Dec. 1943: Lonely holidays for navymen

Tuesday, December 21, 1943
1:45 p.m.
My darling Margot, and Judy, and Mother –
This is my Christmas letter to all of you. But since I shall not be able to finish it now and I don’t know when I shall get it off, I’ll send it special so that you will be sure to get it Christmas Day. Probably I shall write again before then, but you won’t receive it until afterward.
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It sure is going to be a lonely Christmas without you, but I guess nothing can be done about. At least I have quite a lot of presents to open, and we have a delicious dinner planned to eat. But somehow the real Christmas conviviality will not be there, under this homeless & family-less atmosphere. I hope you all have a wonderful time – if I know that you are, then I shall be happy.
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Grandma sent me this check for a Christmas present. Please put it into war bonds or stamps. Are you still buying stamps every week? – I hope so, for it’s a good way to build up a nest-egg for our children.

I suggest that future bonds bought out of these savings be bought in L.L.’s name, at least bonds bought after his birth with stamps previously bought. This check and the

$200 WW II war bond

small contribution you will find in the Christmas envelope should be a good start on bonds for him, supplemented by $1 a week.

First page of a war bond stamp book

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4:15 p.m.
Finally got the pears – some one slipped up in the Norfolk office and they sat in the warehouse there for four days before they were sent over to the Portsmouth office, where I picked them up yesterday. The box had been opened and three pears

Pears were my father’s favorite fruit.

removed, leaving only 9. And about 4 of them were too over-ripe to be edible. The rest were all right, after a few spots were cut out, and I truly enjoyed them – they certainly are a treat. Thank you a thousand times for sending them to me – it was worth all the trouble.
…
The weather has been nice here lately – comfortable in the daytime and not too cold at night. And it has been clearer & drier than usual too.
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Gil & Jim may not leave for Christmas after all; Gil is pretty sure he is not going. I investigated the possibility of going to Aunt Julie’s, but I would not be able to make it for more than a few hours, and I have decided it is not worth it. We have to go right back into shakedown work the morning after Christmas, even though it is Sunday.
There is lots of optimism among men in the service (including Charley Eagan) about how soon the war will end. But I am not encouraged. Our successes against the Japanese are heartening, but we are still on only the outer fringe of their defenses. And the Russian & Italian campaigns are already slow, with the heaviest fighting still ahead. The apparently complete co-operation of the leading Allied powers is one bright spot in the picture, and of course some progress is being made in the war as a whole. This Bolivian mess is a blow, but it will not be too harmful to the general cause provided the new government does not stop selling us their tin we need so badly. – Well, I am not a news commentator, and I guess the best thing to do is just to do my part, unconstructive as it may seem, and hope that everyone else in & out of service will do the same. (The amount of loafing that goes on in this Navy Yard is enough to disgust & discourage anyone!)
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Wednesday – 11 a.m.
Just received three beautiful 15-lb. turkeys for Christmas dinner. Couldn’t get any oysters for stuffing, but cook is going to make one out of something else. We also have cranberry, cider, candy & nuts, makings for mince pie, and all the fixin’s. So it should be a good dinner. Where are you going to have dinner?
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Had liberty last night, but stayed aboard – too much trouble to get into blues and go ashore. We prefer Little Creek to this place, because there all you need to do is throw on a khaki blouse and walk five minutes, and then you can go to a movie & have a drink. Here it takes a half hour to dress, longer than that to get to civilization, and there’s nothing there when you do get there!
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I know that when bigger ships were in a yard, they connected up a phone for them. But I was pleasantly surprised when they did it for us – it is a great convenience for the numerous calls to offices & shops in the yard – and officers are allowed to make local personal calls on it.
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Have you heard the new popular song based on the ditty Mother has so long said for us

Mairzy Doats song cover

– “Goats eat oats, lambs eat oats,” etc.? It is pretty cute – we heard Ozzie Nelson & Harriet Hilliard sing it on the Red Skelton show last nite.
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Must stop this now, and get it off to you, or you will never get it. I wish I could be with you all Saturday, or at least have done more, directly, to make your Christmas a happy one. But my thoughts will certainly be with you every minute of the day, as they are every day.
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All my wishes for a happy day and my best Christmas love to
Margot
Judy
Mother
Lester Llewellyn
All the rest of the family at home
From
Bob

Gunnery exercises on USS Iowa

December 29, 1943
9:45 p.m.
My darling –
What a time we have ahead of us. We get under way at 7 tomorrow a.m. and will be out all day in gunnery exercises, then wait for dark to do some night firing, and will be in about 11 p.m. the next morning we leave at 5, sweep all day, drop depth charges when we get out to sea, and then sweep back, arriving back here about 4 Saturday a.m. – swell way to spend New Year’s Eve, isn’t it?! All day Saturday we shall be busy as bedbugs cleaning up the ship, and Sunday morning we have the departure inspection.

Mine sweeper at sea

Got your letter of Dec. 23 yesterday – glad to hear that you were going to Wausau okay. But I was sorry that I had scared you into postponing your trip until Jan. 25, for it now seems fairly certain (as you learned from my last letter) that we shall be back in Boston not later than Jan. 12 – if you still want to try to get reservations early enough, before my birthday, it might be worthwhile – no harm in trying anyway, though there is always a chance that we may be delayed by some unforeseen circumstances. …
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We were out all day yesterday, and were scheduled to go today, but a hard snowstorm this morning caused the powers-that-be to cancel all operations today. It has stopped snowing now, but it is very cold.
…
Sorry to hear Judy has had such a tough time – poor little tyke – hope she was all over it by Christmas or at least by the time you went to Wausau. Pleased to learn that Mother is okay – I can hardly believe that she is getting hard of hearing – perhaps she is just more inattentive as she gets older – but it’s nice to know she is getting relief from her arthritis.
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It might be nice to have the car in Boston – depends somewhat on where we live – public transportation seems to be pretty good there. But I don’t know how we would get it out there, and I doubt if we could use it enough to make it worth the expense & trouble of keeping it. And Boston is a god-awful town to find one’s way around in – worst town I know for that.
…
Well, darling, it is getting late and I have a long & busy day ahead. So I’ll end this, but I expect I’ll add more before it is mailed.
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I adore you, Bob

D-Day, June 6, 1944

My mother told me that on June 6, 1944, after hearing the news about the invasion of Normandy, she was worried and scared. She was a young wife and mother of a 21-month-old child, and 7 months pregnant with another. She knew from her husband’s letters that he was somewhere in the English channel on a minesweeper.

Since she couldn’t sleep, she called a close friend, who I believe was also pregnant, and the two of them went out for a walk at 2 am! They walked and walked and talked.

Although Dad wrote home nearly every day, I do not have a letter dated June 6, 1944. However, his letter to my mother on June 9 says that he hadn’t had time to write nor anywhere to mail a letter if he had. It must have been a tremendous relief for my mother to receive Letter #36, which was added to and mailed several days later!
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#36 Friday, June 9, 1944 – 1 p.m.
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My darling –
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I wrote & mailed #35 to you last Saturday (June 3), and haven’t written since – I haven’t had time & haven’t been anywhere where I could mail letters. When we get back to such a place, I hope I can cable you, so that you will not be worried about the gap in my mail – this will be mailed at the same time. Last Saturday I also sent a V-mail to Mother. And later in the day I received your #39 (air mail – 9 days) & the article about U.S.N.R.
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M.S. – was much interested in the latter. I should get a baleful of your letters when our mail catches up to us again.

Your guess is right – we are at the Normandie [sic] beach-head and have been from the start. Have been under way since Saturday night, sweeping over here for the past four days. It has been an experience I shall never forget so long as I live. We have had a couple of bad scares, but so far are untouched. We have swept some mines but been involved directly in no action ourselves. We have, however, been close to plenty of action. Cannot see the details of

D-Day naval bombardment: USS Nevada

what’s going on on the beach, and get most of our news over the radio, as you do. But we are getting a good “view” of the naval bombardment & the entrance of all types of naval vessels into the area. Although there is almost constant shelling, it is not so noisy as I expected, and we really have seen less activity than you would think. Of what I can tell you, the thing that impresses me the most is the size of the operation. On the whole, from our point of view, the weather has been good.

