What a change in mood from yesterday’s letter! Dart received three letters from Dot today, held up by the postal service. She still loves him, and he is overjoyed. He calls the letters “thrilling, heart-warming love letters, newsy and humorous as well.”

He has serious doubts about how he’ll survive long days at sea without regular mail from her. He thrives on her letters as he thrives on memories of their time together and dreams of times in the future. He and Dot certainly strike similar themes, don’t they?

He’s delighted with his Christmas package, astounded by the assortment of candy bars that she managed to collect for him. He tells her they don’t even have that much selection at Ship’s Service these days. He used the ocarina today in an impromptu jam session with Lefty and Spiegler. He plans to keep the billfold, too. It’s the perfect thing to keep his pictures of her safely with him.

I’m not sure what she used, but he and his pals enjoyed the paper she wrapped the candy with. Dart says that Leffman and Spiegler copied the pictures with colored pencils to use in the future. It would be fun to see if Dot recalls what he’s talking about seven decades after the fact.

Among other letters, Dart got one from one of his Shaw buddies named Bob Braund from APO New York, containing a censor’s mark. Dart has no idea where he’s stationed overseas, but he’s happy to see this good guy received a promotion to corporal.

Dart asks Dot if she recalls a long time back when he first called her “darling” in a letter. Her response was not too positive, thinking it was too much, too soon and had a false ring to it for ones as young as they. He’s glad now that she had that reaction, because when they use it sparingly, it seems to have much more meaning than it would have otherwise. Speaking of terms of address, he hopes she notices how seldom he calls her “Dorothy.” He’s still quite fond of the name, ever since he was a small boy and dreamed he’d marry a girl by that name. “Now that I’ve fallen in love with a Dorothy, that dream seems like a prediction of things to come. At least I hope that it’ll come true.”

As he does with increasing frequency now, he falls into a lovely reverie of their last night together in Cleveland. He recalls that they didn’t say much, just sat holding hands, and kissing occasionally. That’s when Dot told him that he needn’t ask her permission to kiss her any more because she had no plans to be kissing anyone else. He recalls the sensation of her in his arms, her head resting on his shoulder. She didn’t say much, but everything she said thrilled him to his core and made him feel happier than he’d ever been.

He covers familiar ground on Memory Lane as he remembers the look on her face when she threw water on him, how eager she was to help him with his trains, how dirty her knees got from the shabby old rug in the living room. He was not able to look at her for very long without his eyes clouding up and without the fear that she’d dissolve into thin air like most beautiful visions.

Returning to her recent letter, he’s happy that the “nunny” feeling she gets when she hears beautiful music in church vanishes as soon as she leaves the building. He’d hate to be in love with a nun, and whoever heard of a Congregational nun anyway? Like her, he also experiences the odd looks from strangers when they catch him with a goofy smile as he thinks of her. “I guess we’re nuts, but ain’t it fun?”

Sadly, he admits they must abandon hope that he’ll be at her graduation. The Navy is a cruel master.

Because she often writes to him “after bedtime,” he asks if she has a regular bedtime. He tells her that the guys all think she’s too clever for Dart because her letters are so amusing.

Before stopping to write to his mom and pop, he takes a quick break to look at photos of other guys’ girls. He saw some cute tricks and sharp numbers, but none appeal to him as much as Dot does. He’s so glad she’s “spoken for” by him.

Dot’s letter must be short because she’s living in a Christmas rush. Home is hardly less hectic than the store.

Today brought a very long letter from Gordon. He told the family not to feel sorry for him on Christmas because he’ll be spending the day thinking about last Christmas when his whole family was together, so he’ll be happy. Dot teared up a little when he asked his sisters to think of him when they sneak downstairs before their parents are up to open their first present.

This letter from Dart is a little confusing because it refers to things I’ve not seen mentioned in letters before. Again I have a feeling that we may be missing a letter here and there.

Dot may have said something to him about the nearly identical letters he wrote last week describing the Russian concert in San Francisco. One of them was addressed to Dearest Sweetheart and the other to Dearest Dot. She may have questioned who “Sweetheart” was. He says he thinks one of those was intended for his folks, but he must have been tired when he wrote it.

