All posts by Susan

July 27, 1944

10. July 1944, Dot's Letters

Dot’s letter begins:  “Today the mailman asked me if I’d been ‘jilted’. Have I? I told him I’d be able to answer him tomorrow. You’re not going to let me down, are you? I’m not scolding, just telling you other people miss your letters, too.”

Franklin Simons cancelled all days off this week, but surprisingly offered to let Dot take hers. She jumped at the chance. Did they know she spends most of her “off-time” babysitting and cleaning house? They must have recognized a certain Cinderella-ness about the poor girl.

She tells him that if she can dig up enough news she will write him a long letter tomorrow. She asks that he not take her comments about his correspondence too seriously. For now, all she cares about is him passing his course with flying colors.

She closes by saying that if her love for him increases, she will surely burst.

072744a072744b

July 29, 1944

10. July 1944, Dart's Letters

This energetic letter from Dart has a mix of cynical, sweet, sarcastic and sentimental.

He’s in a mad dash to write to his parents, the first girl he dated, and Dot – all in just an hour. The unnamed girl of his first date is engaged to be married and Dart thought it appropriate to send her his congratulations. Although he “tried to date her all the way through high school (and never got a second tumble),” he says he “piled it on so thick in the letter to ‘letter’ know he doesn’t give a tinker’s hoot what happens to her.” (Did I mention sarcastic?)

He has a snarky little rant about how, when a fella’s trying to write to his parents, his wife or his girl, his bunk becomes the hub of all activity. Guys shaking the bed, performing acrobatics on the top bunk, or engaging the poor chap in some mundane conversation about a hometown not his own. They begin a conversation about the relative merits of married life or the single life, depending on their status with a wife or B.G.F. (I’m amused by that 1940’s expression foreshadows today’s texting abbreviation.) One must assume by his mention of it that Dart finds these distractions, well…distracting.

After the Captain’s Personal Inspection today, Dart reports that he had so much laundry to do that he missed both chow and mail call. He must be getting rough, chapped hands by now, with all that scrubbing of his duds.

The Officer of the Day gave his company “holy hail Columbia” today after they botched last night’s phone watch. It seems the Warrant office who instructed the team about the watch failed to tell them a very important piece of information. When he confessed his fault in the botched job, the OD gave him a dirty look and “heaped final prayers on us and released us with a religious saying totally devoid of religion.”

Dart tells Dot that he tried to find Fred, but his buddy has disappeared. He suspects he’s already on a ship, bound for parts unknown. That must have been a common occurrence during war time, and it must have caused a certain degree of concern for families and friends of the “departing.”

He says he was hoping to see Cover Girl  but missed all the chances he had. He thinks it bears repeating that he still prefers Dottie to all the pulchritude he’s seen, regardless of shape, size, quality, quantity, of degree of dress or undress. He sees another girl and then thinks how much nicer Dot is. He also missed his opportunity to see The Navy Way. It seems to me he sees enough of that in real life, so he’d have no need to see it in “reel” life.

He reached his goal in an hour and bids her good-night, with all his love.

072944a072944b072944c072944d

July 30, 1944

10. July 1944, Dart's Letters, Dot's Letters

Writing to his “Dearest Sweetheart,” Dart jots another hasty note. Although he has six unanswered letters from Dot, he only has six minutes to write.

He has learned that Fred is on Treasure Island, but Dart has walked all over the place and can find no trace of him. He may be out on liberty and could ship out before Dart finds him.

On his walk, he reports seeing several interesting sights, including huge flying boats and some Pan American Clippers.

That’s all he has time to write, except to say he loves her, of course.

073044a073044b

Dot’s letter is slightly less brief, but it’s just the kind of letter that surely warmed Dart’s heart.

The opening paragraph is her sassy attempt at a pick-up line. “Hello, tall, dark and handsome. How are you this evening? Like to sit down and have a chat?” In case he thinks she’s trying to pick him up, she assures him that’s exactly what she’d like to do – pick him up and put him out of reach for all others!

She tells him her date with her old friend was cancelled due to the friend’s illness, but she and Janie went to see Pin-up Girl starring Betty Grable. Now she sees what Dart meant so long ago when he expressed the opinion that Betty G. came off as being rather “cheap.”

Dot babysat again for Eric and Chris, but this time they were little angels and left her with nothing to complain about.

