John P
04-26-2009, 10:36 AM
I though some of our WWII modelers might be interested in this. My grandmother saved all of Dad's letters home from the service. I haven't read them all, but I browse thru the box every once in a while. Unfortunately they're mostly from his stateside traning in 1943 and '44, and very few from his deployment in the Pacific. So there isn't a lot of Combat action.
But I laughed myself silly when I read this one - Gram always had a nervous condition in later life, and reading Dad's letters, I think he gave it to her!
Imagine being a mother, getting this letter from your son:
17 June 1945
Oahu
Dear Mom and Pop,
Well, here I am – yet. Still doing my long range Jap hunting from the sheltered little island of Oahu. Boy, I’m not so mad, but pretty damn mad! If I’m going to be overseas, why not give me something to shoot at more often? Gee, I could spend the rest of the war over here and still never pile up any combat time. Oh well, I’m getting paid for it so I guess I shouldn’t complain too much.
I had a new experience today. I was up at 38,000 feet in my Jug (P-47). I rolled over in a half roll to try finding my target upside down, and my trim slipped and put me into a power-on dive. At approx (I don’t know for sure if this alt is correct ‘cause the hands on the instruments were all going crazy) 20,000 feet I was doing 750 miles per hour. Then I hit compressibility, which is shock waves developed when air refuses to flow around objects, but builds up in front of them. That’s at or near the speed of sound. Then I started, for some unknown reason, to lose my strength. I couldn’t pull out. I rolled my trim back and it lost effect. But somewhere around 9 or 10,000 feet it started to come out at about almost or maybe better than 800 or so. I didn’t know, my instrument dial read that high. But when I started to come out the trim took effect and pulled me up sharp, which blacked me out. I woke up at 23,000 feet upside down and still indicating 420 MPH on the clock, starting down again. I got it level and landed, to find that my tail was all but off, and the rivets pulled out of the wings in places. One more for the books.
Well, I’ve got to hit the sack now, Mom. I’m up on dawn patrol in the A.M.
Love & Kisses,
“Jack”
And this one, sent 6 months AFTER the war while he was still serving out his enlistment on Okinawa. (Please excuse the typical period bigotry. I present this warts and all).
26 March 1946
Okinawa
Dear Mom & Pop,
Here I am again, only quite tired, to say the least. Bret (his wingman, Hal Barbrett) and I picked up a 38 foot cabin cruiser yesterday, over on the other side of the Island. So today we decided to bring it around the island to our side. It’s about 75 miles of open sea and reefs. It was raining when we started out, then when we got out about an hour the wind came up and the seas started to get rough, and I do mean rough. The waves were breaking over the cabin, and we were having trouble staying off the rocks. But we made it in 5 hours, all safe and sound. But if you could have seen us riding those waves and bouncing around the Pacific! Once, we hit the reefs with a thud, but we went on over OK.
Well, here I am again, only a few days later. I always seem to get sidetracked, but to good advantage this time. I’ve got news to tell you now.
Yesterday I was riding my “bike” [a 1942 Harley Davidson model 74] up the road. I came to the intersection of 1 & 20W, and I heard shooting. So while I’m looking for the guy who’s shooting, a bullet hit my front wheel and I spilled the “bike” and fell behind it. For a second I thought the Russians were here at last. But it was a colored boy up on a 6X6 truck and he was firing at another black boy who was laying in the road. I guess when he saw me coming on my bike he thought it was the M.P.s. Well, he had a carbine, and was, I think, planning to clobber me, so I pulled out my “Luger”* and let him have the whole darn clip full, and I got the bas____! Well, I had a few questions to answer, but the guy went mad about an hour before this all happened, and I fired in self defense, so I’m all clear. But I thought I was in a war there for a second or two. More darn fun!
More news. I’ve got me a Jeep now, all mine. It’s in good shape too. It’s a salvage job. I picked up the parts in a dump, and made a Jeep, complete with air horns, electric wiper, 5 new tires and a top. So I now have two, pardon me, 4 means of traveling. Motorcycle, Jeep, boat and airplane. Not bad for a guy who just missed captain again, huh?
But with all this stuff I got I’ve had to make up to all the big shots. Three col.s and a flock of captains and things. You see, if a little guy like me has something they want, they get it one way or another, so I’ve made pals of them all so we can have fun for our last months over here. I’ve made [parts?] for rifles and pistols, all kinds of bolts & nuts, book shelves, desks and picture frames, taken portraits of them and developed and printed their film. I even made a complete sailing rig for a 28 foot hull for Col. Coleman, even to a balloon jib & [gaft? Word is unclear].
I just had to fill my pen.
I’ve been painting all day on our yacht. The bottom half of the cabin is light gray, the top half white. The outside will be white superstructure with gray decks and ocean blue hull. The name, “Too Slow and Too Clunky” I think.
The other day I checked a new guy out in the B-29. Then checked Major Anderson out in an L5. That’s a Cub. Then I went up for a test hop in new P-51, then went up in a 29 again for a hydraulic test. The gear didn’t come down, so I have one more crash landing to my credit. That ends my flying for March, maybe April will be better.
Well, I’m out of news. Take it easy.
Love & kisses,
“Jack”
*Dad got the Luger from a Japanese officer he killed. Why did a Japanese officer have a German gun? My research on the gun shows it was one of 3,000 made by Mauser for the Dutch East Indies Army. I assume the officer got it from there.
