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July 1945

22 Mission - Tuesday July 3rd Hello Again Sorry I didn't get this letter finished sooner. Since I began it I flew another mission. Today I have been up flying around locally with my new crew. They are all a swell bunch of fellows. I haven't been on a mission with them as yet. Cook says he is going along with me on my next mission. He is our Operations Officer. He was promoted to Major the other day. How is everything coming along now? The job I have n0w calls for a Captain but it will be impossible to make Captain until you serve 9 months as a 1st Lt so Ill just have to wait that long. If I see Gene Turner over here Ill let you know. Hope he does come to this island. Ill probably be pretty busy for the next few days.

July 10, 1945 22 Missions Dear Mother Josie, Today's the 10th. Just wondering how much celebrating I'm going to have good. On back home! Waycross Park? Had a big day at Waycross Park! Received a nice letter & letter from you & Santa today. Baby is back in town on next Tuesday, so keep her in taking it easy too. You said he is young and needs more sleep. Wish every one around so kindly tosses every bombardier's bomb so they drop the bombs on the enemy when they get enough several. You've received the 45-day pay check back only come back old I stunned up a crew member got top the smoke dump again locally tonit look Wiley Adams each up day to the plane probably fly with me & check one flops away like a piece of paper which wind.

22 missions July 4, 1945 Dear Mother & Sis, Today is the 4th! Just wonder how much celebrating is going on back home! Suppose there was a big day at Espys Park? Received a nice letter and clippings from you and sister today. So Jack is at home on rest leave. Boy, I'll bet he's taking it easy too. You said he's going with Evelyn McBride? You mean Uncle Melvin's little girl? Or is she not so small anymore. Yes, I received the $5 and it came in just right. Tide me over the month with a couple dollars to spare. (ha) Think I'm going up flying again locally tonite. Cook will probably fly with me to check me out on night landings. Lucas and his crew and his crew went on another mission last night. He has a new pilot not. We were really sweating them out this morning as they were about 20 minutes late getting back from this mission. They had to make two runs over the target. On the first run the smoke from the burning city tossed everyone around so badly that the bombardier couldn't tell when to drop the bombs. So they had to go back around and come back over again. Several crew members got skinned up. And bumped against the top the smoke caused such updrafts the plane flopped around like a piece of paper in a whirlwind. You asked about Cook and Bindue. Cook is OK but Bindue isn't with us anymore. He was shot down by a Jap fighter right on the coast of Japan. They were flying formation right on our left wing at the time he went down. There were 4 parachutes seen in the water after the crash. If he was one of the four and the only chance would be to be picked up as a prisoner of war by the Japs. Here's a little article that was in the "Stars and Stripes." Now that I've taken over the new crew, most of its members have 17 or 18 missions. Wouldn't suprise me too much if I didn't have to fly on out to 35 with them. That would make me 39 or 40 missions. But not if I can help it. Well I guess this is about all for today. Hope this letter doesn't sound too discouraging. Just thought I'd tell you the staight dope. Well I always say things will turn out OK. And I believe they will so don't you worry about me. Here's the names of my new crew. (K.G. Smith, Alexander Alexion, Johnny Doganges, P.F. Butler) (G. J. Fiegel, W.F. Jones, T.N. Daniels, Ira Cutrell, W.E. Cutrer, C.A. Rowe). The first four are officers and the others are enlisted men. Let me know if Gene Turner comes to Guam. I'd like to see someone from home. Love to all, Austin

July 6, 1945 Guam 10:30 am Dear Mother & Sister, A nice morning here after a good rain last night. Yesterday I received a letter from Jack which I answered. How long is he going to stay at home? And what is he wearing besides a swimming suit? Does he wear civilian clothes or his Marine uniforms? It's almost mail time now. We usually get our mail about 11 A.M and 4:30 P.M. Hope I get the pictures you're sending. I'll give those pictures to the fellows on the crew since you have the negative & can get another copy of each anyway. I understand that soon the ban will be lifted & we can take pictures here on Guam. Sure hope so. I have about 10 or 12 rolls of film. (ha) And Dotty says if she gets a request she will send me some film also. Don't think I'll need that many tho'. Don't think too much about the letter she writes you. Just received the mail. Got one letter but didn't hear from you. I'll probably get one this afternoon too. The news is on now & things are happening everywhere it seems. McArthur announced the Philippines were completely under our control. I haven't named my plane as yet. Don't know for sure exactly which plane I will have. The "City of Charlottesville" is ahead of all other planes in the squadron. It has 31 missions on it now. I put in my 22 missions in that plane. That's very unusual for anyone over here to have that many missions all in the same plane & none in another plane. But from now on we'll probably fly in some other plane. I hope to get a new plane. Glad you liked the little turtle. George Mezzaro, a fellow on my former crew has a herd of the little fellows. (about 8) I hated to leave my old crew but you can't turn down a promotion in the Army. The way Jack wrote he said he was glad to hear I was almost thru with my missions. We don't figure it that way here. Sincerely Love & Best Wishes, Austin

