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April 1943

1943 April Fool Thursday 12:30 Hello Mother, I got a letter from sister this morning. It was addressed to Miami Beach though! How's every little thing? Grandpa + Auntie are still fussing I guess. We are still about the same here. Haven't started our training yet. Were out this morning drilling a little. Still getting plenty to eat & lots of sleep. We will get to go to town Sat. Have almost run out of stationery but can get some more Sat. Sorry to hear that my clothes haven't come yet. A boy in our room has a camera so we will take some photos soon. Has Edna gotten her picture yet? Don't forget her birthday is the seventeenth of this month! Ill try to send you a birthday card to go with it! I put your picture up in our room and all the boys said now we have a good looking girl's picture. Glad you are keeping the album. I have several pictures I may send on home as they are liable to get lost here. You can tell sister to take that other small picture of me if she wants it. It really makes you feel good to get letters from you all back at home. Does Jack ever write home? He hasn't written me a line neither has Waits. I have written both two or three times. Tell everyone hello & write soon. It's pretty short but it's time for lunch now & I've got to go. Bye. With love Austin

April 2nd, 1943 Hello sister & John, Received your nice letter this morning along with five others. I seem to be a mail receiving guy to the boys in the room. Really enjoy them & also the clipping you sent out of the paper. There won't be many left around there now will there. How did John get another furlough. Is Mr. Bishop still as sick as he was? You can have one of the pictures I sent mother. I left it in such a hurry that I didn't think to tell you to take one of them. We went into the gym this morning & got a sample of the exercises we will get here. They certainly are going to be strenuous ones. My arm is O.K now, hope it stays that way. We are going out tomorrow for the first time, Its Saturday and the town folks are waiting to welcome us they tell me. They gave us tickets to the social center & we have invitations from all the churches to attend their services. I know John is busy now, hope he don't have too much trouble making a crop. The water isn't up in Hatchie Bottom too is it? I was surprised to hear of Clifford's baby. Hope he gets to come home. Here's a little booklet about a resort in this part the country. We are right on a big lake. Must close now as we will be falling out to drill in a few minutes. So long. With love Austin Winn Don't know why I signed my last name.

1943 April 5th Monday Dear sister & John, Was glad to get your letter this morning. We started our school this morning and it is going to be pretty easy I think. It will take all our time though to get our assignments up for the next day. I went to Geography & Math this morning. We were also issued some Physical training clothes & tennis shoes. This morning we will have an hour P.T. every morning. We also drill an hour every afternoon. We have a class in Medical Aid every afternoon & have a study period where instructors will answer & help us with our problems. Got the other money yesterday, thanks very much. Heard from Jack S. today too. Boy we had a nice time Sat & Sunday. I went to a church Social party Sat nite. The people are all so nice to us. There were lots more girls there than there were boys. We had lots of fun.

I went to the Methodist Church for S.S. and preaching. Was invited out for dinner but didn't go so they wanted me to come next Sunday. I went up town with two other boys and we met six high school girls who showed us around town. We went to the Church Social Center. Bowled for a while then took pictures as had to be back in camp by 8:00 on Sunday nite. Got a letter from Jack S. today. I write my letters in parts as I have just a few minutes at a time to write on them. I may say the same thing twice in the same letter as I wrote part this morning and am trying to finish now; it's 8:00 now. I lost my safety razor the other day don't know whether I will find it or not. I hate to keep sending for things but I need a razor now as I can't buy one here guess you will have to send me one from there. Just any kind of double edge razor. Lots & lots of love Austin P.S. I see I did write the same thing twice.

April 8 - 1943 Wednesday nite Dear Mother, Got your letter today also got the electric razor and handkerchiefs. Have been almost too busy to write. (Next day Thursday.) Just as I started the bell rang and we had to go to a meeting in the study hall. We are kept busy now all day and the time sure seems to fly. We have such interesting studies. I like it fine. How is grand-pa? Hope he is better by now. Also John is up & hope. I got some clippings out of the Lauderdale County paper from sister. You can get me a subscription out of my money. Have it sent to: a/c/c Austin H. Winn 96th College Training Detachment (aircrew) Squadron C - Flight 1 Oshkosh, Wisconsin

I had to take one pair of my wool pants up about 1 inch in the legs. I did it myself. It took me about an hr and a half though. Have got a radio in my room and can listen to music every nite. How is Mr & Mrs Bishop now? Guess spring has opened up there. It sure is a pretty day here today. We don't wear any coats drilling here. Got a letter from Inez yesterday. And one from Mr Wright too. Tell them hello next time you see them and that I enjoyed the letter. I sent Mr Reed a card. Must stop now it's time for lunch. Much love and tell everyone hello. Send the present to Edna by the 147th. Will get a birthday card Sat and send it to you to put with the gift or you can mail them separate. Or send them to her by Hughy Chester. Bye Austin

Dear Mother, Just a line or two before the end of the day. I have been in all day Saturday and Sunday doctoring my sore throat. It's better now and I think it will be OK now. Had an invitation just a few minutes ago to go out for supper. Then got a call on the phone from a high school girl wanting me to go to a skating party Tuesday nite and I couldn't get out during the week so she said she would call me later about next Sunday dinner. She looks kinda like Helen Turner. I heard from her today too. Didn't get the birthday card for Edna so you can send the present to her by the school bus.

April 1943 Monday - 12th Dear Mother, Well I am feeling lots better today and am going to my classes. The Dr. excused me from Calisthenics & drill for 3 days. The rest are taking their exercises now so I have a little extra time today. How is everyone at home. Hope Grand-pa is up and feeling better. We are taking a test tomorrow on what we have had so far in Math. It has been pretty easy for me but will get harder from now on as we get into the new problems I have never heard of. Well I got paid Sunday and now I can send the money back if I can send the letter registered. Haven't forgotten what you told me to get but they don't have any Army Stores here like they had in Miami Beach.

