 |
| Jack sent home an accordeon-fold letter of Bath images. |
Once arrived at a base,
Jack wrote immediately to Alice from “Somewhere in England. I like it here pretty swell.”[1] Despite the vague description, he knew
exactly where he was. The Royal Air Force (RAF) had loaned the US Army Air
Force an airfield near the city of Bath, about a hundred miles west of London.
The Keevil airfield, known to Jack as Station 471, and new home of the 363rd
Squadron, lay next to a village about fifteen miles east of Bath.[2] But Jack couldn’t tell anyone, not even
Alice, whom he could trust more than anyone.
Someone Else Is Reading
the Mail
Strict censorship of
G.I.s’ letters and photographs ensured secrecy of the Allies’ war production
efforts and preparations for invasion. A “field press censor” read each and
every one of Jack’s letters and viewed all the photos he sent home. If Jack
mentioned something that the censor deemed inappropriate, he actually cut lines
out of the letters.[3] Letters that passed were stamped on the
envelope, and photos were stamped on the back and sometimes signed by the
censor.
 |
| The censor stamped and signed the lower left corner. |
 |
| A photo that passed, but it was "Not For Publication" |
As a result, Jack’s
letters offer very little detail about where he was, with whom, and what they
were doing. What Jack couldn't tell Alice, he made up for in pages and pages of
love notes and nostalgia. He missed her, and he told her so, over and over. In
Keevil he also had plenty of time to think and make plans.
Somewhere in England, Dec. 23 – 43
Dearest Alice,
Gee I would sure love to get a hold of you and just
squeeze the pie out of you and kiss & hug you a thousand times . . . I have
had a lot of time to think lately and I have been trying to figure out how we
can fix the house & yard up at home to look better. I have some ideas and
it sure will be fun working together on it and we will sure fix it up nice . .
. Just think only one more day until Christmas. I wonder what things will be
like in 6 years. Maybe the “little ones” will be able to enjoy it with us. Oh I
sure hope so. It sure will be fun around Christmas time with them. We will
always have fun with them. Gee, I can hardly wait. Can you? I hope all of you
folks at home will have a nice Christmas. I am planning on going to Church
Christmas also Christmas day.
Christmas 1943 in England
and at Home
The Squadron diary
describes Christmas at Keevil Station: December 25th, Christmas
Day! The American Red Cross visited the base today bearing gifts for everyone
present, which turned out to be the only gifts received, consisting of candy,
cigarettes, a few pipes, sewing kits and some knit sweaters. Turkey, with all
the trimmings, was the order of the day for the whole group, which lifted their
spirits considerably.[4]
 |
| Jack's Christmas gift from the American Red Cross Courtesy of Joanne Kellar |
Christmas was a
particularly important and sentimental time for Jack. He had spent one
Christmas with Alice, but this was their first apart, and for how many more
Christmases would they be separated? Alice spent Christmas Eve with her parents
and Christmas day with Jack’s family.
 |
| Alice (holding her portrait with Jack) Christmas Eve at the Streeters' |
 |
| Alice on Christmas day with Jack's parents (left), his sister Betty (rear right), and his sister-in-law Eunice and children Bobby and Davey |
Ready to Work, but
Nothing To Do
England, 12–26–43
Dearest Babe ––
This morning Derrick, Winkler and I went to church. They
had a nice service and the chaplain preached on the “Lord’s Prayer.” He sure is
a nice chaplain and seems to be very understanding. This is the first time
Derrick & Wink have been to church for some time and they seemed to enjoy
the service even tho they are not prodestants [sic].
It still is quite cold here and very damp. I bought a paper
today so we have been reading up on the latest news here in England. Yesterday
we went down to the P.X. and bought our “weekly rations,” which consist of 2
bars of candy, some peppermint candy, some biscuits (cookies) a bar of soap and
a bottle of ink and a package of gum . . . I guess we will start working before
long now and once we get started I don’t think we will have much time off. [6]
 |
| Jack had his portrait taken for Alice at a studio in Bath. |
Jack recalled: There
we were [near] Bath, and we had nothing to do for quite some time because we
had no airplanes. You go out and march half the day and go through calisthenics
and stuff like that because we had no planes. We had nothing to do yet.[7]
England, 12–29–43
Dearest Alice,
Last night when we went down to the Red Cross Club a
fellow was playing the piano and he was playing quite a few of our old
favorites and I went over and asked him to play “Change Partners.” He did not
know all of it, but what he did sure was swell.[8]
The Squadron diary reports: The squadron received no planes
during the month of January, 1944 and the pilots therefore did no flying. The
end of January found the squadron again preparing to move to another base.[9]
And then they would get their planes, the whole reason for being there!
[1]
Jack J. Kellar (“Somewhere in England”) to
“Dearest Alice” [Alice Streeter Kellar] (Santa Rosa, California), letter 23
December 1943, excerpt.
[2]
380th Fighter–160th Tac. Rcn. Squadron
History, February 1943–August 1945 ([unknown place]: [unknown publisher], printed
by A. Roßbach, Eschwege, Germany [1945]), 10. Probably written by the squadron
historian, this account of the 380th Fighter Squadron (later the 160th
Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron) of the U.S. Army Air Force, was written right
up until the squadron was about to return to the U.S.
[3]
Paul L. Aswell, “Wartime Press Censorship by the
U.S. Armed Forces: A Historical Perspective, A thesis presented to the Faculty
of the U.S. Army command and General Staff College” (Fort Leavenworth, Kansas:
U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, 1990), 78, 92; digital images, Defense Technical Information Center (http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a227383.pdf
: accessed 13 April 2018). Also, Jack J. Kellar to “Dearest Alice” [Alice
Streeter Kellar] (Santa Rosa, California), letter 19 March 1944: “You said
about part of my letter being cut out.”
[4]
Nick Marinelli, The History of the 363rd Fighter
Group, 380th Fighter Squadron, 381st Fighter Squadron,
382nd Fighter Squadron, 9th Air Force, ETO, IX Tactical
Air Command, 70th Fighter Wing until August 1, 1944, XIX Tactical
Air Command, 100th Fighter Wing until August 29, 1944, Reorganized
as the 363rd Tactical Reconnaissance Group, 160th
Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron, 161st Tactical Reconnaissance
Squadron, 162nd Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron after September 4,
1944, and attached to the XXIX Tactical Air Command (South Lynn, Mich.:
Nick Marinelli, 1992), 2-11.
[5]
Jack J. Kellar, “Autobiography,” 1998; two
ninety-minute cassette tape recordings; held and partially transcribed by the
author, excerpt.
[6]
Jack J. Kellar (England) to “Dearest Babe” [Alice
Streeter Kellar] (Santa Rosa, California), letter 26 December 1943, excerpt.
[8]
Jack J. Kellar (England) to “Dearest Alice” [Alice
Streeter Kellar] (Santa Rosa, California), letter 29 December 1943, excerpt.
[9]
380th Fighter–160th Tac. Rcn. Squadron
History, February 1943–August 1945 ([unknown place]: [unknown publisher], printed
by A. Roßbach, Eschwege, Germany [1945]), 11.
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