Dart mentions that he is alone tonight because Spiegler has gone to the hospital for surgery tomorrow. He has a cyst exactly like the one Dart had removed in Chicago. Leffman will go to the hospital tomorrow for one or two operations. He has a cyst on his head. Cryptically, he adds that “we don’t speak of his other trouble.”  That of course leads me to imagine what ailment might have been considered taboo; testicular cancer or erectile dysfunction? It seems almost quaint to witness a time when medical conditions were considered too sensitive to discuss with others. Now it seems that everybody shares everything and we see ads for all manner of intimate products and conditions on television.

Then Dart tells a surprising tale on himself. It seems he is about to get into big trouble, or as he so picturesquely puts it, “Your sailor’s about to wear his anatomy in a sling.” It’s a complicated story that I’m not sure I follow completely, but it has something to do with Dart ignoring regulations about the handling of his liberty pass, holding on to one signed by the former commander for a special use. Under the former commander, the rules might have been more loosely enforced, so Dart took advantage of that. Now the new commander is more of a stickler and Dart’s liberty pass is missing. He’s a little worried that his clean record will be tarnished and, worse yet, that he’ll have to go the rest of his time at Shoemaker without liberty. Dot’s “weegie” board says he’ll be there five more weeks, and that’s a long time to be stuck in this pit. He says other guys can get away with murder, but the minute he tries “a mild job of underhanded dealings,” he chokes on his own feet. It serves him right, he says, because he’s been “caught with the goods.” He hopes Dot won’t think less of him.

Now I wish even more than before that I knew what these two were talking about with Dart’s clever response to Dot’s little prank about dropping him a line. Now he confesses that his retort was indeed all original. Everyone thought her line that started it was very good and he’s glad she liked his reply. Well, as long as they can make each other laugh, I guess we don’t need to be in on the joke, too.

He’s decided to keep both his Christmas billfolds. The one from his folks is too big to fit into a Navy uniform pocket, so he’ll use it to store precious photos. Dot’s will be used for its intended purpose.

He must clarify that his recent phone call was not the one she told him to make collect. Besides, he can’t be expected to do everything she tells him to. “You don’t want a henpecked BF do you?” While he’s on that subject, he asks her where she got the idea that she has 51% of their partnership. When he asked the married guys about this arrangement, they said, “You don’t know it yet, but she’s right.” Now, that’s funny!

With a slight hint of caution, he tells her that her tailor and shopping scheme at work sounds a bit like the deal he’s caught up in now. At least he was saving his contraband liberty pass for a good reason – like the East Bay Model Engineers operating night!

He’s decided to keep her guessing tonight and not tell her how much he loves her, so she won’t know.

It sounds like Dot and Betty had a great night on the town – another topic I don’t recall reading about. With Betty’s generous Christmas gift from Gordon, he suspects she may have a few more grand times.

It comes as no surprise that Dot has made a big impression on Mr. Goldstein. He knows a good thing when he sees it and he knows what draws in the customers.

Several days ago, Dart tried writing a letter while on the local train back to Shoemaker. His handwriting suffered from the bumpy track. Dot quipped in her reply to him that the track must have been made of cobblestones. Dart now replies with a little railroad humor. (And I do mean “little”) that when they were building the first section of the track, they had the blueprints upside down and they placed the rails underneath the ties. After discovering the mistake, they didn’t want folks to notice the screw-up, so they did the second half of the track the same way. Ouch.

After breaking his vow to keep her in the dark about how much he loves her, he adds a P. S. that reminds me of the early letters between these two. He asks her what I.W.D.G.M.P S.I.G.N. means. Will she break the code for him?

Dot’s short letter, which she begins at work, spans two days. In the first part, she asked him to confirm the names of his aunt and uncle who live in Ashtabula. Are they Arthur and Flora Crowthers? She was paying more attention to Dart than to them the one time she met them in Cleveland, and she forgot their names. Today she received a Christmas card and a lovely handkerchief from the Crowthers from Ashtabula. Since his relatives are the only people she knows from that town, she assumes it was they who sent the items.

She picks up the letter the next day to tell Dart she’d gone to the movies by herself the previous night. The film was very different from what she expected, but she liked it all the same. There was an actor who reminded her very much of Dart’s Pop.

Today on one of her trips to the tailor, she stopped by home to see if there was mail for her. She was rewarded with three letters from Dart. She says there have still been no packages, but she’ll try to be patient. She signs off, saying she’ll write more tonight.

