December 13, 1945

March 1, 1944

Ryan Field

Tucson Ariz.

Mar. 1, 1944

Dear A.P.

I have a chance to write a short letter because I want to get to bed early.  I have a check ride tomorrow which I can pass if I stay "on the ball" and it will be easier if I get a little extra sleep tonight.

Today I got a dual cross country ride of about 45 miles.  We had a little head wind so we made it in about 38 minutes and came home in a somewhat shorter time.  The plane wasn't too good and would only cruise at 85 miles an hour.  It also would not climb too well because we were about 11 miles from the main airport before we got to our altitude.  We went over some rather mountainous country and as I had a map I got a little used to picking out check points along the way.  As a whole the ride was rather uneventful.

We made a stop at a little airport and then came back over the same route.  on the way back we ran close to a pretty good size range of mountains.  We had a little fun watching them go by.  The air was pretty rough but not too much so.

I guess I kind of mislead you with this link trainer business.  All a Link Trainer is is a gadget to teach you instrument flying while still on the ground where you are still safe.  They can stimulate any kind of conditions in the plane that you can encounter in the actual flight.  You can do stimulated maneuvers of any kind in the ship but stay on the ground and move only around the axis of the plane. All the instruments are run by little .... and not by actual conditions.  They are called all kind of names and the name of "Infernal Gadget" really describes it.  It really is a series of gadgets and things can certainly go haywire if you don't know how to make the thing work for you.  I think I can find a picture of one if you want one but all you have to do is find a flying magazine around and you can find a picture.  They are not all you expect.

Well we are getting pretty well done here.  I have 10 more hours to go to finish the course and I could finish that in about 4 days easily or even less if they would let me.  As it is I guess I can't get my time in so fast now as I have been doing.  The instructor keeps talking about "when you get to Basic", so I guess I may get there yet.  We are scheduled to leave here the 11th or 12 of this month.  When we do go I can't say right now I am sorry.  The trouble is that the next place is likely to be much the same as this only a lot worse.  The only complaint is that most of these places are out in the desert and rather uncomfortable places weekends.

Pretty soon I am going to have to make a big decision, shall I go in for fighter or light bombardment training.  These are the only two choices we have.  If I go in for Fighter I may get assigned to P38s which is not too bad or I might get my choose of fighter planes.  I would kind of like that .  However if I go in for light bombardment I may get an A20 light bomber which would be just the thing but probably I would get a B17 or B 24 which are heavy bombers.  That is not so much to my liking.  You see twin engine fighters (P38) and multi-engine bombers are the only schools available out in the command area.  If I qualified for anything else I doubt if I could get it because they hate to train men out here and then lose them to other sections.  Right now I don't have a lot of choice to make anyway.

P38

B17 Bomber

B24 Bomber

It seems I am not too big to fly P38s or P47 and most of the modern fighters because they are really building big planes around the present motors.  I hate to think of driving a B24 or maybe a B29 because they handle like Mack Trucks even thought the training is the only training I can use after the war.  Very little in a commercial way has been done with single engine fighter training.  Well I won't be too disappointed which way it goes.  It isn't a choice of picking the least dangerous because none are safe.  I guess I have a lot to do before I get to fighter planes.  So I must get some sleep.

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.

July 31, 1943

July 31, 1943

Dear Mother;

I got two letters from home today; and one from Don Towse at the same time.  It sure was swell to get a little news from home.  I think that from now on you will write oftener than I will be able to write.  My correspondence will be limited to off hours and we get only an hour a day in which we clean dust and G.I. everything in sight, and out of sight.

Now a little about Beloit College.  All we can find out about it is that it was founded in 1868 and is a Liberal Arts School.  It has a very high rank out here and the faculty is said to be the best any where around.  We will be very well off academically.  Of course it is coed or it wouldn't function at all.  We have a special Dorm in which we live.  It looks to me to be an old fraternity house in which several fraternities lived together. On many walls you will find the coats of arms of many of the best known.  The building has 3 floors upon which there are about 20 rooms containing 2 to 4 boys.  I am in a room with a fellow from Brooklyn N.Y. (you've probably heard of it.)  He is a swell fellow with a very pleasant personality and very easy to live with.  We have a desk, 2 chairs, bunk beds, a lamp, closet, book case and 2 windows.  On a while the room is well equipped to study in.

