Friday, July 31, 2015

Cold Paper Kisses

May 29, 1952
Lost at sea

Lipstick kisses for letters to the 'boys'. LIFE, 7/20/1942
Hi Norma,

How's my gal? I'm O.K., I guess. A little tired, but otherwise alright.

We've been flying a lot the last week or so. We have had a lot of bad luck lately. The last five days we have lost five planes and four pilots. Plus one pilot is on the beach in North Korea behind enemy lines. He has been there four days and the weather has been too bad the last two days to get in to him. We also have a helicopter crew of three men down over there. They went in to rescue the pilot and their "copter" "piled-up." I haven't written to you for quite a while, I know. But we have been real busy day and night, trying to keep those guys who are down located. 

I got a letter from Mom today. She said she hadn't heard from me in a month. 

If we don't get the "hell" out of here pretty soon, we won't have any planes or pilots left at all. Those "Gooks" shoot straighter all the time.

You asked what I meant by "going wild" when I drink too much. Well, when I'm out with a lot of other sailors, I sometimes get into a little friendly brawl. HA Nothing serious ever happens.

It won't happen when I'm out with you, I promise. Besides, I don't drink too much when I'm home. Just over here, I get lonesome and having nothing else to do.

They cancelled the extension. We will hit the States the 6th of July, I think. 

Look!! honey, those kisses on paper are pretty cold, but I guess they will have to do for now. But wait 'til I come home -- 

I think we have to get up at 1:30 tomorrow morning, but I don't care. I haven't slept for so long, I just don't care anymore.

O.K., kid, I'll tell you about jets, but I'll bet you get tired of listening. HA

Well, honey, I've got to sign off for now and hit the sack.

Answer soon.

Love, 

Port-Ward Bound

May 14, 1952
Port-ward Bound


Mt. Clemens (MI) racing legend, Dan Arena, with his boat, Miss Great Lakes II, ca. 1952
Hi Baby,

I started a letter to you last night, but I didn't get to finish it. So, I'll start a new one.

The last two days we were out here, we flew 24 hours a day. One time I was up 37 hours without a break.

So, I guess you know why I'm looking forward to our next rest period in port. 

A few more days of that and the only place for me would be the psych ward. HA.

We lost a couple more guys the last two days. If it keeps up, we'll come back to the States with nothing but a skeleton crew. 

Honey, I can't think of anything to write. We do the same thing almost every day, but we haven't got much longer to do it over here, about a month. 

"Oh, yes," I could tell you about the crack-up we had. A plane came in without landing gear (wheels) and really piled up and, as usual, we had a fire to put out. When I get [out, I'm going to get] a job with the Fire Department. I have enough experience. HA  "I'm a real gone little fire eater."

[Editor's note: Several years after leaving the Navy, Jim did work as a fireman for the Great Lakes Steel Company. The hours were terrible, the conditions were dreadful and the pay was almost as bad as the Navy.]

No, I didn't know that Char and Norma R_____'s husbands were Catholic, but I can't see where that should make a lot of difference. One of my buddies, a guy I pull liberty with a lot, is Catholic and he is a real good guy. 

We go out and get "tight" together and have a lot of fun. But I guess being married to one might be different.

In the Navy religion, race and creed don't make much difference. We figure the bullet that kills a Catholic can kill me just as dead, so everyone is the same. 

[Editor's note: Jim's comments make more sense if taken in light of the questions the Democratic party had in 1960 about whether John F. Kennedy was a viable president candidate given the fact that he was not Protestant. Kennedy's religion was very much a part of the public debate with people openly expressing fear that he could not govern without consulting the Pope and other concerns that look rather silly in hindsight.  

[Norma was a regular member of Gilead Baptist Church where a significant percentage of the group believed that the Catholic Church practiced idolatry when praying to saints for intercession. Placing statues of saints in churches was seen as installing "graven images," and, consequently, a violation of one of ten commandments.  Norma ended her engagement with her fiance at the beginning of her correspondence with Jim not because she hoped for a romance with him, but because her fiance was Catholic and she didn't want to raise her children in the Church. Being a good middle class girl of the time, she thought she needed to practice the same religion as her husband and would not have considered asking him to convert to her religion. When I was a teenager, I asked Norma what David, the fiance, thought about the whole children/religion issue and she said she had never discussed it with him. She assumed that religion would be a problem and returned his ring. 

[Ironically, I converted to Catholicism when I was in my 20s. I called Norma from New York City to tell her my decision and the brat in me couldn't resist asking her if she regretted dumping poor David now that her efforts to avoid Catholic children had come to naught. By that time, Norma had mellowed significantly and she knew I had inherited a bit too much of Jim's sense of humor. For my confirmation, she sent a rosary made of rubies.]

Tell me what's going on at home so I'll know what we can do when I come home and what you like to do. Personally, I like sports, all kinds of them. I would like to see the boat races on the Detroit River if I'm home while they're running. I haven't seen any water races since we left Seattle last year. 

Well, Norm, I've got to sign off for now. I'll write again tomorrow night.

