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March 1945

March 3, 1945 In the Marianas Dear Mother & Sister, Will have time for only a few little lines this morning. Guess you've missed a few days hearing from me. Well I've really been busy & doing a lot of flying. Today we're going to ground school. Yes, we still have to study up on this flying & bombing. Learn the latest stuff from other crews etc. that have been over Japan recently. Guess you read where we bombed 240 city blocks in Tokyo the other day. Well our planes from this group were in on that raid. Our ship wasn't tho. Cook got here too late as I've said before. I've been on 3 bombing missions so far but not on any over Japan itself. Soon tho I will. We've been up around where Jack is. I had forgotten what the date is even. Notice I put Feb. as the date at first—it's hard to keep up with the day of the week also. How is every one around the neighborhood? I will be too busy to write much over 2 times a week it looks like. We are one of the lead crews in this group. It's a pretty important job. All the navigation & bombing is dependent on the lead ship since all the others follow along in formation. Things are going O.K. One day we got to go swimming - we were actually practicing ditching drill - getting in out of the rubber life rafts etc. It was lot of fun tho. We climbed some coconut trees and ate some coconuts also. Came a big rain last nite & ruined part of the outdoor movie that was going on at the time. I've gotta stop now. So Bye. Tell all hello. Love, Austin Am getting mail pretty good now

Marianas March 9, 1945 Dear Mother & Sis, Decided it's better send you a line this morning before going out. Guess you missed several days hearing from me! Well everything is O.K. We washed our plane again yesterday. Keep it nice & slick so it will go faster. Yesterday we got the mess hall completed & now we can eat out of metal plates instead of our mess kits. It sure is much nicer also they have a big water tower almost completed so, soon we will have water also & showers I got the pictures from Rosie. Some are pretty good I guess you'll get yours pretty soon. Thanks for the nice birthday card. It sure was cute & got several Valentine & Birthday cards also. Mary P sent me a good one. Also Oletta. We been getting plenty of mail lately. Beating everyone else on the crew except our tail gunner & myself are having a pretty close race. Was glad to hear they heard from Waits & also that Cherry is getting lighted up (Electrically). Have you gotten a check for $250 lately? What did you mean that my picture might be in the paper? You mean the Army might have sent the one I had taken down at Alomogordo! Well we'll have to stop for now. Tell John & John Wim hello. Hope Grandpa is getting better. Love, Austin

March 12, 1945 Marianas Hello Sister & All, How's everyone? Guess you've been reading a bit of the fires we kindled in Tokyo & Nagoya! We lost some planes but we got through without a scratch. Today we moved into a quonset hut. The crew that lived there was lost on their first mission. All fellows I know too. One of Cooks big buddies from Alamogordo & all along the line. The crew I rode with from the States was also lost. We had a mighty nice mission & put our bombs exactly on the target area. 3 of our gunners are getting promotions to Sgt. I got a letter from Wilbur today. Got to try to take a shower somewhere tonight - I sure am tired & sleepy. Oh, yes you asked me several questions in your last letter. Your Air Mail letters come to me in about 8 days. The V-Mail usually comes without even being photographed - your mail to me is not censored - My mail to you is spot-checked. Everyone here has to wear their guns around everywhere we go now. I carry a .45 pistol. This place is a nice place to sleep now after staying in the trees so long. We will have water soon The tower is already built. Bob landed on an island with 2 engines gone the other night. Same as Jacks. Bob is the guy in the little picture with me. After Supper: Well I got that shower of feel 100% better. Think I better get it bed right now tho. So nity nite for now! Love Austin P.S. - Tell Miss Josie B. I got her letter OK. Thanks - Hope she has heard from Jack. Will have more to write next time!

