days to get home.  I am hoping to et a ride on an airline but that is almost out of the question.  So you can make all the plans you want.  I only hope we can schedule a few days where I can feel some good cool sea breezes.  Hint, Hint.

Well we are supposed to fly that darn double breasted sparrow this afternoon.  It is going to be a very boring 4 hours which will get me nothing more than flying pay for this month.  Boy this sure is a heck of a life.  I am getting rather tired of it.

Well I have to get to go eat dinner now.  I am not hungry because it is too hot but if I don't eat I might not get home pretty soon.

With love

Austin

June 2, 1945

Austin Texas

Juen 2, 1945

Dear Mother:

I guess you know by now that "there have been some changes made."  We are in Austin the state capital for a weekend but are stationed at San Marcus, another hole in the ground.  

Well I just can see everyone and hera everyone asking questions but there is really a lot of information.  We left Ardmore last Tuesday on a troop train and had layovers in Forth Worth and a little town called Milana. The trip itself would never take more than 12 hours but the way we went it took 30 but we don't kick because we had a lot of fun at each stop.  Sampert knows people all over this state and we went to see a girl who never knew him.  As it turned out she was married and gone away a year ago.  We went galavanting all over the country between stops and almost missed the train because we had trouble getting a ride.  But we got to San Marcos all right in good order and in fine spirits.

I am now minus a crew.  We are now all split up and everyone has gone to the 4 corners of the South. They have sent us here to a pool because they have nothing better for us to do.  We are destined to get our flying time in AT.7s which is a ship they fly student navigators in.  We will be co-pilots no less until we get time enough or until we go through AT-7 transition.  We are all ready for the airfares and now back in the training command, what a lousy life.

We are enjoying the weekend here in the beautiful capital of Texas.  We took off from the base and will not show up till Monday, we left Friday morning at 10:00 and are making a big weekend of it.  This is all the home of Texas State University and Sam and I are trying to get involved in something.  As luck has it we are not making too much headway except in wearing out our shoes and spending nickels and beating on doors and stuff like that there.  Anyway we are having fun and seeing what there is to see in the town.

Now my new address in San Marcos is 

St. __ L.__ 0-784076

Officers Section                              > It's Easy.

S.M.A.A.F.

San Marcos Texas

Please tell the Independent and everyone what sends mail from town.  Even though I have all the time in the world I may forget someone.  I have too much time on my hands to tell everyone.

This state sure is hot.  I have been all wet as long as I have been here.  Clouds blow over all the time but the sun shines enough to make me wish I were in N.E. where you have rain to cool things off.

I am writing from the Hotel Stephen F. Austin which is of course one of the very best in the city.  It is air conditioned and very cool.  It almost feels comfortable in here.  Our room is on the top floor (16th) and we can see the whole city.  It is rather expensive but we are having the first real vacation in a long time at least it seems that way.  It will probably be one big vacation for awhile now.

The only trouble is that we are back in the Training Command and they are rather strict about regulations.  We all need a little brushing up I guess but it's rather hard to take.  We don't have a colored orderly anymore to clean up so things are really rough.

I suppose everything is rather hum drum with Mary working again and the house empty.  I wish I could come home but there doesn't seem to be much chance of such a thing now. I think I will wait anyway and see what happens.  Maybe I can get a good leave rather than a couple of days.

With love

Austin

August 23, 1944

Aug 23, 1944

Dear Mother:

As you notice this one is in pencil rather than ink because I have not my pen yet and my buddy is using his pen.  Please excuse!?

We had a swell train ride, in fact it turned out a lot better than I really expected.  It was a little expensive but what is the money to me when you have so little time to make such trips around the country.

We had no more than gotten on the train when we struck up an acquaintance with a young lady going to San Francisco to meet her Lt. Comm husband.  She was one of those North Shore girls so I guess that is enough explanation.  However she was very good company and had a lot of books to read.  So we swapped stories and read books most of the way with never a dull moment.

We got into Chicago about 5:30 p.m. and got two Pullman tickets and then went to the Officer's Club at the Knickerbocker Hotel for supper.  They have the swellest layout I have ever seen in an Officer's Club.  They have a reception room with young ladies to greet you and show you around.  There is a big lounge where you can sit down and read or smoke or just plain relax; they have a huge dining room where we got the best meal I ever saw for a dollar in any city; then there is a large dance floor with an orchestra stand at one end with chairs and tables all around.  It reminded me of what you see in the movies.  There were all kinds of officers around.  I guess they have the nicest place to go in the whole U.S.  You know Chicago is noted for what it does for servicemen and what they have for officers is not an idle boast.  We went riding around in a taxi of course to see what the city was like and I might say that I was favorably impressed.