This is really a campus college the kind I would like to go to if I had money.  All the buildings are built around a large lawn that is so green and soft it looks like velvet.  Of course the girls would be an attraction too. We don't get time for such things even though you want to.  The war seems to have ruined a lot of the fun around here because the girls seem to have nothing to do but sit on their Dorm step and watch us march by.

Tomorrow is going to be a big day but only the beginning of something bigger.  Sunday we go to class as always but get test on what we have been studying in the last few days.  They will give us tests on "Hygene and Sanatation", "Interior Guard Duty" "Aircraft Recognition" and Military "Courtesy and Discipline".  All are hard subjects and the tests can be very hard or east at the disgression of the instructor.

Wis. is really the place to be.  The climate here is a lot different from the hot muggy climate along the Mississippi.  It cools off nights sufficiently to allow you to sleep well but not be cold.  It is cool during the day and you rarely swet enough to wet your clothes.  It is better here than it is back home according to your letters.  We also haven't had a good shower and I am looking forward to one because we will swim in the college pool on days when it is not suitable to go out doors.

We are all confined to our rooms until next weekend when we may get passes to town. There are a few things I wish you could send if you can find them.  Could you send some coat hangers.  I need a dozen but could use a lot more.  I could use some shaving cream (we have to shave every day) and some soap; I have been using Life buoy but anything will do.  Let me warn you about sending things that are eatable.  Send them in small packages 3 days in a row rather than in one big package.  If we can't consume all food in the room before 8:00 in the morning we have to take it to the Squadron C.O. and he will take care of it.  I sure would like some candy.  You may not think it keeps but the boy from Woburn in J.B. had pretty good luck with his.  If we should get more than we could eat you can be sure that I would keep it out of sight.

{Some examples of Life Buoy advertisements, since I've never heard of it.  Pretty funny.}

Don't let B.O ruin your love life!

                                   

By the way tell William that Harold is in the same camp as Dick French.  When William writes he should tell him.  I am glad William is joining the Y.M.C.A.  If he swims there or does the other things that they offer he might to feel a lot better.  For me I feel a lot better than I ever have before.

I am glad Mary got a job that she likes.  It hardly seems possible that she is out of school and has joined the army of commuters.  I really would not trade places with her.  I also like my job.  I still can't believe that she is working.

Another thing I want is some film for my camera and some stationary.  I have no film and very little stationary.

I told you in my last letter of the tough break we got being transferred to the West Coast Training Area which means we have little chance of getting home from some time.  We heard of another one today.  The next group of Enlisted Students will come in with the nice cadet uniforms.  While we have to go through training with these sun-tans which don't look too bad.  They will really have something we will wait several months for.

Monday we start training, that really is training. Up to now we have just sat on a lawn all day and listened to lectures and did very little studying.  We have had no P.T. but Monday we get it all. 

Today our books were issued and here are some of the titles "College Handbook of Composition" "Basic Mathematics" "Experiments in Physics" "College Physics" "Better Composition" "Introductory Economic Geography" "Goodes School Atlas".  You may remember that I sent the Economics book like the one I have here to Grandma.  I don't know whether I will take it again or not.  I should be easy if I do.

      

If you see anyone who wants to be an aviation cadet tell him that he is in for a hard time.  The training is the toughest in the army and compares with nothing but that at West Point.  You now go approximately 13 months to get a commission.  In every other branch you take 3 months basic and little more before being commissioned.  The fly officers holds more esteme than any other branch of the army except West Point graduates.  It sure will be wonderful graduating but that is a long way off.

Well I have to sign off even though there is a lot more to tell but I want to get a fair mark in those tests tomorrow.