Here's a little letter which was distributed among the Soldiers. I thought it was real nice. Guess John was pretty upset about the tractor. Have you ever found out what caused it to burn? It looks like it would be impossible for a big piece of iron like that to catch on fire. What is Otho doing now? Does he look well or walk like his back hurts him? Later— Well, it's just about time for supper. Didn't get any mail today. That's a surprise in itself. But had rather not have that kind of surprise. Got my laundry back just now & have got to roll everything up. They charge us 4.00 a month for laundry so we are going to wear clean clothes. Love, Austin

April 1943 Thursday-22nd Hello Mother, Have been so awful busy this week couldn't write as much as I would like to. We are having more tests. Yesterday we took a physical fitness test. We did each exercise as long as we could and had a man count each time you went up & down to give your grade. I made "good" on it. The grades were "poor", "unsatisfactory", "very good", "good", "excellent". They didn't expect us to be perfect the first test, We will have one every 4 weeks so we can tell if we are improving any or not. They announced yesterday that all the flights here would stay one month longer than was first scheduled so that means 4 months for me. Has Carl gone yet? Write & tell me something about his experiences or have sister to. Certainly enjoy all the letters you two send me. I am still keeping up my reputation of receiving more letters than most any one else. How is grand-pa & Auntie? Wish I could see the cows & hogs and also would like to see all the folks too.(ha ha.) Have got to go to class now.

(Later) We have a math test the next period. I have gotten pretty good on that. I made 100 yesterday on a little test we had yesterday. The work I was doing on the aerial photographs measuring cotton makes the map study easier. Am losing a little of my excess fat. I weigh 168 now, should weigh 164 to be about correct. The weather here is pretty & warm again. Suppose you are wearing your print dresses now. How is the farming coming along? What is John planting in the field in the North East corner of the farm? Where Curtis & Ausbon had their cotton last year. Some of the boys are flying every pretty day now. Will be glad when I get to go up. Will its time to go to class again so must say Bye again. Yes, I have the razor, did I forget to tell you when I got it. Have got to change my address again They want us to put private on it. You can send it Put. Austin H. Winn Squadron C-Flt. 1 96th College Training Detachment (Aircrew) Oshkosh, Wisconsin Haven't had any decrease in rank but the Sergeant here just wanted to act smart and have us change it again. Lots o Love Austin

1943 April 24 Sunday (Easter) Dear Mother & Sister, Happy Easter to you all. This really is a beautiful day here and everything is so pretty and green. Thanks a million for the nice things you both sent. We really hit the "jack pot" the day they came. Our room which has 8 boys in it got 14 boxes of candy or cakes that day. Edna also sent me a box of candy. I was just out of talc & shaving lotion so am proud of them too. Got a letter from Miami Beach saying the clothes were shipped from

there a good while ago. Sure hated to lose all the stuff I had in that bag. The camera, 3 rolls film, and several other things besides the clothes. Am going out to dinner in a few minutes with another boy. Am sending some Easter cards I got so you can put them up somewhere. Don't have any place to keep much here. Do you still have the negative of me & the cat? I have got to give one of those pictures to a girl up here so if you'll send the negative to me I'll have some made. I also have a couple of negatives that were made

here to send off too. So sled me the address of that place in Des Plaines, (Iowa)or(Ill)? The Developing Laboratories. Saw my name in the paper again. Did you send that in or was that taken from the statement which I sent them? You asked about my room etc! Well it's hard to describe. It's just a school classroom without any desks in it. We have 4 double beds in it.. one on top of the other. We don't have any classes in the building we live in. There are 2 other buildings that we go to school in. I'm on the 2nd floor in room 204.

I have guard duty tonight from 2:00 to 4:00. Will be sleepy Monday I expect. Haven't had any more trouble with my throat or arm. Glad to hear that grand-pa is able to sit up some. The math is getting easier for me now. We had a test of 25 problems, I made 88. Guess Carl has gone on by now! Did he have a big time while there? How is Otho? Must say so-long and lots of love. Tell John hello and hope he gets the tractor fixed soon. Is the corn up yet? Bye, Austin

Monday April 1943 26 Dear Mom, Got a letter from sister today. Guess my letters are getting to come more irregular. It's just because I'm busy and don't get the time to write. Have really enjoyed the candy & cookies this week. Tell John that the brindle cow I got from Mr. Alex was mine. We really had some hard exercises today. We had several races. First we had a wheel barrow race. A boy picked up your feet & you ran on your hands. Then we duck walked. Ran squatting down. Then had a race carrying another person on our backs. Then took 5 laps around the track besides our regular exercises.

Have 54 algebra problems for tomorrow. They are pretty easy. I have passed on all the tests I've taken so far. We have to make 70 to pass. If you fail here you go to ground crew as a private. They make us put private on our mail but still they tell us we aren't regular privates. Thats just so they can pay us $50 I think. We get $75 as soon as we start our flying. I think 50 is plenty while we are going to school and getting fed & clothes too.

Got a letter from Mrs Steele today. I sent her an Easter Card. Had a nice dinner & supper Easter. Had guard duty Sunday nite from 2 till 4 A.M. (Will write more later) Tuesday 27th Have been so busy couldn't find time to write before and only have time to say hello & good-bye - Got another invite for next Sunday dinner in the mail this morning... My Saturdays and Sundays are pretty full in two ways. Lots of love Austin