She tells Dart is seems more like four years than four weeks since he was in her house.  She says it’s terrible to live on memories, but those memories are so precious, she can’t just toss them aside. “If I had nothing else to live for, those memories alone would keep me happy for a great many years.”

She reminds Dart that in less than two months, they will pass the first anniversary of their meeting. She proclaims that it seems she has known him much longer. In fact, she avers that she has known him a very long time, but it just took awhile to find him.

She announces she’s homesick for San Francisco and a certain sailor. She begs forgiveness for letting this letter get a bit “mushy” (as though that would bother Dart!), but “…doggone, it! If I can’t tell you in person I just have to get it across to you by letter that I’m crazy about you. In fact, I’d go so far as to say I love you.” No kidding!

073044ad073044bd

July 31, 1944

10. July 1944, Dart's Letters, Dot's Letters

This is a fun answer to Dot’s recent letters, with a surprisingly intimate section at the end.

He praised the “theatrical quality” of that bit in Dot’s letter about dinner with an old friend. It had him feeling a little green and clammy when he read it. Because all his barracks mates know how he feels about her, he decided to read that section of her letter out loud. It had the same effect on them as it did on Dart.

They now have math classes (logarithms) for 4 1/2 hours every afternoon, which to Dart’s mind resembles torment.

He tells Dot she can expect her copies of the photos he had made from his visit in a week or so. They will be finished in Cleveland and then mailed to Treasure Island for distribution. He says he feels embarrassed whenever he looks at them, and cryptically says he may tell her why some day.

Speaking of cryptic, he mentions a little diagram for sorts that Dot included on the back of one letter. It looked something like this:

(.) _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________,

___________________,

Ohio

He replies, “Sounds like a very big hint, subtle like an avalanche. There’s a lot  I could say here, but all I will say is please wait awhile, dear. There’s a big question on my mind. (Not in it, but on it), and I’d like to say the words instead of writing them. Yes, Dot, I know what you’re thinking and I’ve been having the same thoughts, too. But let’s be patient until things are more secure and we know whether I’m coming back from the Blue Pacific.”

That’s quite a thought to leave her with.

073144a073144b073144c

Today is another rushed job from Dot. She writes how happy she is that he escaped the guy “dropping in” with no worse than a bruised elbow, but hopes he’ll fall on someone else the next time and leave Dart completely out of it.

She’s so glad he finally received the backlog of letters form home. She tells him not to worry too much about answering each one of hers individually, because she doesn’t even remember what she wrote most of the time. The news is all pretty stale now, anyway.

She reports that El’s fiance Don is having a rough time at State College. All the Navy pre-med students still have to study and pass tests, even though they are expecting their shipping orders any day. El said Don looked old and haggard on her last visit to campus.

Before signing off, she’d like Dart to let her know of any books or anything else he’d like to have her send. “Please tell me because it gives me so much joy to be able to do something for you once in a while. In fact, there’s nothing that would make me happier than spending the rest of my life doing things to please you.”

073144ad073144bd

August 1, 1944

11. August 1944, Dart's Letters

Tonight’s newsy letter from Dart comes complete with a hand-sketched illustration of a San Francisco street.

He and a classmate went out on liberty last night and spent some time at a service club canteen. There, they each worked on a linoleum block carving; his buddy’s was a name stamp for his clothes and Dart’s was an “Ex Libris” book plate design. Later they met up with two other classmates in equally high spirits, so the four of them decided to “do the town.” They rode one of the antique cable cars to the end of the line and back, marveling at the hilly streets. Dart drew a fairly good detail of one of them on the back of page 2.

He reports that his test scores so far average 94%, which will help him as the material gets tougher. He’s intimidated by alternating current systems and trigonometry, but I suspect he’ll do okay.

In answer to Dot’s question about whether it’s possible to enjoy the city without spending money, he assures her that’s the case. There’s plenty of free entertainment, all of which is heavily populated by sailors and soldiers. “Also, the town’s really the easiest place to spend a load of money and get nothing in return that I’ve ever seen.” He allots a little bit of cash out of his pay to spend foolishly.

He reports that now that his bank account is getting a little bigger, he plans to begin re-paying a loan to his uncle for half a semester at Case before the Navy took over his tuition. The loan is for the staggering sum of $200.