With Love

Austin

PS The meals are swell here and I still get too hungry too often.  The Army takes care of you.

Send the letters to Grandma, I don't get much chance to write. 

July 29, 1943

Pvt Austin L. Rounds

Hdgs 95 C.T.D

Beloit College

Belloit, Wis

Dear Mother,

I am thoroughly ashamed that I have not written before.  We have been here 3 days and I just decided that you should know where I am.  I am glad that I am shipped but this is a different story.

Beloit College is where we expected to go when I wrote last time and I don't remember whether I told you our destination or not.  You can find the place on a map because the town is industrial and has between 30,000 and 40,000 people in it.  We are about 3 hours trip from Chicago and that means about 100 miles. When I say that this is different from J.B. that is just what I mean.  We thought we might be sent to a nice quiet ivy college and have plenty of time to enjoy ourselves.  It is quite the other way.  The upper classmen are after us all the time.  It is a form of hazing even though it can't be called that.  We have a Student Commander and it is his job to see that we learn to march walk stand and sleep at attention.  You may not think so but we walk in what is called "a brace".  A brace is the position of attention only exaggerated.  You have to stand so that you have 4 more wrinkles in your shirt between your shoulder blades than you have years.  The same goes for chins.  You have to stand with your chin drawn in so that you have 5 chins.  Then try to walk this way never looking at the ground and keeping your eyes fixed on a point in front of you.  You have seen pictures of the discipline at West Point and other military colleges; well this is just like that.  Every thing is done to precision, no rests and only positions of attention (in a brace) and parade rest which is almost as bad but not quite as stiff.

All the hazing and training is done by student officers and we seldom see an army man except for lectures.  They are really swell fellows.

Our studies have already started.  A student officer may come in the room and tell you to "sound off."  You have a whole list of stuff you have to know, beginning with "Sir Enlisted Student Rounds Austin L. 31359264, July 29 1943 and so on giving date of graduation, days till graduation, the sponsor, the mascot, a list of colleges, etc.  It is just to get you "on the ball".  We will be on the ball when we leave here you can mark my words.

Just in case you didn't know either

I have some bad news, (not too bad).  When I joined the Army Air Forces I joined in the East Coast Command Area, and was shipped to a Gulf Coast Training station.  I am now in a West Coast Command area which means that after I leave here I will not go East but go west to a classification center in California.  You, I know, will not like this but to say frankly I am going to like getting a chance to see the country.   I imagine that before I get to see much flying I will see twice as many states as I have seen now.  California is a long ways away and even thought the farther from home I go I dislike the thought I am getting something I always wanted, a look at the country in which I live.  I have learned a lot and seen a lot but not a fraction of what I hope to see.

College training may be tough, but it has its good points.  The meals are wonderful served by coed students here at school.  We can't talk to them and might even get gigged for smiling at one but the certainly add to the scenery.  You get light meals during the day but get a big meal with ham or beef for supper.  Potato, vegetables, fruit, ice cream, cake, cream (heavy) in your coffee, all the milk you can drink, cookies, donuts, and everything.  It is swell.  Every thing is compensated- or you just couldn't stand the life.

As yet we're just getting "oriented" or as you would say we are getting lectures on Hygene, Interior Guard duty, Military Discipline (a new word I learned to spell) and courtesy, and the rudiments of Aircraft Identification.  Monday we really start to work beginning classes, and the worst of all P.T.  The P.T. out here is much worse than at J.G. where you could do as little or as much as you want.  Here they really can give you a workout because not too many are here.  About 60 men came.  I saw part of the athletic field and it looked good.

I saw that big train station in Chicago (I was in it) of which I don't know the name.  You come into it under ground and you have to walk up a flight or two to see the taxi cabs and the street.  On the second floor we had one breakfast and it was from that big station that I mailed those cards.  I won't get a chance to see Chicago because we are restricted to a 25 mile radius from the Post.