Chicago's Hotel Knickerbocker

I tried to call you by phone from Chicago but couldn't make the connection in time.  I guess maybe you were all out because I could hear the connection being made all the way through to Boston.  I was very anxious about my orders even though as yet we have used but one little paper out of the sealed envelope which had our histories more or less on it.  I had all kinds of visions of the big squabble you could all get into trying to make sure they got away on time for me to get them.  I had also thought that I sent the telegram too late for you to get them off.  However I had not reckoned with the hour time difference which gave them a kind of head start on me.  I guess that all these differences of opinion can really get somewhere when the crucial moment arises.  I guess the coordinator of internal affairs should have a hand.

Well to get on with my trip.  We got on a Southern Pacific Pullman at 8:30 p.m. and found that we had a much cooler and cleaner car than when we came from Phoenix.  In fact I doubt if we got the least bit dirty on this train.  Of course we picked up a lot more fellows coming back to Luke and had a lot of fun with them but we had the most fun with a girl named Betty Clark from Coolidge, Ariz.  She was going home after her first trip away without her mother. ( I might say she was 17 years old).  She had been to a farm in Idaho and had met the sweetest 4F farmer in the state on a blind date.  In fact she had let him kiss her on the 6th and last date with him.  She had come on the train prepared for a long hungry trip.  She had all kinds of food; in fact she had enough to feed her and the rest of her friends for a week.  There was fruit, sandwiches, pickles and everything.  She was rather cute too, being a second Patty Morrel without the nose.  She just believed everything you said and was very serious about everything.  She had about all the magazines on the newsstand except a "Life" and a "Time".

Of course we met a lot of other girls and spent a lot of time talking to them too so you see your little boy doesn't allow a dull moment to enter his leisure time.  The only trouble is that everyone we met was engaged or married and we had no intentions of breaking up any happy homes so don't worry about my fighting the war single - handed.

We got into Phoenix 2 hours 25 min. late which made us 1 hour late signing in.  I don't think anything will be done as we still had 24 hours grace.

Tuesday we didn't do much except get a few lectures and some of the fellows were assigned to new posts.  I did not get assigned and was very glad because nothing came up that I liked.  Some were assigned instructor school and twin engine transport school.

Today we got a few more lectures and more assignments and everyone has an assignment now.  For once the 2nd Lts. got a break and the F.Os did not.  All the F.O's go to the A.T.C. for transport flying while the single engine fighter boys that made 2nd Lt. got their wish.  On or around Sept. 10, 1/2 of the LTs. will go to gunnery while the other half goes to P39 school and 14 days later get assigned to the O.T.U. (Overseas Training Unit).  We got the best break yet and I was very glad to hear it.  It means that we will never get stuck flying slow ships but get something that can be maneuvered and played with.  We will have fun and enjoy our training and see a lot more of the country.  It is swell to feel that out of a class of 340, 1/4th of them are to be fighters and to know that you are in the cream of the crop.  It is something to be proud of I think.  All the rest of the boys except the instructors will always be only average pilots.

I still have not made arrangements to get my foot locker out of town.  No one seems to know how it is to be done.  I am very much concerned about all the soiled uniforms without which I cannot look to o well on weekends.  I am beginning to think I shall go in and get the last things and send them to the cleaners and put the rest in storage.  Maybe I should not have had them shipped with me seeing I am about to move again so soon.  Seeing California is the next stop I doubt if I will need much but summer wear for some time yet. Even so I guess I can wear my winter clothes in California even so in a couple of months.

Life in this post will not be bad for the next few months except that they are trying to keep us busy by breaking up our day, read full-time guards and taking PT and Retreat.  We have to report twice a day to the director of training but that is just to keep us on the post.  We will get a few minor details but they don't have enough for 150 of us to do so I doubt if we will do anything but get fat on the food in the Officer's Mess and get tanned in the swimming pool.

With love

Austin

August 22, 1944

Aug 22

Dear Mother;

Here I am with a little time on my hands so I will write a short note to you.  As usual everything turned out all right and I am on the Post with no serious complications.  We were 45 minutes late but we straightened that out by the train being 2 hours and 1/2 late.

