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August 1945

August 1st 1945 Dear Mother & Sister, It's a beautiful day on Guam today. I started to say "this morning" but the morning is almost gone. I stayed in bed this morning and didn't get up till almost 11 o'clock. Now it's about time for chow and let be busy the rest of the day & nite! How is everything around Cherry? So Jack got back on a week-end pass immediately after spending 30 days at home. The new crew that moved into our hut is sure energetic. He is building a porch & putting up awnings this morning. Going to look much better too. There isn't much to write about this morning so I'll write again tomorrow nite. Love & to all Austin 29 Missions

August 3, 1945 Guam Dear Mother & sis, Didn't get to write you that letter last nite as we had a party at the Officers Club. Everyone seemed to have a good time. Some of the fellows have to fly today on a training mission & they're not in much shape. We went out on Aug 1st celebrating the Anniversary of the Army Air Force. Suppose you heard 800 B-29s hit Japan that day. We dropped leaflets & told them over the radio also which cities we were going to bomb a day or two previous to the attack. Still there seemed to be no difference in the amount of opposition they put up. We heard one crew bailing out over Japan as we left the target. He called on the radio and said their plane was on fire & they were bailing OUT. I received a letter from you yesterday written July 5th. Must have gotten lost in the mail for a while it had 2 pictures in it. I was glad to receive them. The tall slim boy in front of the tent was a co-pilot that I lived with when we first got over here. He also was lost on a mission. I should send his picture to his parents I suppose!! I've been lying out in the sun some this morning. Haven't been swimming in quiet a while. It's time for the mail now so I'll be stopping this and see if I get a letter from you today. Love to all, Austin P.S. Col. Lowry said he got a letter from William Hutch the other day. Also William's brother here on Guam came by to see him the other day. What is his name? (Walter?) My Radar man has only (2) missions to go to get 35. I'll get a new replacement when he finishes.

August 4, 1945 Guam Dear Folks, Tis time for supper now but I'll try to scribble a few lines quickly. Haven't done much today. Worked on a detail this morning for a while. Tomorrow I've gotta fly as instructor with a new crew. Imagine that! Now I'm an instructor. But just for one day I hope. I have 30 missions in now. Hope I can get those other 5 in this month. Am afraid I'll miss the next mission on account of the instructor deal. How is everyone? I got a letter from Mrs. Barnes today and I got a box of soap. Thanks alot, its pretty cute. Also a letter from Wilbur wanting me to get him a Jap pistol for a sovuinor. That's not too easy to do and they sell for about $200. I did pick up a little sovuinor today for myself. It is a Jap medal of some sort. I may mail it home soon. Better go now. Better go now, Love to all.

August 6, 1945 Guam 30 missions Dear Folks, Monday morning but it's not wash day for me! How is everything? I didn't go to church yesterday. I was flying with one of the new crews. We practiced landings on all the 29 bases on Iwo, Tinian, and Saipan. Had a nice time looking around at all the islands. Last nite was another mission to Japan also. I didn't get on this one. Lucas started out + got about 2 hours out + one engine quit so he had to come back. No credit for a mission unless you put the bombs on the target. So they didn't get ahead of me after all. I think I'll go down to the beach this afternoon if I don't have anything else to do. Haven't been swimming in town time now. I'm over at the club now. We can get coffee & fruit juices here. Sure makes it nice compared to a few months ago. I'll look around and see if I can find any nice pin made of shells for you. Can't see what you want with coral tho? I'll ship some back in my foot locker when I come home. Well I must be going now. Love to All, Austin P.S. 12:30PM- No chance to go swimming this afternoon. Have business in Japan.

August 8 1945 Guam 31 missions Dear Mother, And how are you Sister? Received 2 letters from you today & also about 6 other letters. Don't know when I'm going to get time to answer them all. Last nite when I came home from a mission Gene Turner was waiting to see me. Was glad to see him. He was on his way to Okinawa & is leaving today. I wrote to Helen & told her he was here etc. Also heard from Clifford, A.V. Winn, and Warren D. Withee. We were flying another plane in yesterday's formation & got hit by flak. A big hole in the plane just above 6 inches over my navigator's head. No one was hurt but the Japs were pretty accurate on their gunnery. The two planes on either side of me were also hit by flak. One had over 20 holes in it & had to land at Iwo because an engine was knocked out. Luckily we weren't flying ourv"City of Annapolis". We will on the next raid tho. I think they are going to broadcast from over the target to Australia. Maybe ya'll will here it on the radio. Love to all

