Well, Dot and Dart are now as far apart as it’s possible to be with both of them still in the USA. He arrived today at Treasure Island, off shore from San Francisco.
He describes his new home, once the site of the World’s Fair, as the busiest and most war-like place he’s seen so far. Although some of the old World’s Fair buildings are being used by the Navy, everything is painted an Army olive drab. There are airplanes of every size and type passing overhead and the bay is filled with ships of every description. He’s not allowed to say much more about what goes on there, but he can talk about the weather.
“I don’t think such a heck of a lot of California’s sunny weather. Today’s been sunny enough, but the island is cold and windy all the time. One consolation to the cold is that no whites are worn, saving much time and energy in washing.” I’m sure it would get mighty tiresome washing all those white uniforms by hand to the satisfaction of the officers.
He has no complaints about the setup. There is a very liberal liberty policy (6PM to 7AM, two days out of three, and every third weekend.) K.P. and guard duty are kept to a minimum. It almost seems too easy to Dart, who says he’s going to be very careful because he wants to go as far as possible in the Navy. That’s a surprisingly ambitious statement for Dart to make about his military service.
“It’ll be a tough grind, so I’ll have to keep my nose clean and placed tightly against that mythical grindstone. That lovely liberty will probably be passed up. The time’s valuable now and the money will be valuable in case I manage to survive and ever want to buy a house, a car, or something of the like. As I’ve hinted before, you figure very prominently in those hopes and dream.”
Wow! That paragraph packs a lot of sentiment into a few words. He wants to be successful in his studies. He needs to save money for the future. He envisions Dot as part of that future. But mostly, it is a not-so-oblique affirmation that he is going into battle and may not survive. Of course that’s a constant reality during this time, but Dart’s statement demonstrates that, while it is seldom voiced, the thought is always there. It must have sent a jolt through Dot’s heart to read those words.
He writes a bit about what a perfect trip he had across the country and about witnessing the sunrise over the Sierra Nevada mountains while on early morning guard duty aboard the train. He sends Dot his new address and heads off to bed to dream about his lovely lady.
Here’s another one-page letter from Dot. She misses him and has a hard time wrapping her head around the fact that he was with her at the beach less than two weeks ago, and now he is a continent away. She consoles herself with thoughts about when he’ll be with her on the beach again.
The only news she has to report from her side of the world is that she loves him, which is not news at all.
She was so thrilled to get a letter from him today that her fingers could hardly get it open. Because she assumes he’s at his destination by now, she wishes him the best of luck in all that he’s doing, rather than a continued pleasant journey.
