August 16, 1945

Aug 16, 1945

Dear Mother:

I don't have much on my mind so don't be surprised if this is a short letter.  I will just write until I run out of words and that will be the end.

Tuesday night about 1930 we got that news that Japan had accepted our terms.  Just what those terms are or how they will affect me is beyond my knowledge but everyone seems to think that it calls for a celebration so that is what 90% of the people did.  As for me I didn't see any discharge papers in view right away and seeing how the schedule starts again tomorrow I see no reason to go out and spend all my money making a lot of noise and making someone else rich.  Maybe I should of at least gone into San Antonio to see the rest of the people lose their heads but instead I just stayed on the base, went swimming and got a swell sun burn and saved my money.

Times Square

San Diego

Times Square

Navy Yard Hospital

Oak Ridge, Tennessee

Times Square

Paris, France

So for the last 48 hours I have been sleeping, eating and swimming and going to movies.  Boy it sure is a rough life to have nothing in the world you have to do but instead you really have to rack your brain trying to find something.  This army is making a lazy man out of me.

Tomorrow ends the big 2 day holiday.  The engines of the 29s have come to life again in preparation for flying tomorrow and the ground crews are again on the ramps repairing engines under huge lamps which lights things up like day.  I suppose the only reason we are starting again is because orders from higher up haven't yet been received to halt the program.  The thing is moving so fast that it will be hard to stop all at once.  We will probably have school for some time to come after official VJ day.  I don't care one way or the other so let them do as they please.  I only wish I could get home again before Summer is over and gone.

I am beginning to wonder just what is to be our fate.  It goes without saying that the army doesn't want all the men it has trained to fly in fact it doesn't need all the men who would like to stay in.  I for one would like to stay in a little longer and see how things are going to work out.  I also would like to go back to school but can hardly imagine myself doing accounting.  Maybe I can bring myself to it but I am sure the social side of college will be to me a lot more alluring.  What a change in the last 2 years.

I got Pop's card Tuesday.  That sure is a big potato on the front.  I really don't believe they grow them that big but you still have to believe 1/2 of what you see.

Well I guess that kind of winds things up.  I hope you aren't bored with the preceding 2 pages.

With love

Austin

what a life

July 24, 1945

San Marcos

July 24, 1945

Dear Mother:

I got your letter of the 17th and you seemed a little unhappy about not receiving any mail.  I don't blame you a bit and I guess I need someone to get me on the ball.  I guess I write a lot more to Mary than anyone else right now.  Well I will try to think of more to go in my letters and get them off more often.

Here is a good idea of just what kind of a climate we have here.  It rained today and it got so muggy that when I was standing in a breeze the sweat on my arms and hands would not evaporate.  After dinner I went to sleep for a couple of minutes and woke up with little beads of sweat all over me.  I guess it is just as they say at home, it's not the heat but the humidity.  I have no idea what the humidity around here is but it sure must be terrible.

Well I may be lucky because I didn't get a leave.  Bill Samput got his leave fixed up and now he is shipping out to go to Roswell N.M. for B29 co-pilot.  It seems that it happened to all the fellows who got leaves.  So maybe not getting a leave was a good thing after all.

Bill Samput is on the orders to go to Roswell.  So after knowing him for a couple of months more than a year we are parting.  Well we have had a lot of fun together and I have met his folks.  They were swell and I enjoyed my stays with them.

Let me tell you what happened this weekend.  I met a cop up at Addie Mae's house a week ago and he is a flying enthusiast more or less.  He asked me if I wouldn't like to go flying with him Sunday and I was more than willing to accept.  So Sunday he called the hotel in Austin where I was staying and said he was ready to go.  He has a car so we went out to an airport where he has had some in striation.

Well this is a long story but I have a lot of time.  He had told me previously that he had flown a year with the C.A.P. so I assumed he had several hundred hours.  He also said that he had flown AT-6s which made him a hot rock.  I had to get checked out in this cab which took about 8 minutes on the ground and in the air and then off we went.  

Well we got out to the point of take-off and he asked me to take it off, so I did but I thought it was rather strange that he didn't want to fly.  I took off and asked him if he wanted it and he took over.  We went flying over the city and after a while he got tired and asked me if I wanted to fly.

