March 18, 1945

                                                            Chanute Field, Ill.
Dear Folks:                                                18 March 45
            Just got back from chapel and what a day this is! The weather has been exceptionally nice for a week. Chaplain Bearse was born and raised in Massachusetts. He was in the artillary in the last war.
            The farmers around here are plowing for corn. I see quite a few new tractors. With weather like this I would like to trade a school bench for a tractor seat for a couple of days. Ha! I flew last week but didn’t get 4 hours. Myers went home to Fort Wayne this week end. He has 3 weeks left here. The helicopter course was only 6 weeks long.
            I got started Sat. putting my radio to-gether. It will be a 6 tube set. Like everything else, the parts you want are hard to get so I had to improvise a lot. I may have “improvised” so much the set won’t work. Lt. Randall, in this barracks, is also building a set but of a different design from mine. He has a car so we could drive to Champaign for most of our parts.
            Marvel Lee said the Emerson was fixed. I think I’ll ask Jo if they will keep it for me until I want it. For once, I don’t have time to listen to a radio.
            Sorry to hear about Cora. Maybe you could rent a battery radio in town for her. I’d pay for it. Maybe she wouldn’t care for it — just an idea.
            I got your Mar. 13 letter on 16 and it had “Missent to Independence, Mo.” stamped on it. The address was O.K. Do you have the chicks in the basement? You didn’t say.
                                                            John