Codfish Air Lines

May 28, 1953

Valley Forge

Scan of Jim's stationery for this letter

Hi Darling,

I'm back again. We hit the line again today, but didn't do any flying. Bad weather.

I have some pretty straight "dope" this time. We leave the line the 7th of June, arrive in Yokosuka the 9th and leave there the 11th. Stop three days in Pearl Harbor and hit San Diego the 25th. But from now to the 7th of June, it's going to be "rough" on refueling days. We don't rest anymore. We refuel in the morning and fly in the afternoon. 

I'm damn glad I don't have to make a summer cruise over here.

We played three games the last time in port, but only won one of them. One of the losses was a two to one game, which we should have taken.

How would you like a new picture album? They have some real nice ones here. If we get liberty the next time in Japan, I'll get you one. You can use it when you get the one you have filled.

I don't know if "Sex After Forty" is any good or not. I didn't read it. HA 

I was just thinking about how good it will be to get home again and away from all this stuff over here. If I have to pull another cruise out here, I believe I would go nuts for sure. Nothing I can think of would be as bad as this, except maybe the infantry, and sometimes I think they have it better than we do.

Some writer has said that the outfit I'm in was the nearest thing the Navy has to a combat infantryman, but sometimes I think the infantryman is the nearest thing the Army has to a Navy "fire-bug." 

Honey, my section has to get up at 3:00 tomorrow morning, so I had better sign off. But at that [time we are] "late sleepers," the other section gets up at 1:00. HA 

Answer soon. 

I love you,

Jim

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King Neptune

May 24, 1953

Triumph of Neptune standing on a chariot pulled by two sea horses
(Latin: hippocampes). Mosaïque d'Hadrumète (Sousse)
 the mid-third century AD. Musée archéologique de Sousse.

Hi Darling,

Today has been a rough one for me. I've been sightseeing. HA  We snapped some pictures and must have walked 20 miles.

That wasn't all I did. I mailed you a bed jacket. I don't know how long it will take to get there, probably 4 weeks. I bought it and had no place to put it on the ship, so I had to take a chance on the Japanese mailing service. I hope it gets there alright.

I bought a set of fishing tackle and sent it along. You can stick it back in the closet 'til I get home, or if you like to fish, use it.

If your "Pop" likes to fish, he can give it a dip.

"Boy," it sure has been hot the last couple of days. I guess I shouldn't complain after last winter's cold. Oh well, we won't be here much longer. Only about 5 or 6 more days to operate, then homeward bound. And just think, only nineteen more months to do in this outfit. 

This subject of "King Neptune" is getting to be a "short-timer." 

The way I figure it, if everything goes right, I'll have time to pull one cruise around Europe, then I'll be getting out. We are all looking forward to our European cruise. We have seen so much of the Orient, we are ready for a change. 

My time is up January 14th '55, but I'm hoping to get out just before Christmas of '54, if they see things my way.

Also, we will be in dry-dock in Norfolk this Christmas and, if I can get as much as 72 hours liberty, I'll come home. 

Honey, I'm running out of things to talk about, so I'll sign off for now.

Over and out.

Answer soon.

I love you,

Jim

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Letter Of The Heart

[Editor's Note: On the front of the envelope Norma wrote, Letter of May 23, 1953, of the heart]

May 23, 1953

Valley Forge

Jim's stationery, May 1953

Hi Sweet Thing,

What's new with you? We are in port again, but not for long. We pull out the day after tomorrow. We will only operate 6 or 7 more days, then shove off for stateside. I think we leave Japan the twelfth of June.  Or maybe, the ninth. I don't know for sure. Anyway, we arrive in San Diego the 26th of June.

It was been raining here all day and is hot and "stuffy." Reminds me of Honolulu, which I don't like to be reminded of.  

I finally got to hear the song, "'Til I Waltz Again With You."  and is it beautiful.  A sixteen year old Japanese girl sang it and she is almost as good as Doris Day. 

Our relief carrier should pull in tomorrow. I hope so. I want to see her drop anchor. HA 

My buddy and I pulled one last night. We got so "high," we couldn't hit the ground if we had jumped out of an airplane. I think I've stopped drinking for sure.