Chicago Union Station

4,500 aircraft models hung from the ceiling of Chicago Union Station.
See here for more details

I went to the big railroad station in St. Louis to get a train for Chicago.  The name of the station is the Union Station it also is a big place.  On the top floor (or nearly) they have a U.S.O. where you can go and get anything you want to refresh yourself.  You have to buy what you drink but that is all. Doenuts, candy, popcorn, crackers, bread, cookies, crackers and all are free.  They have a special jar of smoking tobacco, of cigaretts, and cigars, plenty of all kinds of everything in this line.  They had wonderful easy chairs and plenty of stationary but we weren't allowed to write or telephone because they didn't want anyone to tell where he was going.  Magazines were everywhere.  You could read all day if you wanted because their were the best fiction and non-fiction just waiting to be read.  It was a service man's heaven.  It was not too crowded however until we hit it.  I felt sorry for the poor women working there because some of the fellows feel the country owes them a living already.  On a whole I am in with a very good bunch of fellows but I will write again as soon as possible and that may not be too soon.

With love
Austin

I am now what they call here an Enlisted Student.  No raise in pay.

July 16, 1943

July 16, 1943

Dear Mother;

You can't guess how I happen to be writing this letter at the hour of 1:00 p.m.  So far today I have had off except for a little walking.  I am sitting in the shade of a dispensary waiting to have an x-ray taken of my ankle.  1 week ago today I strained it playing push ball and have let it go until today.  The only reason I let it got was because I wanted to get in the training time but now I have 28 days so I can have all the time I want off if I have an excuse.  Otherwise you have to work just as hard as always.

The army is a great place to kill time.  If you had anything really wrong with you, you would die before a doctor would see you.  Through the ordinary channels it is impossible to get waited on immediately.  A fellow sitting beside me here has waited 2 days to get an x-ray taken which in itself takes only 5 minutes.  Whenever anyone goes on sick call you always take a pencil and paper because you get plenty of time to use them.  You may see records of the hours that men are sick, well take them with a grain of salt.  Most of that time seems to be spent waiting to be seen or for examinations.  Anyway I get a chance to catch up on correspondence and not get penalized for it.

I don't think that I told you that I have been to the Smith rifle range twice more this week, once to shoot the carbine and once to shoot the Thompson Sub-machine gun.  Each holds a thrill within itself.  The M-1 carbine is a very short .30 caliber rifle.  It is accurate up to 150 yards and has little more kick than a high power .22.  We had no score to get so the shooting was not too good but were familiarized with the piece and that's what the army wants.

M1 Thompson submachine gun

The Thompson sub-machine gun is the .45 caliber M-1 A-1 1928 automatic.  It also has very little kick but has a tendency to rise in the air when fired.  When you shoot it by single shots this is not noticeable but when you switch to automatic the muzzle just rises right up.  It will shoot 600 rounds per minute.

I suppose your not too interested in the foregoing so I will tell you about our trip to Arcadia.  We left here at 1:00 pm and left by the main gate.  This was so that we could get on highway #66 as soon as possible because that was the road we followed.  I guess that we passed the poorest section of this county or the whole state of MO is poor.  The people live in the poorest looking houses I have ever seen.  They are worse than the houses up around Dikes Pond.  The thing is that even in the towns we went through they were all the same with few exceptions.  People in N.E. should be glad they are there because they can at least make a decent living.  These people look like farmers and that don't (no erasure) doesn't seem to provide too good a lively hood.  Some of the farms looked better than others and they in general raised beef or had cattle of some kind.  We did see a lot of MO. mules and they didn't look too stubborn.

We went by several of the largest piles of sand I have ever seen.  Some covered an area about 1/2 mile sq and as high as 3 to 4 hundred feet.  They were just outside of some of the towns and we figured that the piles had something to do with mining.  No one knows just what they were from.

Most likely something like this from the many quarries in southern MO

Arcadia is a pretty enough place.  The worst thing about it seems to be the water.  They have no pure water so all you drink has been chlorinated.  You can really taste the chlorine and that isn't good.  Anyone could get to like this place if he could take a shower and eat off a Tray.  That is all I missed.  

