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18 April 1945 Lincoln, Nebraska (somewhere in the U.S.)
Dear Dr. Tresidder,
It has been two years, now, since that unhappy day in 1943 on which I was forced to leave Stanford, & go into the army air force. During these years, I have been able to keep in rather close contact with the school, its activities, et all, then the medicine of the letters which I have been receiving from class mates of many who are still enrolled there, but none of their letters have ever given me the subtle thrill sensation I received when I read your letter of March. Reading that letter brought me back to Stanford & the life there & the never ending trouble which beset the offices & officers even before the advent of this national catastrophe.
Since those wonderful days of Spring quarter, 1943, or was it Winter quartr- it really doesn't make any difference - they are all as one after a while, I find that I have changed a bit there, I used to run & skip about the quad, dressed only in jeans & brightly colored shirt - no shoes, no tie, no hat. Today, I no longer trip, I stumble; I no longer wear jeans - I wear under pants, plus a shirt, shoes, sox, tie, hat, jacket etc.
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Yet, I am in the army - the Army Air Force, to be exact.
Two years ago, I was flunking Spanish & Econ at school because I had least interest in those subjects & was indefinitely more interested in going to war: Today, I am a 2nd Lt., a Co. pilot on a B-29 Super Fortess air plane, & about two months from achieving that goal for which I have been working for so long a time: an overseas assignment.
It is plain to read in your letter that Stanford have neither relaxed its pace nor its standards of war work. This I am pleased to read.
Also I read here a passage on Stanford's program for veterans, & this, too, pleases me for it is my ambition to return to the Farm soon, a[as] released, & take up from where I left off back in 1943. I do hope my Spanish & Econ improve, however.
It is my intention to return to Stanford when I am discharged from the service. While my pre-war majors were biological sciences, my training for the past couple of years has been along another path: aeronautics; practical, theoretical, & my ideas. The work has been & is fascinating, & it will be my desire, when I return to school, to continue this training so that I might be better qualified for a commercial job in the future.
I have discovered that mathematics & writing, too, have become a part of me &
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OFFICERS' CLUB Roswell Army Air Field Roswell, New Mexico
remainder of the subjects, i am at a loss when it comes to making any suggestions which might better the standard of learning at school. I am fairly familiar with what the army has to offer, however, & I assure you that I have had quite enough of its bread & am ready to return to F.S.C.
The only thing which alarms me in the Stanford situation is the foreign language requirement. Some of us have one or two Semesters of a language to get in before we can graduate, & as anyone knows, a language is hard enough to learn when you're in daily contact with it, let alone when you're then separated from it for two or three years. The prospect of starting a language all over again does not appeal to me.
With you, I am eagerly awaiting the time when I can shed this uniform & return to school, for I have thought up several better things during the past months which I want to study & work for & to which I can devote but little time in my present occupation.
Than you again for your letter, & I do hope you are able to read this. (Typing is one of the MUST subjects on my list). Also & believe me when I say that I know Stanford will be a wonderful place to come home to, & it will be all the more wonderful because you, too, are already looking forward to & preparing the school for that day.
Sincerely yours Wesley R. Nowell
2nd H.A.
