Free To Kingdom Come by Robert J. Mrazek Page B

point during her desperate plea, he had to turn away, and she saw that he was smiling.
    “I’ll think about it,” he told her finally.
    “That is all I can ask,” she said, before adding, “If it ever gets back to Ted that you talked to me, you won’t live to see another day.”
    He burst out laughing.
    “This is between you and me,” she pressed on. “Swear?”
    He nodded.
    Ted was required to take the course all over again. The cadet who had copied his work was expelled from the program.
    They had moved on to Nashville for heavy bomber training when Braxton realized she was pregnant. Ted was overjoyed. He would probably be overseas when the baby arrived, but would be awaiting word.
    Shortly before Christmas, the couple received a harsh note from Ted’s mother expressing her disappointment at their lack of responsibility in saving money for the future. She had lavished a large cash wedding gift on them, and Ted was spending it in ways that she didn’t support, including lending money to other young married couples who were in training with them, and living on a shoestring.
    Braxton wrote back on behalf of both of them.
    Dear Helen,
    Teddy will probably be on combat in July. We have enough love and faith in each other to get through this. I utterly refuse to become a moaning war bride. It’s going to be hard on all of us who adore and worship Teddy to have to sit and wait at home.
    I haven’t felt too badly—no early morning sickness (I just get sick in the morning and stay sick ’til evening). I know every inch of the bathroom quite intimately. Seems to me I can vaguely remember liking food....
    As for our financial discussion, I’m sorry if we appeared uppity when you advised us to save. I really believe that Teddy must take his own responsibilities now. We don’t resent advice—please believe that. It’s just that we feel now is the all important time in our lives. In the Air Corps you learn to live from day to day. To you that may seem a pointless philosophy. But to us who may never know a tomorrow, it is the only way to find peace and contentment. Money, now, is the most unimportant thing in our lives. You see, there is always the chance that this may be all the married life Ted and I will ever know—all there ever will be.
    Don’t you see, this is our rainy day. The wettest, stormiest, most hellish rainy day Teddy and I will ever know. I’m not writing this in a morbid or complaining way—I have thanked God every day for the privilege of being with him. I just wanted you to know how and why we reason like we do. It’s just trying to live a lifetime in a little while. I guess war has made us a very hardened and practical lot. We saw that when Mil Stevens was killed at George Field. You learn to be thrifty with your emotions. Teddy has a dangerous job to do and it must not be cluttered with emotions. That’s the hardest thing all of us Air Corps families have had to learn—to accept—not to question.
    When Teddy goes on combat, I want him to remember how much we love him so he will have twice the incentive that anyone else has to be courageous and do his job uncomplainingly and with honor. It’s an awful easy thing to die, but sometimes to live and do it gracefully is the seemingly impossible thing.
    I tell you all this because I don’t want you to think we are unfeeling or unthinking or extravagant for no reason. We have weighed the odds carefully and know just where we stand. Our morale is our wealth and happiness. We are trying the only way we know how.... We love and miss you terribly. Always, Betsy
    In February 1943, Ted was on his way by train to Spokane, Washington, to be assigned his crew, when he got into trouble again. At one of the stops, he was taken into custody by military police after going to the Western Union office and sending Betsy a telegram telling her how much he missed her.
    He had veiled the words in pig Latin, a jargon that was then the rage among the pilots, in which