Have no idea when we shall leave this area (you will know we have when this letter is mailed, even if I cannot cable), but it can’t be too soon. It is not just the noise, to which we are getting accustomed, but the rugged character of life on board here. The first couple of days we got practically no sleep at all & were really pooped out – that has improved lately, though sleep still comes in snatches. Since I now feel more rested, the most annoying thing is personal hygiene – last night I took my first shower & shave since we shoved off – in fact it was the first time in five days that I had taken off my clothes at all – my old ideas of frequency of showers & changes of clothes are certainly going by the board!
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But we are getting along fine really, and everyone’s spirit seems to be holding up well. We keep busy, & get good entertainment out of our radio. So, darling, please don’t worry – I’ll be all right. What worries me most is that you will worry yourself into an unhealthy state and endanger yourself & L.L.
(Transcriber’s note: L.L. stood for Lester Llewellyn, a highly improbable name for the baby my mother was expecting! Until my second sister was born, my parents affectionately referred to him (her) as Lester Llewellyn.)
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Since I have told you about all I am allowed to, there isn’t much more to say. One of our crew exhibited a fine bit of timing – he got appendicitis & had to be transferred of the ship the last day before we left the United Kingdom!
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…
Did I remind you about the people to put on the birth announcement list? I guess I did. Don’t forget the Kuhns & my other cousins & aunts. Don’t forget Geo. & Eleanor Thomas – you say you saw George – is he contemplating moving back to Janesville soon?
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Tell Judy thanks for her letter – I really enjoyed it. She certainly has learned a lot of words & other tricks since I saw her. I sure do miss her something awful.
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Swell that your Mr. Rauch is so good – I hope you can keep him and that he will work for you enough to get done what is necessary.
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Sure glad to hear that Mother was getting better – hope she is fully recovered by now. Maybe I shall hear from her soon.
.
…
You seem to be working awfully hard – darling, don’t get yourself too tired – you know what it did to you in Boston, when the nervous strain was less than it is now. You should get some relief when the maid starts, which I hope is by now. You don’t say anything more about having the baby restored to upright position again & whether it will stay there – what about it? – I am a little concerned.
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Well, I’ll close this temporarily and keep adding to it until I can mail it. Darling, just remember that I shall always adore you.
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Sunday, June 11, 1944 – 1:30 p.m.
Well, we are still here, and are still keeping busy sweeping, etc. No sign or indication yet as to when we shall get away from here. We are getting a little more used to it, and life does not seem as rugged as it did. We have had another scare or two, but we really in very little danger and less & less so as our forces progress. But we shall still be glad to get away from here whenever they give us the word!
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That’s about all I can tell you – we get our news over the radio, as you do, and so know very little more of what goes on than you do. We see only a very, very small part of the activity that is making news. But from all reports the boys are doing a swell job in there – hope they keep it up. And isn’t the news from Italy good? I expect a big offensive on the Russian front soon, and possible other invasions – but I really know nothing about it (if I did, I couldn’t say anything at all!).
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Wish we could get to wherever our mail is, because I wonder about you & Judy & Mother – & especially you – how you are & what you’re doing. If I told you a million times, darling, you’d never know how much I miss you. But I hope you can read between the lines, sweetheart, for I really love you, love you, love you with every gram of strength & feeling within me. So take good care of yourself – for me.
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June 12, 1944 – 9 a.m.
Just got off watch a few minutes ago, after learning that they are going to pick up our outgoing mail in a little while. So I want to get this off to you. With it I shall send a V-mail to Mother, so that you will hear as soon as possible that we are all okay. Have no idea whether they will bring incoming mail to us, nor when I shall be where I can cable you.
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No more news – it has been relatively quiet lately. I guess the fighting is pretty fierce inland, but the boys seem to be making progress. The weather is beautiful today – only the second clear day we have had since we got here.
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Must stop now.
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Loving you always –
Bob

On Board Ship: U.S. East Coast, Nov.-Dec. 1943

At the end of 1943, my father was stationed on board ship YMS-305, on the East Coast of the United States.  The ship did not actually depart for Europe until March of 1944, when they learned of where they were to be stationed there. Meanwhile, Dad had his first holiday season away from his beloved wife, daughter, and mother, which must have been very lonely indeed! The following letters tell how the men were occupied during November 1943 and how they celebrated Thanksgiving. The first letter was written prior to boarding the ship; the others were written on board.
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Monday, Nov. 8, 1943, 6:30 pm
My darling Margot –
After writing to you Sat. I stretched out on my bed to rest a few minutes before going out to mail it. I fell asleep & slept from 3 until Carol woke me up at 6! Consequently, your letter did not leave here until Sun. afternoon, and you got it a day later than I expected. I spent all Sat. evening, after mailing the letter, reading; finally went to sleep & slept 10 ½ hrs. more – amazed at myself, but I guess I am slept out now. Yesterday we wandered around town, chatted, & read. Went to show last nite – thought Jean Arthur was always in fairly good shows, but this one smelled! Called “A Lady Takes a Chance”.

Spent most of the day over at the yard today, doing many little things. I have gotten very chummy with the exec, Jim Wills, & the engineering officer, Gil Gilchrist, both of whom I like very much. (Wills was just married a week ago, after he got here.) The skipper, who has just made Lt., I don’t know so well – he is a vague, odd sort of fellow, but seems both friendly & capable. He assigned us today – I have gunnery, sound, commissary, & education – good set of jobs, and certainly no more than my share. So I am satisfied. Of

Commissary section

course I am fourth officer – have definitely lost ground since I first left SCTC – but as long as I have a job to do & can do it well, I am happy. The worst thing is my living – I must bunk in the ward-room and find what closet & drawer space I can with the other officers.
.

Officers’ wardroom

After work we had a milk shake & then went up to Gil’s room to have a little scotch in “celebration” of his girl’s returning his engagement ring! Now settled down for a quiet evening in the room.
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We still hope & expect to get the ship out of here & down to Boston next Sunday or Monday. That’s about all I can tell you about our future movements, because I don’t know much more myself. Anyway, I am less discouraged than I was.
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I am reading over those Yale Alumni Magazines … Keep sending them on to me, as they come in. You may remember that I never did get the July one – if you ever come across it, I still would like to see it. Another mystery is the disappearance of a suit of underwear I took off just before the party Wed. night – I intended to bring it with me & have it washed when I got here, but it was not in my luggage, unless I put on the dirty suit by mistake when I made a quick change in Bath – if you come across it, please send it to me. Also let me know if you ever find my camera, but do not send it to me. (I understand Boston is a good place to get movie films.)
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The weather has been lousy here – raw & damp, with lots of rain.
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See papers here irregularly, but frequently enough to keep up on the news, which is on the whole encouraging.
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I miss you & Judy awfully much – going home seems to make me just more lonesome when I am away from you! But I still hope I may see you before too long. In the meantime I am waiting to hear from you.
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I love you more than anything in the universe –
Bob

