After weeks of stress, worried he wouldn't pass his physical and other tests required to become an aviation cadet, after encouraging words from home, Frank's perseverance has paid off. He's been accepted and will leave shortly for Miami to start over with basic training to prepare for war from the skies.
Letter U.S. ARMY AIR FORCES 11 July [1943] Dear Mom, Here I am again. I have a little time now before I have to go to class so I thought I’d drop you a line. The flight went down to [...]
Once again we hear from Frank Gartz's best friend, Frank Von Arx, this time posted in North Carolina. Eighteen-year olds from small towns, farmland and forest, and insulated city neighborhoods, were seeing the country as they moved through their training - and ultimately into war. Here Von Arx is keeping my grandmother, up-to-date on his whereabouts and including a cool photo of the B-17 bomber.
At Truax Field, Frank joined the "Service Club." It seemed they were in "service" of having fun, like this singing group. In Frank's last letter, he wrote about the fun he had playing with a little kid. Here's [...]
Frank at Cave of the Mounds, WI Frank loved kids. He was the baby of the family—ten years younger than my dad, the second oldest of the three Gartz boys. Even at age eighteen, when so many guys [...]