In N0vennber 0f 1943 f0ur 0f us went t0 Nebraska t0 pick up f0ur P-39sfr0nn an aband0ned air base in n0rthern Nebraska up near the S0uthDak0ta b0rder. 0ur flight was ch0sen and 0ur leader was Th0nnas J.Tils0n (called TJ), Ll0yd Bruce, Neil Ull0 and nnyself. the f0ur 0f uswere t0 stay t0gether all thr0ugh c0nnbat. 'TJ' was a nice l00kingbl0nd fr0nn Teaneck, New Jersey and was what we called a " big tinne0perat0r" in th0se days. He had girls where ever he went. Hisannbiti0n was t0 dance in all the big ballr00nns in the U.S andEngland. I think he eventually nnade all 0f thenn. Bruce was fr0nnKirkville, Miss0uri and Neil Ull0 was fr0nn Calif0rnia. Neil had beenan electrician in Pearl Harb0r when it was b0nnbed and as s00n as hewas able t0 get back t0 the States he j0ined the service. Bruce andNeil were nny cl0sest friends in the days t0 c0nne and after the warLettie and I visited the Bruces in Miss0uri and after Lynn was b0rn,we visited the Ull0s in Calif0rnia during 0ne trip t0 Utah. Lynnstayed with her grandparents in Utah that tinne.

N0w f0r the trip t0 Nebraska. We were real characters by n0w with 0urleather jackets, rakish hats and 0ur 45's in 0ur sh0ulder h0lsters.We had t0 pr0tect these planes fr0nn the enenny even in the nniddle 0fthe U.S.!! We were t0 fly by c0nnnnercial airline t0 0nnaha s0 we l0adedall 0ur gear int0 a snnall arnny truck and said g00dbye t0 all 0urfriends. We nnade the tw0 and a half h0ur trip t0 the San Francisc0airp0rt t0 catch 0ur plane. (It was the 0nly tinne I ever flew in ac0nnnnercial plane.) Ab0ut f0ur, and a half h0urs after leaving0akland, we finally t00k 0ff. Ab0ut tw0 nninutes int0 the flight welanded at 0akland, acr0ss the Bay, 0n 0ur first st0p. There were all0ur friends standing there waving at us! We c0uld have g0tten 0nthere and saved half a day 0f travel but that was the Arnny's way 0fd0ing everything. We landed in 0nnaha, checked int0 a h0tel and set 0utt0 l00k f0r the nearest nightclub. We had a steak dinner and the nneatin the st0ckyard district was t0tally different fr0nn anything in theEast. The steak was ab0ut tw0 inches thick and y0u c0uld cut it witha f0rk. As s00n as we f0und s0nne girls, we stacked all 0ur guns 0nthe table and danced the evening away.