Answer soon.

Love, 

Just Another Routine Day

May 8, 1952
Lost at sea

USS Valley Forge Model Kit, ca. 1952
Hello Norm,

How's my baby? I'm just sitting here trying to think of something to say. Everything is so routine out here when I tell it once, I've told every bit of it.

Except that we had two more planes shot down this morning, but they picked up the  pilots. 

I saw them when they brought them aboard, they didn't look too bad. 

[Editor's note: unless Jim is wrong about the date the two pilots were rescued, the incident was so routine it was not included in the Action Report filed by the ship's commander with his superiors in Washington.]

I don't think you have been neglecting to write. I did notice a slight drop, but that can be accredited to spring. HA. 

You know in the spring, a young lady's fancy turns to love and a young man's fancy turns to baseball.

Just think, it won't be long until this thing will be homeward bound.

Just 55 more days til we hit the States.

Norma, I wish I had more time to write so I could say more and make my letters neater, but when I get a chance to write, I always have to hurry.

So please, honey, forgive the mistakes I make.

"Boy," that nice weather back home makes me homesick. What I wouldn't give to be home going out to the beach and wiener roasts and things like that.

I'm glad you got a raise. Now settle that steel and petroleum strike, then maybe we'll win this war.

Tell that little boy next store that sailors can "drive" planes, but if he grows up to be one, he's pretty dumb. There isn't enough "dough" in the world to get me to fly those things. 

I've seen what those things can do. And plenty of these pilots over here wish they hadn't made a career of flying. 

Take those two guys this morning. They could have been hit same as their planes. 

Well, honey, I've got to sign off and take a shower.

Answer soon.

Love, 

Thursday, July 30, 2015

Over Davy Jones's Locker

May 3, 1952

Cherry blossoms in Yokohama, Japan

Hi Norm, you little cherry blossom,

"Yep," you guessed it, the cherry trees are blooming in Japan. 

I got two letters from you today, but I bet you haven't heard from me in a long time because I've been too busy to write.

Usually on refueling day we get most of the day off, but today we refueled in the morning and have been flying all afternoon.

It is about 7:30 now and we're waiting for the last strike to come in. It will be home around 10:00. If I'm lucky, I'll be in bed by 11:00 and have to be up again at 2:45 am.

This life is making an old man of me fast.

Speaking of driving, I don't know if I can still drive or not. The only thing I've driven since we came over here is a tractor we use on the flight deck. I take them on "test hops" sometimes after I've been working on them.

I wish I was a plane "mech" and could fly them on test hops.  When I get out, if I can afford it, I'm gonna learn to fly. I think by then I'll know enough about planes that I can almost fly a trainer without lessons. These fighter bombers are much more complicated. Frankly, I think it would be easier than learning to drive an auto. Anyway -- I'm gonna give it a whirl.

"It's a deal." When I come home we'll get "plastered" together, but don't let me get "too" plastered or I might get wild. Sometimes I do. I don't think I would in the States, though. Over here none of us gives a "damn" what we do.

So, you like your "Tom Collins" sweet, "eh?" I don't. The more "bite," the better. In fact, I take whiskey straight, with maybe a Coke for a "chaser." The trouble with this "Gook" liquor is there is no use for a chaser, there's nothing that will catch it.

The weather here is really nice. I hope it stays like this the rest of our cruise.

We got a little scare today. One of our jets was hit and couldn't get his flaps down. They help to slow the plane down and to keep it steady. We had no wind (about 4 knots) to slow him down. He came in "weaving" and "bobbing." He must have been making 160 or 170 mph when he hit the deck; that's fast even for a jet, they usually land at 100 to 120 mph. I still can't figure how he avoided a "pile up," but somehow his tail-hook caught a wire and hung on. I still see visions of that one. HA

We got a new record, it's "Pittsburgh Pennsylvia" by Guy Mitchell.  It's pretty good. 

Yes, they gave us an extension over here. I think I will get leave in August or September. I don't know which, yet.

They just said the "windjammers" are about to land. I'm gonna let my buddy take this landing. They don't need both of us topside during landings. We don't fix anything but emergencies during take-offs and landings.

I'm glad "Bill" is giving you another week off. Maybe I'll be home then. [Editor's note: Bill was Norma's boss at The Phone Company.]

I just heard the weather is bad over Korea, that's why the night hop is coming in early.

Tomorrow is Sunday. Wonder what I would be doing if I were home, something besides sweating "jet jockeys," anyway. We lost three more yesterday. One of them was a pretty good buddy of mine. "Damn" them "chinks," anyway. 

[Editor's note: From the Action Report for May 2nd, Jim seems to be writing about Lt. John Z. Carros, who was killed in action when his plane was hit by anti-aircraft fire. In April, 2015, more than 50 years after his death, a reporter wrote a story about Lt. Carros for his hometown paper, "The Bristol (CT) Press." You can read more about Jim's friend by clicking on this link.]

Honey, when I talk like that, it's time to knock off.

Answer soon.

