Dear Folks,

By the time you get this, I gather, the household will have reassumed its normal role as haven for the young, so say “hello” to them for me. Jack I really envy, and I hope he enjoyed it as much as it undoubtedly did him good.

Yesterday came two letters from Texas with pages of news, but there isn’t much from here. My training unit is due to leave tomorrow, after two last dive bombing hops. It’s been a great experience working with them, and they turned out to be a very nice bunch of fellows. The tough thing is that one of them didn’t pull out in time making a night glide bombing run. I was leading the hop and blame myself a little for the way we “attacked,” but it was primarily his fault for getting too steep and not watching his altitude. As happens when planes hit hard, his exploded. It made one feel shaky for some time afterwards. We’ve been having too many fatalities lately, only one since I’ve been here that of an instructor, however. The Crescent Lake one was another student, diving at our moving target, an armored boat and not pulling out in time.

We had our farewell party Sat. night in one of the local hotels. Merrilyn Zook, my Vero girl, came up for it, most everyone having a girl. The boys presented both Bill Bentley and myself with a beautiful pen, which I now use, and pencil set.

Undoubtedly I’ll soon be with another outfit and guess I’ll be here another four months. It continues warm and mosquitoey with frequent thunderstorms.

Love to all

Toots

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