July 29, 1943

                                                            July 29
Dear Folks:
            We left Goodfellow at 4:30 this morning and took a troop train which ended up here at 1230 to-day. I’ve been here 6 hours and I hope the first impression of this place lasts because it was a fairly good one. We don’t wear ties which is a change — I think I forgot to mention that we had to wear ties the last 2 weeks at Goodfellow. The barracks here are the same at Goodfellow except we have a telephone and water cooler in each. The cold water in the pipes is as cold as well water.
            The planes are twin-engine but haven’t been up in them yet. About 1/3 of Class 43-I went to single-engine school at Mission, Texas. McDill, Patteeuw, Poxon, Ross, and others of the under class that came from pre-flight with me went to Mission.
            The country around here is flat and has a big crop of maize and cotton on it. This field is 10 mile from town. According to the schedule we will fly some on Sundays. The town of Lubbock has a radio station but it isn’t on a national hookup. A man across the isle has a radio.
            Hope the book and film got there O.K. The news from C[S]icily is still good. I don’t know whether this address is complete or not but it will do for the present.
                                    Yours truly,
                                                John