Love,

Jim

P.S. Tell Eleanor "hi." Also, she can put her shoes on, she's not in Kentucky now.



Don't Never Say Nothing 'Bout Re-enlisting

April 25, 1952
Lost at sea

Clem Powell, another Valley Forge sailor who didn't like what he heard
Hi Norma,

I got two letters from you today and I had better answer them while I have time.

I sure was glad to get them. I don't know what any of us would do over here if it wasn't for mail. Go nuts, I guess.

We knocked off at 11:30 last night. I slept until noon today and do I feel better.

Two of our pilots went out yesterday and radioed back that they were having trouble with their planes and had to land on a base in Korea, but I'm pretty sure there was nothing wrong with their planes, all they wanted to do was to get drunk. All either one of them likes to do is fly and drink.


No, I'm not in port. We left port the 11th of this month.

That telephone strike can get serious if it lasts long enough. And I read in our own newspaper (The Valley Forge Press) that Truman had taken over the steel mills to keep them from striking.  I don't like the idea very much, but still they shouldn't strike. We need steel too much. I don't think any of those guys work 18 (and more) hours per day like we do. And I think they all make more than $100 per month (that's what I make), so if they don't like what they have, tell them to come over here. We'll trade places with them any time. Strikes are O.K. in peace time, but in times of war, they are no good.

No, I don't like night ball games as well as day games. The brand of ball isn't as good. The players are handicapped by lack of light.

You said that it rained on Easter Sunday. Well, that's nothing unusual. It always does. All the little girls get their new hats wet.

I was justing checking over one of your letters I got a few weeks ago where you said something about me re-enlisting. Don't never say nothing like that again. It scares me. I'll be in here long enough as it is, and from the way the world situations look, I'll be in the rest of my life, anyway.

Well, honey, I better sign off and hit my "basket."

Answer soon.

Love, 

Wednesday, July 29, 2015

Fly Boys

April 24, 1952
Lost at sea

"The Bridges of Toko-ri," inspired by events on the Valley Forge
Hi Baby,

Tomorrow is refueling. Mail goes off and comes aboard, too. "Thank goodness!!" I've written you one letter this week already but it never hurts to write a cute girl two times in one week.

I'm so tired I can hardly keep my eyes open and once in a while I notice my hand start to shake. When I get like that its time for me to go to bed, but I can't until around 11:30. It's about 8:00 PM now.

In fact, the only things that keeps me awake are coffee and cigarettes. This stuff has got to cease pretty soon or they won't have any men left. 

We got 7 replacements last month for men who have been sent to hospitals or to stations where the duty is lighter, but they won't transfer me. I'm too dumb to do anything else, I guess. HA. 

"Well," another one of our pilots got the Purple Heart, a medal for bravery. He got hit in the canopy with shrapnel and it cut his face pretty bad, but he brought it in anyway, so therefore the Navy figures he is a brave man. Personally, I do, too. 

[Editor's note: the pilot Jim describes is listed in the Valley Forge Action Report incident dated 4-23 as "LCDR D.E. Brubaker VF 194." James Michener, who was a reporter stationed on the Valley Forge at the time, interviewed Brubaker and he is thought to have inspired the Brubaker character in Michener's book, "The Bridges at Toko-ri." I have long known that Jim thought James Michener was the best novelist of the 20th century, but I didn't realize that they were on the Valley Forge at the same time or that the novel is based on an incident that occurred while Jim was on the ship. Time for me to read the book.]

I wish I had the "guts" some of these "fly boys" have. It takes a lot of nerve to do what some of those guys do. 

It is beginning to look like we will be out here 30 days again this time. I was hoping we wouldn't stay so long, but it's official, Norm, we hit the States the 3rd of July. "Hurrah." We call it "Dogo" (San Diego Day) or "D" Day.

"Hey, Norm," what happened to the Tigers? The last time I saw the standings, they hadn't won a game and had lost 7. I guess they're missing my moral support. HA 

If I get home before the season is over, I won't do anything but see ball games. 

Norm, I'd better sign off for this time.

Answer soon.

Love, 

One Kiss Per Lesson

April 21, 1952
Lost at sea
Scan of Jim's stationery for this letter

Hi Norma,

It looks like I started writing at the wrong time. The "sea apes" (men in the gunnery department) just started firing their 5 inch guns. Practice, of course, at least I hope. And they really jar this tub.

Norm, this letter will probably be pretty short. I'm so tired I can hardly sit up. In the last 4 days we've had about 16 hours of sleep and its about to catch up with me.

This captain of ours must be trying to win the war by himself. And the help of his crew, of course. I wish we had another "old man," one with a little more sense. 

We lost another pilot yesterday. A lieutenant named "Les" Workman. His plane was shot up pretty bad and went down in Wonsan Harbor. He bailed out, but his "chute" didn't open. So, that was all "she" wrote, he was a good guy, too. 


[Editor's note: after graduating from high school, Norma worked as a stenographer for "The Phone Company," as ATT was known at the time.]

