Mrs. Hannah Wade, Superior
Has Letter From Grandson
The following letter was received by Mrs. Hannah Wade from her grandson, 2nd Lieut. Ralph V. Wade, who has been in Hawaii for several months; Ralph is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Wade, formerly of Dickinson County, now residing at Bode, Iowa. The letter was written June 25, and was received here July 6.
Dear Grandmother:
I’m really not so much a bad boy as I am a careless one – and probably not so careless as I am lazy. But, this is such an excellent opportunity to write that, although I can at least let you know how much I enjoyed your letters while in flying school.
The Hawaian (sic) islands though not the tourists paradise that they were in pre-war days, almost live up to expectations. I’m fortunate to be in the best Pursuit (now termed “Fighter”) Squadron in Hawaii. Further than this we have the nicest living quarters of any squadron here, the best men, airplanes, everything including (as you might have guessed_ espit de coys (sic). We fly quit a bit and have a lot of fun doing our work. Our hours are long, but we don’t work as hard as the farmers in my family do, and we have our days off quite regularly. I spend most of my spare time playing tennis or base ball or swimming – all in all a pretty enjoyable life, and one that makes the days and weeks fairly whizz (sic) by.
Letters from home come in quite regularly and keep my morale up to a par with my physical condition best ever.
I imagine our home towns in Iowa are changed as much as every where also by the war. Almost everyone of my former school mates are in some branch of the service – the majority of the gang, my closest friends, are in the Air Corps. I know by now I am one of the most fortunate of all the soldiers in the United States and I hope the other lads can profit by their experiences as much as I am profiting my mine.
It won’t be so very long before a lot of us are back if things keep on as they seem to be going now and two of the things I’m looking forward to most are chicken the way you fry it, Grandma, and a fresh mess of fish out of Okoboji.
That’s all for now.
Love, Ralph.
Address 2nd Lt. R. V. Wade O-433757
46th Fighter Squadron
A. P. O. 959 % Postmaster San Francisco, Calif.
Source: The Spirit Lake Beacon, Spirit Lake, Iowa, Thursday, July 09, 1942, Page 12
Mr. and Mrs. Paul Wade of Bode visited with Paul’s mother, Mrs. Hannah Wade Sunday. They came to attend funeral services at Milford Sunday for Lt. Leon Place.
The government has informed Mr. and Mrs. Wade their son, Ralph, is seriously ill in an unnamed hospital, the nature of his illness was not disclosed, but is presumed by his parents to be malaria as he was known to have the sickness. Ralph has been on active duty in New Guniea (sic) since last fall on a fighter plane. He has been commissioned a captain.
Source: The Milford Mail, Milford, Iowa, Thursday, August 12, 1943, Page 3
Local News
Mrs. Hannah Wade of LuVerne, Minn. went home with Paul Wade to keep house for him while Mrs. Paul Wade is in Calf. with her son, Ralph Wade, who is in a hospital there.
Source: The Milford Mail, Milford, Iowa, Thursday, February 24, 1944, Page 2
Former Terril Youth Now In Iowa Hospital
Lt. Ralph Wade, son of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Wade of Bode, former Terril residents, who has been ill for several months in an army hospital in San Francisco, has been transferred to Schick hospital at Clinton. He was accompanied from San Francisco by a nurse and his mother. Mrs. Wade had been in California since the first of the year because of the serious illness of her son. Previous to being in the California hospital, Lt. Wade was in a hospital in the South Seas for some time before he was able to be brought to the States.
Source: The Milford Mail, Milford, Iowa, Thursday, April 13, 1944, Page 1
Memorial Services For Capt. Wade
Funeral services were held at the Methodist church in Terril, Wednesday afternoon, for Capt. Ralph Vernon Wade, who died at Schick General hospital at Clinton, Iowa. He received his pilot’s commission at Stockton field, on January 9, 1942. He volunteered for foreign service, serving with the Twelfth fighter squadron in the South Pacific theatre. He made more than 50 missions over enemy territory on Guadalcanal and New Caledonia. For this service he was awarded the Air Medal and four Oak Leaf Clusters. He was commissioned a Captain in July 1943. He was taken ill in May 1943, and was hospitalized overseas until he was returned to the United States in January of this year. His parents, Mr. and Mrs. Paul Wade, one brother and one sister survive him.
Source: The Milford Mail, Milford, Iowa, Thursday, April 17, 1944, Page 1
***Further Research:
Ralph Vernon Wade was born Nov. 24, 1917 to Paul Milton and Maude Pearl Clark Wade. He died Apr. 23, 1944 and is buried in Fairview Cemetery, Terril, IA.
Source: ancestry.com
