Based on the letters of Earl Philip Reinhalter (1922-1953). Edited by his son, Earl Philip Reinhalter (1950-).


<- PREVIOUS LETTER June 29, 1944
Saidor, New Guinea
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THE BLANK UNDERSCORES IN THE FOLLOWING LETTER DENOTE
SEGMENTS THAT WERE REMOVED BY THE MILITARY CENSOR
 
June 29, 1944

Somewhere in New Guinea

Hello Ma:

      I received the candy letter (a little melted) and a box containing the nine notebooks with the chocolates. They were in good condition. Also received the box with two boxes of cookies. Thanks. Please don't send me anymore soap. I now have 36 bars jammed in my barracks bag. Received your two letters, one of May 31st and the other of June 1st. That picture of Tokyo [mentioned in May 26, 1944 letter - Ed.] was returned to me by the censor. I cannot understand why. Maybe the censor is afraid the Japs will find out something about their own city if they should capture my letter. Kind of queer, I think. I am glad that Yvonne liked her little piano. Did Yvonne take part in that piano recital of June 2nd?

      Well, nothing much is doing here. I still am chief mechanic on a colonel's airplane. I went up in it yesterday for a half hour and today for about an hour. Both pilots (a different one each of those two days) had never flown this type of airplane before. Some of the landings and takeoffs came very near to ending in disaster. One pilot had never flown anything but "four-engined" bombers for the past year and a half. Just he and I went up on that flight (my plane holds five). I was a co-pilot. After showing this captain how to start the engine and take-off procedure, we made a "zig-zag" take-off. Just before landing, we "buzzed" the airstrip at an altitude of about twenty-five feet and at a speed of about 200 miles per hour. Boy, you should've seen the treetops flying past our wing tips. Well, so much for that.

      Well, it's still about thirty days until "beer day," which is on August 1st, supposedly anyway. Since I have been at this base, I have seen over __________ airplane crashes. One day alone we had about _______. I'll tell you more about that when I get home. The censors, you know. I mailed the Yank magazines to you. Well, a rather cool breeze is now blowing. Probably will rain soon. Just under my tent top, we have an old parachute hanging up. The tent center pole passes through the center of the 'chute. It then flares out and is tied at various points around the edges to the tent side poles. This parachute more or less forms a liner under our tent roof. It helps keep the tent cool and gives better reflection for lighting at night. Well, that's about all for the time being. So, until next time -

Earl

P.S. Hope you liked the pictures which I sent in my last letter.


 
NOW AVAILABLE AS A KINDLE BOOK!

The Kindle book includes the letters; all 23 issues of the unit’s wartime newsletter “The Squadron Pulse,” which was originally edited by Leonard Stringfield; all 12 issues of the “Pennant Parade” newsletter that Stringfield published while sailing home after the war; complete text of the U.S. government booklet “Pocket Guide to Australia,” which soldiers heading Down Under were given to read; more than 200 photos; pre-war and postwar family history; and over 700 explanatory endnotes.















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