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, 

Jim

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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, 

Jim

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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, 

Jim

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Over Davy Jones's Locker

May 3, 1952

Over Davy Jones's Locker

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.

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