England. Mar. 2, 1944.

Dear Mother,

         Somehow I haven't been

receiving any of your letters. I know

you are writing and hope they

will be comeing in soon. If you

write airmail on Sunday nights and

then during the week send out a 

couple of vmail. This would give

me more news of home. Lenore

said in her letter today Harley

had received his notice for induction.

I hope he gets into a good branch

of the service, and hope he never 

has to come overseas. It is plenty

rough living over here.

     Received the Metamora record

today. It gives me a little of

the home town gossip. I can find

out where a few of the fellows

are located.

     I received a letter from Pearl

Meyers niece. Hope to meet her

somewhere over here. It seems

good just to go into town and

talk with the American Red Cross

girls. One is from Illinois. She

is really nice to visit with.

     I guess I am a little browned

off tonight. I have had some

steady important work today. It is

tiresome work too.

     I try to write everytime I

have time and when I have 

something to write about. It is

a busy place over here and 

I guess it will be for sometime.

I suppose you know I am in

the Ninth Air Force. Do you see

anything in the papers about it?

Goodnight for now. Please 

write a little more often, if you

can. Your mail comeing this way

isn't censored. Goodnight.

                               Love Ralph.

The next letter will be posted on March 7th.

Background Information (and comments):

• What did Ralph mean by "browned off"? Here's what I found:

“Browned off,” meaning angry or annoyed, originated as British service slang, with the OED's

 first citation coming from 1938. 'Browned off' is most widely associated with the British forces, especially the RAF, and is generally dated from around the time of WWII.

• What was happening that Ralph thought his mother & family might have seen in the papers? Here's what I found:

• Feb 20 World War II: The "Big Week" began with American bomber raids on German aircraft manufacturing centers.
• 
  

• Here's some information on the Ninth Air Force, which will also give you an idea of Ralph's important, but tiresome, work:

9th USAF History The Ninth Air Force became operational November, 1942 when the U.S. Middle East A.F. was re-designated the Ninth under command of Major General Lewis H. Bremerton. Its air support of the British and U.S. Armies in North Africa against the Nazis' Rommel were critical. General Brereton was ordered to take the 9th HQ to England in October 1943 to build a Tactical Air Armada for the coming invasion of Europe. By June 6, 1944, D-Day, it had become the largest air force ever assembled under one command - 250,000 people with 3,500 airplanes in 1,500 units. It consisted of Fighter, Bomber, Troop Carrier, Air Defense, Engineer and Service Commands. During the invasion, their massive parachute and glider drops were guarded by P-47's, P-38's, and P-51's some of which doubled as pin-point dive bombers at the front lines, while the A-20 and B-26 bombers took out key rail and bridges to isolate the Nazis from reinforcing the battle for the Normandy Beaches. Within hours of the beach assaults, the 9th's Engineers were building airstrips in Normandy so our planes could operate with the minimum time lost in direct support of the front line soldiers. Thereafter, by continuously moving our fighters to strips just behind the front lines. The "NINTH" supported Armies dashing across Western Europe ending up deep in the heart of Germany on VE Day. This great mobility with combat pilots riding at the head of every armored column providing forward air control plus a Tactical Air Command Headquarters working directly alongside each U.S. Army Commander proved to be the most effective use of the air-ground cooperation in the history of warfare.