March 29, 1945

Mar. 29, 1945

Dear Mother:

I suppose you have now been to N.Y. and back by now so have a lot on your mind.  I hope you had a pleasant trip and I am sure you have.  I wish I could have gone because I know I would have had a lot of fun.

You wrote about Mary having a tooth pulled and I felt rather sorry for her.  Well yesterday I had one yanked which was pulled purely on my own say so.  Since I am 21 they can't pull my teeth unless I give them the go ahead. I guess I am glad it is done but 24 hours ago I was wondering about the wisdom of my momentous decision.

The tooth was in bad shape and was giving me quite a lot of trouble.  It was quite painful at altitude and I had reason to believe that the filling was bad and not the tooth.  Usually they have a paste that is very irritating which causes pain at altitude, and some times it is just a pin point of air under the filling.  The "doc" made an X-ray and said that the tooth looked bad but not until I told him I had frequent tooth aches did he recommend that it be removed.  He didn't say it would have to be removed, and said that a non-flying member of the army could get along for some time in its condition.  However he said that flying aggravated the situation and that it would get worse until in a matter of months or a year it would have to go.  I don't know where I will be in a few mos or years so I told him to go ahead.

Well he got out the hammer and tongs and the big needle and put the whole right side of my face to sleep.  Of course when he went to work he didn't spare the horses and got it out but I almost went out too.  He said I was a good patient because I didn't scream and scare all of the others I guess.  It had the biggest roots on it I have ever seen and it must have left my head hollow.  When he got it out and looked down into the hole he said that it was abscessed and was a good thing to have gone.

At least I won't wake up nights and wish it were gone, it won't prevent me from getting sleep I should have.  It was a kind of bloody thing and I thought I never would stop bleeding but last night it had pretty nearly stopped.  I didn't sleep too well and I finally took two little pills this morning and got about 3 hours of sleep when no one was looking.  The weather socked in around here so I haven't missed anything.  I have no idea what they put in those little white pills but they almost put me to sleep on the spot.  I don't know what plans are being made for a replacement so I will have to go see the dentist pretty soon and see what's up.  I hope that now I have one gone my other teeth will get a little more space and maybe be easier to take care of.

Last night was the first night I ever dreamed of starving to death which goes to show you how hungry I was.  It seems that no matter what happens I am hungry.  I guess I could eat even if I were too sick to see the food.  Maybe I just inherited a few things form my pop.  Actually the food around here is none too good although we pay $1.50 for it.  It is not too well prepared but I guess plenty of it.  The meals are well balanced so you get your calories but sometimes they are unidentifiable.  They have pretty girls serving so maybe that is why I eat so much.  I don't think I have gained any weight and if not my clothes are just getting small however not much smaller.

My pilot bought a car yesterday and I financed him to the extent of $160, which may be a foolish thing.  However I expect him to be around for some time and he says I will be paid on Monday.  Payday comes up pretty soon so I shan't be short of money be a long shot.  At the rate I have been saving money in Lincoln and here I guess I could finance year at B.U. in a couple of months.  You can expect some money to come along very soon.  I don't know yet what I shall put it into but War Bonds and the bank seem to be two rather investments in these times.  Maybe you can find something better.  I think all this money is spoiling me for good because it will be hard working for a living.  (you will have to wait while I go eat).

If you waited while I ate you would have waited a long time.  I went to the show last night and to a show at the club.  I went to see "God is My Co-pilot" and I might say that it is a good show.  Of course they have too many technical errors in it for anyone in the Air Corp to swallow whole but as a picture it follows pretty closely to the book.  All of the shots taken in the air are taken over Arizona about 10 miles from Luke so all of the ground and mts. look very familiar.  In fact I could identify a lot of the places where I had looped and dived and rat-raced just like they did in the movies.  I have flown off the runways they pictured so the picture was not so exciting to me.  It is a picture you should see if you want to see the old AT-6 in action because that is all they use for Jap.  I enjoyed the picture and I guess you would too.

Clip from God is My Co-Pilot

I have got to go fly in 1/2 an hour.  We may not fly because the weather looks bad but we may get up. It makes little difference to me.

 I will have to close now and go mail this so until I have some more time

With  love

Austin

June 4, 1944

Luke Field

Arizona

June 4, 1944

Dear Mother:

I really have the best intentions in writing but as in every other place time is short here.  We start about 7:30 in the morning and finish about 8:10 in the evening.  In between that time we fly and have school and all our meals.  After that time we have time to our selves.  As it is now we are preparing questionnaires so I can solo tomorrow.

Last week has been rather uneventful.  I haven't yet received any letters directly from town but I guess I should get one or two tomorrow.  (I can't find a good position to write in)

Saturday I went to the dentist and got my teeth fixed good and proper.  He filled 8 little holes in my head.  He had quite a time but said when he was finished I was done.  I sat in the chair for more than 2 hours and you can bet I felt done before he was.  The dentist ruined my Saturday schedule and made it impossible for me to solo.  Well tomorrow I will get off the ground in a hurry and solo and then go up and see what I can make this AT 6 do.

AT-6 Trainer

The AT6 is one of the best training planes in the Army.  It handles like a dream.  You don't have to move the controls you just think about 'em and they move by themselves.  You can fly by using pressures and don't have to make any noticeable movements.  It has retractable wheels and hydraulic flaps.  It has all kinds of safety devices to keep you from fouling up the works.  However it is a fighter pilots ship and much too hot for a bomber pilot.  It must be the easiest ship to ground loop in the Army so if I keep away from ground loops I will get through all right.  I have just go to get through.

I can just see that this phase of training is going to be the one to "sweat out" but be the most interesting one yet.  It is all in the plane.  It really is a wonder.  You can train it to fly straight and level and level and then you can fly it at any speed you want and not break an arm trying to control it like you did in that old B.T.  May the Lord help me if I have to become an instructor on BTs.  You can do everything with this ship you can do with a tactical ship. Spins near the ground are dangerous but with plenty of altitude you can do anything.  You can even do slow rolls going straight up.  When I get a little more familiar with it I am going to have some real fun.  "Rat racing" is in order here so we are really going to have fun.

This post is a regular GI post but has quite a number of "feather merchants" working in the hangers on maintenance.  Also they have WAC's but we hardly see any of them.  They have quite a lot of military discipline but it hadn't bothered too much yet.  The food is about the best you can get anywhere.  We really live off the fat of the land.  The only trouble is that the fellows waste more now.  I must admit I waste more myself than if I were starving.  We get pie and ice cream or cake for dinner or supper every day.

Would I like to get home!  I still don't see much chance for  quite some time.  We have heard that 1/3 of the class will get a 10 day leave when we graduate but 10 days will do me no good unless I could fly both ways and plane reservations are hard to get.  Well maybe the rumors don't mean anything.  They also say we will fly P47's or P39's before we get through.  

Well I have got to write to my old primary instructor 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.