So, Charlene and Norma R_____ are getting married, "eh?" Well, if they don't know any better, I guess it's alright. Personally, I can't see why anyone would want to get married nowadays. 

It really is spring over here now. I'm down to one pair of pants. HA  Before long, I should be down to none. "Oops," shouldn't have said that. HA  

I don't know if my six easy lessons [for learning how to park a car] include homework or not. It depends on the pupil. Of course, pretty often we get to park and talk over your mistakes, if any. My fee is one kiss per lesson, but if you want to throw in a few "tips," that's alright, too.

Just hang on to those Patti Page and Doris Day records 'til I get home and I'll drive you "nuts" playing them so much. 

I want a wallet-size photo of you. If it's any bigger, I've got no place to keep it.

No, I wouldn't say that I'm bashful. Let's just say I'm a little shy around women. 

"Well," kid, I've got to sign off for now.

Answer soon.

Love, 

Tuesday, July 28, 2015

Going Back To Work


April 16, 1952
Lost at sea
USS Valley Forge, ca. 1950, with planes ready for duty

Hi Norma - you sweet thing,

How's the little girl tonight? I'm O.K. I guess the only thing wrong with me is I've got to go to work again tomorrow. We left port yesterday morning and that life in port was really good while it lasted.

The Navy loses money on us when we go in for a rest, none of us do anything. That is, the guys in the Air Dept. The guys like cooks and office workers work as much in port as they do at sea. We call them the "sissies" of the fleet. They envy us because we get all the glory when there is any to get.

We have to fly tomorrow to refresh the pilots. They haven't flown in more than two weeks and that's a long time for a carrier pilot to lay off. They should fly every day. Tomorrow they won't fly strikes. They will go up, circle the ship a few times, and land to get the "roll" of things again. 

If everything goes according to plan, we will be in San Diego in 79 days. That will be the first or second of July.

I think we must have hit the same storm over there that you did coming home from New York. It has rained here for two days and the wind, at times, was terrific. It looks as if you guys got out of the "Big Town"just in time.

You said you liked to stay in motels. I do, too. They are always outside of town and its quiet and peaceful. I always stayed in them when I went from Detroit to Tennessee and vice versa, that is, when I didn't drive non-stop.

Norma, honey, I've got to sign off. We start flying at 4:30 tomorrow, that means we get up at 3:30.

Answer soon.

Love, 

Monday, July 27, 2015

Hi Baby

April 10, 1952
Yokosuka, Japan


Hi Baby,

What's cookin'? By now you should be home recuperating from your New York tour. "Boy," I sure would have liked to have been with you on that trip.

Maybe someday we can take it together, "huh?"

I got the package you sent yesterday and it was wonderful, all of it. The cookies were the best I ever ate, bar none, and the cake was real good, too. The popcorn wasn't very fresh, but it helped to keep the other things fresh.

You should see the guys crowd around when one of us gets a package from home. Usually the one who gets it, gets less of what's in it than anyone else. But when someone else gets a package, I'm always there to get my part.

Thanks for it, Norm. I think you're the sweetest girl I know.

The weather here was real warm today. I did some baseball practice today. I threw some (I'm supposed to be a pitcher) and my arm didn't bother me at all, but my left leg did. Every time I threw a fast ball, it hurt in my hip. I guess it will work out when hot weather comes. If you don't understand baseball, you probably don't know what I'm talking about. If you don't, I'll teach you when I come home.

[Editor's note: Jim was a bit of a baseball legend in his hometown.  Nearly 20 years after he left for Detroit, I spent the summer of '67 with my grandmother. Some of the old timers happened to stop by for a chat with Mrs. Parker one afternoon and discovered I was Jim's kid.  "Let me tell you about your dad. He was the best," said one. "Oh, yeah," offered the other old guy. "We always went down to watch him play.  Threw faster and harder than anybody. Never saw anyone who could play like him."]

"Man," I can't get over all those places you've been. When I come home, you probably won't even look at me.

Honey, if you can get high on a Sloe Gin Fizz and Tom Collins, you won't be very expensive to go night clubbing with, but I sure would have like to have seen that. I almost "busted" just reading about it. HA Have you sobered up yet? HA 

No, I don't think you're terrible, you just let yourself loose a little. The trouble with some people is that they hold too tight a rein on themselves and never let go.

Guess I've been letting go too much lately.

Two buddies and I went over about a month ago. It was about 2:00 and the club wasn't open so we bought  two fifths of whiskey, they are about 4/5 of a quart each. We drank them and by this time all of us were pretty high. Then the place started opening up. We went to the "Grand Palace" cabaret, had some beer and mixed drinks, then I drank 3 shots of champagne and that was "it."  I had done been "had," as we say in the Navy. 

I don't pitch those kind very often, I guess it was the only once since we left the States.

That tap room where you celebrated looks pretty nice in the picture. Does it have a dance floor?

That sleeping until 11:00 sounds pretty good. Wish I could pull that stuff sometime.

