Chiao Italy!

(Continuation of Captain Estes's War Memoirs)

"Well, after we finished combat crew training they
decided they were going to put us on a train and send
us to Langley Field, Virginia. There on beknowing to
us they assigned us to a B24 brand new and told us
to fly that buzzard to Italy. Well, we didn't know where
we were going whether it was gonna be the Pacific or the
European theatre of action, so I didn't know whether
it was better to be sent to Italy or whether it'd be better
to be sent to the Pacific, but they made up their minds
for me, so we went to Italy.


We were assigned this airplane and we took it off and
flew it up to Gander Field, Newfoundland. At Gander Field
is where I started my short snorter. Now a short snorter
is something that everybody who has gone overseas knows
about a short snorter, but they don't know where it got
its name from or where it was first started; but the idea
behind the short snorter is you take a bill from the
country that you are leaving from, and this was
Newfoundland; and so I got me a Newfoundland bill
and got some of my crew to sign it and put the date
on it, and it was the beginning of a rather long
short snorter."

(To be continued.)