December 6, 1944

Dear Mom,

Ruth's letter from the 26th got here today and she wanted to know what an Assistant Operations Officer does. Well, the Operations Officer is supposed to run the whole squadron which has over 300 men in it. He never does. The Assistant runs it and the Operations Officer just signs the papers and most of the time I have to sign over half of them due to the fact that you can never find him. For example, today I seen to it that we got some coal for the men. Started building a mess hall. Started digging a shit house until a Major and three Captains came along and gave me a helping hand, laid down a floor in two tents for an office for myself and the "C.O.". Test hopped my new ship and almost got grounded by one of the big bosses for beating up our squadron area. That means flying low and buzzing the tents. Checked also so see that all the ships were bombed up and loaded for the mission, made sure of spare ships in case one of them wouldn't start. Put up a training mission for some new pilots, dug my fox home deeper. cleaned up the area around my shack, pulled out ten stumps, chopped some wood, oh yes I are three squares and darn good meals. A number of other things keep coming up all the time during the day. It made the time pass a lot quicker even if I do have to get up at 6:30 every morning.

When did I say that I had 65 missions? I only have 60 now and 120 sorties. That means twelve clusters on my air medal.

You should see my new ship. It's the newest thing out. I call her "Lady Luck  3". I wish I had gotten some pictures of "Lady Luck 2" before she blew up but I did get a couple from some of the boys. It's not a very good one but it will give you an idea. That's a four leaf clover covering her exposed parts so don't get any ideas. It was really a grand paint job. The name didn't get in this picture but here's the idea. "Pilot: Lady Luck; Co-Pilot: Lt. McKinley".

I was in Holland the other day and I picked up some Christmas cards on the way back. Not bad for being at War for so long.

The clipping had been in my writing folder for months. I was on that mission.

Guess what I had yesterday? Nope. A hot shower down a cole mine and then had (12) scoops of ice cream with Carmel sauce on it. These Belgians just don't stand short. Good ice cream too. I almost bought ten bags of French fries for $5.00.

How do I draw money out? Say I want to write a check. Do I need any information on the account?

You see in a couple of weeks or so I can get a flak leave. This is the only way we can get back to England and I sure would like to date a girl that talks my language or maybe just date a girl. There Belgian girls are sure homely. At least the ones I've seen. Which, by the way, are very few. They seen to be much more friendly. The Flemish they speak has stopped me cold. I was just getting along pretty fair in French.

We carry three kinds of money, French, Belgian and Dutch. It sure is a mix up.

Well give my regards to all. Tell all the relatives I was asking for them. I'll send a Chrismas card and you sent it to Grandma and Angus.

Good night mom and be careful. Lots of love and loads of kisses.

As Ever

Al

P.S. Everybody keep up the good work writing to me. It's greatly appreciated by me. Believe it or not.