July 31, 1943 The Dames Listen to the President, The Food Shortage and "Seven Came Through"

Dear Mother & Daddy,

"It's too bad you can't have some of the rain we had last night.  It simply poured and the streets were flooded.

We have not been doing very much.  I went to the Dames Wednesday and we took time out from our program to listen to the President.   I had the afternoon off and spent it washing and reading.  I washed everything I could get my hands on.  After I finished I read a book--"Seven Came Through".  That is Rickenbacker's book about their plane wreck.  It was very good.

We certainly envy you of your tomatoes and cucumbers.  B's mother said they were having corn and that really makes our mouths water.  We use every single stamp and wish for more.  Mrs. Hunt gave me some for butter one week.  Don't you or Beulah waste any stamps.  Send all your spare ones because we can always buy milk with leftovers.  We make so much ice cream and it takes a full can for a batch.  If we have any meat that is fit to eat for our Sunday dinner we have to save all week to have points enough and B almost has to have meat sandwiches in his lunch.  If we have company for a meal we don't have any meat the rest of the week.  We get along though and don't go hungry.  Yes, we can get potatoes and they are reasonably priced.

Dave (our Jewish friend) doesn't think much of their kind of religion and you would never know he was Jewish.  His father came from Russia and is a graduate from Yale.  He came here when he was only a child so of course Dave was born here.  He's certainly a nice boy.

We haven't seen a school calendar for this year yet and don't know how much vacation we'll have for Xmas.  We can't come home unless they give us about two weeks, so we're hoping we can."

                                                            Worlds of love,
                                                          
                                                                          B & Bonnie

NOTES from Ann:  The Dames listened to FDR's Fireside Chat #25.  To read the text, use the link below.

http://www.mhric.org/fdr/chat25.html 

Information on Capt. Edward V. Rickenbacker, author of Seven Came Through
Source:  Auburn University Special Collections and Archives, Author unknown


Rickenbacker vehemently opposed the United States' entry into World War II and even joined the "America First" committee. Nevertheless, Eddie supported the war effort once the U.S. committed itself, though he spent the first three months of the war recuperating from an airliner crash. At the request of General H.H. "Hap" Arnold, Eddie toured Army Air Corps training bases throughout the Southeast during March and April of 1942 to bolster morale, impress pilots with the seriousness of their mission, and secretly examine the bases and training pilots received. In September, Secretary of War Henry Stimson asked Rickenbacker to tour bases in England "as a continuation of your tour of inspection" and to seek out evidence of espionage. Rickenbacker returned from England in October. Stimson immediately sent him on a tour of the Pacific theater.
In October, 1942, leaving from Hawaii on a mission to deliver a top secret message from Secretary Simson to General Douglas MacArthur, Eddie and his aide, Colonel Hans Adamson, boarded a B-17. Along with pilot Captain William Cherry, co-pilot Lieutenant James Whittaker, navigator John De Angelis, radio operator Sergeant James Reynolds and flight mechanics Private John Bartek and Sergeant Alex Kaczmarczyk, the poorly prepared B-17 took off for a refueling stop on Canton Island. Due to inadequate navigational equipment and a faulty weather report, the B-17 overshot its mark. Hundreds of miles off-course and out of fuel, Cherry ditched the plane in the Pacific.
The eight men lashed together the three rubber rafts so they would not get separated. They thought that rescue would come quickly because of Rickenbacker's fame, but they remained lost at sea for twenty-four days. Their meager supply of food ran out after three days, but on the eighth day a sea gull lighted on Eddie's head. The unfortunate bird became dinner and fishing bait. Private Bartek's first hand account of the ordeal is a part of this collection.
On the home front, Eddie's wife Adelaide remained optimistic that Eddie would be rescued. When it appeared as though General "Hap" Arnold was giving up on the search, she "stormed into his office and "practically tore the decorations off his jacket," demanding that the hunt continue." Navy pilots finally found and rescued the crew in the Ellice Island chain on Friday, November 13, 1942, more than 500 miles beyond Canton Island. The rescue came too late for Sergeant Kaczmarczyk, who died after two weeks at sea.
Suffering from exposure, dehydration, and starvation, Rickenbacker rested a few days then proceeded on his original mission, including inspections at facilities at Port Moresby, Guadalcanal, and Upola. He reported to Secretary Stimson and General Arnold on December 19, and then returned to New York the following day where he was reunited with his family.
In April, 1943, Eddie took on yet another assignment for Stimson, this time visiting bases and production facilities in North Africa, the Middle East, India, Burma, China, the Aleutian Islands, and the Society Union.