Having completed a combat tour (300 hours) with the 79th. Fighter Squadron/20th. Fighter Group, 21 year-old Arthur W. Heiden returned to the Zone of Interior in August, 1944. After a brief rest he was assigned to a base in Tallahasee, Florida as a Fighter Training Instructor for both the P-40N and P-51D. While there he survived a mid-air collision.

      "Christmas '44 was a very disturbing time with the disaster in the Ardennes. We were asked to not emphasize this in our mail home. So that card was to relieve any undue worries our parents may have had. Actually, I wasn't in Hollywood at that time, just making folks feel that things were well.

      "Just before Christmas Day, '44, at Tallahassee, we all were aware of the problems going on in Europe. On or about, December 22-23, the advanced fighter trainees received emergency orders to ship-out to the ETO. We instructors were given TDY Orders to the Fifth Ferrying Group at Long Beach, CA and told to pack and return to Base Ops. as soon as posable. About dark we boarded a C-47 and headed west.

      "All I could think of was, Boy, this doesn't make sense its just like the Military, just all backwards. Why weren't they sending us experienced instructors to the emergency in Europe, not the green trainees? They could handle the ferrying of P-51's from the NAA Factory at Mines Field to Newark, NJ for shipment or give us drop tanks and we could fly them to Europe, but then the weather was bad in Europe and all across the US.

      "Also, there were memories of a year before. On Christmas Day, '43, at North Island, CA, we trainees, packed and ready to start our Christmas leave were suddenly handed emergency orders and rushed to the airline terminal. There as War Babies, all airline passengers were kicked off American for us to board the New York bound American DC-3, just in time to board the UK bound Aqatania, and the 20thFG. "No leaves this Side of the Ocean."

      "Talk about timing, another significant event had occurred which had influenced these emergency orders. Unfathomable, the WASP's (Women's Airforce Service Pilots) received disbandment orders, effective December 22, 1944. As these capable ladies handled a major share of the Ferrying Command's domestic work. So here we were, a bunch of combat veterans, replacing them. Believe me, they let us know what a bunch of scabs we were. Some Wasp would be there at every stop we made that night, and for the next few weeks. They really unloaded their grievances on us. What a loss -- politics! To find their spirit again -- I wonder?

      "From Long Beach, we ferry pilots were bussed to Mines Field (now LAX), where we bought ourselves a brand new Mustang. That Mustang would be technically ours until delivered to Newark, NJ, where upon we sold it -- all on paper, of course. On delivery at Newark, no layover, we boarded a Commercial Airline back to Long Beach. Any sleep was got on the return flight. This routine was repeated many times. The weather was always lousy and Ferry Command's regulations were ignored on every trip -- No formation, no instrument flight rules, and no night flying. What the he**, they gave us a Low Frequency Range Receiver, and there was always Direction Finding Steers. We never lost a Mustang, except maybe on the ice at Newark where some guys were asked by the tower if they always landed backwards. Up New York Harbor to the Statue of Liberty, 200 ft., left turn, heading 270-degrees, lower the gear, land at the countdown."

      Here is a prime example that even those men who served their country at home often knew the loneliness of not being with those they loved:

"Hi Dad.
Spending Christmas in Hollywood.
Just arrived from Tallahasse to start work with Ferry Command.
Cancelled having a good time.
Hope you all are fine.
Merry Christmas.
Love, Art"

      Heiden next served with the 36thFS, 8thFG, 5thAF during the Occupation of Japan 1945 through 1947 and became Combat Operations Officer 5th Fighter Command. He left the Air Force Reserve in 1960, his final assignment at Fighter Operations Section, Strategic Air Command Headquarters. A long career as a civilian pilot and instructor followed, and by the time of his retirement he had amassed a total of 25,000 hours in the air. He resides today in Memphis, Tennesee.