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November 20, 1943 – Saturday
6:20 pm
My darling Margot –
Well, now we are in commission – commissioned in a very simple ceremony at 10 a.m. today, with workmen hammering & pounding all over the ship! In fact they hammer & pound all the time, including all nite – one nite I was sleeping in the crew’s quarters and woke up to find a workman hammering on a pipe no more than 6 inches from my ear! Now we have my bunk rigged in the wardroom, but I still have noise all around me most of the time – but we get used to it, & sleep thru it all anyway.
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We are up on the marine railway to have some work done on the bottom and the sound gear installed. Meanwhile, the ship is torn up in all parts, and loose supplies we are still in the process of stowing are to be found all over the deck. There are a million things to do, but everyone is pitching in, and we are getting them done. The other officers are swell.
We shall be here for at least 3 or 4 more days, then go over to Boston Section Base for minesweeping trials, calibrations, etc., and leave for Little Creek about Dec. 1 – that is where we are likely to be for Christmas, or else en route to Casco Bay or Key West for sound trials – not very encouraging, is it? However, there is a good chance that we shall settle down to operating regularly out of some northeastern port on this side of the Atlantic.
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Fleet P.O. was not on the ball and has been sending all our mail to Maine – so we have not got any yet, but should have by Monday. …
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It’s been a lot warmer the last two days, and I had liberty, but I didn’t use much of it. One night we went to see a movie (saw the last part of Bob Hope picture they stopped on account of an air raid drill the nite before leaving Little Creek and also a pretty good spy picture). … Last nite I tried to call you, but there was a 2-3 hr. delay thru Chicago, and I didn’t wait.
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Another thing I have done is to try to call Lou Shine at Little Creek. My bag is not here yet, and I have been trying to get him to see if he sent it. But one nite he was out, and the second time there was too long a delay, and I didn’t wait. Did he ever send the express receipt home? If so, please mail it to me at once. I am a little worried about my stuff & need it badly – at least 2/3 of my entire navy wardrobe is among it.
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I thought I had a lot to say, but I seem now to have run out of material. I have not seen a paper regularly & lost track of the news (our ship’s radios are not installed yet), except for hearing about the British shell which landed on a cemetery in W. Roxbury when some stupid sailor was playing with the gun out in the harbor!
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…
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Hope I soon get my mail, for I feel out of touch with home & you & Mother & little Judy – I bet she’s changed a lot just since I left. I miss you all so – and love you too –
Bob
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Don’t know if I can get this mailed tonite or not – I hope so.
.

November 27, 1943
7:30 p.m.
Dearest –
Your letters finally caught up with me, and I was glad to hear all the news of you. Yours of the 18th and 20th arrived Wednesday and those of the 22nd and 14th came yesterday – the latter had gone to Bath & back.
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Today has been a wild madhouse aboard. We leave the yard at 8 a.m. tomorrow, and today they have been trying to clean up 1001 jobs still undone (some of them will be left unfinished),checking lists with us, while we were taking on ammunition, fuel, supplies, & registered publications! And they will be working all night in a vain effort to finish up.
We shall be in & around Boston on various jobs & runs until about Friday, when we shall start off for Little Creek. So I shall have a few more liberties here and maybe a chance to do a little shopping.
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Yesterday we had a delicious turkey dinner aboard at noon. I tried to get away soon after

Thanksgiving dinner

that, so I could call you all up at Grandma’s. But one thing after another came up, and I didn’t get away until 4:30. Then I had to concentrate on getting out to the Kuhns’, didn’t reach there until nearly 6, and then it was too late to call.
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We had a swell dinner there, with favors ‘n’ everything. There were just four of us, the fourth being June Hayes Larson, an old Newark friend of Kay’s who is here trying (so far in vain) to see her husband in a nearby army camp before he goes overseas. Afterward we had highballs & played poker, and I was sorry I had to leave at 11:30 to catch the latest possible bus into town. So I had a pretty good Thanksgiving, and I hope you did too.
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…
Wednesday night I went to see The Doughgirls on the stage here – it is pretty

The Doughgirls Playbill

entertaining. The veteran Taylor Holmes does a superb comic job and really carries the show, which is otherwise only fair.

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Tell Mother I was glad to have her letter, the interesting clippings, & especially the swell snapshot of Judy. I liked Marcella’s shot of Judy you sent too. (Wasn’t that picture the Brandons took horrible?!) …
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I am just about broke – missed the mid-November pay day and haven’t had any since I left Little Creek. They will not pay me until next pay day (Tuesday) – they have a right to refuse to pay at other times. Mr. Clarke’s check, which I cashed, will just about carry me through, but Gil says he has money he can lend me if I need it.
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We had very little of the terrific snowstorm which hit Maine & other places a few days ago. And the last few days have been balmy – quite comfortable on deck without even a suit coat! That’s not likely to last, however, and it’s awfully damp & raw here when it is cold.
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Out of necessity I bought a pair of cheap warm gloves. But they will not last very long, probably – just enough to get me thru to Xmas – subtle hint, eh? I have been to several of the ship’s service stores (the navy has small bases all over Boston, instead of one big yard) but found them small & poor – they have very little stock and nothing like good haberdashery, films, etc. But I still have to investigate the one in E. Boston.
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Have noticed a slight shortage of cigarettes, esp. Camels. In Maine, & once here, I could not get them at all, and even here it is hard to get cartons of anything but Philip Morris! One can always get something, however.
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Last night when I came in they had the wardroom so torn up in installing the safe that I couldn’t swing my bunk. So I decided to sleep in the skipper’s (his wife is here), but found a workman in there putting up a shelf over the bunk! I kicked him out, and he finished up the job this morning! The environs of my closet & drawers in the office are still too torn up to make it accessible, and I am still keeping stuff in suitcases and other people’s drawers & closets, but that will soon be over. Our only other discomfort is that the ash trays we ordered still haven’t come – the only one we have at present is a large hub cap the skipper picked up alongside the road in Boothbay!
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Glad of all the news – … You seem to be having quite a lot of social life – and I am happy to hear that you are having fun. Your Xmas shopping sounds pretty successful, too – sorry I cannot help you out, even with suggestions.
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And of course I am glad to hear every detail about Judy – I miss her so! I am sorry, & a little worried, if you feel she is getting somewhat spoiled – I imagine both you & Mother could be a little more firm with her – I am sure all will be well – you mustn’t let yourself get discouraged, for I know you are really doing a swell job.
.
…
Two carpenters have just come in to rebuild our wardroom dishracks – the holes in them were not the right size for the glasses & dishes, which have to be held in place when the ship is lurching.
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Don’t know what happened to my camera, but it’s not too serious – it was inexpensive and I had had it for years.
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Glad to hear that nothing was wrong with the tires. But keep checking them often and keep the pressure up, and have them carefully examined if they go down too fast. Do you continue to rotate them according to the plan we arranged last winter?
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I don’t see a newspaper very often, but now I get some news on the radio and count on Newsweek to bring me up to date. The war seems to get bloodier & bloodier as our successes increase, and I fear that trend will increase. It looks as though it will take a long time to knock Germany out.

I am all excited about your possible pregnancy and can hardly wait to hear more news from you about it. I shall be the happiest man on earth if it is true – so happy that you can name the child anything you want if it comes!
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The only trouble is that it makes me miss you all the worse – and I’d love to have you come to Norfolk. But I want to discourage you from doing it. Shakedown is a terrific grind – work day & nite. When Jim Wills was there for shakedown on a YMS, he & the other officers each found time for one evening of liberty in the three weeks they were there. Because of this none of the officers are planning to have their wives there. I think, therefore, that it is very foolish for you to come – I’d feel worse with you so near & not able to see you than with you at home. It would be wonderful if we could be together then, & especially for Christmas (if we are still there on Dec. 25), but I am afraid it is impossible. So please wait until later, especially as it is very probable (in fact as certain as anything is in the navy – we are already assigned) that we shall be operating by the day out of an east coast port for at least a couple of months – (This is strictly confidential – I should not tell even you – don’t repeat it yet) then you can come & bring Judy & really live with me for awhile – won’t that be swell? So please, darling, wait – and understand that I really want it as much as you do, but just cannot see it.
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Must close now & do some work – this letter (with many interruptions to talk to workmen) is too long already.
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I love you, love you, love you, love you, love you, &
LOVE YOU – BOB

October 1943: Dad assigned to sub chaser; last letters prior to commission

Between September 21 (the date of his last letter) and October 1, 1943, my father went home, because he refers to this visit in his letter dated October 1.  The following letters, all dated in October of 1943, were his last letters home prior to being commissioned on the sub chaser YMS-305.

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Friday, October 1, 1943
(On United States Navy letterhead)
Will send all mail for you to
Janesville, for Mother to Olinda*, until further notice from either
of you.
Note the address – please give it to theoffice.