We were half way between Boston and Newton when I remembered I had a set of orders at home.  It hit me like a ton of bricks and my first thought was to hop off at the next stop and get them.  Of course that was foolish considering I had no other means of getting back.  So I sent a telegram and hoped that you all would not get a bunch of ideas how to get it to me earlier.  In fact I had visions of it not getting out at all.  Well I worried all the trip about it until I went into the Adam's and found them waiting.  I was sure happy.

I got a load of letters today and I read that one you told me not to just to see how sentimental you are.  I got a kick out of it because it is all so far behind now.  I guess I was more than welcome at home after all.

We had a swell trip, in fact it was the best one yet.  There were so many people to talk to that the time just flew.  It was a short trip and a lot of it was at night.

I guess I just wanted to tell you that I was OK and enjoying life.  Lt. Smith wishes to go to the show so I will have to close on the shortest letter I have ever written I guess. Everything here is going to be fine.  I will send some money home soon to cover my latest expenses.  We will not get flying pay this month so I will not have too much money this month.  I am still thinking about you coming out and see this part of the country.  Maybe I will not be able to pay your way so you will have to talk to A.P.

I am in the Officer's Club and enjoying my relaxation.  This is really a swell place.  I will write again tomorrow and tell you about the trip.

With love

Austin

August 6, 1944

Dear Mother:

Here I am writing on hotel stationary waiting for a train tomorrow at 0700 to take me home.  We will travel Pullman all the way of course; we believe in traveling in style.

You probably wonder when I will arrive in Boston.  Well the schedule says Thursday noon and so someone had better be there to take me home because by then my finances will begin to worry me.  I don't have much baggage so bring a car full.

Well graduation went off on schedule and I have those wings and bars now.  It seems kind of funny to be wearing them of course but I guess I'll get used to it soon enough.  It sure feels funny to have the soldiers throwing salutes at you instead of just passing by.  I also have to think when I don't salute another 2nd Lt.  It doesn't quite seem natural.

Attention!

Mr. and Mrs. Blaisdel came out to the graduation and I was so happy to see them.  You see I have almost found another home out here.  I almost think I would rather stay rather than spend 8 days of a furlough on a dirty old train.

I haven't told you that I got 15 days off and an unassigned status back here afterwards.  Everyone in the class got 11 days or more and some of use get 15 days and then return here.  We are then supposed to go to gunnery school and then into one of the O.T.U. to wait for assignment to an overseas pool.  There are pools and pools all over this part of the country so don't worry about me.

I haven't heard from anyone for about 3 days so I guess the mail is being lost in the Post Office.  They will have it straight before long; about the time I get home.  My new address will be 2nd Lt. Austin L. Rounds, Luke Field, Phoenix Ariz.

I have a new serial number, an officer's serial number - 0-784076 which means I am really in but good.  I am in the A.U.S. which means I will be a flying private after the war.  I don't think much of that.

I guess I have forgotten a lot so wait till Thursday.

With love

Austin.

October 8, 1943

                                                      

                                                    This is funny.

                                                                                                            Santa Ana Calif

                                                                                                            Oct 8, 1943

Dear  Mother,

It has been quite some time since I wrote last but this is really the first chance I have had to write except on the train.  On the train however I was much more interested in the sights than in writing home.  It was really a wonderful ride and I think everyone is missing something if they didn’t see more of the country than I had until recently.  Now I have seen a lot of country and am almost glad that I am in a branch of the service that gives sight seeing tours every so often.

We came most of the way on the Santa Fe Trail.  I think Pop has seen a lot of this country.  He can tell you a lot about it.  My greatest disappointment was “Dodge City.” There was a cowboy with in mile and the town didn’t look any thing like what the movies depicted it.

Hoping for a glimpse of Errol Flynn, perhaps?

I have never seen a desert until last week and I might say that I was impressed by the desolation that people can endure to make a meager living.  Even where the grass would hardly grow you can find people with cattle and sheep and attempting to raise corn.

Trip from Beloit to Santa Ana made Oct 2-5 Saturday night 7:30 pm Tuesday 9:30 pm

I have made out our route on a map which I bought in Los Angeles.  You can get an idea how we came.  Each meal we ate was in a Fred Harvey establishment.  He seems to have the concession all along the Santa Fe. Most of his places were very picturesque and seem to have a very expensive look about them.