Right now I feel like a nap so

With love

Austin

July 4, 1943

July 4, 1943

Dear Mother, 

What a way to spend the 4th of July. There is no excitement here at all and it just seems like another Sunday.  Last year out here they had a Garrison parade in St. Louis and about 30,000 men took part in it.  This year they have a small parade scheduled but no one from G.B. will take part.  This certainly doesn't seem like home and I miss it.

Yesterday (Sat) I went on sick call to get a tooth filled.  You may remember the tooth I have had so much trouble with, well Friday I pulled out the fillings and a piece of the tooth.  It went to the Dental Clinic to be looked at and they sent me to a dentist.  I had to wait about 2 hours for a line longer than you ever saw at any dentist's office.  These camps have a set up so that they can work on about 14 men at a time with one Lt. in charge.  The young fellow who worked on me pulled out a big filling and some more tooth.  Now the whole front of the tooth is gone and he said it should be pulled but as long as the rest of my teeth are in good shape he will try to fix it.  He pushed and prodded around down there until I thought I was going right out of the chair.  The gum is especially sensitive where the front part of the tooth has broken off and left the gum exposed beneath the surface.  It will have to be filled clear down to the root.

We have done quite a lot of work with the rifle lately.  We are doing a lot of dry firing.  You can ask Pop what that means if you want.  I did rather well in it but that is only an indication that i know how to shoot.  When we have mastered all of the rifle possible without actually firing it we will go to "Arcadier" {Arcadia} a firing range quite a way from there.  Here you get shooting with the Garand rifle and the Thompson sub-machine gun.  If you qualify you are sent back to camp and get put on shipping.  We won't go for several days but I hope it is soon.

We get K.P. again tomorrow and you ought to hear everyone grip now.  Everyone hates the job and would do anything to get out of it.  We are going to the mess hall that we have been eating in.  It is an awful dirty place compared with the other mess hall.  It should be a lot easier to keep in condition than the other.  I am going to S. L. now.  I got a 10:00 pm pass.

St. Louis is the same as always. I am beginning to get an idea of how the city is put together.  As I get to know the city better I find that it does have a compactness that I didn't realize before.  The theaters and night clubs are close together but not as close as in Boston.  You have to walk quite a lot getting form place to place.  They do however have a good system of carfares.  For $1.00 you can by a week pass that allows you to ride anytime anywhere in the city.  Anyday you can but a .25 cent pass that allows you to ride anywhere all day.  You also can get transfers to go anyway except back the way you came.  All this riding is done above ground in cars like the Watertown cars.

All I have tried I still can't find a guide book to the city.  No one seems to know if there ever was such a thing.  You have to get directions everywhere you go and you can hardly find the things worth seeing.  I have a lot to say but I will write about them in my next letter.

With love

Austin

P.S. I just ran into Joe Frasher at the P.X.

July 2, 1943

(I never saw this place!  I don't think that anyone has ever seen it.  It's pretty anyway)

July 2, 1943

Dear Mother,

I suppose that the weather is a good subject to start a letter with.  We see by the papers that you have had some hot sunny days.  out here it has taken quite a change.  Monday we had a shower just as we were returning from the camouflage school.  It soaked everything including us right to the skin.  We were miserable for a while but it was hot enough so that we dried off soon.  However the rain was the start of a cold spell.  It cooled off and the evening was very pleasurable.  we actually slept cold that night and have used two blankets each night since.  The days have been cool and the heat is no longer the major grip (sic) of the day.  Today it heated up quite a lot and tomorrow promises to be a hot day.  This cold weather can't last long.  

We have to have rain around here as we get a lot of dust.  If you stop after marching the dust just rises and chokes.  You have to stay on the pavement to keep away from the dust.  The rain will wet the dust down and wash it into the hollows.  In many p laces this was gets to be several feet thick and is definitely not the thing to walk through.  If you do you have a real job to get it off especially if you let it dry.

This place is a test of home training.  Many of the fellows were brought up so badly that they return to the state of {coarse? coose} men whenever they can.  Manners in the mess hall are terrible and the huts would be so cluttered that you couldn't rake all the junk out if you relaxed the rules on neatness.  I am now sitting beside a fellow who was a very good boy when at home.   His mother had a lot to say about when he went out and how long he went and who he went out with.  He went to B.C. {Boston College} for a semester but didn't learn to much about the world. Anyway now he don't know when to come home when he gets a pass.  He also has 3 girl friends all ready and may get another tonight. Coming in late nights and try to stay awake day times is not my idea of fun.

Today we didn't do too much but still had to put in the time to get it as credit as a training day.  We got Tetnus shots last night.  They really hit you in the arm.  They make the arm numb right off but this can be worked off by pumping the arm.  Often it goes away you don't have any trouble with it.  we don't get exercises the next day no matter what kind of shots you have.  We just sat all day and sang songs or had lectures on different things.  One was defense against a tank, which was very interesting.  We were told the best way to knock out a tank with a standard rifle.  We also had dry firing on the range.  This consisted of lining up  the rifle on the target and having someone check your sighting.  Not very interesting.  We didn't have any hard work so you might call it an easy day.

We have now completed 18 training days.  In 2 more weeks or 10 more training days we will be put on a shipping which means we are subject to shipment to college.  If everything goes well we maybe out in 2 1/2 weeks.  Most of the fellows will be glad to get out of here.

Mail is coming along pretty good.  I get mail that is two or three days on the way but never much longer.  Some of the kids send everything airmail and it takes 2 days and six cents.  I could afford to but I don't think I need to.  Just how long it takes to get my letter home I don't know.

What did Mary get for a graduation present?  I would like to send her something.

I have forgotten to tell you that I got paid.  I got $.50.  That right 50 cents.  That was some paycheck.  I don't know just what it was for other than that it was for car fare to Boston that first day.  All the fellows got paid but some got as much as $2.00.

Well I must sign off now,

With Love

Austin

P.S. What errors in grammar spelling etc. do you find in my letters?

July 1, 1943

Dear Pop,

I got your letter in 2 days which is very fast for mail coming this direction.  Even airmail takes as long or longer to get here.  I can't understand how it came so fast.  The train doesn't come faster than the mail so you explain it to me.

Thanks a lot for the code.  I had forgotten a lot of it and I wanted to finish up on it so I could be a little ahead of everyone.  A lot of the fellows know code as it is.  Especially the fellow who was in the R.C.A.F. and shot down the German planes.

If you should compare the handwriting in some of these letters you would find that some parts are not written at the same time of the preceding parts.  Just now I got back from the Service Club.  Before going there we had our Tetnus shots and we had that on a full stomach.  I started the letter this noon but am writing it at 8:00 tonight.  Some span of time.

The Service Club is new and its a swell place to go and write letters.  It is a 5 minute walk away and not too convenient.  But the girls that work there are really fun.  They are of course Missouri girls and don't talk Yankee talk.  In fact they have a language all their own.  Everything is O.K. to them and it sounds funny when they way it.  Some of the fellows sit at the soda bar and order and reorder just to hear the girls talk. You really have nothing better to do with your money.

You may have a lot of money but just what can you do with it.  You can go to the P.X. and buy things to eat and drink but you soon fill up.  You can't go out and spend it because you need a pass to get off the post.  You can buy things to send home but most of the stuff is Air Corps stuff and I sometimes wonder if I will make the grade to fly.  Anyway the money problem doesn't trouble me very much.

