“Letters of a World War II Airman” shares original letters to and from my uncle, Frank Ebner Gartz, from 1943-1945, tracing the course of WWII, life on the home front, and the evolution of a neighborhood kid into seasoned airman.
Frank was no troublemaker. Oh, sure, he was a mischievous kid in high school, fun-loving, and an occasional prankster, but everyone who knew Frank found him warm and charming. In this letter Frank describes an altercation that ensues between him and a sergeant who accuses Frank of not performing his duty. Frank knows he's not at fault and argues back. Well, in the military, that doesn't fly. See what happens.
Letter 11-10-43 Dear Mom We had some more snow here last night and the campus looks beautiful. I’m feeling fine and just wrote out an application for a pass again, but I don’t think I can get it. We had [...]
Less than two years after Pearl Harbor, the lives of every family in America were upended, and that included the lives of those in my former community, West Garfield Park. In my family's relatively small West Side Chicago church, Bethel Lutheran, nearly 100 boys were in the service—and several girls as well. That's 100 families with sons (and some daughters) in harm's way. The anxiety must have been palpable.
My grandmother congratulates her son on becoming flight sergeant and on his stint teaching fellow airmen how to dance. She adds some motherly warnings to keep to his studies. When she writes, "Think always of yourself first," I don't think she means for him to be selfish, but rather not to forget his duties and school work.
Frank writes condolences to his sister-in-law, my mom for the death of her dad a few days earlier. (See Sept. 20, 1943 letter from Frank's mother, my grandmother, informing him of the death.) As an eighteen-year-old, he tried his best to share his sympathy, but such a young person had to rely on the tried and true. His words may come across somewhat trite, but many of us a good deal older, couldn't do much better.