July 7, 1945 Guam 23 missions Dear Mother & Sister, Well it's about 3 PM now. Just came back from my first mission with my new crew. Everything went okay. Think I'm gonna like them just fine. Got a letter from Clifford today. Guess I'll answer him in a few minutes also. He says he has enough points to get out of the Army but expects to have to stay over a couple more months yet. How did John & A.V. look? Were they in pretty good condition? The crew I'm on now is usually split up in missions. One man has 26 missions, I have 23, my engineer, Master Sgt. Fiegel has 22, Radio Man has 20, most of the others have 18, & my co-pilot, Smith has about 11. I'll get some pictures of this crew too. We flew a new plane last nite. It was the 2nd mission for the plane. We're going to try keep that same plane Does John need a wrist watch? I have my watch I bought in Memphis over here in my locker. Haven't worn it even once. I have a govt issued watch that I wear all the time. I could send it home anyway for you to keep if he doesn't need one. It cost me about $85. Tell Johnie Winn hello for me. What's he doing these days that's different? Does he like to ride in the truck with John? Well, I guess this is all Love & Best Wishes, Austin

July 8, 1945 23 missions Guam Hello Mother & Sis, Today is a beautiful day here. Boy oh boy last nite I went to Wing hdqs. To see a movie and it started raining before I got there. And really poured all during the movie. We were really drenced to the skin. But stayed and saw the last of the movie. (ha) It was an outdoor affair you know! The rain was nice and warm tho! It was so far down to the movie that we would have gotten wet anyway coming home. So we just sat in the rain and watched the movie. Feel fine this morning. No cold or anything. Here's a bit of news, Capt. Handwercker. He came in this morning. He's' been training in the states at a Head Crew school. He will be leading some of our formation flights now. That's what Cook and I used to do when we were together. You know Cook is our Operations officer and he gave me the new plane. I asked him for it. Its the best and newes plane on the field. We named it City of Annapolis. After Annapolis Maryland. My bombardier lives there. It seems like nobody on our crew lived in any big cities except him. If Memphis hadn't already been taken I'd have used that. But thought as well let someone in our crew get some benefit from naming it. How's farming coming along? Tell Frank Ware hello. I'd like to see his crop. You know after I finish my missions over here there are some decisions to be made. They are going to give all staff jobs in the AAF to men with combat and flying experience. The ones interested in Army career have a good opportunity to get ahead here now. They are starting a school here on Guam to teach you to be capable of taking over the various staff jobs. It's purely volunteer. If I want to I can take a 30 day leave home and then come back here to a staff job. That is after my missions are completed. Then too I can come home and get out of the Army but I doubt if I can before the war is over. Since they'll need B-29 instructors back in the states. But so far I've asked for no staff position. And don't think I will. I'll probably come on back to the farm. Boy I thought I'd never ever questioned whether I'd want to stay in the Army or not! Its a very dependable job when there's no war. If I could stay overseas for 9 months as 1st Lt. I'd probably be promoted to Capt. I think I'll come home tho. Next time John goes to town tell him to get me some 1st Lt. bars, silver bars. You can send them in a letter. Just pin them on a little cardboard or something. We can't buy any over here. Nope I haven't moved. They just gave our field a new APO number. There were 2 or 3 fields using 246 and the mail was getting mixed up. How's grandpa getting along? Have you heard from Jack Peyton? Where is he and how does he like? We had a volley ball game yesterday afternoon. My co-pilot is 26 years old and has 2 children. He's been in the Army about 4 years. He's a first Lt. also. He's a really good boy and I like to fly with him fine. I'll try to have 24 the next time you hear from me. Well its mail time so its time for me to say by by. Love to all Austin P.S. I must have been feeling a little low the other day when I wrote you that one letter. Everything is fine now. Morale is high as ever.