March 15, 1945 Marianas Dear Mother & all, How is everyone today? Guess you've seen where I've been pretty busy lately. I went to Nagoya the other nite. Then to Osaka on the next raid. I listened to the news broadcasts & Washington announced that B-29s hit Osaka Wednesday morning. I was still flying & not even half way back to my base. We encountered no trouble on either raid. We did get pretty scared once or twice but thats just natural. The big search light shooting up through the nite looking for your plane. They caught us once and followed us right over the targes. We couldn't dodge them as that time because we had to keep straight ahead on the bomb run. As soon as we dropped our bombs tho we were weaving around and lost the lights. The Auto Aircraft guns on the ground were throwing big exploding shells up at us & they burst all around the plane. We call that "Flack"- Haven't heard the results of the Osaka raid yet but suppose you have. Here's a bit of information you've been waiting for. Jack is here on this island, a casualty in the Base Hospital. I just got word last nite about him but couldn't go down there at the time. If at all possible I'll see him today. If Miss Josie B. hasn't heard from him yet wait until I go see how he is if you think that best- you'll know better what to do Tho. He's about 25 miles away I ran out of ink & none handy so I thought I'd just finish in pencil - I got lots of letters yesterday. Everyone that write to me just demands that I send them a request. I've moved into the new hut now and have a much nicer place to stay. I don't know about the white up in the paper, You can send a little note in if the Lauderdale County Paper if you like. I wrote a letter sketch on the next page & you can add that I'm your son etc. Reword it any way you like. I wrote Sister's name on one of the bombs I dropped. Also several other names. Geraldine C asked me to drop one for her so I put her name on one also (ha). I had plenty a bombs to write every one's name in the city of Cherry on one each. That's on one load. The radio announced we dropped our 2000 Tons on OSAKA. Lt Austin H. Winn of Cherry, a B-29 pilot in the Marianas writes of hot times over Japan. He was in the big incendiary raids on Japan's largest cities. Well I've gotta go study up on some more targets. And if possible get to see Jock. I wrote Jace letter last nite just in case I don't get down today. Glad to hear John Winn is walking & talking. Bet he's a cute fellow. Also glad Grandpa's getting better. Your V-mail hasn't gotten here yet that was mailed the same day as a letter I got yesterday. Solong now, Love to all Austin Raining here real hard now. Things are really getting muddy and wet around here. 3 missions Nogoya, Osaka, Kobe

Sunday March 18, 1945 Dear Mother and Sister, What's the good word from home? Guess you got my letter of day before yesterday. I wrote it just before leaving for Kobe, Japan. Our plane was the last to get to the target & the last to leave. I stayed over the city of Kobe 2 hours while the 300 or more B-29s bombed. I saw the whole show from start to finish. There was plenty action & a movie could never be as interesting or exciting. I was flying for 17 hours & really tired when we returned. We leave in the evening & get back the next day at noon. I don't know how busy I'm gonna be today. I'll stop now & maybe later add some more. If I don't fly we try to go to church today. LATER: Well I didn't fly, we cleaned our plane up good from the last mission. The service were Catholic this morning. I read some in the Bible and rested up instead of going to church. I just started to feel pretty good now so am going down to visit Jack again. I got your letters this morning with Hughey's enclosure. Sorry to hear grandpa is ailing again. Suppose Miss Jossie Belle has gotten my letter to her about Jack already! Here's a clipping I got from Addie. The plane's name is Battin Betty. Ours was Battin Betsy. We will probably change that now. Cook was made Operations Officer & we have a New Airplane Commander Flying with us from now on. Several of our Staff Officers were killed on one by the raids & so Cook was the best man to take over such an important job. The fellow we are getting for a Commander is a nice fellow Caunce. We're all used to Cook & like the news article says, we were a team. But everything gonna be OK. Some of the fellows were pretty low over the change but I'v already gotten used to such things & just take it as a routine matter (ha) Addie sends me all the articles about our B-29s. Sure wish you could get a paper I wrote for the Lauderdale County Paper but it will be a month late when I get it. That'll probably be news tho anyway While we were over the targets we took Moving Pictures on color film of the fires. They will probably be in the movies in the States before we can see them. Well I better get going. It takes me over an hour to hitch-hike from here to Jack. Caught 8 separate rides this last time. Did I tell you we got a new Bombardier?. He was sent over as a replacement. Got here on Sat nite & was over Japan on Sunday nite next day. Our old Bombardier, Armstrong got sick & they left him in Mother (sp?) Field in Calif. Am glad you have the map of Japan. We saw fires still burning in Osaka 3 days after the raid while we were circling over Kobe. We also flew over Osaka again just to take another look. Tell John Winn Hi for me also. Love, Austin

March 19 Marianas Dear Mother of all, Justa line to say hello this morning. Guess I better report on Jack today. I went down to see him yesterday afternoon. He looked a hundred % better. They had taken him off the serious list & put him on the improving list. I was there for supper so nothing would do for them but that I should eat with them. I ate with Jack & We had a good time talking. He had a friend in the next bed & they were real jolly & seem to be getting much better. I had to leave about 5:30 cause I was hitch hiking I got back to the field about 7:30 and lot of fun riding with different fellows. They were going to have a show right there in the hospital but I couldn't stay for that. I saw one after I got back here tho. The name of it "And Now Tomorrow". Sure was good. The planes should be back from their raid last nite in a little while. I've gotta go down & help interrogate the crews when they come in. I missed this raid on account Cook was made operations officer. We'll be ready for the next one tho. Well tell everyone hello. Hope all are well. How's John Winn? Be sure to send me a picture of him when you make some more. Tell Miss Josie Belle to send any pictures that she would like Jack to have & I'll take it to him. He doesn't have any pictures at all with him. Love to All, Austin In the Marianas

