16 April, 1955

Dear Folks

Yes, it’s me—your long-lost son. It is Sunday (Easter Sunday, at that). You will no doubt be very surprised to hear that I did not go to church today. I am very ashamed of myself.

See—I have written you (or started to). I began this one Easter Sunday, as you may have gathered. It is now the following Friday. I got my first down today—I deserved it; flew a lousy hop—did everything wrong. Oh, well—I don’t feel too badly—my two other roommates have a total of eight. The third roommate hasn’t been here long enough to get any.

One of my buddies went home this weekend to Connecticut—his wife is having a baby. He had a heck of a time getting a pass, mainly because you can’t be married & in the program too. Oh, well, more power to him.

If I’m very lucky, I should be back here at Corry by July—via Suafley & Barin.

Out of my original section (Dog) of about twenty-five guys, only five are left in the program—all the rest have DOR’ed.

See what I mean about time? Here it is Saturday—a beautiful day, & nothing to do, as usual. I can’t wait till I get the car down here; boy will that be wonderful! I can go anywhere I want anytime I want, & not have to rely on someone all the time. I always feel guilty about bumming rides anyhow.

I also can’t wait till you can come down—there is so much to see—New Orleans, Mobile, Pensacola, Fort Barrancas, Fort Pickens, the base, Miami, & all of Florida on the way, plus all of the U.S. on the way down here. You’ll really be experienced world travelers when you get back home. Of course, dad’s seen most of it already, but it will be new to mom. And if you get half the kick I do out of seeing new things & going new places, you should enjoy it. I wish you didn’t have to wait until August to come down, though.

There are two swimming pools here on base—enlisted men’s & officers’ (we use the officers’). We can’t use the enlisted men’s since the officers’ opened this morning. It was open for two hours & they closed it because they found out that they’d neglected to put in chlorine. So we can’t use either one.

I suppose I’ll get dressed & wander downtown—without a car, there is nothing to do but go downtown & go to a show.

And then comes the three-hour wait for a bus back. Oh, I got a letter from Gary the other day. He is going multi-engine & is being sent to Oklahoma this week for training. That gripes me—he went in two months before I did, & already he’s in advanced training—it will take me at least four more months before I can even think about it!

Well, I guess I’d best close now & get this mailed. I’ll have to take it downtown with me—mail isn’t picked up around here on weekends.

Till I hear from you, I am
Always
Roge