Dear Mom & Dad

      Boy, I made it thru another day all rite & am still kicking slightly.  Lost 15 more men today.  I�m awful sore & stiff & my face sure is burning up from sunburn.  In training we jump in groups of 8 or 12.  Those lines running from the men are the static lines that are hooked on a line inside; and when you jump it opens your chute and the wind blast throws it back against the side of the plane.  We land at about 13 to 15 miles per hour. 

      We do get fed good here.  It�s really good eating, but I can�t eat very much it�s so hot.  I expect I�d better close now and get ready for bed.  Got a tough day ahead tomorrow . . .

Wednesday, June 7, 1943

Dear Mom & Dad

      I�m sure stiff tonite, but I�m going to make it alrite thru A stage which is the hardest.  The rest is just like a circus.  Lost some more boys today.  I sure do like tis, when I get to thinking about those wings.

Thursday, June 10, 1943

      Well, here I am again, but just barely able to make my fingers move.  Boy it was sure tough today.  Well, just 2 more days of this torture & I�ll be thru the worst part.  Boy am I glad.  . . . . .

Jumped again on the mock-up towers.  I�ll draw a diagram.  We get in a regular parachute harness here and jump with one leg out, do a quarter left turn, duck your head, bend over at the waist, keep feet together, count 1000, 2000, 3000, keep both hands on emergency chute, reach up and get hold of risers & land in saw dust piles. 

Note:  The dotted line represents path of man.  The cable really gets to whipping cause you drop about 15 ft. and then it snaps you back up and slides you down the cable this way and that. 

      Three boys quit today on this.  It�s quite a thrill.  They say this week and next is when the guts come in and it really does, but I think it�s fun.  The idea of the counting is if your chute don�t open by 3000 you pull the emergency rip cord.  Now, you can imagine how fast things happen up there.  You really have to be on the alert at all times to be a Paratrooper.  I�ve jumped 5 times off the tower and four were good.   You really have to have everything right in B stage or they make you take it over. 

      Boy this parachute packing is not child�s play.  It�s hard but very interesting.  Each of those lines and panels are numbered and each have a special way to be folded.  Those lines are made out of rayon and are about this big around (about like a pencil) but one holds 450 lbs.  They are woven just like an iron cord.   There are 28 of them and the cotton webbing that the risers and harness are made of have a tensile strength of 3000 lbs.  Each single strap I mean.  The man on the top always has the right of way.  I can turn a chute around, make it go frontwards, backwards, and sideways.  You can guide them pretty good.  Just think of a saucer in a tub of water.     There�s lots to learn here, and I�m learning all I can.  There�s just as much to learn here as in the field artillery.   Really, tho, I�ve had more thrills than I thought my stomach could take and the best is yet to come. 

      Keep up the good work in writing.  I sure do enjoy it.

Your loving son.

Dear Mom & Dad �

. . . . I was just informed that I was going to stay here 4 more weeks after I get my wings.  You know I told you I wanted to get in the demolition squad, well of all things the captain told me I was going to take Rigger quad.  Those are the guys that pack chutes, repair them and drop equipment and stuff and guns, and fight hand to hand also.   I sure wanted to get in the demolitions.  I argued a little and he said I was in the Army now & I volunteered for the PTs so I just took it & shut up.  There were 25 of us picked for it because of our I.G.  That I.G. stuff sure has been dealing me grief.  The Riggers, Dad, in the Paratroopers still go to the front lines & fight tho.  I�m sure disappointed cause I don�t want to be learning how to repair and pack chutes when I could be learning how to blow up things.  Anyway, it�s the training that�s supposed to be a privilege. . . . .We took nite training last nite til 11:00.  Jumped off the towers and everything the same as in daytime.  Had a couple more guys quit last nite.  They were afraid to jump off the towers at nite.  It was thrilling tho. 

You ask what kind of boots we get.  They are just like Dad�s work shoes.  Very soft leather and made awfully good.  They come within 5 inches of my knees.  . . . .

Got thru my 1^st day of B stage.  Lots of fun.  Jumped off the 35 foot towers in a harness that slides and bounces you around & swings you down to the ground.  Thot I�d lost my stomach a time or 2.  A boy froze and wouldn�t jump off.  This & next week is where the guns come in, they say.  I sure thot it was fun.  . . . . .Have you figured out your vacation yet Dad?  I think when we get our wings now we just get them from the orderly room from the captain.  They are rushing us thru too fast to do a ceremony anymore & I sure wish they still did.  .. . . . . .

Monday

Dear Mom & Dad �

Made it thru today & boy what a day.  Say, I just decided, if I get my wings I�ll call you & tell you. . . . I�ll be too anxious to tell you to wait on a letter to get there.  Will that be ok?   Better yet, I�ll wait till the next Sunday rolls around after I get them (if I get them ? ? ?) & call then and maybe sis and you all will be together & I can call you all at once.

      I�ll tell you what happened today.  I�m still hunting for my stomach that I lost.

