February 13, 1951 
Lt. Colonel Merwin E. Potter, 
Headquarters, Air Force Reserve Officers' 
Training Corps, 
Ohio State University, 
Columbus 10, Ohio. 
Dear Colonel Potter: 
My administrative duties here, principally my necessity 
for appearing before the appropriations committee, have de¬ 
layed my departure for the south. Our hearings come this 
afternoon. I have some other chores to attend to and then 
on February 21 Mr. Perry go and I have reservation on the 
Eastern Air Lines and Pan American. The flight leaves here 
at half past twelve in the day, we change in Miami and. are 
due in Tocumen at 12:30 that night. 
Originally it has been my plan to work in a remote part 
of western Panama on the Caribbean side, in a region that is 
little known. The situation here, however, is such that I will 
be under necessity of making contact with the Washington 
office rather regularly. In view of this, I have had to give- 
up the trip first planned which would have me compl etely 
out oi touch for six weeks or so, and instead will visit a 
number of other points that have been on my docket for some 
time. These cover principally locations around the eastern 
end of the highlands west of the Canal .Zone where the mountain 
ranges from Chiriqui lower to disappear in the gap where the 
Canal now crosses. The region lies around El Valle and 
Penomone. I want also to get down again to the lower end of 
the Azuero Peninsula where I had three days two years ago. 
I had told General Hale some time ago that I intended to 
come down again and he was kind enough to inform .Brigadier 
General Kiel. I wrote General Kiel about two weeks ago 
telling him of my change in plan and asking if it would be 
possible for me to arrange for the loan of a command car, 
or a weapons carrier (without driver), vith the understanding 
that the Smithsonian would care for the expenses. If I can 