July 11, 1945 Guam 24 missions Dear Mother & All, Raining again today. I just my laundry back from the wet wash this morning and hung it out. Maybe there'll be a sunny period here to day that will dry them out. Well I went on another raid as you can see. Hit a small town north Nagaya. There are really getting to be lots of in on these raids now. There isn't much news to write today its seems so I'll make this one short. Did sister and John go on the outing with AV and LeRoy and wives? Can John Winn do any talking now? How many teeth does he have? I got a letter Withee yesterday. He's doing OK. He has 41 missions and 323:50 combat hours. I have 24 missions and 372 combat hours. He isn't bombing the Japanese homeland. He's in the Philippines and bombing Formosa and surrounding islands etc. I haven't heard from A.V. Winn since he left Guam. He's on Okinawa now. Well I'll sign off now. I want to write Withee a few lines this morning also. Tell all hello, Austin

25 Missions Guam July 13, 1945 7:30 PM Dear Mother and Sister, Just back from another mission. I have been on the last 3 in a row since I have a crew & plane of my own. How is everything? I got a letter from Otho yesterday. First one in about 3 months. Is Jack & Waits at home now? I received the pictures from you and was really glad to get them. I gave most of them to the other fellows so don't loose the negatives. The little clipping in the Lauderdale County paper about me was O.K. Nice wording (ha) We're playing records in our barracks tonight. The mission was 14 hr & 35 min so I landed about 8AM this morning & slept till 4:30 PM. We had some bad weather over Japan last nite. Flying thru rain & sleet etc. Well I'll write Otho and a couple others letters tonight so we'll make this short. Tell all hello. Solong now, Love, Austin P.S.- I implied that I didn't want a staff job overseas after completing my missions. The C.O. interviewed all combat officers a few days ago

Sunday July 15 Guam 25 missions Dear Mother and Sister, Suppose you can see from the stationary that I received the packages! They came yesterday and were in good condition. Haven't tried the sardines yet but will anytime now. The candy is good. Thanks for the wash clothes and clothes pins also. Do I still have a package with soap coming yet? Well yesterday I moved over to another barracks. I'm moving with my new crew now. And have lots more room than this barracks. I also inherited a desk with drawers and a nice clothes closet also. (ha) There is only 9 in this hut compared to 17 in my former hut. They're both the same size also. Went to church this morning at 9:30. We have two big flower beds in front full of giant red zinnias. Also some orange ones. Its time for the mail this morning. On Sunday we the mail only once. The other days we have mail call twice a day. How's Johnie Cake today? I told you we named our plane City of Annapolis. As soon as we get the name painted on we will get a crew picture made by the plane. Guess I better say bye about here. Hope all is well. Love Austin I like this stationary.

26 Missions Guam July 17, 1945 9:30 PM Dearest Mother & Sister, Back Again! Have been on the last 4 in a row now but expect to be laid off a couple now. Don't mind the rest tho although I'd like to finish as soon as possible. We had our first crew from Guam to complete 35 missions this morning. There was a Brass Band out to meet them when he landed. They'll be coming home any day now. Look for any news of it in the paper. It's Capt Murphy & crew. I don't think we have to fly over 35 missions. They ask the Airplane Commanders to fly "one" extra mission in case where the rest of his crew have 34 missions when he completes his but I love 5 more than my crew so don't think I'll come under that category - (HA) The clothes pins are real handy. I got my laundry back yesterday & hung it on the line to dry while I was on the last mission. None of the clothes had blown off on the ground, thanks to the pins. Yes I received the $5...I thought I had thanked you for sending it. You didn't send more than 1 letter with money in it did you! Last nite, no 2 nites ago we had a little midnite snack in our hut. SARDINES, CRACKERS, olives, cheese SPREAD, etc. Really good. The ban on cameras has been lifted now & we can take pictures of non-military scenes. That is, pictures of each other, our plane, Quonset huts etc. Will try to take some soon & send home. Last nite We hit a town of war industries a few miles west of Tokyo. Wasn't much opposition over the target as the weather was bad again And the Nips probably couldn't get their fighters off the ground. We flew through clouds for a couple hundred miles in lightning flashes almost blind you. And our ship got all charged up with static electricity & was glowing just like a light while we were flying thru the worst of the clouds. Sparks flying back & forth across the glass nose. And you could stick your finger nail up to a glass window pane & a spark would jump onto your finger nail. Really scary looking but not too dangerous. Flying on instruments. You remember me writing while in training of flying under the hood! Well that was practice for this when you couldn't ever see outside of your plane. We landed about 8:20 this morning & took a shower & slept til 4PM. I got 3 letters at once from you today They don't come too regularly. What color is the house painted? You said the Barn was red! Well it's about bed time now so Lee he saying Nity nite Tell grandpa hello & hope he's feeling well Love & Best Wishes, Austin Enclosed find picture of crew From Right to left - A/C Lucas, Pilot Winn, Engineer Phillips, Special Inst. Operator Meszaros, Radio Man Ferdman, CFC Gunner Mieler, Gunner Beattie, Bombardier Boley, Tail Gunner Couell, Navigator Parry, Gunner Czajkoski