March 29, 1945 Hello Mother & Sis, Time to write a few lines before going to bed. Guess you got my last letter where I'd been to see Jack for the 2nd time? Well we had a busy week last week. Our Group made 5 raids on Japan in 10 days. So we got a day off yesterday. Most everyone went to a picnic down on the beach. Army transportation and food was furnished. Everyone had a big time. I took a tour of the island myself. Went all around & saw Japs & dead Japs too. Went into some of the Pill Boxes where the dead bodies were still lying around drying up. Found a few little souvenirs. tonite we have been playing games. Checkers, back gammon and ect. chess. We got a regular box of games in our supplies when we came across. They are coming in handy now. Each crew got Soft Balls, Foot Balls, Volley Balls etc. How's Grandpa & John getting along? Got a letter from Mary & she said John was sick. I'll have to close for tonite. We have a phonograph and some records in our hut now so music is playing(ha) When you send the sheets you can send me a few wash clothes too. If you've already sent the sheets that will be O.K. Tell all hello Love Austin P.S. Heard from Paul Sales today

March 24, 1945 Hello Mother & all, How's everything today? Guess you got my other letters. I haven't written for a couple days I don't think. Have only a little time to write today! Just received word that Jack is being evacuated. Maybe he'll be in the states in a few days or in Hawaii anyway. He sent word for me to come see him off but was impossible as I didn't get the word in time & was also busy & couldn't get away. Sure hope he gets to the states. He was going by air. I get your air mail letters quicker & like them much better. Which CB outfit is Mr. Albert Hutchinson in? Tell Mr. William that the fellow that was asking about him was just mad squad Commanding Officer. Well I'll be off now. Will try to write more tomorrow sometime. We washed our plane again this morning. Glad to clear such sunny weather back there. Send me some clippings out of the paper once in a while. Would have like to have visited Jack some more before he left. But guess he was in a hurry to leave here also.(Ha) Hope Grandpa is feeling better by now. Tell John Winn Hi Love to all Austin

March 26, 1945 Marianas 4 missions 63:15 (hours) Hello Mother & All, Cloudy day today. Guess I shouldn't write those little short letters like my last one. Do they worry you too much. I usually write one just before leaving to go down to take off for a mission. Don't have time to write much in them. Maybe it will be better not to do that tho cause I know it takes a few days before you'll get the next letter telling you I'm back again. You always hear of the raid anyway before we get home. At least the last 6 missions have been announced over the radio before we ever get back home. On this last raid we did okay. We had our new Airplane Commander, Lucas. Think he will be just fine. Just had gotten used to Cook & didn't like the idea of a change. We had quiet a bit of flack to fly through on this raid and couldn't drop our bombs on first run so had to make a second pass at the target. We put them in there on the second run tho. Haven't been hit by flack yet but it came so close I could just reach out and touch it it seemed. Black puffs & smoke bursting & sending out pieces of steel in every direction. Well is there any news from Jock yet? He left here a couple days ago. Being Evacuated either to the States or Hawaii. I haven't received your letter yet in answer to my first letters about Jock being here. The V-Mail letters are slower getting here. Send Air Mail. Got yours letter saying the sheets were on the way. Its raining here now. Hope Grandpa is doing OK. If you haven't already sent that note to the paper let it go. Don't like the idea of too much self-publicity. A man from the press interviewed me after my last mission so there will be something in the paper one day. Well I'm gotta say Saoong. Will check the mail now & have a letter for you. Love Austin P.S. I got a letter from you from Oletta today. It's time to eat now.