Sure I wanted to fly so I moved from a position of resting with my elbows on my big knees to where I could put my hands on the throttle and stick I hit the throttle and the engine quit.  Well old Timmy almost hit the roof.  He turned around, shaking like a leaf and said in a very halting voice that I had better take it.  So I grabbed the throttle and away we went.

Well from the way he flew and by his reactions I should have known more about his flying but I being an innocent pilot still accepted his word of 1 year with the C.A.P. flying the border.  Taking things for granted in an airplane does not work.

We came in and I shot a landing and then I told him to take over and shoot one.  When we got around to the final approach into the field he turned around and told me to follow him through which was OK by me.  But when he started to level out 100' up instead of 10' I really started to sweat and when the ship stalled out about 25' up and the bottom felt like it fell out I was really sweating.  I gave it the power in a hurry and we hit and made 4 hard bounces which would make your teeth rattle.

We taxied up to the ramp and got out and then I found out that Timmy wasn't such a hot rock.  He had exactly 3:15 actual recorded stick time and the rest was what he could pick up while navigating on the border.  Well let me tell you that the next time I went up with him I didn't take too much for granted and I stayed glued to the controls.  I guess you can learn something every day, even on Sundays.

Next Sunday I am going to take Addie Mae and her roommate for a ride in a Stenson 105 if I can get checked out.  I think I can so it will be a lot of fun but also rather expensive.  It will cost $10 an hour so you can see where the money goes.  "Bus man's holidays" are rather expensive.

Stenson 105

Maybe I shouldn't tell you my trouble but this climate is kind of getting me down.  I am losing weight rather fast and I don't quite know when it will stop.  Also I feel just sluggish and uncomfortable.  I only feel good when I am cooled off while swimming and only then do I feel well enough to have any fun. I hope I can get used to this climate but it is really the worst I have ever been in.  It leaves you without enough energy to live, in fact I find that I drag my feet unless I think about it.  That is getting bad when you can't find strength to lift your feet.

You probably remember the Bulova watch you sent to me more than a year ago.  Well that darn thing is more trouble than it is worth.  I have spent more on repairs for it than anything I own.  It is just not a hardy enough watch for what I am doing.  I have another watch so don't be surprised if you find this watch in the mail.  I have just l most the stem and will have to replace it.  I have too much trouble to have it around.

Well I shall send these pictures of the Samputs and me.  They are not too hot but they are all right.  You can get an idea of what they look like.  They are typical Texans if there is any way of telling.

Well I hope I am forgiven for not writing because I think of writing much oftener than I do.  

With love

Austin

July 4, 1945

San Marcos

July June 4, 1945

Dear Mother:

All leaves have been canceled.  We got the good news yesterday and everyone is a little unhappy.  They are expecting some shipping orders for some of the boys and so no leaves are being given out and all those on leave are coming back.

Well I guess that kind of fixes up my little visit home.  I was kind of looking forward to it and had made some plans but everything is shot now.  I just wish this army would make up its mind and decide to do something.  If orders do come through I hope I am on them and that it is to B17s and not B29s.  Then I will be happy for not getting a leave.

Well the same old routine seems to go around here.  Up at 0800 class at 0900 until 1200 then from 1200 to 1600 and then swimming or what ever you want, the day is yours.  Yesterday we went swimming with my new swim fins.  You put the things on your feet and they cut down the motion of your feet but they give you twice the speed.  In fact your hands and arms get in the way until you get used to them.  You can swim under water a lot faster and some what farther without using your hands.  They are a lot of fun if you can forget you have spent $9.00 for them.  I believe I will use them long enough and have enough fun with them to make it worth while.

Well today is the 4th of July a holiday but here I am in class writing this letter.  Classes should have started 10 minutes ago.  (They are starting now)  Be back later.

We just went out to a class in Loran which is connected with Radar and very secret.  It was the most interesting class I have ever been to here at San Marcos.  They use Loran to shoot a line of position which will give you a radio fix anywhere in the world accurate to 1/2 mile or less.  It is accurate to 500' but because you fly down your line of position while making readings on the 2nd station you loose part of the accuracy you can get two simultaneous readings so the faster you can read the stations the better the fix.  It is really one of the most interesting things I have seen on this field.