They drew me up to the top and released me.  The parachute is in a round pipe frame.  You are going up till it hits top then you drop at 18 to 20 miles an hour.  What gets me is I�m going up when all of a sudden it hits a release & down you come & my stomach is still up there.  You hit so hard it just runs all through your body.  You hit about twice as hard as you do actually jumping.  Boy is 250� high.  People look like ants.  The first time I came down so fast I about forgot to check my body position, but I did it kind of unconsciously.  My legs stood this, so I�m not worried.  Of course it felt like about 500 lbs on my legs trying to push me right on down.   Tomorrow on the same tower we have the suspended harness.  They pull you up just about to the top and let you drop about 35 feet & stop you suddenly & your body has to take that jerk.  We have the free jumps next on the same tower.  They hook a regular parachute in the pipe ring, haul you up to the top & let you loose.  You have to pull the risers (guide the parachute) away from the tower so it won�t run into the tower.  It�s the same thing as actually jumping only you don�t jump from the plane.  . . . . . That thing I rode today is just like you ride in an elevator & they start up at full speed, hit something at the top & drop at full speed, only you are dangling on a couple of straps and swinging & you have to remember to land correctly & keep your head.  Also another main important thing which we have all found out, by experience, never look down at the ground when you land or you will bend over & hit your head.  We lost a lot of boys on this today as you can imagine.  I�m out here trying to explain these things by writing & I can�t do it, but I can explain them by telling it, so I�ll tell you when I come home. . . . I�m also eating some of the most delicious cookies & candies & I sure do thank you Mom & Dad. 

. . . . Well, if I got the guts to go on with this week, the next is ok.  I can pack a chute from one end to the other now into that compact little bundle so I�m set to jump now.. . . You can show sis these diagrams & kinda let her know what I�m doing. . . . .Thanks again for the cookies & hope you had a good Father�s Day, Dad

Tuesday

Just now finishing up the cookies.  Boy they sure are good.  Well, I�ve made my free jump off of the tower today.  I floated north from the tower about 100 yards & lit like a feather.  You can say now, that I have made a jump.  Boy when I got up there 250 feet & they dropped me I felt like old King Eagle himself.  It�s a thrill I�ll never forget.  One officer broke his leg today doing what we were doing yesterday.  I�ll jump off the tower every day the rest of this week, too, so I�ll have lots of fun.  There weren�t so many got hurt today.  My bad knee is stiffening up a little but it just needs more exercise . . . . .

Thursday �

I was too sad to write yesterday.  One of our boys got killed on the suspended shock harness.  It really affects you too when something happens like that & you just got done doing it.  He wasn�t at fault either.  One of the cables broke & he fell 120 feet to the hard planking floor.  Of course I had to see it.  He lit on his stomach (they hold you face down when they pull you up) & the line broke going up.  It was terrible.  The frame came down just a second after he lit & mashed his head to a pulp.  They hustled the rest of us boys together and took us on in to the barracks.  They covered him up real quick too.  About 6 of his closest friends quit right there, but the captain talked to them & they didn�t.  I had my time on it about half hour before it happened.  I had my times in, you have to do it twice to qualify.  Here�s how it is.

The man holds a rip cord that he pulls, which lets him drop 15� then stops with a jerk.  It�s to get the feel of the opening shock.  The cable broke when he was going up.  He fell so fast, he didn�t even have a chance to yell.

      I was leery of the contraption anyway, but the sarg gave a speech on how safe the thing was & so on.  When we went out today I had made up my mind I wasn�t going to go on it anymore.  The General (1 star) was there with inspectors (civilian) & gave us a speech & them we presented arms for the boy.  He told us that the tower was suspended till further notice (I think till this thing blows over).  They are going ahead & give his parents his PT wings.. . . . . . Boy I mean yesterday & today that every piece of that equipment we are using has been inspected from one end to the other. 

      The only reason I write about these accidents is because I think you are interested in the training & what it is & also to get over to you, Dad & Mom, that it�s just like everything else.  If you take in what they teach you, you can�t possibly get hurt.  It�s really a feeling & thrill you can�t explain coming down in a parachutes & it�s not at all dangerous, so I don�t want you to worry any.  I believe in pre-destination because if I had been going to get killed, I�d been dead yesterday probably.  Boy, I�m sure glad I�m past the dangerous part cause you don�t know what your mind goes thru on part of this training, but all I have left now is clear sailing & safe.  All I have left are the 5 jumps from the plane & there�s nothing to them.  This training I�ve had to go thru is tough & I�m passed it & am proud too.  Several times I�d have given anything to quit & several times I�ve been scared breathless; but now that�s all passed & gone, so Mom & Dad, you can put your mind to rest.  There�s nothing to keep me from the wings now.  When we jump we pack our chutes the nite before.  I�m so anxious to jump I can hardly wait.  Boy, Mom, would you go crazy to see the yards & yards of silk I�m using . . . . .No, we don�t train in shorts.  We train in overalls or we�d be burnt to a crisp.