June 14, 1943. Uncle Stanley writes to Dad from Geiger Field near Spokane, Washington. His group (the 401st Bomb Group) continues to grow. He reports that they got 14 new men in just as he finished doing the payroll. As a clerk he reports “when you get into the personnel work this is where your headaches start.” He is also putting in long hours “some nights…to about 9 or 10”. He continues to have his blood pressure monitored and the readings continue to be high at 140 over 80. If his blood pressure passes he will qualify for overseas duty when the 401st is sent over.
Stanley still reminisces about his furlough, recalling the time spent with his niece Theresa-Marie, especially trying to get her to smile for the pictures. “There is one good picture of me and also of the baby and it is the one in which I am holding her. Yes sir, she sure was a darling little baby. In the background you can see the cherry tree in bloom. She looks as if she does not have a care in the world. I guess that is the only laughing picture we have of her and we had to work hard to get that one.”
Stanley with Theresa-Marie while on furlough. I know this picture was included in a previous post, but since it is discussed in this letter I’m taking the opportunity to include it here as well.
In other news from Geiger Field Stanley reports “We had a staff sergeant go over the hill. He went on pass and did not come back. He was gone for 8 or 9 days. He stayed all the time in Spokane. They busted him to private and restricted him to quarters for a whole month.”
Stanley is also hoping that ratings come through by the end of the month. Although he says that “I am satisfied with what rating I have at present now” he also relays that “The table of organization calls for me to be a staff sergeant so someday I may hit it on the head yet.” He is currently a corporal.
He spends a paragraph talking about his group. “Our squadron was a selected and picked out group. Our commanding officer Captain Edwin W. Brown did the selecting with some other officers and we have the best men in our squadron and I sure am glad that I am in this squadron and not any other squadron. I have a first sergeant who is a hard working man like myself and we sure get along pretty well. Yes sir, I think our squadron will be the best in everything. All of the fellows are willing to help everyone. I’ve heard several fellows say that this outfit was a purely selected bunch of fellows. I know they could have took someone else from Ephrata for the Cadre but they chose me.”
A brief bio and photo of Edwin Brown from the 401bg.org website. Click on the picture above for a full size image.
He goes on to say that in a break from usual camp protocol, “We do not have any bedcheck or lights out. We can burn them all night if we want to. Lights in other groups on the post go out I guess at 9:30. But we are different and we do different things.”
He signs of with his traditional “God bless you and keep you and protect you always.”