This post will summarize what happened to Ebner after he graduated from Navigation School in Hondo, Texas, in September 1944 and eventually was shipped overseas to put his intense training into navigating bombing missions to bring World War II to an end.
In Frank's last letter home, dated June 11th, he expressed fear about his course work. No matter how hard he studied, he was failing tests. He wrote: "I can't write letters or eat right now because...it's a constant threat to my existence." In World War II, the fear of "washing out" from the Air Corps, a common occurrence, and being sent to the infantry, plagued every young cadet.
Frank is flying more and more—obviously required preparation for his future on a B-17 Bomber. Even though he’ll be navigator, all men need to know how to fly. Frank's mother had received the below letter from the Hondo Navigation School (note: it's dated April 10th, so it took a long time to get to her!).
Frank's twentieth birthday is coming up on May 14th, and his family wants to know what gift he would like. He's practical, and asks for "sun tans," the light-weight uniform cadets wore in warm weather. Again, it appears each cadet had to pay not only for toilet paper, but his own uniform!
Below are two letters, written within a day of one another, by Frank to my dad and mother and the second one, just to my mother, Lil.