Looks like Dart dodged a bullet! He made it out the gate for liberty today without incident. His liberty card becomes legal tomorrow.

He’s hanging out at the Hospitality House in Oakland, waiting for a free meal. He’s with three buddies from Shoemaker, including Leffman who was supposed to be in the hospital getting an operation. He offers no explanation on that.

The real impetus for coming into town tonight, as he mentioned in yesterday’s letter, is that the East Bay Model Engineers club is hosting their monthly operating night, allowing members of the public to run the trains. Dart doesn’t see how tonight’s event could top last month’s. Hmm. I’m not sure I’d be discerning enough to spot the difference between a great operating night and a so-so operating night. Perhaps I lack a certain enthusiasm for the hobby.

Shoemaker announced a new setup today for both liberty and work details. The only benefit to the poor enlisted men is that they can now wear dungarees on work details, saving their blues. “Dungarees” is a word I hope comes back into fashion some day because it’s so much fun to say, but I’m not holding my breath.

Dart regrets leaving camp before mail call because he’d been told there was a letter from Dot in his stack. Oh well, something to look forward to when he gets “home.”

He gets a nice long break from official duties for both Christmas and New Years, if he’s “still around to collect.”

Just to keep things interesting, Dot opens her letter with a bold “Dart Darling!” She knows what kind of a mood he was in when he wrote his recent “hell-raising” letter. She’s been in a similar state for a while, as her Christmas spirit came and left again in a flash.

The Franklin Simon Christmas party went off well tonight. Most people were feeling quite “happy,” but Dot only drank coffee, eschewing the 10 cocktails she was offered.

She’s pleased Dart was able to get to the concert the other day because he seems to enjoy them so much. She says she’d love to go to a concert with him some time, but then, a trip to the city dump would be great if they were together.

As so often happens, Dart and Dot were both listening to the same radio program last week. They both enjoyed “The Hour of Charm,” especially the hymn “In the Garden.”

She wants Dart to tell the guy who didn’t believe in marriage that he is “off his trolley.” She thinks Gordon’s war marriage is one that will stand the test of time. (and it certainly did! They celebrated their 60th anniversary, with Betty passing away the next day.) After the war, she hopes to have proof that post-war marriages can also be successful.

Unless the Navy delivers mail on Sunday, this letter will not reach Dart before Christmas. She’s looking forward to calling his folks on Christmas Day, if she can get a line through.

His Christmas will not be much, she knows, but she’s confident that he’ll have some in his future that are twice as nice as the best one he can remember. She thinks they’re in agreement that things usually work out the way they’re supposed to. She’s been trying to figure out the reason they’re “supposed” to be so far apart, and it eludes her. “I guess God’s keeping the reason to himself.”

Here’s the paragraph I’ve been expecting in response to one little part of his recent letter. She says she’ll be babysitting on New Years, so she’ll have no opportunity (of desire) to get drunk. But what the heck does he mean when he says he’ll be thinking about her from his little bunk at sea?! She asks if he has orders, or is that just a hunch he has? Surely he can’t expect to drop that casual little bomb and expect her to just accept it with no further explanation.

She ends with an emphatic statement – “Oh, I love you so very much! The next time we see each other, if there’s no one else around, that’s the first thing I’m going to tell you.”

We knew it was coming. Dart writes the hardest letter he’s ever had to write, to say that by the time Dot reads this, he will be gone from Shoemaker. This morning he initialed his name on a roster of 6,000 which leaves the camp on December 26.

He has made the decision not to call either his parents or Dot before he ships out. He’s decided there would be too much sadness to bear. He expects to be at sea by January 1, possibly en route to Pearl Harbor or Australia. “Only the Lord and the US Navy know where we’re going. And they can’t tell you for security reasons.”

He warns Dot that his letters for several days may  be short, sketchy or non-existent. Who knows what to expect.

Last night he had an unbelievable liberty. After getting a free meal at Hospitality House, he and his buddies went to the Southern Pacific Station to bum another free dinner from the USO. He and Lefty got to talking to an engineer who invited them into the cab of the engine. After the train left, the switch tower operator invited them all up to tour the tower. The four buddies then went to the operating night of the model railroad club until the other guys went out “beering.” Dart stayed until the club event ended.

He has 10 million things to do on his final liberty before he goes, including shopping, letter writing and the endless laundry.

