The Skyland post. [volume] (West Jefferson, N.C.) 193?-1988, 1945-04-19
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HeAAS~' ~ oAASoN QAA AAAAoAA yOSAA
letter."
'No-I'm through Laura said,
picking up her letter to Jerry. II
was just going to drop a note to
my father and mother, but it can
wait till tomorrow on the train.
I didn't feel like it right now, any,
way"
FINISHED writin' the boy friend
and that was enough, huh?" Bob
asked, smiling as he stood up.
Eyes. It was long one, of
course" Laura said. Hes a flier,
too. Out in the Pacific now
probably in on those raids we're
making on Rabaul all the time"
"A bomber boy?" Bob asked.
''Well, I'm glad to know you pick
ed out flynn man. Where shall
we eat?"
II don't know any place here"
Laura said. about the only
place I ever ate in Washington
was the Walter Reed Hospital,
and I don't suggest we 60 there"
Like fish," Bob asked, as they
moved through the lobby.
Love it," Laura said.
Good know a fine fish
place."
They walked few blocks far
Their to the fish restaurant which
Boston knew was good.
They had to wait twenty min
utes for a table, and by the time
they began to eat they were old
friends, completely at ease with
one another. They exchanged
bits of life history and war ex-
periences. Laura knew that Bob
could have told exciting yarns
for hours on end. But he seemed
just as interested in her expert
ences as in telling his own.
After dinner they walked for a
while, though the wind was brisk
and the temperature had dropped
when the sun went down. They
looked in shop windows, debated
going to a movie but decided it
was too late.
They walked to the nurses
home, and there they said good
by. Each one said how much he
had enjoyed knowing the other,
each hoped he's see the other
again. Then it was good luck,
with a handshake, and good-by.
The next morning, Laura had
little time before her train left
to take her to Bowman Field,
Kentucky, for her months train
ing for her new work.
The train was crowded, but she
did finally get a place at one of
the little writing tables in the
lounge car, where she wrote her
mother and father the new turn
of events. She found herself
wanting to write Bob Boston, but
she realized that he would be
leaving Washington the next day
and that she had no idea where
she could reach him after that.
Then some soldiers spoke to
her and she began to talk to them.
The train was full of servicemen
who wanted to talk, especially to
an attractive girl. For the rest
of the journey, Laura enjoyed
herself, and had not a moment for
her own private thoughts, of Jer-
ry, or Bob Boston.
The same situation held true
from the moment she arrived at
Bowman Field. There she was
so completely occupied that she
had little time to think, little time
even to write few letters.
In addition to her studies, she
had field work that was exhaust
ing. She went out into the sur
rounding field with other nurses
and went through maneuvers
Stimulating real battle conditions.
"And pretty real they are, tool"
Laura wrote to Jerry in one short
period snatched before meal.
mo eternal dripping wetness as
in the New Guinea jungles, but
just good old American mud. And
I walked through it, wallowed in
it, rolled over in it, before I was
through. Over fences, under
barbed wire entanglements-with
guns shooting over my head most
of the time!"
Laura had prided herself on
keeping in good physical condi-
ton all the time, but she knew
that her months of inactive duty
had softened her somewhat. Dur
ing the first two weeks of her
special training, she was sore and
lame in all her muscles. Each
night she dropped onto her cot