January 13, 1945

                                                            Chanute Field
                                                            13 Jan. 1945
Dear Folks:
            It has warmed up some here in last 2 days. Snow is melting and streets are slushy. Had a quizz today over the first 2 weeks work. And it was stiff. I got 4 hours flying for this month so probably won’t fly again until Feb. 4 hours is the minimum for flight pay and thats about all we can get apiece because of the small number of airplanes here.
            My trunk arrived and will be delivered Monday. Got a letter from Josephine. Sounds like she will have a busy week as a result of the wedding. Got a letter from Aunt Jessie. Most letters from Clay take 2 days. Also got a letter from Arlan. I may go to Chicago next week to see him.
            You should take some of these vitamins I’m taking. They don’t keep you from having colds but the colds are very light and only last about 3 days. Vergades is wrong about “select” coming here. Originally, this course was for men with minimum of 2 years college engineering but some fool set up a quota and some more fools started filling it. So now, if your father owned a 5-tube radio and you could tune it without pushing it off the table, you’re qualified. This course is condensed so some college is desirable. As a result some men without college credits are here and didn’t want to come in the first place.
            This school has been moving up here gradually from Yale University since last Aug and hasn’t quite reached the peak of enrollment yet. Because of the recent build-up, conditions are very crowded, especially for men bringing their families.
            Aunt Jessie said Rev. Hansen was going to preach this Sunday. No, I didn’t have to stand on the way up here. I see Ed Bauer finally made the grade. Merrill has the equivalent grade of Arlan’s. T/5.
                                                            John