October 19, ‘43
Dearest Mother and Dad,
Again I have hit the jackpot on mail. I guess I am one of the happiest fellows over here tonight. I wish every day could be like that. I got about seven letters. Also I am getting the paper a little more regular now that helps, too.
I have been very busy the past few days. I usually get up wash & eat a long time before the sun is up. I think I must be getting used to that now because I don’t even need an alarm clock. I surely would like to get in some good old fashioned sleep and see how it would feel.
I am sure you have been hearing about our activity over here. You asked if I were in on any of it. Mom, that is our job. That is what we were trained to do. I don’t see why Dad thinks we aren’t ready. We have been operating a long time. We do everything and anything and we have been doing very good, I think. We have the best ship in the world and we prove it more every day. Col. Kearby is one of the leading aces over here now so you can see we have been knocking the sox off the “Nips”. I can’t tell you what my job is but I learned all about it at Florida. Major McDonald has left us, he’ll probably be a Col. Very soon. Capt. Carpenter is C E N S O R E D and Capt. Wiecks is C E N S O R E D. I guess you have heard of Lytle’s good luck the other day. He will get the D.F.C. pretty soon. He was very lucky but he is also a very good pilot. He is my best friend over here. I don’t get to work as often as the other fellows on account of my job but between the two I am very busy. Tell Dad my eyes are what I use to save my neck with and I really do use them.
I received a very interesting letter from Dot. Cooke today and she told me she was sending some games to play in the alert shack. It was very nice of her to think about it. It would be perfect. Please thank her for me.
Well, Mom, I am very tired and sleepy so I must stop and go to bed. Write me soon for I’ll be waiting.
All my love,
Son