Well, here I am back at the post after quite a vacation. We left the Biltmore Wed. morning and went to Hollywood. We got a room at the Plaza Hotel and then we went to the USO and got tickets for three radio shows. We wandered around town and I bought a watch strap for my watch in a pawn shop. It's gold just like the watch while the chain is the same type as my crash band only smaller. I like it very much. We met a sailor and we had the hardest time getting rid of him. We finally had to go down the freight elevator and out the back way. Well, the first show we saw was Harry Jones at 4:15. I didn't like him very much but Buddy Mario, his singer, was OK. His gal singer wasn't much either. The next show was Sammy Kay's show at 4:45. he had a couple of guest stars: Lupe Veloz, Monte Wooley, and Don Wilson, his announcer, was good too. I like him very much, much better than Jones. Well, the last show was the best of all - it was Eddie Cantor's show. He had lots of big names at his show, Dinah Shore, Bobby Brien, Nora Martin, The Mad Russian, Maurice Roco, and Harry Vonzell, his announcer. Boy it was really good he kept going fifteen minutes after he went off the air. Well after we got out of his show we went to the hollywood canteen and saw Helen Brockridge. We didn't stay long so we didn't get to see many of the stars. But Brown Derby was right across the street from our hotel but we didn't get in it. We went to the Palladium at 9 o'clock and danced all evening. Harry jones was playing and I guess he was a little better than he was over the radio, but I still don't like him. I met a gal from Canada and had quite a pleasant evening. We were going to go on a tour through the movie lots but we had to get up at 6 AM and since we got to bed at 4 AM we didn't quite manage it. Well, we finally got up at noon and went out and had dinner at the Melody Lane. It's a classy eating joint with lots of service and attention with fast service. Well, we decided to hitch hike home so we started off. We had six different rides and did we meet the characters. Two women who were studio workers, one old guy was a writer and he gave a historic lecture on every town we went through, and ex-soldier of the Spanish American war was another of his accomplishments. He was with the Canadian Army in the Princess Pat outfit. Another guy added a bottle of beer to the ride but a sailer with us finished it OK by himself. The last ride delivered us to the door - a Lt. here at the base - he lives in Crystal Lake. All in all it was a great vacation. This guy was telling us about our new base, from what he says, it's alright. Oh, by the way, he got six hours off when he graduated. The rumor has it that instead of giving us P-38s they are going to put us in as co-pilots on 24s or 17s. That sure will make me mad. Well, I guess that's all the news - my next letter will be from Stockton and then you'll have my new address. I sure wish I had Hazel Francis' address when I was in LA. Be sure and send me all addresses you can get. Well, I'll sign off now.

Love,
Rae

P.S Did I tell you we fly B17s in advanced