Dear Mother,

Well I guess you know by now that I'm somewhere in England. Anyway, if you don't, that's where I am. Right now we're getting ready to go to school again, this time with real serious intentions. This bit of schooling will be the most important from a combat standpoint of any schooling that is given. Don't know how long it will last, or hardly anything about it. I bought my week's Post Exchange rations today. Also I had my hair cut. I didn't have it all taken off - the barber/soldier left about a quarter inch on top. It's about the best kind of haircut I could have for over here - no worries at all concerning our hair.

[click to enlarge]

Guess I'll tell you a little about our quarters here. We're living in an old English college. The rooms aren't bad - just awfully small and crowded. The worst thing here in England is the lack of sanitation - only about 3% of the families in England have any plumbing of any sort in their houses. The English never heard of a shower bath - only a very few have bathtubs. At our first post here in England, we had to ride a bus for over two miles from our barracks in order to take a shower. Also it is quite hard to find good drinking water off of Army posts.

I'm going to write a letter to Uncle Ellis and thank him for the drawing. The boys are all crazy about it. As soon as possible, we're going to have it put on the plane.

Well, I'm starting to look for mail now. It should be coming through pretty soon. Kinda getting homesick for a letter. I'll live through it, though.

Will write again tomorrow.

Lots of love,
Jack

 Jack's Uncle Ellis had created a painting to go on Jack's plane - it portrayed a stork holding a diaper in its mouth - and inside the diaper was a bomb. It was called, "Special Delivery." Sadly, Jack and his crew perished before the painting could be applied to his B-24.

 return to top

  return to war over europe