My darling –
Shall try to wire you tomorrow, but in case I cannot this letter will be the first word you will have of me. To begin with, I am safe, well, comfortable & not too unhappy about the prospects.
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After I sent you the package of films & the card from the Chicago post office, I walked back to the station, tried in vain to get Barbara Phillips on the phone (got the number out of the phone book, but she did not answer), and read until train time. About the only other things I did in Chicago were to get a book box at Brentano’s to put the films in and to try in vain to see Mr. Graham (who was taking a vacation before going into the army next week).
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The train to Washington was full but comfortable. It had individual seats and I slept pretty well, although I was not one of the lucky ones who had an empty seat next to him to stretch out in. There was no club car and nothing but a washroom for men, but we could smoke in our seats. The dining car was crowded, as usual, but served the good food for which the B.&O. is famous. They also had a loudspeaker system for announcing meals, stops, etc.!
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… The train from there to Richmond & the one from Richmond here were hot, crowded, & dirty. I had to go all the way across town to change stations in Richmond, ate lunch & waited for an hour in the second one, a stinking hole if I ever saw one. I have since found out that the Chesapeake & Ohio runs a through train from Chicago to Norfolk (I knew about one leaving Chi. in the a.m., but there is also one in the afternoon), which is by far the best way to come!
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But all C. & O. trains stop at Newport News, and we came across from there by boat. But that is an easy change, and the trip is an interesting one of about an hour’s duration across the corner of Chesapeake Bay (really Hampton Roads) amongst many ships of all types. Arrived in Norfolk, after much inquiry & calling, we found that the best way to get out here was by cab for only $1, and thus we traveled.
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I am at a small, new section base 12 miles northeast of Norfolk on Chesapeake Bay, right next to the amphibious training base. Got here about 7, logged in, got what I could to eat (fig newtons, coke, ice cream, & cake!) at ship’s service store, and got a room in BOQ [Base Officers’ Quarters]. I am in a room for four men, but only two others are in it now, and one of them (whom I have not met yet) expects to move out soon. There is enough drawer & closet space, the plumbing is modern, the beds seem comfortable, etc., but there is only one comfortable chair, one hard chair, cockroaches, & no ash trays! I unpacked what stuff I have (my sea bag will be sent out from Norfolk when it arrives, and I hope my expressed suitcase will too), took a welcome shower, and sat down to write this. I finish my checking in tomorrow.
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I understand the mess is good, there is a comfortable lounge with radio and newspapers & magazines, and a bar that serves any type of drinks. One reason no one goes to Norfolk, besides the fact that it is hard to get there, is that there are few good nite spots there and hardly any that the shore patrol will permit us to patronize – they kicked two men out of a lobby of a hotel where they were looking up movies in a paper, because they were not guests of the hotel!
.
The school here is only in its fourth week of operation and not too well organized, apparently – I many start school tomorrow – with lectures not in sequence so that one can start almost anywhere. Classes are from 8:30-11:30 and 1:00-4:30, and there is little outside work – six days a week. They give all courses – navigation, seamanship, communications, gunnery, etc., in addition to mine courses – and the staff of instructors is supposed to be very experienced & good. (The commanding officer is a captain, wrote the words to “Anchors Aweigh”.) The school has one YMS (136 ft. – PCS is modeled on its hull) and one AM (type Hagge is on – does lots of escort work as well as sweeping), and we cruise in the Bay about once a week. The class building is only about half a block from here and recreation, store, & movie hall in a building across the street.
.
My other roommate, Lt. (j.g.) McLaughlin, radar instructor, has just come in. He is just starting a course here and is very glum because he seems to be stuck here for the duration – seems nice, as is Ens. Miller, who was here when I came in. Miller is from Los Angeles, has a grandmother in Clinton, mother-in-law came from Janesville, and he has often visited there. …
.
The course is set up for eight weeks, but few stay that long – some have assignments when they get here, and others get them soon. All go to new construction – either YMS or AM. Crews are also trained, assembled, & assigned here. I may go as exec on a YMS, using my command group & 1074 experience, or as a junior officer on an AM, where my A.S.W. training will be useful – I don’t know which I want or am more likely to get, but I’ll know more after my interview with the very popular exec tomorrow.
.
A few officers have their families here – places to live nearby are not too scarce, but a car is essential & gas hard to get, and there is little to occupy said families. We are really in the country, and transportation to Norfolk is poor. I’ll inquire further when I can.
…
Please read this to mother – I can’t repeat it all to her.
.
I had a wonderful time at home and am deriving much pleasure from reminiscing, especially on Judy. You don’t know how much it meant to me to see her. Hug & kiss my cute little rascal for me. It was wonderful seeing Mother too, and most of all being with you. I have thought of you these past two days, conjecturing just when you got back from Walworth, bathed Judy, showed her off to the relatives, went to bed, got up, went to Janesville, etc.
.
I love you more than anything in the universe –
Bob
Cold & raining in Washington and here, hot in Richmond – understand it is really cold here at nite.

*Transcriber’s note: Olinda: The name of my grandmother’s summer home on Lake Geneva, in Williams Bay, Wisconsin.
.

Monday, October 11, 1943
My darling –
I sure was surprised to get your call, but it was a pleasant surprise, and now I am really looking forward to your coming. Try not to make it any later than Saturday – I cannot wait any longer! That through train leaves Chicago at 2:something in the afternoon and arrives here about 4 or 5 – it is knocked all apart and put together again in Cincinnati, but the Pullmans go there & require no change. I shall try to get across to Newport News to meet you, but probably will not be able to make it, in which case you get on the ferry & I’ll meet you in Norfolk. Buy your x.x. ticket there to Norfolk, and you get off the train & right onto the boat – it is an interesting trip of about an hour’s duration – lots of ships, etc.
.
There is a nice inn about five minutes walk from here, and I am going to try to get us a room there. It is in the country, but some of the navy wives living there have cars. The biggest drawback is that there is no decent place to eat there, or anywhere around here. You can eat here in BOQ – quite a few girls do – but that is not so feasible for breakfast.
When you come, bring warm fall clothes, such as you would be wearing at home now. Also try to bring an alarm clock – even that old one without a face (on the sleeping porch or in the maid’s room) would be O.K. Please also bring a fair amount of cash, and the check-book. I shall be paid about $100 Friday, but can get no other cash until Nov. 1, unless my travel money comes in, which I can’t count on.
.
Got your last letter Sat. – hope the washing machine turns out O.K. Interested to hear about Dave’s party, the Cummings’ life, & especially the Hough baby – what a surprise that was!
.
Saturday night I saw Walt Disney’s version of Victory thru Air Power – very well done and an interesting exposition of de Seversky’s thesis, though it drags in the latter parts. Tonight we had This is the Army, and it is very good – I really enjoyed it. Other than that I have just gone to classes, slept, read, listened to baseball & football games, written letters, bulled, played bridge, etc.

I bought myself a waterproof watch, and it runs like a dream. As you know, I have been trying to get one ever since I got in the service, and needed it now with my old watch out of kilter again. It runs like a dream, has a radium dial, & a sweep second hand. It is one of those bought by the gov’t for sale to service men – cost $23 – there are no more of the $35 variety.

WW II watch with radium dial (recently sold on eBay for $650!). These watches were made by female factory workers, many of whom later became ill with radiation sickness.

.
Try to bring the pajamas, sox, & laundry bag I mentioned in my last letter with you if you can.
.
Remember that Friday is the last day to send stuff to men overseas for Xmas – maybe you can find something for them in Chicago.
.
Have some more dope on my possible assignment, but things change so fast that I can’t be sure of anything. I’ll tell you more when [you] get here. Anyway, 1) one officer has already been taken from our class & sent to a ship, and 2) I am more likely to get sound officer on an AM (because of my Key West training) than at first appeared.
.
Must go to bed now, because I have to stand watch from 2-6 a.m.!
.
Can hardly wait for you to get here.
J’taime plus que rien tu peux dire –
Bob
.

