"From Tyler, Texas to Tokyo"

Excerpts from the foreword by Clarence E. Becker, Colonel, USAF (Ret.) 3rd Photo Reconnaissance Squadron Officer, January through September, 1945; Flight commander 1942 through 1944

More than fifty-years have elapsed since the end of World War II and many stories of the dedication and initiative of our soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen have been written. However, the stories of their communications with their loved ones on the home front has not been fully told. This is a story of a Tyler, Texas officer who after being commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the U. S. Army Air Corps, was assigned to a photo mapping and reconnaissance unit that took him to bases in Florida, Kansas and then to the Pacific. The story is told mainly through letters that Elmer wrote to his first wife, "Bertie". She kept and numbered every letter. How fortunate that she kept them all and that his third wife, Edie, after Elmer's death, shared those letters with the author, Elmer's brother, Walter, younger by fifteen years.

I was privileged to have served in the same squadron with Elmer for more than two years. I knew both Bertie and Edie. Lieutenant Dixson, who later became Captain Dixson, was a very good photographer and a competent photo laboratory technician and commander.

This story adds a needed dimension to understanding the role that mapping and reconnaissance played in the eventual victory of the United States and its Allies. It also adds a better appreciation of the wisdom of our national leadership. The Allied strategy is evident in tracing the moves of this one squadron as the war progressed. The advanced planning was time sensitive and detailed. In retrospect, a strategy in which we can all take pride, even at this late date.

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