Honey, I have a set of jackets, Japanese style. They are blue with white symbols on the back. Also, I bought a bed spread. It was so pretty I couldn't resist it. Also I have bought you a housecoat. It's pretty, I think. These damn mailing facilities here are so bad, I'm afraid to send them that way. I think I'll wait 'til I hit the States. I'm still looking for a pair of quilted pajamas, but no luck so far.

[Editor's Note: I vaguely remember blue silk bomber jackets that were hanging in the closet when I was a kid. I imagine both the jackets were worn out and are long gone. But the housecoat and the bedspread, along with a pair of black silk pajamas, are locked away in storage.]

"Ah," incidentally, the bedspread is for your mother for helping you fix those packages you sent to me.

So, the Valley Forge is making the papers, eh? Well, it's about time we got some publicity.

After all, aren't we the best ship in the fleet? Of course we are. HA 

If your boss knew you compared her running to the phone to a cow running in the pasture, you would probably get "deep-sixed." You better start being careful. HA 

Damn, it's so hot in this place my watch stopped telling time and started giving the temperature.

You should see the cherry trees here. This place is beautiful in the spring. With everything getting green and the kids playing in the streets, it reminds me of home. It also makes me think how basically the people of every country are the same. The kids want a place to play, a move to go to, or something to keep them busy all the time.

The adults want security, a job with a decent living, but most of all, the Japanese want to be left alone. Nothing would please them better than to pull all U.S. forces out of the Orient.  And I don't blame them. In their place, I would feel the same way.

I got carried away there for a minute. It happens to me sometimes.

Norma, I've been sitting here thinking about things. About getting married, for one thing. You told me once that I was blunt. Well, maybe I am. I don't like to waste words. Anyway, I don't want to get married anytime soon. First, I want to be able to see my way to a good future for my wife and any children we might have. Don't misunderstand, this isn't a proposal. I want to be with you when I do. 

I want to know if you will wait for me until I get out of the service and maybe a while after. 'Til I can get "back on my feet." I know I will have to re-inhabit myself to civilian life. It won't be easy. I picked up a lot of habits that will be hard to get rid of, but with them, I wouldn't make a decent husband for any girl, especially one like you. I love you, darling, and with you, I think I could be a "damn" good civilian some day.

I gotta sign off and hit the sack. It has taken half the night to write this letter.

Answer soon.

All my love, 

Jim

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Indian Beef

May 11, 1953

At Sea

Front of cover the Western, "Indian Beef"

Hi Sweet Thing,

You had better appreciate this letter because I'm depriving myself of sleep to write it. HA I was kidding. I know you do the same thing for me and for you, I would lose a lot of sleep.

Tomorrow is refueling day but I have the watch and have to get up at 4 bells.

My section has the watch from 4:30 AM to 2:45 PM. I know I'm gonna have trouble getting some of the guys up. They all make a special effort to be sleepyheads on refueling day.

But I shouldn't complain. The guy who wakes me will probably have a "helluva" time, too. HA 

I just finished a western novel entitled "Indian Beef." Pretty good, I thought.  

I also read one of those sex novels, "Bodies in Bed." I've had quite a bit of time for reading lately. We've been in bad weather for four days now. About all we do is fly a weather hop two or three times a day. 

In two more days we go back into port. I wish we didn't have to come back anymore, but nine days isn't much. I can stand on my head that long.

"Excuse me," I just got into a friendly argument with my bunkmate. I'm always giving him a bad time. I tell him I'm a better lover than he is and it shakes him all up. HA 

Now he is in bed reading the Bible.

Honey, I better sign off and hit the feathers. 

Over and out.

Answer soon.

I love you, angel,

Jim 

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The Good Humor Man Is Coming Around

May 8, 1953

Vintage Good Humor Ice Cream truck and vendors,
image courtesy of Classic Concessions

Hi Honey Doll, 

I wrote you last night, but I got three letters from you today and I can't get as much behind as I did before.

This is one refueling day that I rested. I haven't done anything at all but sleep.

The boys in my section all call me "the old man" [Jim was 23 when he wrote this]. There are 7 of them and only one is over twenty. Just now, one of them walked up and gave me a book he said would be appropriate for me. The title was "Sex After Forty." HA 

One of the guys got a letter from his girl friend today. She sent him some real seductive pictures of herself. In one, she had nothing on but a pair of lace panties, but it isn't too revealing. In fact, she doesn't have very much to reveal. HA  He is sitting on his bunk, looking at them now and every so often he says, "Damn, I wish I was home."

