Dart begins his “wee note” by saying that everything near him is FUBAR – “Fouled up beyond all recognition.” He still doesn’t know when he’ll return to duty, but he’s trying to be prepared when the call comes.

He has his uniform ready, his personal effects are nearly packed, and he’s done a little shopping while on his one-day pass off the ward.

One of the items he bought is on it’s way to Greenwich, carrying all his wishes for Dot on her 18th birthday, and all his gratitude for what she has become to him.

He mentions that today is his parents 24th anniversary. He was going to call them, but their recent letter said they’d be spending the day downtown watching a parade (Flag Day?) and doing some mild celebrating.

His final line is, as always, a sweet one. “Tonight I can’t find words to describe my love for you, but maybe my birthday present will speak for me.”

Once again, Dot begins her letter with an apology for never having time to write. I marvel how much she squeezes into a single day – every day of the week!

Tonight she went solo to a movie “His Butler’s Sister,” starring Deanna Durbin. She was so taken by the beauty and talent of young Deanna and she seems to feel totally lacking in both. She realizes that statement might make one think she was fishing for compliments, but she says she wasn’t, so Dart must not make any comments.

She says the movie got her to thinking about a lot of things. Are real people ever truly as happy and in love as they seem in movies? When setting goals in life, does setting very high standards make one happy for every achievement made toward that goal? Conversely, do folks who set low goals become dissatisfied and unhappy because there is nothing left to work for? “Better I should stop rambling on about something  I know little or nothing about,” she says.

She writes that her cousin Jane is giving her a birthday party on Friday night. Jane has a surprise up her sleeve. Dot hopes it’s a trip to Playland, which she says is like Euclid Beach in Cleveland, except bigger and better.

She tells Dart she shares his hope that they will see each other soon. She’s waited seven months, but if she had to, she’d wait seven years, because she loves him that much.

Dart’s long letter shared some impressive news with Dot. The results of his skills, knowledge and aptitude tests are in, and they are stellar! He scored in the upper 5% of all the men in the Navy and is eligible for nearly any naval job he wants. (Not aviation because of his height, or officer’s training for the present time because of the 8″ scar on his back.) The special devices school he’s been dreaming of has been deemed beneath his skills and abilities.

He describes the four programs for which he’s been recommended, and his thoughts on each of them. Radio school doesn’t interest him in the slightest, so he passed on that invitation. He also rejected Quartermaster because it comes with a 100% guarantee of sea duty, which he’s not terribly keen on. His first choice was Fire Control, which deals with the sensitive computing and control equipment that regulates the firing of the large and complicated guns on various ships. There is a 50/50 chance of sea duty. Shore duty would involve maintaining the equipment or teaching about it, either stateside or overseas. That’s his first choice. Now he must await his assignment by the placement committee when he leaves Great Lakes.

“Boy! Do I feel important! I hope it doesn’t show. The interviewer said they very seldom run across men like me. Miss, get me a size 15 hat, please!”

He has signed up for his round-trip tickets to Cleveland, with only eight days left at his current location. He suggests that as of June 23, Dot begin addressing her letters to his parents’ home.

He closes the letter by saying “I love you very much, even if all this sounds like I love only me.”

I’m so glad he felt he could “toot his own horn” to someone so openly. Test results like his are truly something to take pride in. Congratulations, Dart. (Be sure to check out his drawing on page 6.)

Under the date, with tongue-in-cheek drama, Dot writes “Today I am a woman.” Naturally, the opening paragraph is an apology for being too busy to write.

Her birthday surprise, ala cousin Jane was to meet El and Jane’s sister Betty in NYC for an evening at Radio City Music Hall. The “miraculous” stage show included the Rockettes, the ballet and the Dan Cassack choir. Dot says the latter was the best choral music she’s heard in “all my 18 years.”

The  live show was followed by the film “White Cliffs of Dover,” with Irene Dunn and Alan Marshall. The movie was heartbreaking, but beautifully acted with a compelling plot. Dot claims she would have been able to keep the tears inside, had she not noticed a grown man nearby pull a tissue out and wipe his eyes. “That really got me, and I stayed ‘got’ for the rest of the picture!”

Following the show, this group of young women had dinner at Howard Johnson’s in New York. It’s been eight months since Dot ate at a HJ, that time in Cleveland with Dart.

