My dad Ernest Anders Erickson at sixteen years old all suited up and ready to go. Where I have not a clue, but maybe off on a date or a school dance.

Also below a photograph taken in the same exact spot 4 years later of his mother Clara Amelia (Nelson) Erickson in light green dress looking uncharacteristically serious and Ernest Anders at home at 801 Jefferson Avenue in Bismarck, North Dakota in October of 1943.

Ernest's three year old sister Dian Marcella Erickson is standing in front of him. He was visiting his family on leave after graduating from Advanced Flight Training at Blackland Field in Texas. In two months he would be off to Horham Airfield in England to begin his combat flying as a pilot of a B-17.