Santa Ana is a heck of a place to stay. I will just say that now because I want to stop writing and go to sleep.  Tomorrow is M-2 day.  We have our “aptitude and adaptability” tests tomorrow and I want to be on my toes.

With love,

Austin

October 2, 1943

{No letter or envelope included, just his travel orders and 2 post cards}

Kansas City's impressive skyline is indicative of the industry and culture found in "The Heart of America", one of the world's richest agricultural areas.  Kansas City is famous for its meat and other vital food processing and shipping facilities, and is one of the nation's most important war industry centers.  Union Station, foreground, served by 12 trunkline railway systems, is one of the busiest terminals in the nation.

Card #1

(This car is very bumpy so you can see by the writing.)  We left Beloit at 7:30 pm and arrived here from somewhere to eat.  Breakfast and dinner at the same time.  This station is rather large but we only saw the lunch room that

William Rockhill Nelson Art Gallery and Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, located in one of Kansas City's finest residential areas, is considered outstanding among the most modern galleries in the world.  With an endowment of $11,000,000 the gallery owns many famous art pieces, features travelling collections and, because of the war, is in possession of valuable collections sent here for the duration. More than 5,000 objects are on display in small, scientifically lighted and air-conditioned galleries, decorated according to various periods.

Card #2 Dinner eaten at 11:30 AM

was taken over by the army.  The picture on this card was taken somewhere in the city and even though I didn't see the place, the USO was giving 2 cards to each service man so I had to take mine.

June 8, 1943

{He mailed 3 letters at his first opportunity.  It's long, but be strong and endure to the end.}


From Pvt. Austin L. Rounds
29th Training Group
Squadron C
Jefferson Barracks, Missouri

To Mrs. A.P. Rounds

15 Wilson Rd.

Stoneham, Mass.

June 8, 1943

Enroute to

Missouri

Dear Mother:

Please pardon the poor writing as this is the best I can do under the conditions.  The train is traveling fast enough to make it hard to write.  But we are slowly but surely tracing our way (on the map) to St. Louis.  We are now somewhere in the middle of Ohio.

William has probably told you that he left me inside the N. Station where I met that other fifty or so.  There we had to wait till 9:00 for the train to Devins and in the mean time we had our group picture taken by an army photographer.

There was not much to the ride to Devins other than that I hoped it would stop raining as it did not you can guess what would happen when none had a rain coat.  It began to rain for good when we hit (train bump) the station.  A lot of future infantry men were there ahead of us and they marched off ahead of us.  But to heck with the infantry, we rode in trucks and did not get wet at all.  At the camp we had a meal that was very good, mash potato, peas, apple sauce, a pork chop, bread and butter, and something else I don't remember and topped it off with a piece of pineapple pie.

As time means very little to the army we stayed about 6 hours instead of the 3 to 5 hours.  All I could do to amuse myself was to play "bid whist."  It was a lot of fun and easier to score than just bridge.

All this time it had been raining and the roads were a mass of puddle.  We got our orders to line up in front of our barracks with our suit cases.  And there we stood for a half hour until we were soaked.  We then walked a 1/4 mile and am now on a Pullman with all the luxuries of a 5-cent a mile fare.

The meals on the car before are not too hot as most of the cooking is done in the baggage car.  We are being fed all right and I don't think that I will starve. 

We are having a swell trip.  You would really like it.  Everything is swell. Even the clothes are beginning to dry.  All last night we traveled up hill until we came to the Hoosac tunnel in Northern Mass.  Hear (sic) are the towns.  Devins 5:10 pm, Fitchburg, Royalston, Sheldon Falls, N. Adams, and then the tunnel at 8:25.  The next part of the ride was mostly down hill, Troy N.Y 9:45, Albany.  Our beds were then made and I slept through until Albany, then to Syracuse, and woke finally in Buffalo 5:00 am. All this time the hills began to flatten out and became smaller.  The cities and towns farther and farther and smaller.  This land is an awful lot like N.C. but much wetter.  I don't see how they can use machinery.  Pop can tell you what happens when you use a tractor on wet land.

