Dear Mother,

I've had rather an unusual week. We did lots of flying, including two cross country trips and I underwent an operation. I'll tell you about my "operation." Lately, I've had a rather large lump on the left side of my neck and last Sunday and Monday it swelled up more and got sore, so on Tuesday I went up to see the flight surgeon. He said that I had an infected cyst on my neck and sent me to the surgical department. They dressed me in a white robe, put me on a table and wheeled me into the operating room. I certainly got a big kick out of all the red tape - must have been the first chance that they had in a long time to perform an operation.

Anyway, they gave me a local anesthetic and a captain started to cut. It seemed to me like he played with my neck for hours. He finally finished playing and sewed me up - three stitches. I certainly had a sore neck for a few days. They took the stitches out today and said that it's O.K. I'm afraid that I'll have a scar, though.

Now about the cross countries. We flew from Independence to Silam Springs, Arkansas, then over to Claremore, Oklahoma and back home last Thursday, or at least we were supposed to. To start off, the weather department gave us a faulty wind report and 5 out of the 8 of us got lost. I was one of the lucky ones who made the trip O.K. However, I was lost at one time and had to buzz a little town to find out where I was. To buzz a town, you fly real low over the railroad station and read the name of the town. Naturally, it scares all the people there, but you can find out where you are.

I went through a town called Jay, Oklahoma, about ten feet above the railroad tracks through the station. However, don't tell anyone about this, because the officers here don't know that I had to do it, and the less they know, the better for me.

Two of the boys that got lost finally landed at Neosho, Arkansas, and another at Fort Scott, Missouri. The boys at Neosho were about 54 miles from Silam Springs and the other 275 miles from Silam Springs.

That boy landed in a pasture with 5 gallons of gas left. Our planes hold over 120 gallons of gas and use about 32 gallons an hour, so he was cutting things close.

Our other cross country was to Iola, Lebo, Cassoday and return home, all points being in Kansas. No one got lost.

Well, I have to go to ground school now - will write again soon.

Lots of love,
Jack

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