26 Missions Guam July 19, 1945 Deares Folks, A few lines tonite to say hello and how's things. Today I've been working a bit. This morning I was shoveling coral helping landscape our Officers Club grounds. This afternoon I was taking a B-29 around while the cameras rolled (HA). They are making a movie of the B-29 etc. so we went through a mock take-off for a mission while the camera-men took pictures. It's going to be in technicolor. I was in plane Number (M-41) In case you are a News Reel of it. I had a big Cucumber out of the garden for supper! It was so good that after Supper & came back and planted about 15 more hills Cucumbers. Planted some Watermelons also. I am sending a little Japanese Currency along. You can give John one of the bills for a souvenir. It is equal to 50 cents in American Money. Mother can keep the other. That's Mt. Fuji on one of the Bills. I didn't get to go on this Mission. The planes are out tonite. Capt Handwerker is flying my plane tonite. Did you get the crew picture I sent in my last letter? I've gotten 2 or 3 more pictures from you one at a time. Some didn't turn our too good did they! Well I'll take some more pictures soon. Don't think too much about the Sydney Aust. deal. If we're lucky I might finish up next month. And then he on the first transportation for the U.S. Well see tu going now. Hope all are well. How's the neighbors? Love to All, Austin

July 21, 1945 Saturday Nite Dear Mother & Sis, A few lines before bedtime. Today we had a parade & ceremony. "Presentation of Awards" I received my Air Medal & an Oak Leaf Cluster to the Air medal. They took pictures of us. One other fellow from Tennessee received the Air Medal today also. They took our pictures together So it'll be in The Paper Soon I Suppose. How is everyone? I'll send the medal home if I can send it Air Mail. You can look in my "Officers Guide". The Brown Book I have there & see pictures of the medals etc. We're having a lot of rain here now. Almost every day. We have a new crew that moved into our hut with us. They are fresh from the states. We've been showing them how to do different things. Even down to taking a bath in a steel helmet. We still have trouble getting sufficient water supply for showers. We rigged up a gutter from our roof & catch a barrel of water every time it rains - which is every day. Better go to bed now Love to all, Austin

26 - Monday July 23 10:30 am Dear Mother & Sis, I just got up about 30 minutes ago. Shaved & cleaned up a bit. Didn't get up for breakfast this morning. Looks like a pretty day. Our flowers are really beautiful. They just keep blooming and blooming. They're dark red giant zinnias and a few pink ones mixed in. I took some pictures Saturday so maybe I'll get them back in a few weeks. I got a nice from you both yesterday. We have had sardine snacks around here several nites. Some of the other fellows have stuffed olives, crackers, and pimento cheese spread. The sationary you sent is real nice, I like to right on it good. I told you I got the box of candy didn't I! It went fast also. Would sure like to see that mischievous little Johnie. Cook didn't go on the raid with me that he intended to. Something came up. We made it just fine. I finally heard from A.V. Winn and he's in Okinawa. I wish they would soon start the invasion of the homeland. Or Russia would join in with us. I saw a movie last night called "Pan Americana". It was pretty good. Glad the crops are looking good. Would like to see some of the corn fields. I planted more cucumbers the other day and they are up and coming already. We have cucumbers out of the garden pretty often. Most of them are too large and turned yellow. Well give all my love. Hope grandpa feels well. Love Austin