Last night, her family celebrated Father’s Day and her birthday by seeing “Buffalo Bill” in Technicolor. When they returned home around 11:45, her folks gave her a large wrapped box and made her wait until midnight to open it. It was a heavenly Zenith portable radio with beautiful tone and small enough to carry from room to room. She’s delighted and can’t wait to show it to Dart.

She has earned a ticket to the War Bonds show coming to Greenwich, which she plans to attend. It starts at 8:30 PM and goes until 3:00 AM, but she’ll be there for part of it.

She’s thrilled that Dart is returning to boot camp and remarks that nothing can stop him now. “The best isn’t good enough for you, but that’s the best they can give you.” She tells him her love for him is so deep it makes the Pacific Ocean look like a puddle.

Up until now, it seems that Dart’s boot camp has consisted primarily of marching, cleaning and painting things. Now, he writes in great detail about the actual warship training he’s received. He describes the very complex system of relaying and receiving verbal orders on board ship during battle conditions. They used live ammunition in actual 20 mm anti-aircraft cannons while battle sounds were blasted into their brains via headsets. While it was a thrilling exercise, there were multiple opportunities for human error and Dart’s crew took full advantage of those to accidently “shoot down” a friendly aircraft.

Next, he learned about night spotting of ships on a dark horizon at sea. There’s a real trick to that, but Dart seemed to do okay with it.

Now, it’s back to cleaning in preparation for a quarters inspection in the morning. He’s in the mood to write more, but duty calls.

Dot’s note is a brief but enthusiastic thank you note for the beautiful locket Dart sent for her birthday. “I love them – both the giver and the gift – and shall cherish them close to my heart all of my life.” I remember that locket from my childhood,  still  containing the photos he’d placed there when he mailed it to her. Sadly, it was lost when someone broke into my parents’ home and stole Mom’s jewelery box. None of the items there had any real value to the thief, but held great sentimental value for Dot. I still feel a sad little pang when I think of that senseless break-in.

She’s overjoyed to hear that his leave is coming up so quickly, but she’s kicking herself for not staying in Cleveland to get a job. She reminds him that if his family wants to get rid of him before his leave is up (unlikely!), he’d be welcomed in Greenwich with open arms. By the way, the key is under the mat, but the door is never locked. (Ah, the simplier times!)

A very hurried note from Dart tells of receiving a letter from Dot, forwarded from the hospital. He got a little thrill to see the stamp “transferred to duty” on the envelope.

He was required to get his hair cut before leave – a fate he’d been hoping to avoid by getting a real barber cut in the hospital, “But they’ve decided to mess us all up a little more.”

Throughout the day, Dart and company have had numerous uniform changes for the various duties they’ve encountered: Dungarees (when was the last time you heard that word?) for pre-dawn exercise, blues for chow, whites for inspection, dungarees again for work detail, whites for dinner and back into dungarees for haircuts. That seems rather inefficient to me, but the Navy has its own ways.

He has to hit the sack early for the 0500 “Hit the Deck” wake-up call.

Dot’s note equaled Dart’s in brevity today. She’s so happy he has only a week remaining until he’s in the loving embrace of his family. She offered the hopeful suggestion that he could travel to Cleveland via New York and be in Greenwich during her three-day break over July 4.

She was transferred to the first floor at Franklin Simons today to fill in a short staff. She’s not too keen on the idea and hopes it’s just temporary. She likes the merchandise upstairs better and has become friendly with the staff up there. Now she’s selling neckties and handkerchiefs and finds it dull.

She asks Dart to remember to give her regards to his family and tell them she’s envious of them. She also wants him to remember that she loves him.

There’s no letter from either of our lovebirds tomorrow, so I’ll see you back here on the 23rd.

It seems Dart’s the busy one now, and with good reason; he’s trying hard, along with the rest of his company, to obtain an early leave. It’s not looking too promising, but he dreams of extra time so that he could make the trip to Greenwich. He says if his family can’t stand having him around, he’ll be there yet.

He was happy to receive her letter, mailed directly to his new (and soon to be “former”) address. He still gets a little chill when he sees that confirmation that he is, indeed, no longer in the hospital.

Hearing that she’d sold her bike, he asks what they will use for transportation when they have their picnic. On second consideration, he believes a tandem would be more fun anyway.

For the final paragraph in the letter, Dart writes, “Thanks for ‘being’, Dearest. You’re what I expect to fight for.” I find that incredibly poignant and sweet.

