Give Karen a pat to keep growing on and wish her a “Happy Birthday” from her Uncle Tom.

Sun. night.

Dear Folks,

I guess you are wondering just what has happened to my letters in the past week. I think I better blame it on the heat which has really been bad lately. It is too hot to sleep at night so any spare minute we get during the day is usually spent in sleeping.

You might as well not send any more letters to me until I let you know something more definite. We are supposedly leaving this weekend and we haven’t heard where we are going. Everyone thought it was Santa Anna((Santa Ana Army Air Base in Costa Mesa, California)) but we have heard some conflicting reports the last few days. We call these rumors “latrinograms” because that is usually where they start.

I finished flying last Thurs. on which day I had my last check ride. It went pretty well – it wasn’t much different from a solo flight because the instructor didn’t touch the controls or say a word till we landed. It was plenty rough when we came down and my landing was a little sloppy because everytime I would get it down about 10′ above the ground a gust of wind would lift us up again. However, he gave me a good recommendation for primary.((Primary Flight Training))

Note:  According to The Army Air Forces in WWII… “Perhaps the most controversial phase of the curriculum was the ten hours of flight indoctrination.

The AAF did not desire this instruction in the college program; it was prescribed by the War Department and conducted in cooperation with the Civil Aeronautics Administration. Flying schools located near the colleges provided the training under contract. Since the purpose of this flying was only familiarization, operations were restricted to simple maneuvers in light aircraft, under dual control by instructor and student.

AAF observers criticized the training as of little value, charging that the students were “merely riding around for 10 hours.” A study conducted in 1944 showed that the indoctrination course helped students materially in the regular primary stage of flying training but gave them no appreciable advantage in later stages. Whatever its long-range value, the course was a morale booster for men who had waited months to learn to fly.”

I hope you got the package I sent. You probably didn’t have any trouble figuring out who’s present was who’s. I certainly hope the dresses fit Karen but I thought they were plenty big so she might have to grow into them. It doesn’t hardly seem possible for her to be a year old.

That is a year and one day. Did you fix a birthday cake for her? I guess if the weather permitted you went to the park for a picnic. I would like to be there to go on one with you this summer. The way I feel now that ice cold lake would be nothing short of heaven. Maybe next June 26th I can personally put Karen under the bed. ((Karen’s birthday was June 26, 1942.)

I don’t know what we are going to do this week. I heard that we will take several hikes and do alot of swimming which sounds good. However, my own opinion is that we will G.I. the barracks((clean the barracks) and have about 2 hours of drill and calesthenics.

Had a good time this weekend. Mr. and Mrs. Perkins weren’t going to be there but they wanted us to use the house so we cooked our own breakfast and really had a swell time. Mrs. Perkins had gotten ham and everything for us. Here’s what we had for breakfast: orange juice, canteloupe, corn flakes, milk, coffee, fried ham and eggs. I won’t have to eat for a week.

This afternoon was the last parade we will be in here and thank God for that, however, maybe the fellows won’t admit it but most of them have like it pretty well. Especially these last few weeks of flying. I certainly hope I get to continue on with it. In the last bunch from here that went to Santa Anna 27% washed out on the physical. Those are back at Fresno now. We get the 6-4 physical there which is the toughest of the bunch you might have heard of it, it takes several days to complete.

I will write you, if possible, as soon as I hear something definite. There were so many questions in your last letter I will have to answer them later.

Love, Tom