This long letter from Dart packs a lot into six pages. First, he asks Dot if she has noticed the lovely moon these last few nights while she’s been at Sunapee. He tells her that it has brought on a bout of homesickness among the married guys and a couple of the single ones who are very much in love. It reminds him of the moon he and Dot witnessed just eight weeks ago tonight in Greenwich.

The moon has brought back the glorious details of that night they were parked in front of Dot’s house, preparing for Dart to leave later that evening. There was a phone call – perhaps from his folks in Cleveland – telling Dart he was free to stay on another day. “I wish I hadn’t been so shy and had hugged you tighter and kissed you more just then….From our moments together, I’ve known that my arms were made to fit around you, that I want it to be that way always. Oh, Dot, you’re so soft and sweet and lovely I can hardly stand being away from you.”

From that tender opening, he switches gears abruptly to an apology for boring her with all the shop talk. He knows that the technical subjects near to his heart are not of much interest to her. He will try to write less about them in the future. He also wants to set things straight about another matter; he doesn’t want her to think he’s trying to impress her with any kind of “genius” when he is elated over his good fortune with grades.  For others, he may occasionally boast a bit, but for her, he only wants her to be proud of him. It is for her that he works so hard. She’s the one who inspires him to do the best he can. Above all, she shouldn’t feel awed because he thinks she is very intelligent herself.

He confirms that the “sweet potato” is not very difficult to play, but he makes a hash of it anyway. It’s painful to hear him try to harmonize with the real musicians he plays with, but he loves to be a part of making music. He claims the others in the group grudgingly say, “Okay, Pete, you can sit in if you won’t blow your whistle very often.”

He asks her about her job at the department store when she starts working for the Millers. He was under the impression that she had to hold her retail job until graduation, so maybe the Miller job is just evenings and weekends. He hopes the Millers will cooperate if he is able to visit her before the war is over. If she’s stuck at home minding the children, he’d be happy to offer his willing but not very able assistance at the task so he can spend more time with her.

How he wishes she could see some of the sights and sounds near him. He proceeds with one of his impressive descriptions of  a scene he witnessed the other day. With unusual grace and his flare for details, he tells of the thrilling sight of five massive flying boats taking off in formation under the bridge, across the bay and into the western sky. I’ve never read anything that conveys the power and majesty of machinery more eloquently than Dart did. These two pages are definitely worth a read from the original letter posted here.

It’s chow time, which he can’t afford to miss, although he’d love to keep writing to Dot all night.