We're back in port now, but we're leaving next Monday. We only had 9 days in port this time. No, I'm not very busy, now. In fact, in port we don't do anything but kill time. One of the guys said a sailor was nothing but a professional "time killer" and I guess that's about true, but at sea nothing is farther from the truth.

From the way you write, you did nothing on that trip but sightsee and sleep, but I suppose that's what you went for.

The trouble with me is that when I start sightseeing, I always wind up doing something else, usually drinking. If I don't stop, you're going to think I'm a "bum," but honest, I don't drink much when I'm home. There are too many other things to do and most of the people I go around with in Detroit don't drink much, but over here all the sailors drink. So when I go ashore, there isn't much else to do. 

Well, "honey," I've got to sign off. I've run out of things to say.

Answer soon.

Love, 

The Wayfaring Beauty

April 8, 1952
Yokosuka, Japan

Times Square, 1952
Hi ya Norma,

So, my little girl's on another globe-trotting spree, "eh?" I'm gonna stop calling you Norma and start calling you the "Wayfaring Beauty." 

It sounds like you are having fun and, as for me being there with you, all I can do is wish I were there, too. I've always wanted to go to New York City and with a girl like you, it would be even more wonderful.

I don't know if I want to ride with you driving or not. What do you think you are, a hot rodder? HA Any woman driving over 40 mph used to scare me to death. But then maybe I scare some people with my driving, too.

Is Times Square as ritzy as I've always heard?

You had better be careful when you go into that bathroom that connects the two bedrooms. The wrong one of them might be in there. Or if it was the wrong one, you could scream and I would come running. HA Or, swimming. 

"Oh," by the way, do the springs on the bed squeak? You remember the bed you slept in on vacation in Syracuse, New York last year had squeaky springs.

This carrier is a C.V. Class, so if Marie's husband is a sailor, he should know what it is. It is next to the largest the U.S. has.

Yes, I've seen the French uniforms. To me, they look more peculiar than anything else. 

All navy's uniforms are something similar to each other. The first county to have a navy used uniforms something like these, so every other country copied it. The reason the Navy (U.S., that is) hasn't changed uniforms before is that it is tradition and the Navy doesn't like to break tradition. 

Well, "honey," I've got to sign off for now.

Answer soon.

Love, 

Sunday, July 26, 2015

Oh, You Beautiful Doll

April 4, 1952
"Hurrah" in port

Sanders' Hot Fudge Cream Puff Sundae, a Detroit tradition

"Boy," am I glad to be in port, too many days at sea make me a dull boy.  I'm a "landlubber," not a sailor. At heart, I'm just a displaced Civilian. HA These moonlit nights on the sea don't make me romantic.

Speaking of getting mail fast, I get yours in five days when we're in port, but when we're out at sea, sometimes it takes a month.

We've got meatballs and spaghetti for supper tonight, so I don't know if I will eat or not, but they might have a good dessert. I guess I'll go find out.

You asked what baseball teams I like, in the American League, I prefer the Tigers and in the National League, I like the St. Louis "Cardinals." I keep hoping I can get home in time to see some games before the season closes. If I don't, I'll be one disappointed sailor.

If you like to drive so well, you can me around when I come home, that is if I have something to drive.

Why is it, Norm, that all the girls go for wrestling? I like the sport, but not like most gals do. One reason I don't like it is because I know that it is all "faked.

It looks like spring will never come to Detroit. One day I get a letter from you and the weather is nice and the next day, I get one that says it is snowing. "Oh, well," I guess it will stop that snowing pretty soon.

That ice cream and hot fudge does sound pretty good, wish I had some. 

[Editor's note: If I know Norma, she rhapsodized in one of her letters about Sander's Cream Puff Sundaes; click on that link for more information about the Sander's tradition, a recipe for the cream puffs, and a video that describes how to build your own cream puff. Or, forget that, just click on the link to the company and order the fixings.  You're welcome.

[One of my favorite stories about Norma is when she was newly married, she and some friends from work joined the local Vic Tanny Health Club and met to exercise once a week.  Across the street from the club was a Sander's Ice Cream Parlor franchise, where the ladies would gather afterwards to "wind down." Jim always suppressed a grin when Norma swore she just went for Sander's great ham sandwiches, which actually were pretty good, but were fairly small and really just an excuse for the average patron to order dessert. Norma, on the other hand, gave some wicked mom glares as, unlike Jim, I was unable to suppress my gales of giggles over the "healthy ham sandwiches."] 

Well, kid, I've got to sign off now.

Answer soon.

Love, 

Saturday, July 25, 2015

"Just A Little Lovin' (Will Go A Long Way)"

April 2, 1952
Lost at sea

Sheet music cover, "Just A Little Lovin'," ca. 1948
Hello Norma, 

How's the sweetest, most lovable girl I know? 

Well, guess what, we're on our way into port again and believe me I'm ready. We've been out for thirty days this time and that's too much for me. And none of that "wild side of life" for me this time in. I'm gonna rest. I'm tired of them "Gooks" anyway.

Still nothing new over here, always the same old routine.

