It’s another bonus day, with two letters from Dart. He begins by telling Dot how much he misses being out in a big snow storm. Last winter, he stared out at the snow for weeks on end from inside a hospital. This winter, he’s sailing around endlessly under a tropical sun. That’s quite an adjustment for a boy born and reared in the Snow Belt!

This morning he attended a radio broadcast on deck. It’s a show called “Command Performance,” produced exclusively for the boys serving overseas. Today’s cast of performers reads like a Who’s Who of Hollywood and New York; Jack Benny, Bob Hope, Gary Cooper, Bing Crosby, Lena Horn, Judy Garland, Cab Calloway and Count Basie, to name a few.

Last night, Dart stayed up until midnight writing to Dot and his folks. When he tried to go to sleep, the Marines kept him awake with their raucous card games. “They sleep all day and play poker all night when good folks are trying to sleep,” he groused. I’m beginning to think Dart’s not too fond of Marines.

Now he has to quit writing so he can move around and hope some of the perspiration drenching his shirt evaporates.

Later that day, he’s inspired to write again. Everyone on board is chased down below decks at night fall, for security reasons. He’s heard the night sky at sea is a beautiful sight, but he’s yet to witness it himself.

According to the ship’s scuttlebutt, which is even less reliable than the rumors heard for weeks at Shoemaker, this voyage is nearing an end. Of course, he’ll never be able to tell Dot when they land, or where, but when it happens, he hopes to quickly be assigned to a ship, and “begin at last the business of helping to win the war.” He calls himself an innocent parasite, getting a college education and hospital care from the war bonds people bought thinking they were purchasing guns and jeeps. “More power to the war bond purchasers, and may they live on forever in blissful ignorance of Peterson the Parasite.”

He expects there will be another religious service on deck tomorrow morning. Last Sunday was mostly a hymn and prayer service, with “organ” music provided by an accordion. A brief sermon by a jolly, rotund chaplain followed. Dart, who has never considered himself religious but who’s tried to live a moral life, has had lots of time to think about religion recently. “I believe in it a lot more strongly than ever before. I have reason to, now – probably because never before have I asked for help.”

I’ve heard the expression that there are no atheists in a foxhole. I guess the same can be said of Navy ships.

I’ll be back tomorrow with an update from Dot.