I was in Clovis for a short time, and I never managed to get any flying in. I was also never assigned to a crew. I was a little bothered about not being assigned yet. All I could do was wait patiently and hope something good would happen, but there was no way of telling what would come next. I did always remember my dad saying if I did not receive the assignment I wanted then that could only mean there was something better waiting for me in the future. I had faith and hope that my dad was right. My dad always seemed like an amazingly wise man to me when I was growing up. He always seemed to know what was going to happen before it happened. In Clovis, I hoped he was as accurate as he always was. Then, one day, near the end of April 1945, I received written orders from the orderly to go to headquarters. I thought I was finally being assigned to a crew. When I walked into headquarters and gave them my name they gave me shipping orders instead of a crew assignment. I was a little baffled. I was not sure what was going on. After all, I had been in Clovis for over two months and had not been on one single B-29 flight. I could not figure out why I was already being sent away. The shipping orders said 509th Composite group. When I asked the guys at headquarters what the 509th was, they said they never heard of it and had no idea what it was. Once again I was deeply disappointed because I thought they had finally caught the problem with my eyes. There went my overseas chances, I thought. After all, my eyes had improved and they seemed to keep getting better. I thought I might be able to work around the problem. In any case, I was confused, and I did not really know what to expect.
My orders were hot, which meant I was shipping immediately. I had to be on my way the next day. I gathered my belongings and, once again, I was taken to the train, alone. This time it was not my parents who took me to the train; it was some military personal, and I was headed for a place I never knew existed. I was headed towards Wendover, Utah.
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The first two things I remember when I climbed out of the plane was the beauty of the island and the heat. I thought Sioux Falls, South Dakota was hot during the summer, but the climate on Tinian far surpassed that. I do not think I ever had so much sweat come out of me in all my life than I did on the island of Tinian. At the same time, it was the most beautiful island I had ever seen. Azure-blue water, a deep green tropical jungle, and an assortment of trees, sugar cane fields, and white sandy beaches. It was a tropical paradise. The day after I arrived, I wrote a letter to my parents.
“Dearest Mom, Dad, & Loraine;
Hope all of you are fine. I am, and also was surprised to see how nice it is over here on Tinian. We really have a nice place here and I think I’ll like it. The trip over was also swell. We stopped at Hawaii and then at Kwajalein. I’ve never perspired more in my life than over here. It is really warm but nice. This island is really beautiful. Even though it has been through a war, there is a lot of vegetation on it. All around our tent (We are temporarily quartered in tents but they are