Friday, October 29, 1943
My darling,
You probably will know more than I am going to tell you before you receive this, for I shall try to communicate with you by phone or wire as soon as I know more details tomorrow. Anyway, I learned today that I have been assigned to the YMS-305, and just before supper I learned that I am to be detached tomorrow. That’s all I know – don’t know where she is, when she is to be commissioned, nor how soon I shall have to report, but I imagine I shall have to go directly to her and that she will be commissioned very soon. Hope to get out of here by tomorrow nite, leaving laundy & cleaning for my roommate to send to me.
.
I intended to write to you last nite, but I would not have had this news then. You would not have got it before Monday anyway. The reason I didn’t was because we came back from the movie, went in to get a beer, found the bar open but the bartender gone, and one of the beer taps had been left unchecked! So we helped ourselves! Couldn’t afford to leave with all that free beer flowing! I must have had five before the duty yeoman came in to close the place up & discovered what had happened – at least a dozen other officers had had equally as many!
.
The movie last nite was Wallace Beery in Salute to the Marines – better than I expected.

Tonight we had Bob Hope in Let’s Face It, which was very funny as long as it lasted;

but they stopped it in the middle for an air raid drill, which took about an hour, and they would not show the rest of it after the drill was over! Incidentally, the dim-out on the east coast is being eliminated, but of course blackouts will continue.
.
Another night this week we had a very good glee club & a pretty good dance band, all of negro sailors from the training school at Hampton Institute. Still another nite they had a USO show – I didn’t go but wished I had when I heard how entertaining it was.
.
Glad to get out of this place – it’s getting worse all the time. We now have exercises at the end of the afternoon every day, the first of a weekly inspection of rooms in BOQ was begun today, and there is to be a personnel inspection of all officers & men tomorrow! Besides, it’s quite cold here now, and the BOQ [Base Officers’ Quarters] heating is none too adequate – and we have had lots of rain, too, esp. Tuesday, when our group was out at sea. (That was the day we passed close aboard the Charger anchored out in the Bay.)

USS Charger

I have got to be an inveterate magazine reader here, esp. of the Satevepost [probably short for Saturday Evening Post]. Also got the new Reader’s Digest – they sell for only 15 cents in ship’s service stores! By the way, do you remember our plot to put that cartoon (of the little boy rolling the mine up on the beach on the bulletin board? – Mac put it there Sunday, and it is still there!
…

Glad to get your letter yesterday & hear that everything is all right. Was pleased at all the successful shopping you did – …
.
As you know, I did not get the duty I wanted, but I shall know much more about it after I get to the ship. It all depends on the type of work the ship does (& where) and also the other officers. So far as I know, they are all strangers to me – apparently the captain & the engineering officer are already at the ship, while to exec was also assigned from here & is here, but I don’t know him & haven’t been able to find out who he is. There will be four officers. In normal course, depending on the skipper’s rank & his desires, I should go up to exec pretty soon, and eventually to skipper. And I have the consolation of knowing that if I do go on an AM later, it will be with more experience, & also to a better ship, for many improvements are to be made to them in the future.
.
If I get proceed time to some east coast port, I doubt that I shall go to the expense of going home – may just go up to see Aunt Julie instead – but I shall see how things work out – you probably will know before you receive this.
.
I miss you something awful, my sweetie pie. I want to see you in your new dress & new fur – I bet you look even more beautiful than ever. And I miss Judy, too, – my walking, talking cute little girl. Be good, both of you.
.
I love you more than anything in the universe –
Bob

1943: More Training: Key West, FL & Camden, NJ

I start with a timeline of my father’s naval training in 1942-1943, before he was assigned to a ship in October 1943. His correspondence was sporadic at this time (since he had his family with him part of the time), so the timeline helps keep track of where he was stationed, when, and for how long.

PART I: TRAINING, 1942-1943
U.S.A.
Timeline:
December 1942: Dad takes train to Chicago, where he visits Horace & Barbara Phillips.
Dad leaves Chicago by train to N.Y.
Arrives at training school at Columbia University campus.
December 29, 1942: Dad and his cohorts sworn in as midshipmen, that is, they take the Navy oath.
January (before Jan. 20), 1943: Mother & (my oldest sister) Judy go to N.Y. They stay in a hotel for a few weeks, then transfer to apartment that Dad has rented.
March 31, 1943: Dad & his class graduated Midshipmen’s school and are commissioned as ensigns.
April 1943: Dad has a couple of weeks leave.
April (?) 1943: Dad goes to Miami, FL for further training at a sub-chaser school.
June 21, 1943: First day of school in Key West.
July 9, 1943: Dad arrives in Philadelphia by train. Navy yard where he is stationed is in Camden, NJ

The first letter I found in his correspondence to his wife after he was commissioned as ensign is dated June 23, from Key West, Florida:

