38Driver Posted December 10, 2015 Share #26 Posted December 10, 2015 <tapping fingers in anticipation of more> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Keith Posted December 10, 2015 Share #27 Posted December 10, 2015 Excellent Thread! Can't Wait. Thanks for introducing us to this man. As we read this, we are in a very small way, going through what his family did. BKW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
355fg Posted December 10, 2015 Share #28 Posted December 10, 2015 Very nice! You're doing a really good job going through the whole timeline and the impact on his family. Keith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manayunkman Posted December 10, 2015 Author Share #29 Posted December 10, 2015 Thank you for the encouragement. I'm spending the evening reading all the mail. This was a very close family and Homer is very open about all his thoughts. I found out that his mother died and that he had to quit school to help with the family finances. More to come. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAHOOMAN Posted December 10, 2015 Share #30 Posted December 10, 2015 Great job in telling his story. I look forward for more. Thanks for sharing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benjamin Posted December 10, 2015 Share #31 Posted December 10, 2015 Excellent thread ! I look forward for more. We can just try to imagine how hard and painful was this time for the family... Ben Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manayunkman Posted December 10, 2015 Author Share #32 Posted December 10, 2015 Homer J. Mitts Jr enlisted in the Army on August 17th, 1942 (exactly one year later he is reported MIA) with the intention of becoming an aircraft mechanic. By September he is transferred to a technical school in Miami Beach, Fla. He is doing very well academically and is interviewed for the air mechanic job. Concerned about his fathers health he asks his sisters to make sure he goes to the Dr. He has already lost his mother. Writing to his younger sister, Jean he asks her to keep his girlfriend, June, busy. The intention is to marry June after the war. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manayunkman Posted December 10, 2015 Author Share #33 Posted December 10, 2015 Late September 1942 Homer is transferred to Amarillo Field in Texas for aircraft mechanic school. One of the first letters he writes is to his younger brother Russell encouraging him to stay in high school. It's a rather emotional plea to stay out of the Marines because he doesn't think their father can take it. "Please don't join (The Marines) Russell, just for daddy's sake because he really loves you even though you think he doesn't". Towards the end of the letter he mentions that there are bombers at the base that have been brought back from combat zones. "I could see bullet holes all over them and some of the seats were covered in blood" "Some were torn up so bad that they didn't look like an airplane." There are quite a few letters from Amarillo that record his 3 months there. During this time his brother quits school and joins the Coast Guard. Wants pictures of his mothers grave. Talks about a letter he gets from June where she tells him guys are constantly calling her but she won't go out with any. Continues to pester his sister to make friends with June to keep her occupied. Gets along with the "Yanks" as they always share their care packages, talk funny and have funny names. A home town friend in the Navy sends a letter declaring that they are so short on uniforms that they got a shipment in from Pearl Harbor from deceased sailors. Many of his spare uniform parts he gets from family members who buy them privately. The blue Air Corps dress uniform " are really sharp" and he wants one. He witnesses plane crashes, his instructor gets electrocuted in class by 500 volts putting a hole through his hand, And another instructor backs into a propeller (one of the cadets keeps his finger). It's during this time that he decides he wants to go to gunnery school. He down plays the dangers to his father and talks about the raise in pay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manayunkman Posted December 10, 2015 Author Share #34 Posted December 10, 2015 By sometime in January he is transferred to the Boeing Aircraft factory 6600 Ellis Ave. Seattle, Washington. In about a months time he put in 196 hours of training on all mechanical, hydraulic & electrical systems of the B-17. He writes that it was like Amarillo but much more advanced. What he finds most enjoyable is that his instructors are civilians and many are ex WWI pilots. While they were testing a new bomber (he could not disclose the name) he witnessed it catch on fire and blow up while in the air. In one of their classes they went over all the electrical systems of a new B-29 making sure it was ready to fly. Sees many different kinds of planes including his favorite the P-38 which he describes at length in one of his letters. He has been accepted to gunnery school. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manayunkman Posted December 10, 2015 Author Share #35 Posted December 10, 2015 Homer's first letter out of Las Vegas is dated March 2, 1943 and he is station at the Las Vegas Air Gunnery School. During his stay, about a month, he met Veronica Lake at a club and was shocked by her bad complexion. His first day ever skeet shooting, with a shot gun, he gets 23 out of 25. Passing the 38,000 feet, 3 hour long pressure test was a breeze. Homer is not a drinker but he is a heavy smoker (Camels) and one day when he goes to get a carton he hands the cashier a $20 and gets back 18 silver dollars. No paper money but he tells his father he finally got rid of them all (what a pain!). On his first day of air to air firing he witnesses a mid air collision. One of the survivors opened his chute late and when he hit the ground his legs were forced into his abdomen, he lived. Many of the students quit because they were promised a Staff Sergeant rank on completion of gunnery school but the Army told them that it wasn't going to happen. This isn't the first time that one thing was said and another happened. Homer's comment is that you can't believe anything you hear in the Army. Homer continues to worry about his dad's health and his work (He owns a grocery store but closes it due to his health). Hearing less about June. Gets his wings!