{"id":484,"date":"2017-09-04T21:31:18","date_gmt":"2017-09-04T21:31:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/brooksidepress.org\/cartmell\/?page_id=484"},"modified":"2018-07-25T16:19:30","modified_gmt":"2018-07-25T16:19:30","slug":"31-august-7-1943-santa-ana-california","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/brooksidepress.org\/cartmell\/letters\/primary-flight-training-1943\/31-august-7-1943-santa-ana-california\/","title":{"rendered":"August 7, 1943, Santa Ana, California"},"content":{"rendered":"

\r\n
\r\n Tom discusses his plans for marrying Zoe.\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>Fri. night.<\/p>\n
\"August<\/a>
August 7, 1943, Page 1<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Dear Folks,<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Received your letter this evening, the one Stan carried in his pocket. I was glad to hear of things at home and how you vacation was there. I got a letter from Dad yesterday and also one from Cleda today. I am glad things went so well at home, and I hope everything turns out ok with Dad. I don’t think you can blame Karen for being afraid of his cigars. Even if he wasn’t smoking one the smell won’t leave for a week.<\/p>\n

\"Cleda,<\/a>
Cleda, Karen, Elaine, and Dr. Cartmell<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After a week of school I can give you an idea of our schedule. Starting at 7:30 A.M. we have drill and calesthenics till 11:00 A.M. Have Code at 12:00, Gunnery at 1:00, Chemical Warfare at 2:00, Math at 3:00, 3 days a week aircraft identification at 4:00 and the other three Naval Forces, which is the study and recognition of all the ships of different nations. Code and the identification courses are the hardest and you don’t have time to think about anything twice. In code we will have to be able to take 8 words a min, and we have to be able to recognize 50 different planes in 1\/25 of a sec. aside from knowing there wing spans, armament, makers, type, speed, range, etc. In gunnery we are on the 50 cal. machine gun and are learning the parts. The idea here is that you learn everything in class so you keep taking the gun apart, naming the parts and putting it together again. We take up the 50 cal. gun, sub-machine gun, .45 pistol and theory of sighting. Also get to go on the range with all of them.<\/p>\n

\"August<\/a>
August 7, 1943, Page 2<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I am not having an awful lot of trouble with code<\/a> but some of the boys are having an awful time. It is taught just like the other courses where you sit for an hour straight with the earphones and take down everything you can. During the period today we had three checks and I didn’t miss a letter in any of them, they gave it to us at about 5 words a min. (1 word = 5 letters), however, tomorrow I might miss them all, that’s the way it is.<\/p>\n

\"August<\/a>
August 7, 1943, Page 3<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I liked your description of how Bill <\/a>[1]<\/sup><\/a>his cousin, Bill DeMoulin<\/span><\/span>