July 25, 1945 Guam 27 missions Dear Mother and Sister, It's about 1 P.M. here now. Think I'm going down to the beach for a while this afternoon if we can get a jeep. Went on another raid yesterday. Suppose you heard about it on the radio. It was a daylight formation raid and a record number of B-29s hit Japan. Over 600 and also, the Navy had about a thousand planes raiding Japan. Must have done OK because no Japanese interceptors rose to meet us I flew on Lucas' wing. Was talking to Cook this morning & he asked me if I wanted to come home when I completed my missions or stay over here a while. I told him I'd come home. Don't think we'll get to go to rest camp. I'm not tired tho anyway ha. We sure have a good plane. I think it's about the best in our outfit. I like my crew fine. They are all a fine bunch of boys. Well hope everything's OK at home. I'll have to go now. Love to All, Austin I sent 3 rolls of film to Hawaii to be developed. Will get them back in 3 weeks I think. P.G. - I mailed my Air Medal & a set of shell jewelry home. If either you or sister want the necklace etc., you can have it. If you don't just keep it for me and I'm sure I can give it to someone. Those are called (cat eyes) - The little green shells set in tortois shell.

27 July 27, 1945 Guam Dear Folks, A line before bedtime. We had an "Al Pierce" show here tonight. You remember him on the radio several years ago!! He & Arline Harris! He used to be Elmer Blurt + knock on some housewives' doors & try to sell something & say - "Someone home, I hope, I Hope, I hope" He had a pretty good act—About 3 girls to sing & dance, & Arline Harris gave a monologue. Also a little 3-piece band made some good music. Was really a big crowd there— Haven't had much time lately it seems. I'm kinda falling behind on my writing I'm sure. How's the crops? Good bit of news on the radio these days. I'll be going to bed now. Tell all hello & hope everyone's in the best of health. Love to all, Austin

July 29, 1945 28 missions Dear Mother and Sis, How is everyone today. Today is Sunday, We were out last nite bombing Japan. We got in before noon today and I've slept most of the day. We had chicken for supper tonight and it was really good. The moon was out last nite and was really beautiful. We could see it come up and follow us all the way to Japan. Really silvery shining on the white clouds out over the Pacific. Even over Japan as soon as we had bombed our target everyone was complementing the moon light. Cook went along last night with another crew. We have a Sgt. Dyckl that is kind of a mascot of our crew. Ha He is always down to see us take off and always waiting when we come back. He went with on two missions and used to be a school Principle. The special Instrument Operator on my crew has 32 missions in now. He is a Harvard man also. He has about 3 years at Harvard. Guess you heard where we are telling the Japs which cities we are going to bomb on certain nights. This wasn't the combat crews idea. Don't know how this is going to work out. Probably will give us a little more opposition if they know where to look for us. We made two runs over the target last night. Really bombed the city up too. Heard where a B-25 crashed into the Empire State Building in New York. Better say bye. Love to all. Austin

July Monday 30th 1945 28 At nite Dear Mother & sis, A few lines to say hello. Didn't hear from you today. In fact no one got any letter today tho. Guess the planes didn't fly because of bad weather. Today we had another presentation I awards I got for the 2nd Oak Leaf Cluster to the Air Medal. Did you ever send that soap you mentioned you were sending to me? I got another box from Addie the other day. She sent me 4 cans of sardines also.(ha) Some Ritz crackers & a large jar of stuffed olives. Magazines etc. Rosie sent me a book which I got yesterday. My new shoes I got are so stiff they hurt my feet. Think I'll oil them up tonite & see if that wont soften them up enough. Tomorrow is payday again. These months are really rolling by aren't they? Give John a "Happy Birthday" for me. How old is he? (28) Is Clifford coming home or does anyone know yet? Also where is Jack P. now? Glad to hear Mary is teaching at Glinp. Is Oletta also teaching there this year? Did Waits get his extended leave? I sure am behind on my writing now o days. I am pretty certain that I won't have to fly over 35 missions. I saw Cook and I'm checking my Co-Pilot out from the left seat now. So when I finish he'll probably take over the crew. It's time for me to sign off now — Love to all, Austin