June 11, 1942, Tucson, AZ

Dear Donna,

Your letter was received today, and frankly Donna, I was getting worried for fear that maybe I had written something or else the story I sent you had changed your opinion of me, so you can see how good I felt this morning when I did hear for you.

Tonight I am on all-night duty at the office so that means I am going to have a lot of extra time on my hands and I don’t know of any better way to utilize it than to write you.  Of course that may mean that this letter might become a lengthy subject.  But maybe you don’t like long letters.  I’ll try it any way.

I am getting right good on excuses as to why I didn’t go to church but believe it or not, they are all the honest truth.  Last Sundays reason was because we were restricted to the field the attack on Alaska.  That may not have been the reason for the restrictions but one followed the other.  Anyway only married personal were allowed to go home, and even they couldn’t be on the streets.  But they lifted that yesterday, thank goodness.  So there is my reason for my absence from church last Sunday.  I do appreciate the fact that you spent Sunday Night to write to me, even if I don’t deserve it.

Confidentially, nothing is to good for you.  I got this paper so that I would have something nice to write to you on.

Something has started to happen to me lately.  Whether the heat has begun to get me or something, I don’t exactly know.  But I have found myself beginning to like this part of the country.  I don’t mind the heat so much any more and even though I haven’t been able to go any place to see anything, I have found a new interest in just walking from the barracks to the gate and back.  A distance of about 2 miles both ways.  The nights are so beautiful here, that it really makes walking a divine pleasure.  Also during the walks, I have been able to do a lot of thinking.  Most of that being composed of cussing myself for not taking advantage of the opportunities that I could have had before this war came about and also thinking of all the things I want to do when it is allover again.  That is daydreaming at night, but it is an awful lot of fun to just suppose.  I am  not lying when I say that a lot of that daydreaming is connected in one way or another with you.  Also the biggest part of the self cussing that I have given myself concerns you.  So you see how I have been spending my free hours.  Do you mind?

It’s not lie when I say that I would hate to leave the friends that I have found in the Army.  Some of them are pretty damn swell, but that is one thing that can’t be avoided.  For example, when we left Salt Lake on June 1^st 1941  there were 232 men in Hq - Hq. Sq.  Of that number there are less than 25 of us left.  Some of them have been transferred to other organizations and are still in the US.  A good bunch of them were caught at Gava, Philippines, Hawaii and are now in Australia.  How many are still alive we probably will never know.

You mentioned in your letter about how you were thrilled about airplanes.  I was that way when I first joined up, but after being around them for a year that thrill dies to a great extent.  It begins to be more of a routine thing to hear then coming in or going out.  I fact we don’t pay any more attention to them now than you would of a car going down the street.  However if it is a new car you can admire it.  The same thing hold true if a new type of plane lands on the field, or if we hear an odd sounding motor we look to see what type it may be, but that is about as far as it goes.  As for the flying in them, according to those who do fly.  At first it is quite a thrill, but very shortly it becomes very monotonous.  The thrill has entirely left and it becomes a tiresome tedious job.  This is true whether you are riding as a crew member or as a pilot.  It is all the same.  What I want to get out of this army is something that I could use when I return to civilian life to an advantage.  I know I wont be able to get it here in the office, so I really don’t have any idea at to what I can do.  I know I can’t transfer unless I was called to go to some school or something of that nature.  And the only answer to that is to some officers candidate school.  I wouldn’t mind trying my luck at flying, but I more or less promised both dad and mother that I wouldn’t.  So it is going to mean I either stay here in the office and work up or try again for some school.  Maybe this sounds a little jumbled to you ,but it is about the only way that I can express it.

Now we come to the part of your letter in regards to fishing.  If you will go with me and if the opportunity comes up, I promise that I ‘ll do my best to teach you all that I may know about the sport.  I’m glad to hear that you like to eat them too.  Have you ever put them into a pan right after they were taken out of the stream and then eaten them.  I’m telling you, they are really delicious that way.  I have still got my first one to catch at Fish Lake too.  Maybe you will bring me some luck or maybe to your self.  Is it a date?  (time and date unknown)       

I’ve got the jump on you then in regards to pay and money.  But the only reasons more than likely the fact that I haven’t been able to go to town.   Tomorrow night will change that though.

Well I’m afraid that this letter is getting to be to long, and I don’t want you to get tired of me through my letters so maybe I had better start slowing up for tonight.  This is as long a letter as I have written in a long time but darn it I feel so darn good about everything that it didn’t seem to be long while I was writing.

So for tonight I’ll say goodnight and pleasant dreams and don’t worry about me working too hard.  That sort of thing is unheard of in the Army.  Write soon

Lots of love,

Wayne