There was a leather factory called Fur Piece where almost everyone had a flight jacket made and everyone did get boots. Dad bought a suitcase to take home all his souvenirs. The leather factory was at the edge of town and took a rickshaw ride to get there. They rode rickshaws and tried to have races!
 

  

   Next to the leather shop was a tailor. Dad had them make a sea green, linen jacket that he loved. And wishes he had another one just like it. He said that with that jacket and his fifty mission, crush cap – "was I sharp! See the picture!" He had bought that cap on his first pass during Basic Training. He and George Amato, another guy from Madison, had bought the caps at the same time, immediately took out the wire and, presto, fifty mission, crush cap. Colonel Hogan of "Hogan’s Heroes" wore a crush cap. So did the Dragon Lady’s boyfriend from the comic "Terry and the Pirates". As I understand it, after they had flown many missions, the cap would show some wear, of course. It would be saggy and look crushed. A new cap had a wire in it to help keep its shape, but no one wanted to look "new", so when they bought their caps, they removed the wire and it automatically sagged a bit like they had flown fifty missions. Made them look cocky. A "fifty mission crush" was a slang term that came to mean a cocky, show off type of guy.
 

The most popular place was the photographer’s studio. You would have your picture taken with whomever else was there getting his picture taken too. It was cheaper that way. Split the price with the other guys.