May 2, 1943

                                                            May 2
Dear Folks:
            The under classmen went to town yesterday for the first time so everything was pretty crowded. The restraunts are not allowed to sell raw milk to us and there seems to be no pasturized. We got payed this week but some of us were short $25 for some unknown reason.
            Griffee’s wife and 2 more cadets girl friends came down from Hutchinson last week and are here for the week end. One of the cadets and his girl were married last nite. The main highways in these parts are pretty well kept. There are 2 of them through here. They are concrete and have a double box culvert about every 1/4 mile. At every culvert is planted a little palm tree.
            How is that patch of brome grass coming? It should be alright to mail the watch here because we should be here 3 more weeks. We don’t have lilacs here but there are some sweet smelling, blue & yellow flowers blooming out on the range. Had a 1/4 in rain last week we were here. The air surely smelled fresh the next morning.
            What “date” are Chris & Jo “expecting”? Our squadron flew in afternoons last week and it was rough riding. The hot air rising makes “thermals” or bumps that affect the plane about like ocean waves affect a small boat. Have been practicing “chandelles” last week. It is a steep, climbing turn with 180° change in direction. Also did “stages” last week. The first stage was to make 6 landings within 200 ft of a line across the field. The second was the same as the first except we had to land across wind, which complicates it some what. I managed to pass both the stages and a 30 hr. Army check.
            Cadets can’t apply for furloughs except in an emergency. Sometimes they get “leaves” like Loren did if the schools are crowded. They said the pictures would be 2 or 3 weeks. The correspondence with the “Wichita lady” failed to materialize — probably because I forgot to answer the first letter!
            Rev. Wilkinson was an artillery officer in the last war.              Yours truly,
                                                                                                                          John