Honey, if you sent me pictures like that, I would swim the Pacific getting home.

"No," I never read "Hamlet" in school. I read "Ivanhoe" and "Lady of the Lake." 

"Yeah," if the Good Humor man is going around, it is spring. I think that's what I'll be when I get out, a Good Humor man. HA 

If those damn Tigers don't start winning pretty soon, I'm gonna get razzed off this ship.  If they don't do better, I might refuse to see a game when I'm home. 

[Editor's Note: Jim shouldn't get his hopes up. The Tigers finished the season 40 games behind the Yankees who took the American League that year.]

So, you have been "swinging the swab," eh? Well, you have nothing on me. The "X.O." makes us wash bulkheads (walls) in our spare time.

We got good news today. The air officer got his orders. I don't know when he's leaving, but it won't be long.

Yesterday, we were putting on an air show for 48 big "wheels" that came aboard. The weather was too bad to fly strikes, but they flew off and came right back aboard. I asked one pilot why he wasn't flying.  He said he wasn't going up in bad weather for nobody, not this close to going home. And that pretty well sums up my feelings, too. I'm not gonna take any chances at all. If one of those birds spins in, I'm gonna run in the opposite direction.

That raise sounds good. Wish I could get one.

Well, darling, I've got to sign off. So answer soon.

With all my heart, I love you,

Jim

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The Third With Two Paper Clips

[Editor's Note: Norma had a system where she paper clipped the envelopes that held letters of special significance, mainly when she noted a "first" of some kind, but occasionally she put paperclips on envelopes that contained romantic thoughts. The envelope that held this letter had two paperclips.] 

May 7, 1953

"At Sea"

The DMZ, "The Line"

Hello My Darling,

I have the same old excuse for not writing. I haven't had time. This has been the toughest period on the line this cruise. 

We have flown those damn planes 'til I can't understand how they still have wings left and I've sat on my tractor so much I have "housemaid's knee" on my bottom. 

But my troubles aren't yours, so I'll shut up. But sometimes I get so fed up with this outfit, I could jump overside. 

Honey, we got an extension over here, but it's only nine days, so it won't make any difference. Last year, it was six weeks, so I guess we are lucky this time.

Norma, you're a little doll. I was looking over some of your letters I haven't answered yet and you haven't missed a day writing to me in a long time even if I don't write. Every time I get a letter, I love you a little more. I love you, darling, and if you will let me, I'll tell you how much when I come home.

The sundress you bought looks pretty nice. You will wear it for me won't you, when I get home?

If you want to, doll, we will go over to our park every night. Only I'm afraid it will be autumn before I can get leave. I know it won't be until September and probably will be October. If you want to and can, you could come to Norfolk or wherever the ship goes in dry dock. I would like for you to be the first person I see when I hit the States. It's just a suggestion. I don't know if you would like to make the trip or not.

[Editor's Note: When I was a kid, one of Jim's nicknames for Norma was "Go Parker," because she never turned down a chance to go anywhere, so my guess is that Norma would have made every effort to meet the ship when it got to the States. But we'll have to see what happened as the letters unfold.]

This was supposed to be our last tour on the line, but since we got extended, we have to come out one more time, but for only six days.

You asked what position I play on the baseball team. This year, I'm playing outfield but some pretty good third baseman done joined the Navy to beat the draft and got stationed on the Valley Forge and he beat me out of my job. HA  We have a better team this year. I doubt if I will be able to hang on to my outfield job.

"Oh," I almost forgot, we won the first game, 8 to 5.

You're right, "glory bars" and campaign ribbons are the same thing. 

The cartoon was O.K., but I still like my own idea. I hide the keys in my shoe and tell you I lost them.

[Editor's Note: Huh. I never tried that shoe thing. Keys must have held a fashion for the Parkers because Jim wrote about them when he and Norma sold their house in Dearborn. Click on this link for his letter to the buyer and my story behind letter.]

Sweet thing, I've got to sign off now and hit the sack. 

Answer soon.

I love you, honey,

Jim 

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