March 26 & 30 and April 2, 1944: a few letters home from Dad. There does not seem to be much going on at camp, at least that Dad can write home about. The weather is getting warmer day by day. As Dad writes, “The day after I wrote you the last letter I snowed, and the day after that it rained and it was cold. Today in the morning the sun is out and from all viewpoints it looks like we are in for some very comfortable weather.” The 30th is pretty routine too. It is his day off and he has “quite a bit of time to take care of everything such as getting a haircut, sleep and eat.”
Now that Captain Jordan is on his way to his next assignment, Dad has a new boss (Captain Chenault) coming in. In other administrative matters, Dad writes that he has a new address. “We are the same outfit except they changed around the naming. It is known as the 270th Base Unit (SW), Topeka Army Air Field in place of 21st Wing.
Dad also clarifies something that Stanley mentioned in one of his V-Mails. “Stanley writes to me that they are authorized to wear a bronze star on their ETO ribbon which means that his outfit has had an engagement with the enemy. I guess that is what he means when he requested that we consult the papers to see what they are doing. Stanley may have had the unpleasant experience of missing some of the combat enlisted men in their places in the pay line on pay day. We can only pray for Stanley and his colleagues for a hasty end to this war.” As far as the prospect of the war ending soon, Dad comments that “…Eisenhower, who predicted defeat over Germany, in 1944 has only 9 more months to do it in, which gives that much more time for the Germans to commit murders.”
As far as occupying his non-working hours, he manages to get to a movie, seeing “Cover Girl with Rita Hayworth and Gene Kelly. It was colorful and the music by Jerome Kern was restful and good to the ears.” He is also taking a correspondence course from the Army Institute. “I intend taking Physics first because from my own experience it may not be a great subject, but it is still required in many places along mechanical lines. After that, I guess I’ll take up radio or some sort of mechanics…”
He signs off, “That’s about all from this Field.”