Tuesday morning

March 27, 1945

Dearest Elizabeth,

            First of all, don’t think that I have gotten down to begging the Red Cross for writing paper. Am writing this in the club, having just finished breakfast, and consequently, using their community paper. Anyway, I just received the package of air mail stationary you sent the other day, and have an ample supply in the tent now. Thanks a lot – it was very sweet of you – But then, you are always doing sweet things.

            The breakfast wasn’t too sharp this morning – We had G.I. pancakes which don’t have much taste. The meals as a whole have been much better lately, so I guess I’ll live through the remainder of my missions. You know, when we’re on a mission we don’t have lunch, as they are all day affairs. They give us a K ration, though, to carry along, so this helps fill in the gap.

            We had a pretty good show at the club last night. (Am finishing this in the tent as I ran out of time). We had that top hand in the 15th A.F. again, and the boys in charge of the program got together some swell acts and skits. They had a fine quartet who sang “I Surrender Dead”, “My Buddy”, and “Her Tears Flowed Like Wine”. Also, had three Harlem boys – negro G.I.’s – one a tap dancer, another a boogie woogie piano player, and the third sang like Cab Calloway. They really were good and the house rocked with applause. The hand was solid and had a good arrangement of “Robin Hood”. Have you heard that piece? They play a recording of it by Louis Prima over the radio here. It’s pretty catchy and just odd enough to catch my ear.

            Well, no doubt by now you’ve heard of the 15thraid on Berlin. What do you think of that? – the longest raid ever made by Fortresses. Naturally I wasn’t in on it, but the rest of my crew was. John said he almost passed out when they told them a “briefing” where they were going. They all said, “O.K., you’ve had your jobs, now where are we going?” I missed these other raids up to Richland only 75 miles from Berlin, also. I won’t start complaining, though, as I’ve managed to hit all of the “milk runs.”

            John leads us all with 33 missions now, Hugh next with 30, and me with 29, and Mirowski 26. Since I’ve been flying as lead bomb, I only get to go on about every third or fourth mission flown. Have to wait my turn, you know. My last mission was to Weiner, Neustadt, Austria. You should be able to find this one on your map as it is just south of Vienna. This was a real “milk run”, as we didn’t even see flak, and scored 100% hits on the yards. Led the squadron on this one, also.           

            Darling, I’m beginning to think I might miss that six months considerably. And sorry I took this lead position as I would probably be even with Gallagher now. Don’t count on any specific time, as I don’t even have much of an idea myself now. You see, we might hit some bad weather which would slow me up even more than I am now. Will just get home as soon as I can, and don’t worry about my signing up for another tour. Wish I could go back with the boys, though.

            Well, Sweet, I guess I’ve bored you enough for so early in the morning. Am missing you as ever and loving you as always. Be good, stay sweet, and write often.

 

                                                                         All my love forever,

                                                                                   Jimmy