Randolph Field. Monday, February 9, 1942

Dear folks,

I'm at Randolph Field, named the West Point of the Air. It's the largest aviation school in the world and it feels like a dream. I'm doing fine and as soon as we start classes, I'll be even better. I hope you've gotten the cablegram I sent. Here is the continuation of my diary:

Thursday, 5th: Today at 5 am, the night watchman on board woke me up, and as I was finishing up shaving, bathing and dressing, the bell rang to announce that we were starting the quarantine. Here, the quarantine lasts 20 minutes and consisted of them asking us for our passports. At 10 am we docked. It's cloudy and foggy, and we saw the city appear from the mist. As soon as the ship reached the side of the dock, an American signals to us to let us know he was waiting for us. He's from the American Express Co. We get off the ship. The feeling of being in the US is very difficult to describe. Everything, all around, is amazingly organized and all our difficulties are overcome immediately. In Customs they even have a special section for each passenger with a sign with his name, which speeds things along tremendously. Since we are invitees of the government we have no problems with Customs or with censorship, we can bring in letters and all the written material we're carrying, while an Amerian who has been outside the country for a year and a half has to leave two books with Customs, Martín Fierro and Don Quijote. He can't enter the country until the censors have read the book, whatever it might be. They take us to the American Express office in a taxi. They give us 6 dollars for food for the time we're in New Orleans and on the train. We have lunch and later look around the city. I'm noting everything strange or new that I see. The strangest thing is what they must call pharmacies, which here they call Drung Stores. But they're different in that here you can buy anything from a glass of milk to a measured suit and from an aspirin to a deck of cards.

In a store where they sell all kinds of paper, they sell one which comes in rolls and has a particular use. But in the middle of each square of paper, is a drawing of Hitler's face and the sentence "Wipe out with Hitler" (that is, "erase him" or "ruin him"). The houses don't have fences and there are some with balconies made of wrought iron from colonial times, which are a wonder. Later we have dinner and we go to the station to take the train to Randolph Field. I could hardly believe it when they told me ... me at the greatest avaition academy in the world. A few of the ship's passengers and the superintendent from the ship are going to see us off at the station along with a guy from Uruguay who's here on a musical scholarship. My roommate and I split up today, since he's being sent to a civilian school.

Friday, 6th: After sleeping on these train cars that they use here with beds on them, I have breakfast and lunch on the train. You can see great roads and bridges where they cross the tracks or where they cross with others. The Doctor and his wife are on the same train with us. At 2:45 pm, we get off at the Randolph Field train station and from here you can already heare the sound of airplanes and see the famous tower at the school. They come to get us and take us to our rooms. They show us how to make the beds and the customs of the school. Our room is exactly the same as the one you can see in the movie They Wanted Wings. Ask Frank and he can tell you if he remembers how great it was. They also inform us that we have to go to three different schools to complete the course, Uvalde, Randolph Field and finally, Kelly Field.

Saturday 7th: We get up at 5:30 am. 5 minutes later the whole company lines up outside, but later they redo it and give it 15 minutes more. In Buenos Aires, we used to do it faster. They put a copy of the "San Antonio Express" in every room. Today I had my hair cut. Even the razor is electric, just like the thing you use to whip up the shaving cream so that you can apply it already whipped. Today I went to the movies, and understood the English they use in the movies pretty well.

Sunday 8th: Cloudy day, some rain. Today I got another curiosity for my collection: there are some machines here, you put 20 cents in and you get a little a little package worth 18 cents, inside the package are the 2 cents they put inside at the factory. Today they gave us ID cards which allow us to go all over without anyone stopping us because we're in our civilian clothes.

This afternoon I went to the movies and saw a new Tarzan movie. We've got to entertain ourselves somehow during these two weeks we're waiting to go to Uvalde. The classes there start every 5 weeks and there are 2 weeks left before the next series starts, the series we're enrolled in.

Monday 9th: Last night they moved the clocks forward and so they let us sleep another hour, but since the day started out cloudy, the let us sleep till 7:30. Today some Brazilians arrived and they put one in each of our rooms. This afternoon, I went around the base from one end to the other and we saw airplanes that had stopped to get fueled up and then continued to the west. There are all kinds of great planes. Tomorrow we'll get our medical exams, I'm going to bed early now to sleep well.

Tuesday 10th: Today we started with the exams. For now, I'm doing well. It drizzled all day and was cold, we spent the day in the hospital waiting in interminable lines, so there's not much to tell. I found out today that there's no need to worry about letters that get held up, sometimes they sit for a week in Trinidad. Today I bought a brochure with photos of the school at Randolph Field. I'll send it through the mail. It'll take a long time, but if it gets there you'll see how nice everything is.

Wednesday 11th: Today I finished the medical exams. I passed with no problems. Same with an English exam the gave us. I'm already catching just about everything they say and I'm sneakinginto the theory classes so that I can listen to the way the teachers speak. Right now, I'm going to the post office and later, tomorrow I'll start the next letter, since I write these a little at a time. When I start my training, I'll have a ton of things to tell you about. Say hello to everyone for me and for you two, I'm sending a big hug.

            Ito

Finished on the 11th at 1:00 pm.

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