Dear Dad,

Received your letter today and certainly did enjoy it. Was glad to hear that things were well at home. I am sure things will work out ok.

To tell you about the weekend: We didn’t get in to Los Angeles till about 11:00 PM., went to a show and the only thing open afterwards was a penny arcade so Frank^[1]FrankGoodall, Francis Anthony Goodall survived the war, married, and lived until 2001. He left no children. and I, the boy that went with me, went in and had our pictures taken. Of course this picture wouldn’t meet with the Reverend’s approval but it was the best I was able to do.

I have found out that there is a photographer here on the base so I will send you another one later. We had our squadron picture taken the other day and we can get them in a couple of days. I will send it home, save this picture along with it. From this picture here you can get an idea of what our everyday uniforms look like. A US on the right collar, wings on the left and also on the cap, air corps patch on the left sleeve and a cadet patch on the lower right. There wasn’t a single place to stay in Los Angeles, soldiers were all over the place. I had planned on seeing Aunt Molly Sun. Morning but we had to come back to the base. It takes about 4 hrs. To get to L.A. on the train. It takes so long that you wonder if it is worth the trouble, however, I am still hoping to get to see Aunt Molly. We might get off a little earlier this Sat. Afternoon.

I wrote Cleda last night, you probably saw the clipping I sent about the Gov. and General being here Sun. Afternoon. After guard duty Sun night and only getting 2 hrs. Of sleep I was plenty tired last night so I went to bed at 8:PM. I have really felt a lot better today. I think they have done a pretty good job of getting us all in shape. We will probably have calisthenics everyday for as long a time as we are in the air cops. You have probably heard of our calisthenics instructor he played with Mich. the same year Tommy Hammond^[2]Tom Harmon did, they are real good friends his name is Tibby Lockhart.^[3]Harold “Tippy” Lockhard He told us about getting a letter from Harmony and he is up for court martial. You remember when he was lost down in Africa, well there are two stories I have heard, one is that he bailed out before the rest of the crew and a couple were killed, he was captain of the ship. The other is that he permitted an enlisted man in the plane which is against regulations in combat. I choose to think that the last reason is the right one. This hasn’t been out in the paper yet so it probably isn’t suppose to be the widely known.

We had a test in code this morning at 5 words per min. And I did pretty well. We only had to get 25 letters in a row right and I got 85. When we finish the course we have to be able to take 8 words/min. Which is pretty fast for beginners.

I got the letter from Steve that you forwarded to me. Thanks a lot. Also received a card from Mrs. Oechsner.^[4]Bob Blizzard’s mother

Say I wrote Uncle Harold’s a letter last week and I mentioned to him if he knew if they had any cadet coats and caps at the factory. I was wondering if you might stop in and see Uncle Leslie and see if he could fix me up with a coat and cap. Size 38 regular coat and I think I better have a size 7 1/8 cap. They don’t issue these any more and everyone is getting their own because it is the only dress things that we have. If they can fix me up ok. Let me know how much it is and I will either send the money or you can draw it out of my account. I think the coats run around $35 or $40. They can be changed to an officers coat with just a few changes. I imagine Uncle Leslie knows all about them, it is a regular cadet blouse. The cap is just like an officers only with a blue band and cadet emblem. Let me know about it because I will wait and get my picture taken in it and if not I will borrow someone else’s.

Was glad to hear about Warren and that he got such a lucky break. They don’t come very often in the army.

Well I want to write Elaine’s yet tonight and should study for our last math test which we have tomorrow, but the material isn’t very hard. By the way I had Elaine send Zoe my frat pin. She is graduating around the 4th of Oct. She has had several offers for jobs but I don’t know which she has decided on yet if any. Goodnight –

With love, Tom.