February 3 and 8, 1945: Two letters to Dad from his brother Stanley. Dad is still stationed at Topeka while his brother writes from Deenethorpe RAF Air Base in England where he is stationed with the 401st Bomb Group. He mentions that the letters that he is getting from stateside (home in Albany, NY and Dad in Kansas) are taking about three weeks to get to him. On the 3rd he is writing from the barracks while on the 8th he is writing as he has CQ duty.
The weather “has been quite nippy outside lately but today we had a perfect summer day. The sun shone warmly and there was a nice cool breeze blowing. It made you feel good all over. I guess pretty soon I’ll be stripping myself of my longjohns. …Seems as if the spring season is just around the corner” Even with the weather being warm in the short term, Stanley reports that “…once in a while I either get the sniffles or a slight sore throat.”
The weather aside, Stanley also writes that “About a week ago or so I got my two squadron insignias which I sweated out for a couple of months. I sewed one on my field jacket and hope to have a picture taken with it on.”
In other news from Deenthorpe, “We have a big dog on the field and he sure is a friend of the soldier. Any time a truck stops to pick up a couple of fellows the dog follows and hops on the truck and gets off when the fellows get off. He sure hates civilians. If he sees someone who is not wearing a uniform…he tears right after him barking for all he is worth.”
He writes about the news from home concerning a fire at their old school. “Was sure sorry to hear that the St. Joseph’s Academy burned down to the ground. We sure spent many a happy moments within its walls …The teachers were swell and I sure hated to leave the good old Alma Mater. Even after graduation I used to go…to see how everything was going… I wonder what their plans are now regarding a new school.”
As Stanley signs off on the 8th he mentions that he is “enclosing two items of interest clipped form the Stars and Stripes, GI daily paper in the ETO.” The two items are below.
First of two clippings from Stars and Stripes that Stanley included with his letter dated February 8, 1945.
Second of two clippings from Stars and Stripes that Stanley included with his letter dated February 8, 1945.