Mail Call!!

   This was always the high light of the day. Every afternoon about 3 the guys would start heading for the orderly room where the 1st Sergeant would start handing out the mail. The first mail call we made on this base was the first mail we had received since leaving the states.

   I had hit the jackpot as Muriel had written every day since I left. I had been writing as we made our various stops, but had no idea she was getting them. We had to be careful what we wrote. If we mentioned any military information, such as bases or towns, the censor would black it out. Absolutely nothing could be written about any missions or our planes. I really felt sorry for some of the guys; they would go for weeks with no word from anyone. I would get an occasional letter from Dad, but Mom would write ever couple of weeks. Dad wrote one time about how Melbourne (FL) had grown with two naval bases close by. He said. “There are so many sailors in town you can walk down the street and get sea sick."

   Thank goodness Muriel was writing every day. When times were tough and the action scary, I could always depend on her letters to build morale. If by chance I missed getting any mail, the next day would bring several. Because of the tremendous bulk of all the mail going overseas the government came out with "V" mail. What a disaster! One page forms were available which were Photostatted and reduced in size before being sent. They were so small, if you didn't have the eyes of a hawk, you couldn't read them. Very similar to what you are now reading. I tried writing every day, most of the time to Muriel. Remembering that I had promised Eddie Rich to stay in contact and having his home address I wrote him. He was with me when I met Muriel and tail gunner on our original crew. A few weeks later I received a letter from his mother telling me he had been killed in a flight over Germany. This hit me like a ton of bricks.

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Men of the 7th Bomb Group