31 Missions Aug 9, 1945 Dear folks, What's everyone? Suppose you're all excited about the new Atomic Bomb! We were over here also last nite. And Russia has declared war on the Japs also. Looks like the presence of this new bomb there no effect on our missions tho. Also I don't have any more time to write tonight, maybe tomorrow nite tho. This should shorten The war lots. Glad to get the letter from John & know he stayed will with you all the other nite. How is Louise & the baby did they all three stay with you. Pardon the scribbling, Guess we're just kinda mad because they don't go ahead & use more Atomic Bombs instead of sending us out again. Love to All Austin 32 missions

Aug 11, 1945 Guam 7:30 pm at home its 4:30 am Dear Mother and Sis, Suppose by the time you get this we'll know what's going on around here. Yesterday we bombed Tokyo and about 3 hours after we landed everyone was celebrating like mad because the Japs had offered peace terms. We still don't know if the war is over yet or not. They hit us again with flak yesterday. I was flying on Lucas's wing and got hit also. Knocked his hydraulic lines out and had to land with no brakes. Everything went OK tho and no one was injured. Tokyo is about the roughest target left in Japan. We had an engine quit as we got in site of home field and landed on 3 engines. Well here's hoping the fightings all finished by now and we can get home soon. Love to all, Austin P.S. - The way people were shooting pistols and flares it wasn't safe to venture out of you hut last nite. Today all firearms were turned in to armament.

August 13, 1945 32 missions Guam Dear Mother & Sis, How's everything today? Over here we're just standing by to see if the War is over. We went on our last mission Friday the 11th. If it's still on tomorrow we'll start bombing again I suppose. Everyone over here is sure hoping its over. Yesterday, Sunday I went to Church. Really had a nice sermon from our Chaplin. We played football in the afternoon & I have a kinda sprained ankle. I got out my bottle of ozone tho & rubbed it last nite and it's gonna be O.K. Lucas wasn't so lucky. He fell down & cut his back on coral & the Doc had to take 14 stitches. He is in the hospital now. Think he'll be OK soon tho. Anyway he won't have to fly any more missions for a while. Suppose you have the latest news by now & know what's going on. Well, I'll stop ya now. Must say Bye Bye Love to all, Austin

Aug 15 Dear Mother and Sis, War's over! And what a happy bunch of people over here on Guam. I suppose the people in the states are just as happy. Don't know exactly what the deal will do for coming home but whatever it is I'll probably be among the 1st bunch to get back from Guam. I got 32 missions in and I think the ones over 30 missions will get back first. However transportation will be another thing. And we might come back by boat. Which would take a month I suppose. Our planes were out bombing again last nite. We were scheduled also but were taken off at the last minute. Well there isn't much else I can write you now. I'll let you know as soon as we find out anything definite. Love to all, Austin

August 18 1945 Dear Mother & Sis, Well the mail came through. I got 10 letters this morning. About 5 were from you and sister. Glad you got the necklace and air medal OK. Is John still down at Bonnie's? Know sister stayed at your house all the time he was gone. What's that boy John Winn doing these days. Can he do any talking yet? We are still waiting to find out what they will do with us. I am glad to hear W. C. is home. I hope Billy will soon get also. We are going to start cleaning this place up. Wash the plane and police up the area. Hope we can soon get started home. I know the fans Uncle Wes made are nice and keeps the house cool. I've been on Guam 6 months today. Better go now, Love Austin. P.S. - Picture enclosed. Everyone on the crew except Smitty

Aug 19, 1945 Guam Dear Mother and Sis, Here I sit way out on Guam, but I'm thinking I'd like to be back in Cherry. How is everything there? Its almost bedtime here and Sunday nite. Went to church this morning. Tonite its raining and I've been writing Mr. Cloys a letter. I received a nice letter from him today. I'll enclose it and you can keep it for me. The mail came through the other day. 5 letters I got from you. That was nice. Believe I've already written this to you tho! Still the pictures from Hawaii haven't come back sure takes a long time to get things like that done when you're so far away. Maybe some plans will get underway for our return to the states. As soon as we get some troops in Japan. Guess they won't send us home until they are sure we don't have to bomb them some more. Understand 3 B-32 flew over Tokyo yesterday and the rascals tried to shoot them down. Lucas is still in the hospital. Haven't been to see him in several days. Understand they removed the stitches from his wound. What is Jack doing since he is back home again? Is he and Catherine Marie still good friend? Bet John had a good time in Miss. Glad a few days vacation. Tell John Winn to spank sister on her Birthday for me. He can eat my piece of cake also. Is it 28 now sis? We're getting old aren't we! Will stop for tonite. Love and best wishes, Austin