June 23, 1943
(On U.S. Navy letterhead)
My darling –
There is not a lot to say, and I am not sure you will receive this before you leave – but here goes anyway.
.
I reserved a room for us at the La Concha from Friday until Tuesday – when you arrive, if I do not meet you, go there and ask for the room reserved in my name. Since we have no time off next Wednesday, I figure it is not worth the expense for you to stay past Tuesday, although I shall hate to see you go.
.
Have been dopey & groggy since I got here, due to lack of rest & an inexplicable state of constipation. But I have had two good nights of sleep & a laxative, and now I feel much better.
.
It doesn’t seem as hot here as in Miami, except in the direct sun in the afternoon. There is more constant breeze, and we have had some rain – it was actually cool this morning.
We are getting lots of time on the attack teacher – voluntarily worked an hour extra between class & supper yesterday. We also had a demonstration of mousetrap firing yesterday and a fine lecture by a British officer today – those are highlights so far. Now am relaxing & enjoying afternoon off. May go to movie tonight – read & retired early last nite.
I haven’t received your letter yet but may before the day’s over. The post office is closed now.
.
When you come, bring your navy certificate with you – you may need it to get into the swimming pool at the base, etc.
.
The food here is good, we can have beer in the wardroom whenever we want it, and there are good showers – so I am comfortable! Since it costs me nothing, I am not going to give up this room while you are here – I can keep things in it & use it for headquarters during the day.
.
Tell Joe & Jimmy that, if they have a car, they can get fair living facilities not near the base & eat any meals they wish in BOQ. Otherwise, it is hopeless for them to bring their wives.
I can hardly wait to see you, dear. Give my love to Judy.
.
Love, Bob.
Ens. R. C. Lovejoy, U.S.N.R.

~~~~~~~~~~

Dad’s next letter is dated after his arrival in Camden, NJ:

July 9, 1943
9 p.m.
(On letterhead of The Walt Whitman Hotel, Camden, NJ)
My darling –
I love you more than anything in the universe forever & ever.
.
Much to tell – the rest of the train trip was uneventful – read most of the time – train less crowded after Jacksonville. Slept better than I expected – about eight hours, and woke up only once during the night. Went thru one state I had never been in before – South Carolina – have been “in” every state east of the Mississippi except Rhode Island!
.
Arrived in Philadelphia at 10:30 this morning. Checked my bags at 30th St. station and came on out to Jersey. Reported in with the Supervisor of Shipbldg. here in Camden and went on to Gloucester. It took me a long time to find the yard, but I finally did – it is new & small. (Ours is the second oldest of four SC’s under construction there.)
.
No officers were there, it being 12:15 – so I went & got a sandwich at a hash house and came back at 1:00. The officers from one of the other ships were there and said that Burger had gone to Phila. & would probably not be back. So I took a little tub of a boat, used by Phila. navy yard workers, & ferried over to the Navy Yard. It is tremendous, said to be the largest in the world. Among other ships being built there is the battleship Wisconsin.

Battleship BB-64 Wisconsin

USS Wisconsin (BB-64)

I reported in with the Commandant of the 4th Naval District’s office there in the Yard. While I was there, Burger came in, and the officer with whom I was dealing knew him – so we met. He is a former enlisted man, promoted to ensign nearly a year ago (just missed the last promotion), since which time he has spent 6 mos. on a PC and taught seamanship at S.C.T.C. – I think I had him in one lecture. He seems capable, and agreeable, too. We left the yard and rode part way on the trolley together.
.
He came back here, and I went back to the station, got my bags (including my checked suitcase) and took a taxi over here to the Walt Whitman in Camden. It was then 5 p.m. and too late to look for a place to live. It is a modern, comfortable hotel – good showers, radio in every room, etc. – & not expensive. I cleaned up, got some dinner, walked about a bit, and went to see The More the Merrier, which is very amusing and in spots riotously funny.
.
I think I can find a room tomorrow. I have several leads. There is very little in Gloucester, but I have one lead there. However, if it doesn’t pan out, I can live here in Camden, which is only a short bus ride from our yard. I also think there is a fair chance of finding a small apt. here, if & when you come.
.
Living in Philadelphia is impractical – … – it is a bus ride of at least 30 min. from downtown Philly, and any living accommodations would be on the other side of downtown. The officers who are at the yard live in Gloucester or Camden except one who has a car, which is the only feasible way to commute from Philly. But Camden does not seem so bad to live in. I expect to find a place tomorrow.
.
I did not see the ship today, but Burger tells me that it is coming along pretty well. It should be launched some time next week and commissioned about the end of the month. It is to be fitted out where it is (and not in Philadelphia) – we hope to have her out of here by mid-August. The rest of this paragraph is for your information only and is to be repeated to absolutely no one except Mother, unless I tell you later that it is all right. These SC’s are to be commissioned, fitted out, & shaken down by us. At that time, in Miami, they will be turned over to the Russians, who want to have them & get them to Murmansk before the ice sets in. Naturally, that makes us a little mad and impairs our incentive to whip the ship into shape, but I guess the prospect of shakedown will furnish that. And we have no idea what will happen to us when they take the ship!
.
There is a helluva lot of work for us to do here. Burger has been here only three days and has already met numerous obstacles. Among other things, he has been unable to find any members of our crew at the receiving station yet – and we need some of them badly to help us prepare for commissioning only three weeks away. Another blow is that the third officer, whose name is J.P. Van Kirk (!), is in the hospital – he reported late in June, almost immediately contracted mumps and will be confined until July 27. Neither of us has met him yet, but we need him badly – and they tell us that, so long as he is out before commissioning, we aren’t likely to get a replacement! Our “office” consists of a large box rigged up into a desk in an empty building at the yard, but it is already piled high with stuff to be worked on!
.
It is cool here, thank God, but they had one heat wave & expect another. We wear khakis, but must wear coats at all times when not in a naval station.
.
I miss you & Judy fiercely, and wonder how you got along on your trip, whether you made your connection at Chicago, and how things are at home. I wish you could be here with me right now, but I won’t let you come until you have completed your dentistry, etc. So hurry up – I need lovin’! Hope I hear from you tomorrow.
.
You should read Lippmann’s much-talked-of book on U.S. Foreign Policy, or at least the Reader’s Digest condensation of it. I read the latter and feel that it is full of good ideas, worth considering. The article on Bricker in the Post is good too, but I can get it from little real idea of the man.
.
I am going to bed now – figure I can finish & mail this tomorrow night, and you will still get it Mon. (Transcriber’s note: The 4th page ends here and there is no other.)

Tuesday, September 21, 1943
My darling Margot –
Much news. I was down at the pier late this a.m., and Leonard came in & said he had his orders. So I went up to Officer Detail to see if I could get mine. But they had not come in, because the Bureau did not want to order me to that ship. It seems that they gathered from the fitness report that there was some friction between us and want us separated and wanted to get a new slant on me (i.e. some other captain’s viewpoint). Len told them he would take me as third officer, but the office here is not sure the Bureau will do that and knows they won’t if I do not ask for it. So that left it up to me to choose between going along with him as third officer or taking my chances on whatever else the Bureau may give me. I have decided to do the latter. What I shall get, & how soon, I don’t know. I suppose it will be exec on an SC again, but I cannot tell. I may be able to find out more tomorrow and shall investigate the chance of getting leave too. I sure hate to think of sitting around here, esp. without you.
.
To all other people, except Mother, whom I shall now write, you may merely say that my orders were changed and I am standing by for something else.
.
J.C. got orders yesterday afternoon. He is going on a PC, in what capacity he does not know. It is not a new one. He goes to Key West the end of this week to get on it, will probably be there a short time, and then go off with the ship, probably overseas. Lil will go to Key West, stay until he leaves, & then go home. They seem somewhat disappointed, but are taking it well.
.

Joe has heard nothing yet. He & Carole are apt.-hunting, for they will have to move after the Dunns go. So will I, if I am still here. But you can keep writing me at———– until further notice.
.
I am staying here in our apt. until tomorrow, but am over there most of the time & eating there. Those friends of the Bingamans’ are going to be married next week, and they are taking over this apt. of ours.
…

That’s about all the news there is – we have done nothing else exciting except learned to play 2-handed & 3-handed pinochle correctly! I got my teeth cleaned, and the dentist found no cavities. Tomorrow I shall try to get paid, send something to Ackroyds, and get my blue pants.
.
Tomorrow I shall also pack & move out of here. It is so lonely without you – I miss you terrifically. I have thought much of you, how your trip is, whether you are comfortable & resting. Please write me when you have arrived safely in Wausau.
.
Say hello to everyone there for me. And have a good time. Don’t worry – more news when I have any to send you.
.
I love you more than anything in the universe –
Bob
I enclose a note for Mary & Peter. Please give it to them after the wedding or whenever they are receiving such messages. I have no small stationery, so I enclose a separate envelope for you to put it in.
.
It is still hot as hades here – hope you are not too cold.
.
Tues. nite – 11:30 p.m.
Didn’t go out tonight – so I didn’t get to mail this – will do so tomorrow a.m. Callases were over for dinner tonight, and then we played poker – I lost, as usual – J.C. did too, but Lil won about $2!
.
I love you – Bob

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The following images are from First Congregational Church in Janesville, Wisconsin, which was my parents’ church. The first image is a photo of the names of the men and women from the church who had gone into military service during World War II. (Note that the beginning date is 1941, but the ending date is incomplete, being unknown at the time when the war would end.)  The third column of names contains four Lovejoys, my father, his brother John, and two cousins, Allen Fraser and David Beaton.

The second image is from the service of honor held at the church, commemorating the church members in military service.

First Congregational Church in Janesville had a service of dedication to the church members who had left to serve in the war.

Jan.-Mar. 1943: naval training; graduating midshipman school

This is my dad’s first letter to my mother in 1943 – on New Year’s Day! Unfortunately the last part of the letter is missing, so there is no closing.

January 1, 1943
My darling –
New Year’s Eve & Day were just like all others for us – in bed at 10 last night, up at 6 this morning, & a full day of work. they gave us turkey & cranberry sauce for dinner this noon, but we had little time to really enjoy it, since we had a class at 12:45. And otherwise you would not know it is a holiday!
.
You will notice that my address has been changed. Tuesday afternoon they came up & ordered me to move across the hall, where Jim Lewis had bilged out. Somebody had to be moved out of 534-5, to relive the congestion there, and they picked on me. I have no more bureau, shelf & desk space here, but there is a lot more room in the closet and more room to maneuver around. My roommates are Jim Dunn (married) from Mississippi and Hal Williams of California – they are nice fellows – I have known them before. I miss the old crowd, but I see a lot of them. And it is quieter in here. So hereafter I should be addressed to Room 530, although letters mailed to 535 will reach me. Incidentally, you forgot to put Fernald Hall on one of your letters, and that undoubtedly delayed its reaching me, perhaps as much as 24 hours.
.
We now have midshipmen battalion, company, & platoon officers. Jack Fralick is one of them, and well he deserves it. And they finally got around to appointing new section leaders in our platoon, and I was relieved of the nuisance of that job.

Mini postal scale of the type my father would have used

I received the postal scale Tuesday and am delighted to have it. It will really be useful. I cannot think of another thing I need now, except more cotton sox. I have plenty of wool ones, but I could use 4-6 more pairs of cotton ones. They must be all black & preferably size 13.
We have had classes in all our courses now. They are going to be interesting but plenty tough. There is lots of ground to cover, and nothing is repeated – so we just have to be on our toes all the time. There are daily quizzes in nearly every course; so we cannot fail to prepare one of the lengthy assignments & get away with it. The instructions are, on the whole, good, and no one can get gypped, for instructions are changes every two weeks. Most of the classes are small. We have ordnance & navigation each five times a week, seamanship three, and damage control & communication each twice. Besides that there are weekly drills in gunnery (yesterday we loaded & fired two loading mailines [?], which are similar to naval guns) & seamanship (today it was blinker – i.e. Morse Code, only by flashes of light rather than sounds). We have regular marching drill only once a week from now on, however.

Navy Yard DC – by WW II it was the world’s largest ordnance plant.

The latest is a new order telling us just what articles of clothing must be placed at which end of which bureau drawer, and the same thing applies to desk drawers & book shelves – on the latter they tell us in which order our books must stand! But we cannot comply, for it is based on two men having one 4-drawer bureau, whereas 3 of us share a 5-drawer bureau – also our bookshelves are not big enough for the arrangement they demand! What next?!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The rest of this letter is missing.  There are no more letters until June, because during some of that time, my parents were together. However, I found this announcement from March 1943:

Dec. 1942: Dad promoted to midshipman

Dad’s last letter of 1942 is a long one, composed in separate sittings.

=============================================================

December 28, 1942
Margot dear –
We are just sitting around today, not knowing what is going to happen; so I have no idea when interruptions will come. But I shall start this anyway. Maybe I shall not attempt to finish it until this afternoon, when I hope a letter from you will come.
.
Have received two more swell Christmas presents from you & Judy since I last wrote. One was the pears – they are delicious, and you know how much I love them. The other is the swell snapshot case with the cute new pictures of Judy – that is one of the best presents I got. Those are swell pictures – did you take them? – they look as though they were taken with my camera. You certainly were smart to find so many things I wanted for Christmas, and to send them all to me.

   
I also got the cards you forwarded. …
.
Saturday we had another inoculation, but this one does not seem to have had any ill effects. We also were fitted for overcoats, which are going to look really snappy. And we had a thorough room inspection – we had cleaned well in the a.m., but it was dirty again by the time the inspector came around at 2 p.m. As a consequence, Jack Fralick has to do extra duty for a couple of hours some time. I am in charge of the room this week & will have to take the responsibility – I hope we do better. We are so many in such small quarters that it is impossible to keep it clean for any length of time.
.
I used my few hours of liberty Saturday afternoon to get a lot of little odd jobs done. Then I went on watch. I was mate of the 10th deck, in which job one transmits to his deck all orders from below, collects & distributes mail, and generally serves as policeman for the living quarters & contact man between the mates & the office. It was an easy job this week-end, because so few men were around, and very few orders were given. We had only one cleaning detail, which consisted for dusting & sweeping the main hall & lounge. But I had to walk shore patrol yesterday for an hour – another man & I walked up & down Broadway between 110 and 116 St., seeing that no one went off bounds or otherwise misbehaved. During my off duty hours I got about a dozen letters written. Being on duty, I had to miss last night’s church service.
.
Today we get paid – the vast sum of $5 in cash – the rest has all been taken out for laundry, uniforms, etc. We also learn who has been flunked out as a result of indoctrination exams & aptitude displayed during these first three weeks. Tomorrow the survivors are sworn in as midshipmen. We also turn in some equipment, get other stuff, etc., today & tomorrow.
.
It got pretty cold again yesterday, but it is cloudy & gloomy, and it has been raining quite hard! There is not a bit of snow left.
.
…
One of the funniest things about New York now is the dim-out. Downtown on Christmas Eve the crowds were as big as ever in Times Square, but most of the bright lights are out – it is darker than the corner of Main & Milwaukee at home. And of course it is in force here too – all shades must be drawn when lights are on, the lamp-posts are all painted black on top, the traffic signals are just little crosses, and people must shelter their headlights or drive only with parking lights. That means they zoom at you out of the gloom, and crossing a street is really hazardous.

One of the hardest things to do around here is to keep clean. There are only 4 showers for 70 men, and you usually have only about 3 minutes to take one. And the buildings seem to be always dirty. The condition I am in most of the time would be considered disgusting at home – yet everyone is that way, due to inadequate facilities & lack of time. The laundry service here is lousy too – it takes them a week to do it, they never iron pajamas or underwear, and half the time we don’t get back what we send. Some mates take their stuff to a laundry near here, but we have to pay for the ship’s laundry service anyway – so that is expensive! What a life?!
.
Everyone got a lot of food for Christmas, and it is all good – so we are just stuffing ourselves between meals and still not getting it all eaten up while it is still at its best. But don’t worry about those pears – they were shipped green enough to be good for a while, and I shall eat them plenty fast.
.
There doesn’t seem to be more to say right now, but I shall leave this open until later in the day & perhaps add more.
I love you.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Late afternoon
Mail was just distributed, and I was disappointed not to hear from you – but probably another mail will come in yet.
.
We got paid today – and they went through the silly motions of paying us our gross earnings of $36.52 and having us pay back to them, at the next table, $31.52!
We had a 1 ½ -hr. drill in the manual of arms this afternoon – that is drill in movements made with a Springfield rifle. It is really tough work – that damn rifle feels as if weighed 50 lbs. by the time I have tossed onto one shoulder, then onto the other, etc., a few times. …

This has been a funny day – we have spent most of it just sitting around – writing letters, studying semaphore & Morse code & signal flags, etc. I think they gave us the manual of arms drill just to keep us busy! And of course everyone is wondering when the bilge (our word for “flunk out”) news is coming. Rumors are flying thick & fast – some fellows may already have been notified – but no one that I have talked to really knows yet.
Signing off again for a while – I love you more than anything in the universe.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tues. a.m., Dec. 29
.
Well, the bilging is all over – and yours truly & all his bunkmates are safe. Only one fellow I knew at all well – boy from across the hall – got the axe.
.
Last night we just fussed around, studied codes, etc., but today we shall really have to get hopping, for classes start tomorrow. However, they have kept us busy today with other things – we have had two air raid drills – there were so many mistakes in the first one that they gave us another. In between them we had a swimming test – every man has to be able to swim 100 yds. – it’s surprising the number who flunked.
.
Also we got sworn in as midshipmen – i.e. take the naval officer’s oath – this afternoon. And I guess that is about all for today. (Hereafter I am to be addressed as Midshipman R. C. Lovejoy, leaving off the A.S, V-7 – my envelope is addressed wrong, because I addressed it yesterday!) Also we have to get rid of our sailor pants and get our midshipman anchors to wear some time – don’t know when that will be.

I shall end this rambling letter now, for it’s almost time for mess, and I want to get it off. Be sure to tell me in advance when you are returning to Janesville, so I can address you there. Hope you are getting along o.k. with Judy in Wausau – I haven’t had a letter from you from there yet – but mails are slow.
.
I love you, my sweetie pie –
Bob
I enclose a pamphlet the navy has distributed to us, for your amusement.
New Year’s Eve & Day are just like any other days here.
Another interruption to this letter was a call for all section leaders to muster the office to get some papers to be distributed – turned out to be papers already passed out yesterday!

Training, 1942-1943 – Dad’s letters, part 2

I continue posting Dad’s first letters home; there is a lot of information contained in them that is interesting about the kind of training the navy men received.  I also found interesting the complications of arranging for my mother to visit him, having to stay within certain limits and having limited visiting hours – tough on a couple married for less than two years!

I also like the way my father ended his letters to my mother – so romantic! He was not a particularly emotive person but the longing for his wife and daughter must have been intense, especially during these early days apart.
~~~~~