A recent letter from Dot was signed “your own,” a term they both use frequently. This time it struck Dart how much those two words mean to him. He hopes that as they get farther apart geographically, those words will pull them closer together.

He urges her not to cry because he didn’t call or because he’s gone. “It’s not forever.”

A rushed but happy letter from Dot informs Dart that she and El have spent the day decorating their huge house for Christmas. She wishes he could see how beautiful it looks. Her brother-in-law, George, will take some photographs on Christmas Day and she’ll send him some if they turn out. It’s hard to imagine what Christmas pictures would look like in black and white, but I think that’s all that was available in 1944.

She tells Dart the tree is ten feet tall and four feet wide about half the way up. She hopes her last work day before the holiday goes as quickly as today went.

She misses him and sends all her love to the “most wonderful boy in the world.”

The opening paragraph of Dart’s letter might well be the most disparaging reaction to Christmas in history. He hurts, he’s tired, and his spirits are “as low as a patrolman’s arches.” He’s glad Dot can’t see him when he’s like this or she would never consent to become engaged when the war is over. He cannot wait to get out of Shoemaker.

The whole camp slept through breakfast chow, and having missed dinner last night, that set Dart off on the wrong foot. Then he got called to a work party where he and three other guys did 90% of the work and the other 12 just goofed off. After slaving for hours cleaning the huge patio area of the Hostess House he stood in the chow line for two hours for a mediocre meal. Then he got pulled into another work detail at the warehouse, moving baggage and sweeping out the whole place. Although they had to unload trucks filled with heavy sea bags, they were not permitted to use the warehouse dollies which were on reserve in case an officer happened to show up and wanted to move his bags. “How any officer can know about stuff like that and then look his men in the face and be an ‘example’ to them is beyond me.”

He hurried to the Western Union office to try to send telegrams to Dot and his mother, letting them know that he wasn’t shipping out tomorrow, but he got to the office one minute after it closed. When he plead his case to the guard in the office, who reamed him out for wearing dungarees (the uniform of the day, by the way) in a restricted area, the guard told him to go cry on the chaplain’s shoulder.

During it all, he missed two mail calls at which he had letters waiting for him. He could have especially used letters on this worst Christmas Day of his life.

Sometimes it just isn’t fun being in the Navy.

He sent her a new address for when he’s shipped out – now scheduled for Dec. 29. He warns her that after he leaves Shoemaker, his movements must be cloaked in secrecy and his regular letters will cease for awhile and will be subject to censorship when they resume. Censors won’t mess with letters from home, so she can continue to write anything she wants, but he will need to learn how to write for a “different audience.”

Having vented and brought her up to date on his moving plans, Dart turns to answering Dot’s most recent letters. He’s glad El is thrilled with her engagement ring. How he looks forward to putting a ring on Dot’s finger! This war can’t end soon enough to suit him. He hopes she survived the grueling retail rush and that by now she has received the three gifts he sent her.

He sure would like to be there to see that snowfall in Greenwich. Snow is lovely in Cleveland, but in a town as pretty as Greenwich, it must be the “nearest thing to Heavenly.”

He wants to remind his parents that he still remembers them, so he thinks he needs to quit now and write them a letter. He draws a triumphant sailor, with arms stretched up over his head. He tells he that’s him, feeling much better since “talking” to her for awhile.

If Dart’s letter was the gloomiest in the annuls of written language, Dot’s may be the most effusive and enthusiastic. She loves the beautiful stationery he sent. She adores the album of Bing Crosby records. (Those old 78 rpm records held so few songs that albums were actually sets of several records, weighing several pounds.) The picture he sent of himself is the best she’s ever seen and she loves him and the gifts more than she can say. “Oh Dart,” she exclaims, “I love them all so much, and you so much, and everyone and everything so much, I’m ‘fraid I’ll burst.”

She uses a couple of pages describing her Christmas loot. A luxurious light green puff (comforter?) so soft it nearly puts her to sleep just looking at it; several records; multiple boxes of stationery, including some from Chris and Eric who told her it was “just for Dart;” clothing, picture frame, “sweet potato;” violin bow, books; slippers; and a very nice phone chat with his mother.

