This date, 1943, Nile Kinnick’s plane loses oil pressure and goes down. So many great young men lost serving.
I recently read the letters and diary of Nile Kinnick. “A Hero Perished.” I found it very entertaining. A few pages on the ’39 Ironmen season. Mostly about his future, he writes, of which he was very unsettled. Business with his father or pursue politics. He writes of his service. Some funny stories too, of youth and his travels while stationed in KC, New Orleans, Norfolk (I think it was) and Miami.
He was a young man like very few. And yet, he was common. He was driven and yet often asked himself if he was trying to do too much. He even wrote that one should not necessarily knock himself out tryng to optain perfection. And that he wondered if he should just “be” more instead of always striving for betterment.
He held God, family, Country in great reverence.
The more things change, the more they stay the same. He wrote of the changing world (pre-America involvement in WWII). He wrote of his discouragement with the Republican party — how it has no direction — wow – just like today. He wrote of the poverty he witnessed in his travels. The prejudice he witnessed and dispised.
He had an eye for the ladies and dated as often as the opportunity presented itself. He longed for leave and dreaded the drugery of his training and struggled with making the grade during his flight school and flight time.
He, like I believe any big brother, counseled his brother Ben in his letters. He longed for family.
He had an extreme affection for the Univ of Iowa and Iowa City. He visited a few times after leaving and had a grand time during his last visit before being stationed in Miami.
I could go on and on. I believe you all would enjoy this book.