December 13, 1942 – 9 a.m.
Margot darling –
I have intended to write to you for several days but haven’t got to it. but I have plenty of time now; so I can write as long as I please. We have liberty from 3 p.m. to midnight on Saturday & 9 a.m. to 5:45 p.m. on Sunday. That means that we can go anywhere on bounds – between Riverside Dr. on the west & Morningside Dr. on the east and between110th & 122nd Sts., not including any bars – or stay here & do as we please. But there is little to do in that area, except walk, shop & attend one movie theater. We went to the latter last nite – it is pretty nice & we got in for 28 cents, but it was crowded & stuffy. The shows were Thunderbirds (fair) & The Devil with Hitler (awful), but the worst thing was that the sound track kept going on the blink, fading in & out, and it was off for periods of 5 & 25 minutes, during which we all sang.
.
I got both your first letter & Mother’s yesterday. Some red tape delayed it after we got here, and none was delivered until then; but we have been assured that that will not happen again. It was surely good to hear from you both.
.
We are kept pretty busy, except during these liberty periods. We have 35 minutes off at the end of every afternoon, but that is not time to do much more than an occasional errand, such as a haircut. I have had one – it’s pretty short, but not so bad on the top – they care only about the neck & sides, for we have to wear caps whenever we are supposed to look well – that means all the time except when we are in our rooms.
.
During liberty hours mess is served as usual, and we can eat here if we wish. The food is pretty good; so we shall probably do that often. My only kick on the chow is that we have milk only about once a day, and it is hard to get water.
.
We get up at 5:55, and we have to eat, clean rooms, etc., before 7:30, when the first formation is. Except for a few minutes before & after noon meal (dinner), we either in class, on the drill field, or supposed to be here studying or otherwise quiet, all day. We have three courses – one is math, a review of all the algebra & trig we shall need for navigation. We also have large lecture courses in ships, a general survey of the various naval vessels & their qualifications; and navy, a survey course in navy customs & organization. All this lasts until Dec. 25, when we have two days of final tests. Then Christmas, and then we are midshipmen and have more & harder courses in navigation, seamanship, ordnance, etc.
Drilling is sort of fun, though hard on the feet! The last few days have been tough, for the grounds are a sea of mud. And it looks as though it would stay that way, for we are having another heavy fall of snow today.
.
Friday morning we were taken to the U.S.S. Prairie State, the old battleship Illinois now moored and converted into a training ship.

