Dec. 18, 1943
Dear Folks:
Well I’m afraid I slipped up on my writing to you this week. I’m sorry. I understand Mother isn’t so well. Well take care of yourself, Ma.
I got a package from Pug and Eddie a couple of days ago. I got one of your packages yesterday and the other one today. Thanks a lot. I also got a package from Murell today. I got the one package that I wasn’t supposed to open yesterday. The one with the eats in that was sent special delivery etc. I got today. I haven’t opened the other one yet (as ordered). But I can’t promise you that I can hold out until Christmas either.
I’ve been having a lot of fun on formation rides. Another kid and I went up with the Captain the other day. We just got up and he started chasing another plane. We went into string formation then. There we were rat racing right over the field at between 2 and 3 thousand feet. We were going all over. This other plane turned out to be another instructor who has been in combat too. So he knew all the tricks too. Finally they quit that and he got into our formation. Berggren flew on the Captain’s wing in the first element, and I flew this other instructor’s wing in the second element. We flew like that for a while and then the Captain spotted a ship from the other squadron so he made a pass at him. Then we were in another rat race. Then the Captain quit that and started doing acrobatics. He did a couple barrel rolls. Then he did a loop. I looked up. There the first two planes were on top of the loop on their backs. The third plane was right behind them but not on his back yet, and I was just starting up. So we were all four planes in the same loop. Then the Captain decided things were getting a little dull. So we went down to do a little buzzing. We went down and we were just missing the tree tops. My altimeter said less than zero, but of course we weren’t below the ground. That’s really fun to fly low. We went over one house that I’ll bet we blew the shingles right off it. You can imagine how fast those trees went whizzing by when we were doing between 250 and 350. We flew low for quite awhile. We went right up a railroad track once like that. I had more fun in that 1 1/2 hrs then I had all the way through flying school.
Today was my day off. Tomorrow I will fly all day. We will start ground gunnery too. I just laid around all day. I went in town and got a $125 check cashed. I should have about $100 of that left at the end of the month. At that time I will have over $300 coming to me. I signed in the payroll and I will get $230 after all my deductions. So I think I will take about $100 of that and send it home. Along with the $100 I will have left. You should also get a check for $60 and a war bond shortly after Jan. 1. So you see I don’t have to worry about running out of money. And I have been spending money pretty freely too (pretty freely for me I mean).
Boy oh boy! We’ve been almost freezing here. These buildings weren’t exactly made for cold weather and it’s pretty cold when we get up in the mornings. And Ma doesn’t have a nice warm fire to go to either. We burn soft coal in stoves so the fire is pretty low by morning.
Well folks how is everything? How’s Dad making out? Have you sold off any of the stuff yet? I guess it’s pretty cold up there right now. You probably know by now how that oil heater works in cold weather.
That chicken and ? tasted pretty good. Well I better close and write another letter to a certain party If you don’t mind. I’m chewing one of those applies right now. Jim seemed to do pretty good with his trapping. Didn’t he?
Well I hope everybody is okay. I’m sorry I can’t be there for Christmas. I’ll try to be there for next Christmas. Is that all right?
Yours truly,
Alva
Ancestors Across the Ages 