Her father made her cry when they presented El with a beautiful handcrafted, cedar-lined walnut hope chest. He put his arm around Dot and said “We wanted to make one for you too, Sis, but we couldn’t get enough of the right kind of wood. We’ll get it finished for you soon enough.” She was so touched that he thought of making one for her. And what a beautiful piece it turned out to be. It still holds a prominent place in her bedroom.

Later came the Christmas feast with Harriet, George and Toni Gale in attendance. The menu was as long as Dot’s Christmas gift list. After dinner, she went to the Pecsok’s house to give the kids their gifts and Mr. Pecsok gave her something for Dart that she’ll send right along to him.

She took Dart’s new portrait with her everywhere she went and everyone agreed it was a great one. Her Uncle Ralph, the great kidder, kept stealing the picture and hiding it. She had to run all over the house looking for it. Another trick her family played on her was to hide all the packages that came from Dart when they arrived, so she wouldn’t know they’d come. At five past midnight, they let her open one package from Dart – the photograph. From then on, she says she didn’t care if she got anything else. Her Christmas would have been complete with just that.

Her day wrapped up at Janie’s house, singing Christmas carols.  She wanted Dart to know that the whole crowd drank a toast to him at dinner, so he certainly was not forgotten. Dot’s fervent prayer is that he will be able to join them for Christmas 1945.

Dart is Officer of the Deck from midnight until 4:00 in the  morning, putting him in charge of the outfit. He calls himself “King Snipe.”

He gives Dot a run down of his liberty in Stockton last night. He and Leffman met up with Chudy, and the other two guys grabbed a couple of pints. When the others got too drunk to suit Dart, he headed back to Shoemaker. Neither of his companions had returned when he got up for chow at 0700. So much for his last stateside liberty.

Tomorrow Dart will be a “busy little demon,” packing his sea bag, mending some things, mailing letters and books home, and doing a little shopping at Ship’s Service. This will be his last chance for a long while to fill out his personal stores with a fifth pair of dungarees and some Ivory Snow laundry flakes. This boy sure knows how to live it up, right?

The draft definitely leaves tomorrow for some undisclosed departure point – maybe Treasure Island, San Diego or some out-of-the-way place. From there, they’ll board a transfer ship.

Tonight he attended a USO show at camp. It featured lots of great acts and was headlined by Harpo Marx. Dart says it was the funniest (and least “dirty”) USO show he’s ever seen.

Like another Thursday night of long ago, there is no time for love, tonight, no matter how much love he has to express. The pressing matters of the world take priority over the “sweet nothings” he’d like to write. “I can’t see why they call those endearing whisperings ‘sweet nothings’ when they mean so much to two people who love each other as much as we do.”

In addition to military matters, he must bow to social order and answer some long-ignored letters from friends and family.

Dot’s letter strikes a perfect tone for a young man off to war. It’s tender and loving, let’s him know how much she wishes he didn’t have to go, yet is filled with hope and confidence for his safe return.

Being no “Hard-hearted Hannah,” she was not able to hold back her tears completely when she learned of his imminent departure, but she only shed a few. She knows that with both Dart and Gordon in the Pacific, Japan doesn’t stand a chance.

According to Dot, those who say that war is hell surely have it right! Not just for those fighting it, but for those at home, too. Although they’re not sacrificing much except their men folk, when a particular man is all you want in the world, it’s “no bed of roses” to worry about him and wait for him to return.

She’s grateful she was unaware of what a miserable Christmas he had. She’d envisioned him laughing it up at a USO show and enjoying a fine holiday meal. She thought the Navy was supposed to make the guys as happy as possible on the holidays, but perhaps they hadn’t heard about Christmas at Shoemaker.

Another full moon will go to waste tomorrow as she wonders where he’s headed. While she’s thinking of him, she’ll be talking Janie’s ear off about him during their cousin’s sleep over.

Although Dot wasn’t home last night when his telegram arrived, her mother told her today how impressed Arthur and the rest of the family were by Dart’s considerate gesture. The whole family seems to love this young man, but only a fraction as much as Dot does.

Wherever he goes, she begs him to take care of himself and “don’t get your feet wet.” (Is that the Navy equivalent of the advice to soldiers to “Keep your head down?”) She says if he sees a ship in the Pacific with a great big sailor on deck, sitting in front of a fan and mopping his brow, Dart should just swim on over and introduce himself to her brother.

“God bless you, Dart, and please hurry home to someone who loves you more than anything in the world.”