Introduction

My dad, Jack, was part of the Greatest Generation, aka the O.G. Antifa. 

Jack was drafted into the Army Air Corps in 1943. He was finally accepted after being denied a couple times over a minor medical issue.  He served in the 351st Bomb Group of the Mighty Eighth Army Air Force through the end of World War II. 

A dozen years ago I came into the possession of Jack's cache of letters home to his mother and his older sister. They've sat on my closet shelf, waiting for me to share them, and I decided now is the time. I hope that my activity on my other blog project, Little Sister Resister, will diminish come January 20, 2021, and I can devote more time to this project.

One of my major regrets in life was not recording or writing down Jack's stories about being a ball-turret gunner on the belly of a B-17 over Germany. He didn't speak of his experiences for many years, and then a fountain of stories spilled forth. He died in 2002, and his stories died with him. But his letters home remain, and though he was not able to tell about his air attack missions in his letters, they give us a snapshot into the life of an airman. 

My idea for this blog is to share his actual letters, along with giving some context with regard to his and his family's life as well as to the war itself. 

We'll start with his letters in 1942, when 19-year-old Jack was working as a welder in the shipyards of Bremerton, Washington. From there, Jack will get his basic training at a few bases in the western United States before shipping overseas for combat. 

One note about the letters: the letters are still in their envelopes, and I've arranged them in chronological order according to their postmark. It may not always be in chronological order as to when he wrote them, but most likely in the order that my grandma and Auntie Bo would've received them. I'm transcribing every letter, as Jack's handwriting is really hard to read. I'll transcribe him with his spelling and punctuation. 

Thanks for taking this journey with me!  

May I introduce Jack's Cache. Here are his first letters home.