{"id":3536,"date":"2018-11-26T15:43:49","date_gmt":"2018-11-26T15:43:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brooksidepress.org\/cartmell\/?page_id=3536"},"modified":"2018-11-26T17:00:35","modified_gmt":"2018-11-26T17:00:35","slug":"december-22-1943-lemoore-california-tuesday-night","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/brooksidepress.org\/cartmell\/letters\/basic-flight-training-december-1943\/december-22-1943-lemoore-california-tuesday-night\/","title":{"rendered":"December 22, 1943, Lemoore, California, Tuesday Night"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\r\n Tom writes his parents a Christmas letter, but describes his first witnessed training death during a crash of a friend, Gerhart John Heller.<\/a> \r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>Tues night.<\/p>\n
\"December<\/a>
December 22, 1943, Lemoore California, Tuesday Night, Page 1<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Dear Folks,<\/p>\n

Just a short Christmas letter to let you know how things are going here. We are on the afternoon schedule this week and didn’t get off the flight line till 6:30 tonight. I only have two more days in the instrument squadron and am I glad, however, it is a good thing to know how to use them because you can never tell when you will need them. The weather here has been rainy and not very good for fair weather pilots. We have been flying steady now for 8 days trying to get in as much time as possible before the weather really does close in.<\/p>\n

I received alot of birthday cards and want to thank you folks for your, also I believed you called the other night because I was to call operator 6 at home but the lines were so busy I couldn’t even get through to Los Angeles. It seems like my birthdays always have some eventful happening. I saw my first fatal airplane accident this year. A boy in our squadron who came with us from Thunderbird crashed in taking off, he is from L.A. [1]<\/sup><\/a>This is the story of Gerhard John Heller<\/a>, Tom’s friend from Thunderbird Field, who was killed in a training accident.<\/span><\/span>