Hondo students learn navigation 1944 (Maybe my uncle knew these guys!)

Frank answers both my parents’ letters from a few days earlier. His concerns about his coursework are increasing: he’s now flunked two exams. Instead of “I’ll be all right,” as he wrote his parents, he now writes: “I’m going to make it—I think.” The specter of “washing out” and being sent to the infantry haunted these young navigation students.

He also reflects back on his “youthful days” (he’s only twenty here!) and wishes he’d been a “better son” to his hardworking dad. Being away from the comforts of home and family, added to the serious business of his future in the military, has matured him beyond his years. It’s also a fitting recognition of Dads in the month of Father’s Day.

At the very end are quotes Frank added to his letter. They are excerpts from actual letters written by families of servicemen (usually wives) seeking financial assistance from the government. They are rib-tickling funny in their misbegotten prose. Read on…


Letter

1 June 1944