On March 17, 1945, the mother of Robert Sumner Stearns, bombardier for the Buslee crew on September 28, 1944, wrote again to the mother of George Edwin Farrar, waist gunner on the same crew.  Their boys had been involved in a mid-air collision between Lazy Daisy and Lead Banana coming off the target at Madgeburg, Germany.  Farrar had been reported captured and a prisoner of war while Stearns had been reported killed.

March 17, 1945
Lapine, Oregon

Dear Mrs. Farrar:

Every day we say “surely it’s time for Mrs. Farrar to have had another letter from her son” so just have to find out. I’m sure the mail is very slow from Germany and possibly there hasn’t been time for another letter, but our anxiety is very great, for word from over there. Every day we read of some boy who is alright whose folks have had no word officially, so surely the ones who have been reported by the Govt (Ger) would be allowed to write regularily.

Have you heard that Lt. Buslee, Sgt. Bryant and Sgt. Andersen have been reported killed, also on Sept. 28^th? The report was a month later than ours. We can hardly wait for this awful war to end so that we will know if these reports are true or not.

I hope your son who was in the So. Pacific is well and safe.

Our oldest son is now in Denver training to be a Turret Mechanic and Gunner on a B-29. His wife is there, too, which is a great comfort to both of them. It’s going to be hard for young people to live normal lives afterward if the war lasts much longer.

I’ve written twice to the Exchange Studio in Savannah to get some extra prints of the pictures Bobby had taken before he went across. When they come I’d like to exchange with you for a picture of your son so can have a crew group for our scrapbook. If they ever had a picture of their new crew I never heard of it and we’d so much like to have pictures of all the boys.

Sincerely,
Mrs. Stearns

© Cindy Farrar Bryan and The Arrowhead Club, 2014