The Whitesboro Record
1942

LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Dear Mrs. Huffaker:
As some of the other boys are writing to their home t own papers, I'd like to write a line or two about what I think of Uncle Sam's Army.
I have been going to school for 6 months learning about the B-17F, the best Flying Fortress in the world.  Have just recently been assigned to a squadron.  When we started we only had 4 planes to fly.  Had to pitch our own tents and carry water 120 miles.  This is the 361st Bomb Squadron, and it will take the place of the 304th that was lost at Corriegidor.
We used to beef a  lot about first one thing and then another and wonder why we were in the Army, but that is past now.  We have a few Mexican boys from Colorado that don't get all the hot pepper they want; some Italians that miss their spaghetti and a few Poles.  But they are all Americans fighting for the same things.
Most of you have sons or other relatives in the Army somewhere.  Some of them are lucky enough to be in the fight now.  I am not trying to paint a picture of roses about the Army for it isn't.   But you can bet that wherever your boy is he's worrying more about how you're getting along than he is about how rough things are in the Army. When you write to him tell him all the good news.
Most boys in the service know that when this war is over they won't come home heroes, and the war will be forgotten in a year or two.  We're all in this together to win.  How quickly we win depends upon the working people at home who make the materials to fight.  If you're buying all the bonds you can, perhaps you can find some scrap iron to make a 50 cal. gun for a B-17 and put some more Japs in their place.
Cadet Finis M. Bates
361 Bomb Squadron
Ephrata Air Base
Ephrata, Washington