Letters Ray To Shirl a WWII Love Story

  Sept 25, 1945 Darlingest,         I love you.       Your letter and the card from Canada were waiting when we landed this afternoon.   Gee, that was a swell letter.   I’ll bet you had as good a time then even if the season was closed.   It sounded like it was your vacation and there were intimate little things that happened because it wasn’t so crowded.   Those young fellows weren’t so far wrong.   You don’t look as old as you are.   That’s easy to understand.   One reason is that you look so fresh and clean and the other in you are young inside.   What a swell combination.   You’re like after the rain.   Everything sounded so swell about the place.   Even in spite of the cold (which I like).         Sometimes I think we’ve both been blessed by a very great gift.   Being able to get so much out of little things that other people couldn’t understand and some even migh...

  Sept. 22, 1945 My Darling,        Your letter and card finally got here from Alamogordo.   Golly, I feel better now that I’ve heard from you.   The last two weeks were mighty dark times.         If’n my memory serves correctly you all had to go through Fort Wayne to get to MKNK.   Betcha that’s why it took so long.   You went this away.   The Pennsylvania RR must be silly.   Don’t they know that the shortest distance between two in the bush is where little acorns grew?   Were there several mouses or only one?   What were they doing on the trains?         Gee I hope you had a good time.   It’s too bad you had to have appendicitis on your vacation.   I sure was hoping that everything was swell up there.   Is Gail Gable a he or a her? On the stationary the Lake View looks like a massive affair.   Don’t see no pine trees though.          Gee...

  Sept. 23, 1945 Sept. 23, 1945 Sweetheart,       Dja ever have one of those days where everything goes wrong.   This was it.   We were briefed at 2:00 pm and went out to our ship.   It was still up from the morning mission and we had to wait two hours for it.   On the pre-flight check found three things wrong with it.   Had to wait for the maintenance men.   Also had to wait for the gas track.   Get the three things fixed up and find something else.   We fixed that up ourselves and finally we’re ready to take off.   By now it’s nine o’clock.   We taxi out to the run way and just start to take off when three of the four engines honk out.   Holy hearing bones!!   Damn good thing we didn’t get off the ground.   Well anyway we turn around and come back to the ramp and park the crate.   We spent eight hours on the line and didn’t get in ten minutes work.   Eighty man hours shot to hell.   ...

  Sept. 29, 1945       Dearest Shirl,       You’ve probably heard the jolly news by now so there isn’t much to say.   It was a raw deal but you can’t get the last word in.   I was pretty mad since I found out but what’s the use?   To me, being with you is the most important thing in life.   To the army it’s just another tough luck story.   I have a feeling that the days to come until I finally get my discharge will be the worst in the Army.   It won’t be too bad though.   The end has to come soon.   Wonder what my feelings will be when I walk off an Air Field for the last time.   Its been a long time on one job.   Do you get very tired of my griping and mental wanderings?       One thing happened that you would get a terrific kick out of.   Our new navigator Bob Garmin is only twenty and a little on the naive side.   He’s my bunk mate.   We were walking to the flight line y...