Editor:

The Wyoming Veterans Memorial Museum located at the Natrona County Airport has been the focus for me and my friend, Mike Kilmer. Mike donated his scrapbook containing excellent pictures of the art work on airplanes since he was in the Army Air Force.

My father, Marlin Kurtz of Cody, was the director of a large rest club in the American Red Cross in Brisbane, Australia. At the end of the war, the Duke and Duchess of Glouschester were in a victory day parade in front of the ARC Rest Club. The American soldiers were being sent home on various ships but the headquarters for USO -- rest and recovery -- were in full operation at the club.

The Casper Army Air Base was constructed during the Second World War with over 400 buildings being built. The purpose was to train pilots for the B17 and B24 bombers, giving bomber crews their final training prior to being sent overseas for combat missions. A total of 17,000 men and women trained at this facility. Joye Kading, museum curator, states that there were at least 200 women there. At any given time around 3,000 USAAF and civilians worked at the Air Base sustaining the school.

While walking around the barracks surrounding the museum, a block away was a large building which was the theater where Bob Hope, Gene Autry, Jinx Falkenburg (pin-up girl), Ritz Brothers and Walter Able entertained and campaigned for the War Bond Drive in Casper and the Air Base.

After the war, the Air Base was designated as a "Permanent Training Site" for the Air National Guard, training primarily on the P/F51, F-80, F-84, and F-86 fighters. T-33 trainers were a common site here as well through the Korean War and perhaps a decade after that.

John Goss and Eric Wimmer are excellent historians and caretakers of this most wonderful collection and preservation and exhibits recording all conflicts in which our countrymen have participated. The military history, informing the public, is there for you to see.

OLETA THOMAS, Casper