Aug 23, 1945 Guam Dear Mother and Sis, It's 10:15 now & I just came back from the show. I saw "Rhapsody in Blue" George Gershwin's music & life story. Yesterday we went swimming and had a good time. We stopped at 20th Air Force Headquarters and had supper there. Much better than our regular meals. Everyone is trying to find out when they can get back to the States. There are all kinds of rumors flying around here. I'll include a couple pictures we picked up around here. I have some nice enlarged pictures of planes in flight etc. I'll probably bring them when I come home tho'. How is everything getting along back there? Wish I had that big window fan blowing on me right now. Sure is hot here this afternoon. Have a couple clippings I'll send along to you. Oh, I got me some bars so you need not send them. I didn't realize it would be so much trouble for you to try to get them here. I didn't need them that bad anyway. Well, bye bye for now. Love & best wishes to all Austin P.S. Ribbon is from my D.F.C. Award

August 26, Sunday Nite Dear Mother & Sis, How is everything doing by now? I got your letters yesterday telling about the end of the War. There was no mail at all today. Have a couple pictures I'll send along in this letter. I seem to have a large filling that is coming loose in my jaw tooth. Maybe it will hold till I can get State Side to have it fixed. I don't want the dentist working on me with his foot pedal drill ha. We had a party at the club last nite. Nothing much going on today. Peace time army now so maybe they won't work Sunday anymore. I went to church this morning. The picture with the writing on the bottom was sent into a newspaper. Has it come out in a paper yet or don't you know? What's Jack doing these days? Is he staying at home any? How is W.C.. Hope he is enjoying his leave. Don't suppose he will come out to the Pacific now that the war's over!

August 28, 45 Tuesday Dear Mother and Sis, It seems to be taking a long time to get the peace treaty signed up doesn't it? Maybe they will get it done today & tomorrow tho. Still haven't done any flying lately. We have a bunch of books & magazines & I've been reading a lot of stories etc. It's been raining here for 3 days. I got a letter from you & sister today. Missed writing to you yesterday. Last nite we had a little feast on Sardines, tuna fish, & onions out in the garden. They were really good. Now I have to take my dirty clothes to the laundry. We have a pretty good setup now. Yesterday we had a parade and I was awarded the "Distinguished Flying Cross". I may mail it to you also. I sure have a lot of stuff over here. I might have to leave part of it behind so as to stay in the weight allowances for traveling. Mostly clothes etc. I don't have room for. I won't leave anything valuable behind. My Engineer was appointed a flight office today and has moved into our hut. He was a Master Sgt. formally. Also Smith was put back on my crew again. So we may do more flying after all. That is his picture with the dark glasses on. The bomb is a 4000 lb one. I hope we get to fly our own plane back to the States. That would be swell. I suppose the old trucks are about worn out completely? Maybe John will be able to get a new one when they begin selling them again, eh! I haven't been doing much writing lately. Don't worry if you don't hear from me every day. I'll let you know if we start towards the States. The picture of Smith and I are inside the plane. Well I'll say good nite for now with love to all. How's Grandpa? Still smoking those cigars? Bye now, Love Austin

August 31st 1945 ...Guam... Dear Mother and Sis, Sept. will be here tomorrow. Exactly a year ago I was leaving Alamogordo on my way to Great Bend. Lots of things have happened since haven't they. Tonite I'm going up to Tokyo again on a mission. I hope this will be the last time I have to fly up there from here. I think it will be. We got paid today. I'm sending along a check which you can have deposited in my account at the Bank. From now on instead of buying more bonds just deposit my checks in my personal account at the bank. Okay! Have been reading a good book "Disputed Passage". It's pretty interesting so far. Nope, I haven't heard from Wilbur since the "VJ" day. I did get about 6 letters this morning tho., 2 from you & sis. I need to get my clothes in off the line now so I'll be going. Have been ironing my shirts, trousers, handkerchief etc. lately. We have several irons at the Officers Club which we can borrow for 24 hours at a time. I'll write again when I'm back from this mission. Our planes have been dropping supplies & the Prisoners of War camps. Suppose you have heard the interesting reports by Radio of the landing in Tokyo Harbor. Well Bye Bye for now Love to all, Austin