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manayunkman Posted December 10, 2015 Author Share #36 Posted December 10, 2015 There is only one letter from the Army Air Base at Salt Lake City, Utah. "I got all my summer and winter flying clothes and my parachute and all the extras". Pretty sure he will get his first furlough soon and he won't go overseas for at least 3 or 4 months. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manayunkman Posted December 10, 2015 Author Share #37 Posted December 10, 2015 The next 30 days or so are spent at the Army Air Base at Pyote, Texas. "Back in Texas again!" Has a few things to say about having fun with the Mexicans and "Indians". He thinks he will be a waist (belly) gunner which is a great place to be because "you get more action" I'm sure his dad was not happy about that. On May 3, 1943 he is assigned to a crew and the pilot tells him that out of 75 candidates he chose Homer for his outstanding gunner record. "Don't let me down" They have several bomb dropping practices. Then off to Kansas to pick up their new B-17 and he gets his first furlough in 10 months. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manayunkman Posted December 10, 2015 Author Share #38 Posted December 10, 2015 Salina, Kansas 1st Heavy Bombardment Processing HQ. May 21, 1943 first letter home after furlough and he was a bit out of sorts with no appetite. I think he and June broke up. May 25th he gets a chance to fly their new B-17 but they haven't named it yet. He makes Staff Sergeant and gives the APO address. They will fly to Detroit, Michigan and start their journey overseas from there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manayunkman Posted December 10, 2015 Author Share #39 Posted December 10, 2015 He sends his diplomas and wings home. The wings were not in the group. Let's his sister know she can wear them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manayunkman Posted December 10, 2015 Author Share #40 Posted December 10, 2015 Diplomas & cards are pictured in post # 26 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manayunkman Posted December 10, 2015 Author Share #41 Posted December 10, 2015 Some other items he must have sent home A diploma of sorts from the commander in Amarillo. Change of address cards, his ration book and a large B-17 photo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manayunkman Posted December 10, 2015 Author Share #42 Posted December 10, 2015 One of many. Homer was constantly investing in War Bonds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manayunkman Posted December 11, 2015 Author Share #43 Posted December 11, 2015 Some time in June 1944. His first letter home is V-Mail dated 6-11-43. He makes it there safely and tells his family that he is in England. Having trouble with the exchange rate and claims the British are 100 years behind the States. Loves London but the base is too quiet. June 27 he writes that he has been too busy to write and he has had a cold since his arrival. His accommodations are excellent, 2 to a big room and a nice bathroom with BATH. His first mission should be in a couple of days and he can't wait. "It's a beautiful site to see these planes (B-17) in formation leaving for a raid but it looks better seeing them come back." He wants a box of Hershey almond bars because all they can get is bitter-sweet. On July 11 he tells his family that the raids are "No picnic". They see Bob Hope and Francis Langford and Hope is much funnier in person. He draws $172.80 a month and will send home $100.00 a month. July 18 " Well I'm beginning to enjoy going on these raids now" as he get's more used to it. "We lost the ship that we brought over" and they plan to name the new one Tradewinds or Screamon Deamon. Has witnessed a P-47 vs. FW 190 and Spitfire vs. FW 190. "It's really something to see". July 19th "Tell Mr Conley that he can do plenty of shooting here and they'll even pay him for it. The only thing is that these targets shoot back" July 20th Crew pictures were taken and they named their ship "Hells Belles" The navigator came up with the nose art idea: Satan chasing "two or three good looking girls" July 27th and he has completed enough raids to get an Air Medal. Still concern for his dad's health. August 1 Large section cut out by censor followed by "We still have our crew". August 2 short letter resting and sent home 200. Last letter in the group is dated August 3. The letters after this, of which there were several, are lost to time. He asks his sister to send a picture to Gene Moriarty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manayunkman Posted December 11, 2015 Author Share #44 Posted December 11, 2015 One of the letters Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manayunkman Posted December 11, 2015 Author Share #45 Posted December 11, 2015 The envelope Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manayunkman Posted December 11, 2015 Author Share #46 Posted December 11, 2015 Three months after the MIA telegram news finally arrives. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manayunkman Posted December 11, 2015 Author Share #47 Posted December 11, 2015 The next day it's in the paper Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manayunkman Posted December 11, 2015 Author Share #48 Posted December 11, 2015 A close up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manayunkman Posted December 11, 2015 Author Share #49 Posted December 11, 2015 And now it's official mailed two days after the telegram. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manayunkman Posted December 11, 2015 Author Share #50 Posted December 11, 2015 Immediately a telegram of sympathy. I can't imagine what senior is going through to get this news. I don't mean this in a callous way but the horrible wait is over but I'm sure senior is devastated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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