Today we have two brief, unrelated letters from Dart, both written on the 16th, but as he’ll explain, the date is irrelevant where he is. His ship crossed the international dateline sometime last night, so he went from January 14 to January 16, sleeping right through the six hours of his birthday.

Anyway, now that he is 21, he can sign contracts, own cars and houses, and marry without his parents’ consent. He assures her that no consent would be necessary in his case, because his folks heartily approve of his choice in girls. Now he hopes they don’t have to wait until she’s old enough not to need the consent of her parents!

How he hopes things work out the way they’ve dreamed! He hopes they still feel the same way about each other when he gets home and they’re able to spend more time together.

He says that several days ago he wrote a long letter full of restricted information. In it, he also talked about his memories of their limited time together. “I still think you were surrounded by a halo and heavenly music that first moment I saw you, when you came downstairs with Betty Wolf. I was fascinated by your presence all evening. Ever since I met you I’ve been thanking the Lord that I recognized the one girl for me so soon, and captured her heart as well.”

Anyway, he dare not try to get all that restricted material past the censor, so he cannot send the letter.

His next letter begins with the hope that they’ll soon be able to mail letters home. He says this life of ease he’s been leading recently has become a habit. He’s read every magazine and book he could put his hands on, including a raunchy thing called “Shore Leave.” In a rough way, it’s humorous, but definitely not family reading!

He asks her to remind him the next time they’re together to describe Marines. “On second thought, you’d better wait until you’re accustomed to my cuss words. I can’t describe Marines in anything but profanity.” Well!

As we might suppose, he sends his love.