I love that completely casual last paragraph, OBTW, Mom, I crashed again. :lol:
But I laughed myself silly when I read this one - Gram always had a nervous condition in later life, and reading Dad's letters, I think he gave it to her!
Imagine being a mother, getting this letter from your son:
17 June 1945
Oahu
Dear Mom and Pop,
Well, here I am – yet. Still doing my long range Jap hunting from the sheltered little island of Oahu. Boy, I’m not so mad, but pretty damn mad! If I’m going to be overseas, why not give me something to shoot at more often? Gee, I could spend the rest of the war over here and still never pile up any combat time. Oh well, I’m getting paid for it so I guess I shouldn’t complain too much.
I had a new experience today. I was up at 38,000 feet in my Jug (P-47). I rolled over in a half roll to try finding my target upside down, and my trim slipped and put me into a power-on dive. At approx (I don’t know for sure if this alt is correct ‘cause the hands on the instruments were all going crazy) 20,000 feet I was doing 750 miles per hour. Then I hit compressibility, which is shock waves developed when air refuses to flow around objects, but builds up in front of them. That’s at or near the speed of sound. Then I started, for some unknown reason, to lose my strength. I couldn’t pull out. I rolled my trim back and it lost effect. But somewhere around 9 or 10,000 feet it started to come out at about almost or maybe better than 800 or so. I didn’t know, my instrument dial read that high. But when I started to come out the trim took effect and pulled me up sharp, which blacked me out. I woke up at 23,000 feet upside down and still indicating 420 MPH on the clock, starting down again. I got it level and landed, to find that my tail was all but off, and the rivets pulled out of the wings in places. One more for the books.
Well, I’ve got to hit the sack now, Mom. I’m up on dawn patrol in the A.M.
Love & Kisses,
“Jack”
And this one, sent 6 months AFTER the war while he was still serving out his enlistment on Okinawa. (Please excuse the typical period bigotry. I present this warts and all).
26 March 1946
Okinawa
Dear Mom & Pop,
Here I am again, only quite tired, to say the least. Bret (his wingman, Hal Barbrett) and I picked up a 38 foot cabin cruiser yesterday, over on the other side of the Island. So today we decided to bring it around the island to our side. It’s about 75 miles of open sea and reefs. It was raining when we started out, then when we got out about an hour the wind came up and the seas started to get rough, and I do mean rough. The waves were breaking over the cabin, and we were having trouble staying off the rocks. But we made it in 5 hours, all safe and sound. But if you could have seen us riding those waves and bouncing around the Pacific! Once, we hit the reefs with a thud, but we went on over OK.
Well, here I am again, only a few days later. I always seem to get sidetracked, but to good advantage this time. I’ve got news to tell you now.
Yesterday I was riding my “bike” [a 1942 Harley Davidson model 74] up the road. I came to the intersection of 1 & 20W, and I heard shooting. So while I’m looking for the guy who’s shooting, a bullet hit my front wheel and I spilled the “bike” and fell behind it. For a second I thought the Russians were here at last. But it was a colored boy up on a 6X6 truck and he was firing at another black boy who was laying in the road. I guess when he saw me coming on my bike he thought it was the M.P.s. Well, he had a carbine, and was, I think, planning to clobber me, so I pulled out my “Luger”* and let him have the whole darn clip full, and I got the bas____! Well, I had a few questions to answer, but the guy went mad about an hour before this all happened, and I fired in self defense, so I’m all clear. But I thought I was in a war there for a second or two. More darn fun!
More news. I’ve got me a Jeep now, all mine. It’s in good shape too. It’s a salvage job. I picked up the parts in a dump, and made a Jeep, complete with air horns, electric wiper, 5 new tires and a top. So I now have two, pardon me, 4 means of traveling. Motorcycle, Jeep, boat and airplane. Not bad for a guy who just missed captain again, huh?
But with all this stuff I got I’ve had to make up to all the big shots. Three col.s and a flock of captains and things. You see, if a little guy like me has something they want, they get it one way or another, so I’ve made pals of them all so we can have fun for our last months over here. I’ve made [parts?] for rifles and pistols, all kinds of bolts & nuts, book shelves, desks and picture frames, taken portraits of them and developed and printed their film. I even made a complete sailing rig for a 28 foot hull for Col. Coleman, even to a balloon jib & [gaft? Word is unclear].
I just had to fill my pen.
I’ve been painting all day on our yacht. The bottom half of the cabin is light gray, the top half white. The outside will be white superstructure with gray decks and ocean blue hull. The name, “Too Slow and Too Clunky” I think.
The other day I checked a new guy out in the B-29. Then checked Major Anderson out in an L5. That’s a Cub. Then I went up for a test hop in new P-51, then went up in a 29 again for a hydraulic test. The gear didn’t come down, so I have one more crash landing to my credit. That ends my flying for March, maybe April will be better.
Well, I’m out of news. Take it easy.
Love & kisses,
“Jack”
*Dad got the Luger from a Japanese officer he killed. Why did a Japanese officer have a German gun? My research on the gun shows it was one of 3,000 made by Mauser for the Dutch East Indies Army. I assume the officer got it from there.
I love that completely casual last paragraph, OBTW, Mom, I crashed again. :lol: