December 25, 1944

Dear Mother:

Well here it is Christmas day and me a thousand miles from home.  What a life! Of all the days I would like to be home, this is the one and yet I am not the one to say.

We came up here to see a couple of friends from Luke.  R.H. Smith is up here so we thought we could at least enjoy Christmas a little more together.  Two Mass boys ought to have a lot of fun together.

We had quite a trip up here.  The bus was loaded and we had to stand about 2 hours but sat down for the last 5 hours so it was all right.  I came up with a fellow from Tenn who also had a friend up here.  Ruvis is the fellow's name.  Samput went home for the holiday to Dallas.  He invited me to go with him but the transportation was so indefinite I thought it would be better to go some place I was sure to get home from.

I had a chance to get a leave of 14 days last week but didn't take it because it would be my last leave this year.  I will be able to get a travel priority by staying and waiting so I will get more time at home by waiting.  Christmas means a lot to me but I would rather have all the time I can get at home rather than come home for the holiday.  Maybe it is just as well because the transportation problem is so bad.

I told you about the stunt we pulled one day last week.  We didn't get up for the first scheduled class but almost got burnt by our folly.  We were going to get a court marshall but they decided to let us off with a restriction which is the usual thing.  They tried to scare us I guess but didn't have the authority.  Anyway I learned my lesson so I will stay on the ball.

I don't have anything special to write so I will quit.  We are going out to Kirtland Field now to see what B24's look like.  Our room here was in 410 as you can see on the front of this paper.

With love
Austin.

Modern look at the El Fidel Hotel, now an office building and condos called Copper Square

December 10, 1944

Dec 12

Dear Mother:

As you can see by my beautiful stationary that we are down in El Paso Tex.  I guess you are wondering just what is coming off and I will tell you.  We got so tired of Roswell we decided to come and see the bright lights again.

We came down yesterday on a 7PM bus and had quite a lot of fun looking around the town.  A gentleman packed us up in his Buick and took us around to see the sights.  Actually there are not many things to see but we had a lot of from just riding around.  We are going back tonight on a 9PM bus and sleep most of the way.

Hotel Cortez

Modern day office building

Maybe you wonder who my companion is.  Well he is William J Sampert of Dallas Tex.  We do a lot of traveling together and we both get a big kick out of it.  By the way he has invited me to his home on my way next leave and I have accepted him.  I plan to spend about 2 or 3 days there before coming home.

You know Sat we had nothing to do and decided to go somewhere.  We went to the bus station and took the first bus out and here is where we ended up.  Some fun.  It really is fun to just take off and go somewhere and have and leave no responsibilities behind.  Guess I have an itchy foot too.

With love

Austin.

Not to brag or anything