Before I forget, I want to thank you for those clippings you sent. I like to keep up with baseball and hockey and even if the news is a few days old it's better than nothing.

I haven't written you for almost a week now, but I'll write more often while we're in port. 

I got caught in a jet blast yesterday, that's the exhaust of a jet plane and it is powerful, believe me. It almost blew my clothes off me. HA

So now you're comparing me with that guy in the Fibber McGee and Molly show, "eh." I used to listen to them when I was a kid back on the farm in Tennessee, but I haven't heard them in a long time. No, I don't mind my new nickname. You can call me anything as long as you don't call me too late for chow. HA

I "sorta" envy you getting to sleep all day. I think when I come home I won't do anything but sleep. But I know when I come home I'll sleep less than I do now.

I started this last night but I didn't get to finish it. We had an easy day today. When we're on our way to Yokosuka, Japan, we don't do anything at all. This morning I worked for maybe thirty minutes and this afternoon I didn't do "nuttin". 

And the weather is lots warmer down here. We're off the coast of the Japanese home islands. It is a lot farther south than the operating zone we just left. 

If you look on a map, you will see Yokohoma Japan is only 35 miles from Yokosuka. Yokosuka maybe not be on the map, it's pretty small. Between Japan and Korea, you will see the Sea of Japan, that's where we're operating, north of the 38th parallel

[Editor's note: Jim was fascinated by geography. Growing up we had a hefty atlas kept at the ready for dinner discussions of current events and one of Jim's favorite Christmas presents from Norma was a globe. He kept it next to his favorite chair in the living room for easy and frequent perusal.]

I think Eddy Arnold is the best "hillbilly singer there is. I also like Hank Snow

[Editor's note: As long as I can remember, people have remarked on the physical resemblance between Jim and Eddy Arnold, but I never saw it. I asked him once if he thought he looked like Eddy Arnold. He just grinned and said, "Nope."]

Well, kid, I've got to sign off. I'll try to write again tomorrow.

Answer soon.

Love, 

Friday, July 24, 2015

Lost At Sea

March 23, 1952
Lost at sea

"Mutiny on the Bounty" (1935), starring Charles Laughton and Clark Cable

Hi Norma,

This is your seasick man again. Well, I'm not exactly seasick, but I'm not far from it.

We're in the worst storm I've ever seen. This tub is pitching all over the sea. We were working all morning tying down the planes to keep them form rolling overside.

We've been out for 23 days this time and I'm getting ready to go back in port again. I don't know just how the captain feels about it, but usually anything that "old man" can do to make life miserable for his men, he'll do it. Did you ever read "Mutiny On The Bounty?" The Bounty was a ship that had a captain who was so bad that the crew mutinied and we're beginning to compare our captain to with him. In other words, our "old man" stinks.

So, my Red Wings done clinched the National Hockey League pennant, "eh?" I was sure they would win, but I didn't think they would do it so soon. 

I really made out on mail today. I got five letters. I even got one from my mother and sister.

So, you always wanted to go to a nightclub, "eh?" Well, they are O.K., but you soon tire of them, at least I do. I guess I wasn't meant to be a playboy HA.

Some people can wake up with those headaches every morning, but not me. When I get out of the Navy, I'll stop drinking. Maybe even before. 

Well, Norm, I've got to sign off, almost sack time. 

Answer soon.

Love, 

Short And Sweet

March 18, 1952

Bob-Lo Island, a Detroit-area amusement park and summer tradition for nearly 100 years
Hi Norma,

How's the cutest, most lovable gal I know?

We're refueling today and I got a letter from you written March 4th. I got three the last refueling day written the 1st, 2nd and 3rd of March, so it looks like you're writing more than me, but believe me, I would write more if I had time. 

I got lucky a couple of days ago. I bought a chance on a raffle and won a rifle. I don't know what to do it with it. I don't need a gun over here, so I guess I'll raffle it off myself. HA  


I hear that Harold T______ is getting married or, in fact, I guess he is already married. Do you know him? I don't know his wife but I hear she is pretty good looking.

I guess it won't be much longer until all the beaches and amusement parks will be open. I hope I get home before they close. I always have more fun at an amusement park than just about anyplace else.

Well, good looking, this one is short and sweet, but I've got to stop anyway.

Answer soon.

Love, 

Jim

P.S. I almost forgot, I'm sending some pictures we took on the flight deck. 

[Editor's note: Knowing that Norma saved Jim's letters for more than 50 years, divided in packets by year, arranged in chronological order, and each year bound with a silk ribbon, it's probably not hard to take a leap and assume Norma saved a lot. She had the heart of an archivist and carried an Instamatic or a Polaroid or a Point and Shoot with her as long as I can remember.  After Norma died and I was faced with sorting through her things, I found a bedroom dresser drawer filled to the top with snapshots. It was daunting. Going through those photographs and cataloging them is a longterm project of mine since I've inherited the Archivist Gene (and am a librarian by trade).