San Marcos Field

I was a little surprised to hear that you were in the process of losing a daughter.  I had no idea that any like that was in the wind.  However I am happy to see her get away for awhile and glad to see she has the gumption to go ahead and do something on her own.  I think your younger daughter has more gumption than the other two.  I guess you will miss her and I don't blame you but I hope you can get along.  It is too bad Pop doesn't stay at home more and provide a little company.  I guess William and Esther will be around so you won't be all together without gab.

So Mary is going to go live with a houseful of women.  Boy!  Would I like to go see her.  That would turn out to be quite a date bureau, just the place for me.  I suppose the idea of the thing is kind of to keep in contact with your music and make money during the summer vacation.  It sure is a good way to keep up with your music and work at the same time.  Maybe Mary won't be able to make much money and stay at the house but what fun she can have being away from home.  She will enjoy it as much as I have I am sure.  Now if you can only get a couple more of the family interested enough to live away from home awhile you would be doing a good job.  Well two of your youngsters "have flown the coop". 

Well I am going to Austin tonight and have a date with the girl I met selling War Bonds.  Her name is Addie Mae Schwake, a Krout from way back.  She is a lot of fun but don't worry, it's not love, just fun.  Anyway it's a good way to spend the money I was going to use on airline fare.  Dancing and taxi fares and hamburgers don't cost much so don't worry about the money.

I have written enough.  I am sorry I got your hopes all up and maybe made plans but things stand as they are and who am I to change them.

With love 

Austin

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

May 21, 1944

War Eagle Field

Lancaster

May 21, 1944

Dear Mother:

This is Sunday and a wonderful day to relax and have fun.  Flying is over and all is peace with the world.  Today I am relaxing and enjoying life where I can find it because next Sunday I will be in Arizona again and all will not be so well.

I am now laying in the sun in my swimming trunks, having just come out of the swimming pool.  The water is rather cold but not bad at all.  I guess it is a lot warmer than anything you have.  I get quite a kick out of swimming here because this is one of the few outdoor pools I have been in.  They have a swell board and everything.  It is quite a layout.  After getting through basic I guess it wasn't so tough after all.  At least we have had this pool for the last couple of weeks.

I got both your letters yesterday and did not get time to read them until I decided I couldn't make the last bus to L.A.  I was going in but couldn't get my cleaning so had to iron an old shirt I do not like the looks of.  It had been in the bottom of my barracks ever since Santa Ana.  You can guess what it looked like.  I put a iron mark on the back but I don't show too well.  I also had to sew on a patch (Air Corp) on the sleeve so by that time it was too late.  Well I went to Lancaster and had a nice T Bone steak for dinner and went to the movies.  I tried to straighten out my locker when I got back but have made very little headway.  I am trying to get that box of odds and ends together to send home so don't expect that box too soon.  It will probably get off the last minute which will be next Wednesday some time.

Your description of what the surrounds are becoming make me rather homesick.  I wish I could see the apple blossoms and all.  I used to like apple blossoms especially when they just begin to fall and the air seems to be just full of them.  Out here you notice a very pleasant smell when you are driving along the roads, orange trees in bloom.  They really have a wonderful smell.  I think most everyone would like them especially when whole groves at a time blossom and have that sweet smell.

Orange grove in So. Cal.

I guess you have become a coordinator of internal affairs at home.  You seem to be the go between the home front and the fighting front (what a laugh).  I have survived the battle of Santa Ana; the battle of primary, the battle of basic and one more to go.  I hope I get over the last ditch.  I can just imagine a bulletin board in the office (kitchen) with all current notices posted.  Anyway you keep me well posted.

I guess William ought to meet some new girls.  If he were in the Army he would meet more than enough.  I guess Harold Varny is a good sample of what happens.  He used to see that girl every Sunday as long as I was with him in St. Luis.  I never did get to meet her even though he said I was welcome to come out.  We never go to town at the same time.

I saw Albeins picture in the paper.  It sure was a pretty good one of him.  I see he is in England doing some sort of electrical work.  I guess he will be in on the big deal over there.  I guess they intend to make electricians out of bakers until the big blow is over.  I guess it will all be over in a couple of months (we hope)

I am going to dinner

With love

Austin