Continuing the theme of money, he tells Dot he has decided on a certain sum that must be in his account before he makes any big steps in life. While plans can be made for those steps, the money must be there before anything happens. He wants to avoid “starting on a shoestring and ending up a heel.” Nice dream; let’s see if it materializes!

Being curious about the workings of the mail delivery system, he asks Dot to keep track of when his letters arrive and what date, time and location appears on the postmark.

He’s sorry to hear about her family’s feud with Fitch soap. The product is great for his uniform stripes. “Removes all trace of grease, grime and dandruff from the collars -isn’t worth a thing for the hair.”

He mentions some funny songs his crew mates are singing during their current jam session in the barracks. (Gorilla My Dreams and Butcher Arms Around Me.)

He finishes the letter by telling her he can’t wait to be with her in person so they can carry on with the topic he raised indirectly in last night’s letter. Reminding her how much he loves her, he signs off.

080144a080144b080144c080144d080144e080144f

August 2, 1944

11. August 1944, Dart's Letters, Dot's Letters

Dart didn’t expect to write to Dot tonight, but he eschewed liberty and other letters to do so because he loves her. It has been just one month since he was a guest in her home and he tells her that he chokes up whenever he relives those few precious moments together.

He caught a glimpse of Fred on Treasure Island today, but Dart was marching in formation and was unable to speak more than a few words in passing. I don’t know if Dart is getting frustrated by his inability to visit with his good buddy, in spite of their close proximity, but I sure am!

Dart brazenly voiced the hope that he’ll get a brief leave after he finishes his schooling, just about the time of Dot’s February prom. Now why did he do that? I feel certain he’s jinxed the whole affair now.

He needs to close so that he can find out the details of how to get paid. Once again, he’s taking only $15.00 of the $60.00 he has coming to him. He ends with the prediction that his test score average will drop after his next Recognition exam. I think that’s the frequent tests he gets where he must identify the silhouettes of various aircraft – both friend and foe. Each week, more planes are added, so the tests are increasing in difficulty.

080244a080244b

Dot’s contribution today comes in the form of two short letters. The first is a few lines she dashed off before work, promising another letter later tonight. She will be going directly from Franklin Simons to Toni Gale’s 4th birthday party.

After the party, Dot writes an account of the festivities. “Well, the big shindig’s over and I’m sure the three pounds I lost this week was gained tonight, three fold. Eat? No. When you do it the way we were doing it, they call it ‘stoking’.” She goes on to write a long list of food items served at the party for her niece and an aunt. “After all, we had two birthdays to celebrate, so you can see why we’d have to have twice as much food.”

She tells a couple of cute stories about the birthday girl, whom she refers to here as “Gale.” First, the little one kept asking Dot to look around the house to see if she could find just one more present. Then, noticing Dart’s photo in it’s place of honor on the piano, she asked, “Where’s Dart? Isn’t he coming to my party, too?” After all, the entire cast of her life was there to pay homage, so why not Dart?

She further reports that Dart was the main topic of conversation at the party. He made a very favorable impression during his brief visit. Those who met him wished they’d met him sooner, and those who didn’t meet him regret missing the opportunity to do so. Everyone agrees they’d like to see him in the very near future.

She asks Dart if he would consider her a slacker if she took three days off work next week. She explains that it’ll be her last chance before returning to school and she has several partially finished outfits she started sewing last spring that she’d like to complete. (Is there no end to this girl’s talents and industriousness?)

Then she introduces a theme that I heard repeated numerous times over my childhood. She writes that while she appreciates his gentlemanly manner, he’s certainly not helping her in her fervent efforts to lose weight. If she promises not to sacrifice her health, would he please stop discouraging her weight-loss efforts? I recall Mom asking Dad to please tell her that if she didn’t lose weight, he’d leave her. He would predictably murmur in a dead pan voice, “If you don’t lose weight, I’ll leave you.” Mom would then cry, “You have to sound like you mean it!” But he never did.

Although today’s letter from Dart was very short, she’d rather have even one line than to hear nothing from him. She sends her mother’s regards and the request to let Ruth know whose turn it is to write.

Signing off with “I must stop this letter, bit I’ll never stop loving you,” she bids him goodnight.

