pifomofiT fivieiion, helos
Page 1 , Vol. 15
Friday, November 30, 1945
We received the following letter from
Lt. Glenn Hendrix this week:
"Hey, youse guys and gals-
Have you hibernated for the winter?
If so. I'll forgive you for ignoring
me for 4 or 5 months.
You know what, this fellow Horace
Greely really had something on the ball
when ne told everybody to go West. I've
been trying to follow his advice for 13
months and can't quite make the grade,
I have 14 months overseas counting the
month in the South Pacific. , 1% tired
folks and now that the war is over the
waiting is worse. It's been nearly two
years since Piedmont and its -'happy fam-
ij-y broke up house-keeping.
Marguerite ivrote you and enclosed a
letter I vjrote on aiy trip up in Kashmir,
I was very close to Tibet and Russia
and could see the Mountain Peaks from
where I v;as. Ylhen I got back I found
operations was full of YvACS and it was
hard to keep the boys with their minds
on the job. Unfortunately they v^ere
sent hiome this month by air while the
boys who had fought the
Japs in the jungles for two or more
years are still waiting to be packed
like sardines on a boat.
I added some more territory to my
travels Vvhich haven't exactly been
small. In October I went completely
across India, Burma and China to the •
China Sea and into Shanghai for a fev/
days. The Japs were still around since
they had just surrendered. I oaid
$40,000.00 for each riksha ride. A meal
cost about $150,000.00 and I bought
karguerite about 60 million dollars
worth of the most beautiful silk in the
world and a pure silk dressing goim with
dragons all over it. m&t a time I had.
We were still considered liberators and
heroes and the chinks Xvve call them
Slopeyes) crowded around us and stared.
I bought stretchable watch bands for one
Merican dollar that cost |il2,00 at home.
The streets were decorated with victory
arches at each intersection and every~
ing was lighted up like Cliristmas, The
harbor was xilled with all sorts and
sizes of our warships. China is the
roughest country I ever expect to see
and I just don't see how they live. YIe
flew a couple thousand miles across
nothing but mountains. I was in sev
eral advance Burm.a and Chinese bases
and saw many places where fighting had
taken place.
I have seen and learned much about
the world. I never dreamed I would
ever see so much. My position offered
many advantages. I v.'as able to write
my own orders to most anyi'vhere I wanted
to go_in order to survey ATC Routes and
facilities. Since.Febmary I have been
one 01 the operations oiilcers vjho ran
the flying end of this huge base. I
v/as in charge on my shift. For a mont’-
now I have been base operations offiC'Ji
which puts me in complete charge of on.
of the great airports of the world.
All the utilization and dispatching of
our ships going west to Persia, Arabia
Egypt and Africa; east to all the
fields of India, was my responsibility.
I have to be familiar with all fields
and their facilities, radio and homing
tangoe and beacons, and their operating
procedures. I am on the following
boards:
1. Board to Conduct flight tests
for re-rating from Service Pilots
to Army Pilots.
2. Aeronautical Rating Board.
3. Aircraft Accident Investigation
Board, (These reports go to
Flying Safety in ^A'inston-Salem.)
4. Flying Evaluation Board,
5. Instrument Pilot Proficiency Bd,
I haven't done too badly here and have
been reivarded with promotions. But,
folks. I'm tired of India and of beat
ing all over the Orient. I'm tired of
the Army and its politicing ways. I'rn
tired of being away from my family and
0iy friends. The thought, "I want to
go home," flashes through my mind
hundreds of times each hour. I have 1.0
way of knowing vjhen I will get home.
Regardless of what the Government leaar;
you at home to believe, we are not get
ting fcolf enough boats to get us out.
It's a long, drawn-out affair. Boats
are few and far between, and they don't
carry many men. The theatre could be