Next came Erie Penn 7:40, Conneaut Ohio 8:20, Ashtabula, Madison, and then Cleveland at 9:45.  Hear (sic) we had a chance to get out for the first time and walk around.  After Cleveland we saw the Great Lakes and it seemed like the ocean.  The land that comes down to Lake Erie is very flat and much land erosion can be seen.  The rivers that lead to the lake and the lake itself near shore are very muddy.  It was the last bit of water that size we shall see for a while so we watched until it was well out of sight.

Since then we have been going through all the little towns in Ohio even down the main street. 

It is getting very hot but I am enjoying every bit of it.  We may sleep on the train again tonight and I expect we will reach our destination early Wednesday morning.  

I am surely getting a chance to see things.  ( We are going down the middle of a street again).  We are writing as we ride on the Nickle Plated Road, a R.R. I never saw such piles of coal before.  In every town we find enough coal to keep it going a long time.

Ohio is very flat with the acres divided by a line of trees.  Every once and a while you see a grove.

I may not write again, because the train is going too fast and I may be too busy, later on.

It is now 4:00 pm and I am closing

As Always,

Austin

P.S. Tell Lenny not to get impatient.

From Pvt. Austin L. Rounds
29th Training Group
Squadron C
Jefferson Barracks, Missouri

To Mr. A.P. Rounds

15 Wilson Rd.

Stoneham, Mass.

Enroute to
Missouri

June 8, 1943

Dear Pop,

I am writing this as a kind of continuation of Mother's letter.  As so much has happened in the last 2 days I can't see why I should write twice.  I am writing this under much the same circumstances but I am in bed and have a little bit steadier rest than my knees.  I am in an upper birth, and as I will sleep alone I should get a lot of sleep.  The only trouble is that we will reach Missouri between 1:00 and 2:00 in the morning.  I doubt if we will have to get up then.

The meals have been fine considering they originated in the baggage car and were served onto paper plates.  With such little K.P. to do this army could be heaven.

We are really a troop train.  There are seven cars filled with soldiers both with and without uniforms.  Some of them have ratings already and I don't know whether they will keep them or not.  I have been keeping track of the towns I have gone through and I will send it home when I get a chance with the route all mapped out.  It is about 1200 miles long.

I have seen some of the damage done by the recent floods.  Levies were built along the tracks to keep the water down and away.  In some places the tracks lay on bare ground and the ties and foundation very inconspicuous.  The rivers raised 5 to 6 ft and left large deposits of brown dirt and large pools of water.  This water seems to be very shallow as the grass sticks up in many places but it covers a large area.  From what I have seen of the water standing on the land as it is, it seems possible that this water will remain for many days.

I can't get over seeing the long rolling plots of land that reach as far as the eye can see and broken only by a narrow slip of trees or a town.  Often the highway runs through these trees and it in turn stretches for miles without a turn.

Back near Lake Erie and farther we saw wine cultivated.  They were grape vines and the Harris Grape Juice people were the buyers.  In Ohio we saw pigs, cattle and corn.  Indiana is much the same only the farms are getting larger.  I hope I will wake up to see the Mississippi River and the damage done by the flood.  It will be dark and then and I don't know how much I will be able to see.

I am sorry I had to leave you this way but it was not all my choice.  I am however glad that I have started and will find out just where I will be in a year.  I hope the potato business goes good.  I really miss the farm and the machinery.  It was a lot of fun to drive that tractor.

Don't let Mother worry because there is nothing to worry about.  Tell her that I thought the party was swell but I am still worrying about the two glasses. (We are riding down another main street in some small town.)

There is so much to say but it is now lights out and we are supposed to go to bed.

(See if you can get another prescription for those eye drops.  I lost some when the bottle tipped over)

Sincerely yours,
Austin.

{This is the map of the route that he included.  You can see that he drew a line along his route from Boston to St. Louis.  Below is the list of towns that he passed through.  It's a little hard to read.  I wish had pictures him riding through Main Street.}

{2nd letter included in the letter to his mother}

Jefferson Barracks

Hi Everybody,

This is just a short note to let you know that I arrived safely.  I have been assigned to a "hut" that is really a pretty good cabin.  I don't have much time to tell you much other than that this looks like a good place to stay a while.

My address you can find on the outside of the envelope.  I have been issued all my clothes for about a year, hot and cold alike.

You will likely get my two letters at the same time as we could not mail them en route.

It sure is hot out here.  I don't know how hot it really is but this is the first time I swet (sic) like I did today.

I am in a hurry to get out and cool off so I will sign off.

Sincerely,
Austin.