Thursday, Feb. 15th We leave here tomorrow for Hamilton Field. It sure will be a relief to get out of this hole. We really took a beating on that last shipment. Those fellows went to Langley Field, Virginia for radar bombing. Mostly low altitude stuff. Sounds great!
Sunday, February 18th Hamilton sure is a beautiful field. It’s about the best in the country, or at least the best I’ve seen. Of the crew that came here with us, some are going to Langley, quite a few are getting their own ships to fly over, but we, as usual, got another raw deal. We’ll probably be going by A.T.C.
Friday, Feb. 23rd Arrived here at Fairfield today to get an A.T.C. ship overseas. No telling when we’ll leave exactly.
Thursday, March 1st Still waiting here at Fairfield for the trip over. Getting to Sacramento every night. Pretty good town. Cooley’s crew left about 4 days ago and Warren and Combs were to leave this morning. We may hear something today.
Saturday, March 3rd Alerted today to remain on the post for imminent shipment.
Sunday, March 4th Leave this evening for Hickam Field, Hawaii in a C-54 of A.T.C. Destination on this trip is to be Biak Island in the Netherlands East Indies. Thence on to Nadzab, New Guinea.
Sunday, March 5th Arrived at Hickam Field about 5:00 A.M. and told to remain in A.T.C. terminal to re-board ship bound for our destination. Later told to go to the transient BOQ and await orders. Released from alert and visited the city of Honolulu. Very disappointing. Narrow, dirty streets and ramshackle shops all over town.
Tuesday, March 7th Still hanging around here and not doing much. No telling how long we’ll be here. This field sure is beautiful, though.
Thursday, March 9th Went swimming at Waikiki Beach today and saw more of what we expected than we did in Honolulu. Nice boulevards, palm trees, and hotels. The beach isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, but it was still good swimming. Ate at a nice place that looks like a private home converted into an Officers’ Club.
Sunday, March 12th Visited Pearl Harbor today and boarded small aircraft carrier. Tried to contact Joe Flood, but no soap.
Friday, March 17th Left Hickam this morning and went to Johnston Island. Just a small island Naval Base with an airfield for A.T.C. West from there to Tarawa and saw a little evidence of the terrific fight that took place not too long ago. Then on to Marcus and finally Biak. We gained a day (or rather lost it) on the way to Biak, so when we arrived at Biak it was
Sunday, March 18th Biak is a pretty crummy place. Tents with no floors except the mud and it rains every night.
Tuesday, March 20th Left Biak this morning and arrived here at Nadzab about a little after noon. We’re supposed to get in a few training flights, some ground school, and about 3 missions here. Murph went into the hospital today with a bad case of athlete’s foot and a touch of jungle rot. The tents here are a lot better than Biak and have wooden floors. We’re situated in a beautiful valley with high mountains all around and green grass and trees.
Thursday, March 22nd Wow! We really got soaked last night. It rained like hell and the wind blew so hard it threw the rain into our cots by the bucket full. Spent most of the night bailing out the puddles in our cots. Like sleeping in the drink!
Saturday, March 24th We heard this evening that Biak was bombed yesterday. Looks like we left there just in time. Theory is that three Japanese Betty’s came in on the tail of a transport plane and dropped the bombs. Mess hall was hit and some casualties resulted. I’ve met quite a few of the old Carlsbad gang here.
Wednesday, April 4th Scheduled to fly today, but Murph is still in the hospital.
Tuesday, April 10th Supposed to go on a strike today, but same condition as above.
Thursday, April 12th Murph released from hospital today, so maybe we’ll get in our missions soon. Buck and I have been going to mass every evening and we talked Hodge and Bruni into accompanying us last night. Saw father Muldoon (swell chaplain) after mass and made arrangements for Hodge and Bruni to take instructions from him for First Communion. We went with them this morning and found Father Muldoon to be extremely intelligent in addition to being a swell personality.
Friday, April 13th Went with the boys to listen to Father Muldoon again this morning. Heard the terrible news that President Roosevelt passed away last night. The country certainly is losing a good man in him and I can’t see Truman taking over. So far, we’ve heard nothing over the radio as to the news connected with his death. It sure is a shame that he had to pass away when his dream of victory in Europe seems to close to being fulfilled. Patton’s army is now within 65miles of Berlin and the situation there certainly looks wonderful. We’ll be listening tonight for all the details connected with the President’s Death.
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