Our "Conditioners" (physical training) is really tough.  They really wear you out if they can.  You start off with exercise of the arms and shoulders.  When they are tired you work stomach muscles and when they are tired you do push ups in cadence.  About half the time is spent running the 1 3/8 mile or the obstical course.  You then get rope climbing, pull ups, and combatitives.  They are a series of personal combat exercises such as Indian wrestling and ends in Jujitsu training.  Before you can fly you have to be able to chin yourself 9 times with your hands on the bar so that the backs are towards you (the hardest way).  You also have to do an agility exercise.  This starts from the position of attention, bending putting the palms on the ground the elbows between the knees, throwing the feet to the rear so that you are resting on the ground on your hands and toes.  You then do a push up and return to a position of attention.  You have to do 15 of them in 20 sec.  That will really be tough.  We also have coordination exercises that are not tough but are a test of your power to act on what you think. With a little practice you get so that you can do them.

I am sending some of my laundry out now.  Some of the stuff I just don't have time to do.  Our coveralls get so dirty I don't get a chance to do the work on them they require.  When you swet and then lay in the Missouri dust you get mud that gets too hard to wash.  Right now there is as much as 2 inches of dust in spots.  We haven't had rain for so long (4 days) we expect the pace to go away in the next big wind.  When the rain does come it will be a cloud burst and wash all the dust into the valleys.

With Love
Austin

{For a more complete discussion of the physical training, check out the Art of Manliness's article.  Are you as fit as a WWII GI?}

July 6, 1943

June 6, 1943

{Has he forgotten the date?}

Dear Mother,

I didn't write yesterday because we were on K.P. and were restricted after we got through.  They made us get up at 3:50 a.m. and that is an early hour even around here.  It was late even so, we had to fall out right away.  The hut was a mess and we were restricted.  We really didn't feel like doing anything but we had to G.I. the hut before we could go away.

Tonight we are going to throw a party!  Most everyone including me (many thanks) got food from home.  We are going to break a few rules that say you can't have bottles in the huts, but going to the P.X. and buy soft drinks bringing them back and eating and drinking.  The only trouble is that we have a lot of work to do before a special inspection tomorrow at 5:30.  Something always wrecks the parties and makes them difficult to hold.  I am trying to write early so that I can have some fun.

I got the box today at the noon mail call.  I expected it but I didn't know what to expect.  I guess you collaborated on it.  Pop must have sent the peanuts and you and someone else the soap and cookies.  They are really good.  We are going to use the cookies tonight and I want to use the soap also but even so I doubt if I will have time.  My clothes are dirty but I may get some clean ones from the laundry.

I should tell you something about the meals.  Aside from the weather meals are the main topic of conversation.  Of course our mess hall is really pretty bad in the way of cleanliness and the mess officer doesn't seem to care to much but lets talk about the food.  Now, in the morning you get 2 little bottles  

{the second page of the letter is missing}

They probably hoped the party would be something like this.

It was probably a lot more like this.

June 30, 1943 Part 2 sent in a later letter

June 30, 1943

Dear Folks,

Everyday we do something new.  Today we got "pieces".  They are in civilian lingo rifles but here everything is a "piece" or an "arm".  We went to the supply house and drew these to learn the manual forms with them.  Most of the fellows got the old Enfield rifle but me and a few others got the new ultra modern M-1 or Garand rifle.  They are as you probably know gas loaded and fire a .30 cal. bullet.  But are they heavy!  8 lobs + 3 ozs seems like a ton after it has rested on your arm or shoulder for awhile.

We went on parade today.  At 3:45 we fell out in Class A uniforms and helmets to go to the main drill fields.  We marched up to the field where we formed a squadron front and marched 12 min across, something we had never done before.  We marched onto the field walked by the reviewing stand.  Then all the squadrons lined up in a Flight front and waited by the cannon to fire, the retreat to be sounded with the lowering of the flag, and the band to march up and down the field.  We couldn't move all during this time and I was rather dead in places at the end of the time.  We got back at 5:45 to wait to a very poor supper.

Today I got the box and it was all in fast.  I didn't realize at the time but I may have trouble finding film for the camera myself.  However I am going to town again tonight and I shall try to find some films tonight.  I will write more about St. Louis as soon as I can find out more about it.  Most of the fellows don't think much of it though. 

With love

Austin

Permission slip required for possessing a camera on base.