Having peppered the short note with numerous “dearests,” Dart’s PS is cute: Sort of went all out on the dearest angle tonight, didn’t I? Anyway, I got the idea across I hope.

This bright and enthusiastic letter from Dot shows just how proud she is of Dart’s test scores. “I told you Case would regret letting such a good man go, but why talk of such elementary schools as Case?,” she joked.

She went on to speculate about where he might be stationed. “I s’pose you won’t know where you’re going ’til you report after your leave, will you? Something tells me it’s not my luck to have you be somewhere near here, so I guess I’ll give up seeing you until the score is settled in Berlin and Tokyo.”

She comments that the fire control sounds interesting and she bets he’ll love it. She’s so glad someone in that Navy finally let him know just how worthwhile he is to the country. “It would be a shame if they let you develop a “Casper Milquetoast complex,” she wrote, referencing a comic strip in the Herald Tribune.

His story of the exercise in transmitting verbal orders during a sea battle reminded her of a game of telephone she once played at a party. The message relayed by whisper from person to person to person resulted in Dot shouting out an embarrassing version of the original message when her turn came.

She suggests he might talk his parents into taking a sightseeing trip to NYC during his leave and just happen to stop by Greenwich. They have four empty beds at the Chamberlain house, so it wouldn’t be a problem!

Dart’s superior intelligence has her a little worried that he’ll discover her to be a low grade moron. Quips Dot, “I’m thinking of going to night school and taking a 9-week course on “How to Become a Genius.” Then she adds, “I’m not making fun of you, Dart. I’m really awfully proud of you.”

Here’s a newsy letter telling about Dart’s activities during his final days of boot camp.  He’s been on light duty since being discharged from the hospital, excusing him from drills and calisthenics. Instead, he and a few others from his company have been practically rebuilding the barracks. They’ve removed the baseboards, sanded and varnished them, repaired some doors, washed windows and a slew of other paltry tasks. (“Light duty,” Navy-style!)

Today, while two 5,000-man regiments were inspected on the drill fields, Dart’s small band of men were undergoing barracks inspection. They were the only company in 32 who received perfect scores in two categories. With pride, he writes, “We’re expecting to see a couple of rooster flags flying from our staff Monday morning.”

Dart’s group will probably not have a formal graduation ceremony, but all that matters to him is that his leave is set. It begins at 0800 on June 28 and runs through July 11. He begins to imagine a scenario where he might be able to get up to see her, if only for a day. Then he realizes he’s selling the idea to the wrong person, since Dot is already in complete agreement with any plan that would put them in the same place. He knows he needs to sell his folks on the idea, but he won’t even guess the outcome of that conversation. You can read his frustration and worry in the words he writes. He’s so desperate to see her, but fears that dream will go the way of others he’s had in recent memory.

He still has not received any forwarded letters from Dot describing her birthday festivities or gifts. He’s curious about the Friday night surprise and, probably about her reaction to his gift.

Tonight, he loafs, but tomorrow is another full day, including washing all his clothes and linens.

Can a letter be both wistful and cheerful? I think Dot proves that it can. She imagines him reading this letter in his own bedroom at home. She gets tearful when she imagines the reunion with a son and his parents. How she wants to be part of that celebration! She remembers how wonderful Christmas at the Chamberlain house was because Gordon was home before being shipped out.

Remarking that not only does absence make the heart grow fonder, but it also makes one realize there’s no place like home, she tells of her friend Cynthia who is home briefly from her school, Oberlin. The girl is thrilled to be back on a brief break before returning to Ohio for summer classes. Dot comments, “She’s a wonderful girl. I wish you could have met her (and about a half million other people). If your curiosity gets the better of you and you can’t bear to let these people remain unknown, come East. I promise to introduce you to everyone.”

She issues an order that he have a perfect leave. She requests that he have a double good time because she will be with him mentally. To keep him from feeling tied down, she grants him a 10-day recess from writing letters.

“Give my love to your family, but keep plenty for yourself,” she writes. Will he take her up on the offer not to write? Will his leave live up to expectations? Is there a chance he’ll be able to make the long trip to Greenwich to lay eyes on his beloved?

We have no choice but to let the story unfold.

Dart is counting down the days (a mere two) before his leave commences. There are threats of severe vengeance circulating through his company – vengeance against any poor sucker who curses too loudly, whistles at the wrong female, or in any way gets into sufficient trouble to delay leave for the remaining company.