I have a vague memory from elementary school days of rummaging through snapshots of my dad's ship, the Valley Forge, and these were probably the pictures Jim sent to Norma in this letter. I have yet to come across them in the boxes of files from their house that are stored in my basement, waiting for me to excavate.  Like Norma, Jim never threw out a piece of paper on which he had scribbled a random poem or an idea for an editorial.

All of this to say that the librarian in me would love to include Jim's actual pictures (primary source documents, in my lingo) but they're not available.  At least, not yet.]

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Wednesday, July 22, 2015

The Cradle Of Charms

March 17, 1952
Somewhere in Korea

Detroit Parking Cop, outside the Michigan Theatre in 1952, as he tickets a car
Hi Norma,

Well, I haven't written to you in four days, but at least I'm not as tired as I was the last time I wrote, so maybe this one will be more sensible.

I got three letters from you last mail call day. I hope I do it again tomorrow. 

I should write to you more often than I do, but I'm so tired when we quit flying at night all I can do is shower and fall into bed.

The weather is getting better all the time. I don't have to wear but two pairs of pants, one shirt, one sweater and a foul weather jacket to keep warm. HA  You can imagine what I had to wear when it was cold.

Have my letters been sounding homesick lately? I'm sorry, I didn't mean for them to. When I start to feeling sorry for myself, I try to think that our pilots and the guys in the Army and Marines over on the beach are getting it a lot tougher than me, so maybe I'm not having it so bad after all.

I'm glad the Red Wings are in first place. I sure would like to see them play.

So, you finally got all the spaghetti? I'm glad. I guess you're not Italian after all.

When I come home, I'll show you how to park a car in six easy lessons. Of course, each lesson takes 2 or 3 days. 

Excuse the [spelling] mistakes, maybe I'm more tired than I thought I was.

How easy it is to park a car depends on where you want to park. Downtown isn't so easy, too many other cars in the way, but if you're parking in a lovers' lane or someplace like that, well, it isn't very hard at all. HA   At least that's what I've been told.

And if you'll give me a big enough kiss, I'll show you how to park in both places.

We got that record, "Little White Cloud That Cried" by Johnny Raye.  The song is O.K., but the singer "stinks." If it were by Patti Page or Doris Day, it would be pretty good. I've also heard "Any Time" and "Slow Poke." [Editor's note: these two songs were recorded by Helen O'Connell and both were on the Billboard Top Ten list for February, 1952.]

We also have "Give Me More Of Your Kisses," but it's by some "hillbilly" who can't sing at all.  [That would be Lefty Frizzell.]

Yes, I'll be able to vote, I think. We should be in the States on election day.

We had some bad luck today. The squadron commander of V.F. 111, a jet squadron, was killed today. He was a commander named Baslee, one of the nicest officers I've ever met. Everyone liked him, but when you're getting shot at, I suppose bullets don't respect anybody. It was an anti-aircraft battery that hit him. He knew he was hit so hard that his jet would never pull out of the dive, so he piled his plane up right on top of the gun that hit him with three bombs still on it. It don't suppose that gun emplacement will ever get anybody else.


Norm, I started this last night and could have mailed it then if I could have finished it, but the "Reds" didn't want me to. About the time I started, some enemy planes started snooping around and we had to go up on deck just in case they came too close. But that's the trouble, they don't come within gun range. They just fly close enough for the radar to pick them up. That gets the captain all bothered, so he can't go down to his room and he thinks if he can't go rest that no one else should.

So, we stayed at a ready condition until 10:30 last night after getting up at 3:30 in the morning.

But enough of my worries. Let's talk about something better, like you, you Cradle of Charms. "Corny, eh?" I sure would like to see you, I'm about to forget what you look like. How about sending me a picture of yourself, one that I can pin up on my locker door, O.K? 

Well, Norm, I've got to sign off this time or pretty soon this will be a book.

Answer soon.

Love, 

Jim 

Tuesday, July 21, 2015

Saving Buck Rogers

March 10, 1952
Monday night

Some of Jim's crew members maintaining machine guns.


Hi Norma, 

What's new? "Nutting" over here. it's always the same. 

I'm sorry to hear that you have a cold. This makes two or three for you this winter, doesn't it? You must be unlucky.

But I've been lucky.  All through the bad weather I never did have a cold.

The weather us getting better all the time, but it still isn't warm enough.

I think the big "wheels" have finally decided to win the war instead of talking the "gooks" out of it because we've been flying like "hell" for the last three days. 

Where we used to fly 70 or 80 sorties per day, now we're flying a hundred or more. 

Those top ten tunes you wrote about are new to me. I've never heard of any of them, except "Tell Me Why." 

We have that record, "I Can't Help It" by Hank Williams. 

In case you didn't notice, my pen is all "fouled up." I loaned it to one of the guys this morning and he used some sort of ink that wasn't good for it. I think now it is about washed out though. 

About that clipping you sent. Since you've read it in the paper, I'll you what happened.

The was an A.D. (Attack Douglas) "guppie," which means it was equipped with radar and sonar gear and used mostly for hunting submarines. And when a sub is found, some other plane moves in and kills it.