March 28, 1945 Marianas 5 missions 80 hours Hello Mother and Sis, Will write you a few lines now. Guess you've gotten my letter the day before yesterday? I received 2 letters from you today. You said Miss Jossie Belle had gotten Jack's letter the 13th. Don't guess she had heard from me at that time. Have you heard any more for him since he left here. Glad Grandpa is dismissed from the doctor. The last mission I was on was a daylight strike - eight planes. I flew formation for 16 hours 45 minutes. That's a real job. We got a chance to see what Japan looks like in the daylight and also saw some of their fighter planes. Our bombadier and tail gunner got hits on one fighter that came in really close to us. We really hit our target with our bombs. The 80 hours put at the top of the letter is the actual flying time on combat missions. Our mission average is 16 hours each up to now. A new correspondent got a story from me after our Nagoya mission. It maybe in the paper. Got a little sleep last night. Didn't get up for breakfast today. Before most of our missions we're up at least 8 hours before takeoff time. And then fly 16 hours. Then when we get back we are interrogated which takes a couple of hours sometimes. Better say Bye now. Love Austin

(V-Letter written March 31, 1945 - very bad copy so lots of mistakes) I WILL TRY TO WRITE YOU A V-MAIL LETTER TONITE AS I HAVE RUN OUT OF STATIONARY FOR THE TIME BEING. GUESS YOU RECEIVED MY LAST LETTER A COUPLE DAYS AGO. I HAVE BEEN GETTING MY LETTERS FROM YOU PRETTY REGULARLY. HOPE YOU HAVE RECEIVED MY LETTER I WROTE ABOUT JACK. YOU DIDN'T MENTION HAVING RECEIVED ANY LETTER AFTER THAT YET. I'VE BEEN ON FIVE MISSIONS OVER THE JAP MAINLAND. I WENT ON ANOTHER MISSION THAT WAS OVER 15 HOURS BUT ON ACCOUNT OF BAD WEATHER WE DIDN'T GET TO THE TARGET. SO THAT WASN'T COUNTED AS A COMBAT MISSION. ONE LAST RAID WAS IN THE DAYLIGHT. WE HIT AN AIRCRAFT FACTORY AT OMURA JAPAN. WE HAD SOME PRETTY ACCURATE FLAK BUT MANAGED TO GET THROUGH WITHOUT GETTING HIT AGAIN. WE ALSO SAW SEVERAL ENEMY FIGHTER PLANES. THEY DIDN'T GIVE US TOO MUCH TO TROUBLE THO. I'VE BEEN ON FOUR NIGHT NIGHTS STRAIGHT AND ONE DAYLIGHT MISSION. COOK IS OUR OPERATIONS OFFICER NOW, THEY KEEP HIM I KNOW AT A DESK ALL THE TIME. HE WOULD KILL TO BE ON SOME MISSIONS OCCASIONALLY THO. OUR FORMER OPERATIONS OFFICER WAS LOST ON ONE OF OUR MISSIONS, AND ALSO OUR CO-2 (sp??) COMMANDER ON THE SAME MISSION. I'VE LOST ABOUT 15 FELLOWS THAT I KNEW PLENTY WELL. SOME THAT I LIVED WITH AT TIMES AND ALSO THE CREW THAT I RODE OVER(??) WITH. I'M NOT GETTING ALONG NOW. I HAVEN'T BEEN ABLE TO WRITE MANY LETTERS HERE LATELY. I ASKED THE LAUNCHING COUNTY THEY'RE GOING TO BE NEXT IF WE DON'T HAVE RECEIVED A COPY OF IT YET. COULD YOU SEND ME SOME LITTLE PIECE OF ORCHID OR FLOWERS THAT IN A LETTER FROM MR. AND MRS. HENNING? THEY WOULD BE GREAT TO IMPROVE THE LOOK OF THINGS. SOME PEOPLE ALREADY HAVE FLOWERS GROWING AND THEY'RE LOOK NICE WAY OUT HERE. WELL IT'S NIGHT FOR THIS NOCTE WILL HAVE TO STOP SOMEWHERE. HOW IF JOSEPH MINN AND ALL HIS CUTE TRICKS, WILL BE GLAD TO SEE HIM PICTURES YOU TOOK LATELY. MAYBE YOU HAVE RECEIVED THE MONEY I SENT HOME AT THE END OF MARCH BY NOW. YOU WILL RECEIVE A CHECK FOR $50.00 FOR THE MONTH OF MARCH AND SHOULD COME DURING APRIL, SO THAT'S WHAT YOU GOT THE NOTICE OF I GUESS. THEN IF I HAVE ANY FUTURE FRIENDS THAT I EXPECT I'LL SEND THEM A LIO. WHY (CUTTEN JOH) CATCH A RIDE. O HENNING FROM THE RIVER PRINCE LOOKS LIKE THERE WOULD PURPLE HEART COMING IN.