Dart tells about his phone call home today, to discuss details of his arrival with his folks. When he asked his brother Burke about his lucrative summer job, all Burke could say was that it was hot. He must monitor the gauges on 14 furnaces in some factory somewhere in Cleveland. He did accept Dart’s helpful suggestion that “Hotter than the hinges in Hades” might be a more colorful description.

After church service today, Dart did all of his laundry, except the clothes on his back and his dungarees, “which I don’t intend to wear until they can stand up my themselves and crawl out of the sea bag when I whistle.”

Here’s a chipper note from Dot. She says to this soon-to-be-graduated sailor, “If you aren’t in the best of spirits and having a wonderful time – well, you better get in the groove.”

She talks about her family’s summer cottage on Lake Sunapee, NH. Until 1941, she had been there every summer of her life, beginning at age two months. Then gas rationing started, preventing the family from making the trip. Dot writes that her parents are going up next week for July 4th, and she wishes she were going with them. Now, it’s her job that prevents her from making the trip. She says that getting up to Lake Sunapee is yet another reason she wants this war to end.

That humble little summer place is still in the Chamberlain family, providing the glue that keeps our family close into the sixth generation. Mom still makes her yearly pilgrimage to recharge her batteries and commune with the spirits of those who have loved the place as much as she does.

She writes that she is going nuts, thinking of him being so much closer to Greenwich soon, without it doing her much good.

Dart dashed off this hurried note on his way to a farewell party in the mess. He was looking forward to bidding adieu to this “unholy, unwholesome hole.”

He’d finally received a letter from Tom Riley, a V-12 buddy at Case, but there was no real news in it.

He informs her that he’ll be Peterson, S 2/c after tomorrow. (I’m assuming that’s Seaman, second class. That’s all there is for today.

Dot and Dart were on the same wavelength today. Both of them wrote in pencil. Dot has a slow day at work, so she’s using her time to write to Dart.

Knowing that Dart will be reading this letter in Cleveland, she asks if he has gotten in touch with any of his former roommates from Case yet. When he does, she reminds him to be sure and thank Johnny Rusch for passing Dot’s message to Dart that day several months ago – the message that she really liked to get mail. It seems to be responsible for what came after for these two young lovers. Speaking of mail reminded Dot that there is a certain male she’d like to receive at her home next Sunday!

It’s nearly time to close up shop now. Dot needs to cover her merchandise with curtains before she heads home. She writes that the job is getting better all the time. Now she has a half day off each week and the store closes at 4:00 on Saturdays.

She tells him that a co-worker who reads palms as a hobby gave her a reading this week. “She told me all about my shortcomings and I thought she’d never finish. The trouble is, everything she said about me sounds just like me. Thank goodness you were not around to hear it!”

She said she’d try to write more from home later in the day, and she managed to find the time in another letter. She writes that El offered to write to Dart with a warm invitation to come to Greenwich. Dot thought that an additional invitation from an unbiased source might add weight to the idea, so El is writing him tonight.

She says she knows how her family would feel if Gordon finally got leave after months of being away, and spent a few days of it away from home. They may not say anything, but they wouldn’t be happy. The last thing she wants is to give his parents a reason not to like her, so she doesn’t want to risk it by his coming out. Still… “I guess I’d better not hope for too much. We’ve got plenty of time for such things (It says here.)”

She’s having difficulty expressing all of her thoughts on the subject of a visit. She doesn’t want to discourage him if he has the slightest inclination. It would be wonderful to introduce him to everyone and to see him herself. However, there is the chance that he will discover he doesn’t really like her very much, and she’d hate for that to be the outcome. (Do you believe this girl?)

Her family was discussing the GOP convention this evening, and she asked her father why he didn’t run for President. He replied, “I’d have about as much chance as a snow ball being chased by an asbestos cat through the hottest streets of Hades.”

She says her parents have abandoned plans for their trip to New Hampshire this weekend because Don’s parents are coming to visit. (And you, I hope, she adds, helpfully.)

In case he needs a recommendation about the Chamberlain hospitality, she offers her own. She thinks it’s nice. Perhaps the beds are a bit too hard, but she hears the Navy has given up their box springs lately, as well. If she has not convinced him to visit, she deems herself a failure in life. “PLEASE COME, DART,” she pleads.