I know the pilot pretty well. We call him "Buck" Rogers and he is one of the best we have. There are very few pilots who could have gotten it off the water. In fact, the air officer passed the word that a plane was in the water. It was dark (about 4:00 in the morning) and snowing, so nobody could see there hand in front of their face. We turned on the crash lamps but about five minutes later, he radioed back that he was O.K.

The reason it all happened was because of a faulty holdback on the catapult. We had him set up on the "lot," ready to send off and his engine was supposed to be turning up to 45 hundred RPMs, but when it got to 23 hundred RPMs, the holdback broke and off he went. And believe me, we we were "sweating" for awhile.


Rogers was a lieutenant at the time, but when he came back, they made him Lieutenant Commander. The admiral said any pilot who could do that deserved another rate, so he got it.

Norma, I started this letter about 4 days ago, but I didn't get to mail it or finish it if I had had a chance to mail it.

It is 10:15 now, we got came off the flight deck. We've been flying since 4:00 this morning.

Norm, I'm so tired I can't hardly see the paper I'm writing. We've been flying 18 hours per day since the 3rd of March, but tomorrow is refueling day and maybe we can get some rest. That is, if the "Gooks" don't come over and cheat us out of that.

Norm, 70 knots isn't the temperature, it's the speed of the wind. If the ship is going 30 MPH and the wind is blowing 50 knots across the bow, that would equal 70 knots of wind, or velocity, and it is pretty much a gale. In fact, you're pretty lucky if you can stand up in it.

No, they don't keep the mail on board until we enter port. It goes off on refueling days, which is every 4 to 10 days.

So, you got three letters from me and want to kiss me for it, "eh?" Well, just hang on until I get home.

Well, Norm, I've got to sign off before I fall off this seat.

Answer soon.

Love, 

Monday, July 20, 2015

Sodas At The Westwood

March 4, 1952
Off the coast of Korea


Hi Norma,


Well, I promised I would write some more tonight, so here goes.

We're back in Korea again, and, thank goodness, the weather is warmer but now it rains all the time. But one good thing, we don't have to shovel rain off the flight deck.

We have a boy on here that I feel sorry for. A week or so ago, he showed me a letter from his wife. It didn't read like a letter from a wife to her husband. It was more like some friend to friend letter; that was what had him worried. And today, he got a letter from one of his buddies telling him his wife was chasing around with just about every man in town. 

Now the kid is all "shook-up." He can't work or keep his mind on anything but his troubles at home. They just had a baby a couple of weeks before he left the States, too.

That's why I couldn't be married while I'm in the service. "Oh," well, it's nothing to me, but I still "feel" for the guy. 

There just isn't anything to talk about out here, but airplanes and I guess you're tired of hearing about them. When I come home, if anyone mentions airplanes to me, I'll kick their teeth in. At first I thought it would be really something to tell the folks back home about what went on over here, but if anybody tries to talk to me about this place, I'll tell them to read the newspapers. HA

Do you kids still go to Westwood pretty often? [Editor's note: It was an ice cream parlor located on Schaeffer Road near the Dearborn/Detroit border.] I used to go there at least once or twice a week. I liked the place. I got so familiar out there, I used to mix my very own sodas. 

Are you going to Canada again this summer? If you're there when I come home, I'll accept that invitation you gave me last summer and come up, but don't be running around in New York or some place like that. That's too far.

Did the Fletcher girls get O.K? I hope they did.

Norma, when I start writing short sentences like that, it's time to shut up.

Answer real soon.

Love, 

Jim


Sunday, July 19, 2015

Love From Now On

March 2, 1952
Yokosuka, Japan

Rayve print ad featuring Sally Forrest, ca. 1951


Hi Norma,

I just got your letter today and was real glad to hear from you. And if I don't answer it tonight, I don't know when I'll get a chance. We are pulling out tomorrow and I have a feeling this will be the roughest trip of all. With the weather beginning to break, we will probably start some sort of spring offensive and we will be flying day and night.

I will write every chance I get but I can't promise how often that will be.

I went to a movie tonight. We saw "Bannerline" with Sally Forrest. "Boy," is she a looker. I don't even remember who the male lead was. [Editor's note: It was Keefe Brasselle and who can blame Jim.]

"Honey," you don't wish I was home any more than I do. In fact, I would give my left arm and eye teeth to be there. HA. I think we are supposed to come home in June. That is only three months, not very long.

"Hey," you called yourself a "woman." I remember you as a girl, not a little girl, but one just before she becomes a woman. 

But maybe I've been gone longer than it seems to me.

If I had been at that banquet there wouldn't have been anything left. You should see me eat when we come into port. 

When they hear the Valley Forge is in town, all the restaurant owners take on a new supply of food just for me. 

Norma, they just sounded "taps," so I've got to sign off. I'll try to write again tomorrow.

Answer soon.

Love, 

Jim

[Editor's note: On the front of the envelope, Norma wrote "Love from now on," and "Honey."] 

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