| date | TR's notes* | scan | transcription | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1941.11.02 | Squantum | HHR&JCR | First from N.A.S. Squantum, re duties as S.M.D. (Student Mate of the Deck), movies and flying (spins). Apparently the first letter home after getting in uniform (Seaman Second Class and then Aviation Cadet in Navy's V-5 program. A little about flying. | html | |
| 1941.12.13 | Atlanta | HHR&JCR | First letter home after Pearl Harbor attack. Drove to N.A.S. Atlanta with Phil Field, who later, as a marine, was killed at Guadalcanal. At Atlanta we did no flying since we were supposed to be en route to Jacksonville. Things were tense after Pearl Harbor. Morse Code. | html | |
| 1941.12.21 | Atlanta | HHR&JCR | Anticipating Christmas parties; routine at Atlanta—strict discipline; view of countryside. | html | |
| 1941.12.21 | Atlanta | HR&LER | Description of ground school. | html | |
| 1941.12.28 | Atlanta | HHR&JCR | Christmas parties in Atlanta; ascent of Stone Mtn—birds; strange attack. | html | |
| 1941.12.28 | Atlanta | HR&LER | More interesting than most at this mostly dull stage, because of Christmas time, descriptions of the country, incl. Stone Mtn. Perhaps worth sending a copy to Danny Smith. | html | |
| 1941.12.29 | Atlanta | JR | More re ground school & Stone Mtn. Not a bad letter. | html | |
| 1942.01.10 | Jacksonville | HHR&JCR | First from N.A.S. Jacksonville, judged far superior to N.A.S. Atlanta. First as Aviation Cadet, but no duties yet. | html | |
| 1942.01.19 | Jacksonville | LER | Birds. | html | |
| 1942.01.20 | HHR&JCR | Re the "good life" without much ground school; trip to Jacksonville and then St. Augustine and Marineland; birds. | html | ||
| 1942.01.28 | Jacksonville | HHR&JCR | Ground school; flying prospects that later turned out to be inaccurate. | html | |
| 1942.02.08 | The Innlet, Ponte Vedra Beach, FL | HHR&JCR | End of indoctrination. Amusing long sentence about slight injury from bowling ball; pleasant week-end at Ponte Vedra; birds. | html | |
| 1942.02.17 | Jacksonville | HHR&JCR | Re golf and ground school. Bird list. | html | |
| 1942.02.17 | Jacksonville | LER | Discussing The Sound of Wings [the life of Amelia Earhart]. | html | |
| 1942.02.23 | Jacksonville | HHR&JCR | Amusing account of a dance; watching snipe and gray fox; ground school; "a lot of swell fellows". Not much of a letter it seems to me now (6/10/01). | html | |
| 1942.03.03 | Jacksonville | HHR&JCR | Golf; ground school. | html | |
| 1942.03.07 | Jacksonville | HHR&JCR | Flying schedule—at outlying Lee Field; golf. | html | |
| 1942.03.18 | Jacksonville | HHR&JCR | First actual flying since Squantum—description of the area around from the air. | html | |
| 1942.03.25 | Jacksonville | HHR&JCR | Flying—short circles and small field procedures described in diagrams; Watson wedding, etc. | html | |
| 1942.04.02 | Jacksonville | HHR&JCR | Description of Phil Field, my room-mate; flying and ground school difficulties. | html | |
| 1942.04.11 | Jacksonville | HHR&JCR | Discouraged about both flying and ground school. | html | |
| 1942.04.18 | Jacksonville | HHR | To Pa, suggesting that he and Ma come down to Jax | html | |
| 1942.04.24 | Jacksonville | HHR&JCR | Further discouragement, but more about birds. | html | |
| 1942.05.08 | Jacksonville | HHR&JCR | Finally squeaked by flying "yellow perils" and started formation flying in Ryans. | html | |
| 1942.05.19 | Jacksonville | HHR&JCR | Continued failures in navigation course. Last Ryan flying. Of some interest in spots, with more on formation flying in Ryans and interesting in not including carrier planes among my four choices in order. | html | |
| 1942.06.01 | Jacksonville | LER | Re reading books; more leisure, etc. A well above average letter. | html | |
