It’s so nice to have the letters back! Dart wastes no time dashing off a quick note to Dot when he reaches the train station in Chicago.

He and his fellow sailors who were on leave in Cleveland are all feeling terribly blue. It was hard to leave again after so few hours at home. Dart admits to being choked up several times when he and Dot were parting at the station. I wonder if the reality has hit that he is finally, after nearly two years in the Navy, making his way inexorably toward combat at sea. Is he scared? Is he proud? I have to believe that leaving loved ones this last time must have been extra painful because of what lies ahead.

His last paragraph is so lovely I’ve quoted it here in its entirety. “I’m glad we got plenty of talking done and got a few chances to express our feelings. It seems as if I know you ever so much better, now, and the impression has carried on very well with my dreams. If its possible to love you even more than I have for so many months, I do. If that isn’t possible, then I feel that love much more deeply. Goodnight, my dearest, the only girl in the world.”