They were concrete towers with
many guns that could shoot in all directions. It did no good to shoot
at them.
By now I had flown ten missions and was entitled to receive the Air
Medal. At a ceremony at the base, we were presented with the medal by
General Whelan. For each additional five missions we got an Oak Leaf
cluster which we fastened to our theatre ribbon. I received two of
these before being shot down.
On occasion we had the job of censoring outgoing mail from the
enlisted personnel. No one liked doing this as it was a tedious Job.
We had to read all their letters and cross out any military info that
the enemy might pick up. Our mail was censored by the squadron
commander then sealed and sent out. After reading letters for a
couple of hours, I don't believe we bothered to cross out much.
Some of the English women living near the air base were selling
chances on a fruit cake for a shilling a ticket. I had the winning
ticket and when they delivered the fruit cake we could hardly believe
it. It was in a washtub three feet across and over a foot high. We
Put it on the table in our Ready Room where we spent our time
relaxing. We had to cut it with one of our Jungle knives, a machete
(another one of the Army's questionable issues: a Jungle kit for each
of us in England). The bottom six inches of the fruit cake was solid
fruit so you know it was rich. We cut off two sections for the other
two squadrons and some for the enlisted men and still had enough to
last a week.
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