July 12, 1943 - Air Corps Denial Letter

Well, this was probably discouraging.  A letter dated July 12, 1943 to my father informs him that he does not qualify for Aviation Cadet Training (for the Army Air Corps.)  Now I am beginning to think that it was at this point he began eating so much to try to gain weight (not starting the previous year.)  He would have received this letter, and then tried for a little over a month to gain the weight he needed to qualify.

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He was 12 pounds underweight, which in today's bulging waistlines does not sound like much.  But, I have (or had) a similar metabolism as Daddy did and I could not gain weight in my teen years at all.  Their minimum requirement must have been 140 pounds (which would have put him at 128...very slender!)  Not sure much could have been done about the chest size (or why that would be a requirement?) but maybe if he had gained the weight the training board would have overlooked it.

It would have been at this point that he declared if he was not accepted in the Air Corps when he went back that he would go to the first recruiting office he saw and join that branch.