| 1942.06.01 | Jacksonville | HHR&JCR | Reflections re submarine warfare after a good account of flying SNJs and OS2Us. More re Fla. countryside from the air, reading, etc. A good letter for a change.. | html | |
| 1942.06.02 | JR2 | To brother Jack, then 10. | html | ||
| 1942.06.11 | HHR&JCR | Link trainers | html | ||
| 1942.06.19 | HHR&JCR | Long and interesting. Weather; mentions other navy men: Bob Marshall (later Chief Forester?), Joe Kennedy & Dave Gardner, both of H'38 and both killed later. | html | ||
| 1942.06.27 | HHR&JCR | Instrument flying, with diagram. Bicycle trip—many birds. A very long letter for me but varied and interesting. | html | ||
| 1942.07.07 | HHR&JCR | Flying small seaplanes (same planes as at Squantum except for having pontoons instead of wheels)—N3Ns. Dinner invitations. Letters now are more cheerful and interesting than the earlier ones describing my struggles. | html | ||
| 1942.07.16 | Jacksonville | HHR&JCR | Solo in OS2U Kingfisher seaplane—2 news photos enclosed [not included here] | html | |
| 1942.07.23 | Jacksonville | HHR&JCR | Navigation flights out to sea. | html | |
| 1942.08.02 | Jacksonville | HHR&JCR | Night flying—"exciting". | html | |
| 1942.08.10 | Jacksonville | HHR&JCR | Gunnery, catapulting; supervised required exercise; dance; beach; books read. | html | |
| 1942.08.18 | Jacksonville | HHR&JCR | Flying. | html | |
| 1942.08.24 | Jacksonville | HHR&JCR | Commissioned an ensign, designated a naval aviator; dance; bird trip. Some amusing sections. | html | |
| 1942.09.02 | Jacksonville | HHR&JCR | Much about uniforms. | html | |
| 1942.09.11 | Jacksonville | HHR&JCR | Operational training—separate training in navigation & gunnery; good bird trip with 3 others by taxi. | html | |
| 1942.09.22 | Jacksonville | HHR&JCR | Canoe trip on the St. Johns River; trip by car to Sea Is., Ga. | html | |
| 1942.09.30 | Jacksonville | HHR&JCR | Bird migrants (warblers). | html | |
| 1942.10.09 | Jacksonville | HHR&JCR | Astronomy; joins Officers' Club. | html | |
| 1942.10.23 | Jacksonville | HHR&JCR | Night flying. Speculation about leave and future orders. | html | |
| 1942.10.24 | Jacksonville | to "Gardiner folks"; Fla. weather & birds. | html | ||
| 1942.11.28 | Miami | HHR&JCR | First letter after leave at home, from Miami N.A.S. Describes change of duty, to be trained as an instructor in carrier-type planes; describes trip down to Miami via Sarasota & Barnum Museum; Everglades. | html | |
| 1942.11.28 | Miami | LER | Describes 2 weeks leave as well as duty, Miami, etc.—a more interesting letter than most. | html | |
| 1942.12.06 | Miami | HHR&JCR | Planes flown—SBC, etc. Boca Raton visit. | html | |
| 1942.12.13 | Miami | HHR&JCR | Flight over the countryside in SNJs; many birds listed. | html | |
| 1942.12.20 | Miami | HHR&JCR | Miami—dive bombing in BTs, predecessors of SBDs. Some instructing. | html |
Abbreviations
| Squantum | U.S. Naval Reserve Aviation Base, Squantum, Massachusetts |
| Atlanta | U.S. Naval Reserve Aviation Base, Atlanta, Georgia |
| Jacksonville | U.S. Naval Air Station, Jacksonville, Florida |
| Miami | U.S. Naval Air Station, Miami, Florida |
Key to letters’ recipients
| initials | name
|
dates
|
relationship to TR
|
|---|---|---|---|
| HHR | Henry Howe Richards | 1876–1968 | father |
| JCR | Julia (Coolidge) Richards | 1889–1961 | mother |
| HR | Henry Richards | 1848-1949 | grandfather |
| LER | Laura Elizabeth (Howe) Richards | 1850–1943 | grandmother |
| JR | John Richards | 1884–? | uncle |
| JR2 | John Richards II | 1932–2013 | brother |
TR’s notes
These notes are a combination of
- Post-it™ notes attached by TR to many of his letters
- notes in an index prepared by TR.