080244a080244b080244c

August 3, 1944

11. August 1944, Dot's Letters

It’s a brief and breezy letter that Dot writes from work. She is biding her time at the wrapping desk, waiting for customers while making some feeble cracks about how hard she’s working.

She asks if his scouting expeditions into San Francisco have unearthed Fred yet. She hopes the two of them will have plenty of time to get together. “I would tell you to be good and have fun, but knowing how difficult it may be to do both, well, just have fun.”

Her letter was delayed a bit when someone brought her a swimsuit to be mail wrapped. She picks it up later that evening, writing from the McDonald’s house. She’s spending the night so she can babysit.

She tells Dart she’s going to the beach tomorrow with Janie and wishes he could be there in person. “You’ll be there in ‘spirit’ but I find spirits aren’t very talkative or nearly as much fun as you are.”

She wonders wistfully if she’ll receive a letter from him tomorrow.

080344ad080344bd

August 4, 1944

11. August 1944, Dart's Letters, Dot's Letters

Dart writes an especially sweet and poignant letter today. First he tells of being hailed to the office via loudspeaker, where he finally met up with Fred! They spent several hours talking and walking, making plans to go into town the next evening to see a play.

At noon the next day, Fred came dashing in on Dart as he was shaving, saying that in two hours, he’d be gone. At 3:15, Dart saw a convoy of trucks loading a group of Marines onto a ship across the bay in ‘Frisco. By 4:00, Fred’s stay in the United States had ended. Dart watched until Fred’s ship passed under the Golden Gate Bridge and headed out to sea.

Dart says they talked of many things, including Dot, but there was a sad bit of news to mar the reunion. “Another of our friends and classmates, 1st Lt. William A. MacDonald, was lost when the Liberator he was co-piloting was shot down over the lines in France.” Dart related that some of the crew parachuted to safety, some landed in German hands, and Bill stayed with the plane to try and get it back to base. The plane crashed within sight of our lines.

“I could ramble on about what a swell, good-looking and good natured fellow Bill was. I could also say something about his fiance, our classmate, a neighbor of mine. But sad words and eulogies are of no use. They are heard so often now that they begin to lose a little of their effect. All I can say is that it’s a darned shame.”

This simple telling of the death of a young man I never knew, 70 years after it happened, caused me to mist up. Such a terrible waste! A loss to the world for all time. And replicated millions of times in dozens of wars in the intervening decades. Will we ever learn?

Dart told Dot a little about his latest liberty with his new buddy “Leffman. They missed seeing Jimmy Dorsey by five minutes and saw a pretty good film called Dr. Wassell.

He suggests to Dot that they drop the “unworthiness” business. He happens to think they are very well suited, in addition to being very much in love. He dispels her notion of his brain power by saying he’s simply been lucky that the tests have asked the questions he happens to know the answers to. Next, he runs down a list of his “flaws,” including frequent and pointless cussing and essential laziness. He claims he could go on, but instead he acknowledges that they are both human and he hopes the little bad traits they both have will not prove daunting or insurmountable to live with. All he knows now is that she’s the one and only girl for him, with or without her faults.

He comments on the opening paragraph of her letter that he received today. I can’t tell if he enjoyed it’s bold flirtation, or if he was a little nervous about where she picked up a line like that. (All those movies she sees, maybe?)

He tells her that his parents think a lot of the picture Dot sent them, and they think a lot of the girl who sent it. He tells her that he has placed all of her photos on display and continues to get a little thrill every time he looks at them because they enhance his memories of the time they were taken. “I remember how contented and natural it seemed to have my arms around you or to walk hand in hand with you.”

He closes by saying that letters are absurdly feeble for expressing what is in his heart, but he is so glad he was able to tell her in person and to know that they are “in it together.”

080444a080444b080444c080444d080444e080444f

Dot begins her letter to Dart with a breathless description of her day. She raced from work to the beach, where she felt like floating in Long Island Sound all night. It was the hottest day of the hottest summer on record. While at the beach, she saw the mailman who informed her there were two letters from Dart waiting for her at home. I get a kick out of how much the whole town of Greenwich seems to be invested in this romance!

Her cousin Janie wanted Dot to go home with her after the beach visit, but knowing what was awaiting her, Dot decided to head home immediately. She says she’ll spend the night at Janie’s house after they see Dragonseed tomorrow night.

