Letters Home

In this episode, Bruce plans a cross-country road trip for his parents to come visit him in Tulare at Rankin Field. We also talk about Bruce’s trip to Sequoia National Park, how he avoids card games, and we find out who Charlie and Colonel are.

Bruce has made it to "Primary" at the highly-competitive Rankin Field in Tulare, California. We talk about his time in Tulare and his admiration for the newly-constructed Golden Gate Bridge. We also welcome Bruce's niece Gail McMahon Doran to the podcast to talk about her memories of Uncle Bruce.

Original music by Roger MacNaughton.

In this episode read letters from the end of Bruce's time at Santa Ana Air Base. We talk about some of Bruce’s adventures in southern California, his new St. Christopher medal, and how those on the homefront in Lowell are handling the war.

Original music by Roger MacNaughton

Bruce got a weekend pass to visit Hollywood and in this episode, we read a letter about his trip. We also talk about Bruce's class on poisonous gasses and how he really wanted a cottage on Murray Lake in Lowell.

Original music by Roger MacNaughton.

In this episode we go through two of Bruce’s letters in depth, and in the process we learn about Bruce’s siblings, life in Santa Ana, and reminisce about old Ledger ads for Hattie Scott’s. We're joined by Dale Kropf, our Lowell historian, and Susan Teunis, Bruce's middle daughter. Susan solves a family mystery for us and reads a letter.

Original music by Roger MacNaughton.

In this episode, we read Bruce’s letters about the many uniforms he wore, his homesickness for his family after his first couple of weeks at Santa Ana, and how he wanted all the “dope” about what was going on back in Lowell. Our historian Dale Kropf joins us as always, and we have a special guest reader-- Zac Herrin, Bruce's first great-grandchild!

Original music by Roger MacNaughton.

This episode gets into the early days of Bruce’s time at the Santa Ana Air Force Base in May, 1942. We read parts of three letters he wrote home during his first week at flying school, our historian Dale Kropf talks about WW2 veterans of Lowell, and we all try to figure out who “Kitty” was.

Original music by Roger MacNaughton.

It's our first episode! We introduce ourselves and the podcast, which is a serial story of a WW2 B-17 pilot from Lowell, Michigan in his own words. We also introduce our main character, James Bruce McMahon, and give you an overview of the project the Lowell Historical Museum has done to capture his story, featuring historian Dale Kropf.

Original music by Roger MacNaughton