She tells Dart that she finally worked up enough nerve to do a back dive yesterday. “As far as form goes, well, I didn’t have any, but on the other hand, neither did I suffer from any physical injuries.”

She wonders how he’ll ever manage to gain any weight if he skips meals to do laundry. She also requests that he send her his pictures of their leave together. She just wants to see what they look like and then promises to return them to him.

As she finishes the letter, it’s nearly midnight, making it 9:00 PM where Dart is. “I’m wondering if you can see the gorgeous moon. They always seem most beautiful the times it doesn’t do me any good.”

080444ad080444bd

August 5, 1944

11. August 1944, Dart's Letters

This letter of Dart’s is very difficult to read. It’s written in pencil on cheap lined tablet paper that has not stood up to the passage of time like his finer stationary has. The paper has darkened and the pencil has faded so that they are almost the same shade.

He begins writing this letter during the class time allotted for an electricity test. He was the second one finished and still has 45 minutes left while the rest of the classes catches up. True to his generally modest nature, Dart takes no particular pride in the ease with which he’s sailing through this class. “I really pity the fellows who haven’t had this work before, and who haven’t learned to think things out for themselves in a more or less orderly manner. They’re having a rough time, every bit as rough as when I was taking it for the first time. …I may look brighter than some of them, but I really had to work as hard as they and get grades as low as theirs in order to be that way. Circumstances have made things easier for me.”

He talks about the challenge of the math test coming up next period. He knows the calculations, but his execution is sometimes sloppy. He’ll add 9 plus 15 and write down 21; then in his haste during the checking portion, he misses his own silly error.

He pauses to rest his eyes before the next test and resumes when his math class is over. After chatting with his instructors, he believes he’ll get about a 90 or 95 on his electricity test and an 80 or 85 in math.

The next exam coming up is his air craft recognition test. What an intriguing set of skills these guys must develop! They must be able to identify 15 types of planes, from any angle, under any circumstances, in a tenth of a second flash. They then have 45 seconds to write down the plane’s symbol, name and wingspan.

I love to see the range of letters Dart writes. Some of them are focused nearly exclusively on his feelings for Dot. Others, like this one, scarcely mention the emotional stuff. I can tell that he enjoys the mental stimulation of engaging his mind on complex, practical problems and the learning of new skills. His letters do a wonderful job of showcasing all the facets of this young sailor; witty, serious, mature, playful, intelligent, loving, curious, stable, thoughtful , honest, romantic and practical. Is it any wonder Dot has recognized what a good man he is?

He tells her he may not be able to write for a day or so because he has liberty coming up.

080544a080544b080544c080544d

August 6, 1944

11. August 1944, Dot's Letters

Once again, the heat and humidity take center stage in Dot’s letter. She babysat Eric and Chris again – the task not too difficult, but enduring the sweltering heat was a grueling test. It’s hard to imagine what daily life must have been like before air conditioning was commonplace.

She mentions seeing Dart’s favorite actress, Katharine Hepburn, in Dragon Seed last night. Her critique: “K.H. was surely the perfect actress for the part of ‘Jade.’ The picture gave one a vivid realization of what the Japanese are doing and have done to China and her peace-loving people.”  I’m a bit of an old film buff, and I’ve never heard of this particular movie. I wonder if it was one of those popular propaganda films that Hollywood studios churned out at an alarming rate during the war years, most of which faded into obscurity when the war was over.

She hopes that by now he and Fred have caught up with each other, which, of course we know they have, however briefly.

She tells Dart she’s in the mood to tell him all the thoughts and feelings she has within her, but she reminds him how poor she is at translating those feelings into words. She’s still cursing her shyness while he was home, wishing with everything in her that she had voiced her love. She looks forward to an opportunity very soon when she can correct her mistake. “Thank goodness we are both still young and there will be other times; many of them, I hope.

In wartime, youth is no guarantee of having lots of time. Was it hard to keep the faith and go on believing that you would see your loved one again? Was the thought of losing them too much to contemplate, and therefore, ignored? Was everyone superstitious about even thinking of the worst possibilities? How grateful I am that these two kids actually did have decades together to say all there was to say to each other. In light of all the people they knew who were denied that chance, did they always carry a deep sense of gratitude?

Announcing she has picked up another summer cold, she decides to nurse it by getting more sleep.

080644ad080644bd