The USS Prairie State

Some of the midshipmen are living there, and we may have a month there ourselves before we leave here. That day we had practice in rowing large 10-oar boats, a first lesson in

Navy longboat

semaphore, instruction in tying some of the simpler nautical knots, a demonstration of the operation of a 4-in. gun, and a lecture on guns in general – it was quite interesting.
We are pretty crowded here – have not as much room & quiet as many of the others. But the other five fellows are all swell guys, and we get along excellently together, except for arguing about whose turn it is to

Semaphore flag codes

sweep or dust or mop or clean the wash basin! There is really nothing that I need, and I would have no room to store any more if I did. One little thing I could use and have been unable to purchase within bounds is one of the two small lead-pencil sharpeners in the upper right drawer of the desk in the living-room at home. But I don’t need it as badly as my bunk mates do, and there is no hurry. You may send us food at any time, and it would be welcome. There are so many of us that it will go pretty fast, but do not send too much at once, for it is too hard to keep it neatly. (We are allowed to stow our civvies in the hold, however, and need not keep them here in the room.)

Nautical knots: bends and hitches

I know one thing I could use for Christmas – a good cigarette lighter. Matches are hard to keep, and it will be harder yet on board ship – I would prefer that it be black &/or silver. By then also I shall be low on cash and want to save my Amexco checks for emergencies. We get very little cash pay for awhile; so you might send me a check about then. There are facilities here for getting them cashed. I also will have need for a sewing kit (black & white thread only).
.
Nothing more has been said about Christmas liberty, but apparently we shall get Christmas eve & Day off. I don’t know how far we can go, probably not more than 50 miles. …
You & Mother must both tell me of your Christmas plans, so that I can get letters directly to you wherever you are. I also have found a place to send telegrams on bounds, when I can get there. But I do not know what kind of telegrams I can send after Dec. 15. Let me know promptly about the Houghs’ baby, when it comes.
…

I don’t know whether I told you about the inoculations – it was a regular mass production line. We lined up, the first man cleaned our arm, the next men each made an injection, the third cleaned the other arm, the fourth made another injection & the fifth a vaccination – it took about two minutes! I don’t know what they were all for. Some fellows got pretty sick for a day or two, but I had no more than some soreness for awhile. We have not been fingerprinted. We have no identification tags, but eventually will have ident. cards.
.
I am still the section leader – all the 23 men line up on me, and occasionally I must take charge of marching them for short distances. Also I must know them, and report their presence or absence at formations and classes. I am supposed to be relieved after about 4 days, so that everyone will get a crack at the job, but they have not changed us yet. It gives me a chance to be noticed by the officers, but it takes time & responsibility of which I would gladly be relieved, now that I have done my stint.
.
To answer some of the questions I did not know before I came: 1) We shall pretty certainly be here for the whole 4 months. 2) If a man “bilges out” of here, he is returned to civilian life and cannot be compelled to stay in the navy, but he can never be commissioned in the navy. (A few men have already been sent home for physical reasons. I had to have a second eye test on my right eye, but I think I got by it all right – at least I have heard no more.) There are so many things to write that I cannot remember them all. Just ask me anything you want to know, and I shall try to answer.
…
There are no decent stores on bounds – I had hoped to get something for Judy, but I can’t.
I miss Judy so – sorry to hear she has been fussy. I hope she is all right now. … I get out my snapshots of her & you and look at them every day, in this ultra-masculine place! Tell me how she is doing with the crib. One of my bunk-mates left a wife & daughter (2 wks. younger than Judy) in New Orleans, and we have fun swapping pride!
.
While I don’t have much time to read, (I occasionally get to glance at the Times headlines.) I would be glad to have any second-class mail, Law Reviews, Y.A.M’s., etc., forwarded to me in bulk. …
.
Don’t worry about how long your letters are – I love them. I got a good laugh out of Willy Cummings’ regurgitation & Judy’s amazement. …
.
Your oil ration does not sound very large to me – you must let me know how you come along with it – I hope okay. I trust you turned in coupons for that oil I bought in November. Also tell me how you get along with the car & gas ration. If there is ever anything about the house that you cannot answer & think I can, be sure to ask me, and I shall do my best to answer.
.
Have written to John (Dad’s next older brother, who was getting married soon), but have not heard from him. I should be glad to hear any important news you may have from his quarter. I would have no chance of getting to the wedding before I left here unless it were late Sat. or Sun. within 50 miles of here.
.
About your coming out here, I should love to have you any time after the first of the year – & Judy too of course – if it is feasible. That depends on whether I can find a place for you to live that is comfortable & not too expensive. It also depends on our finances, for I am sure it will increase our cost of living. You would also have the difficulty of getting someone to stay with Judy now & then. You might find time hanging heavy during week days, but you could no doubt keep occupied. Don’t get me wrong – I really want you to come – but I just want you to know what the obstacles are.
.
It would be nicest if you could live on bounds – then I could see you from 5:10 to 5:45 nearly every day, either by going to see you or having you meet me near here. You could do the latter if you lived off but near bounds. If you had to live further away, I could see you only weekends, but could usually spend Sat. nite with you. You might have more fun in my busy hours if you lived nearer downtown, but of course you can get downtown pretty quickly from here in other than rush hours.
.
Anyway, you think it over, consider your finances, and let me know – then I shall start looking. Do it soon, for it is will take me time to look and to let you know what I can find & get your approval before making any commitment. Of course there is a small hotel very near here – you could stay there temporarily, but I don’t think you would want to live there – I stayed there one nite years ago and remember it as old but comfortable.
.
Darling, it is hard to tell you how much I miss you and Judy. You know you are more than “Dear Margot” to me – you are everything in the world to me, and all I ever do & work for is for you. I may not get very romantic in my letters sometimes, because it is easier for you to share them with Mother if I don’t and because the atmosphere (almost continual conversation) in which I write is not conducive to it. but you are always in my thoughts, and I do so wish I could see you & have near me all the time. Always remember that.
I love you more than anything in the universe forever & ever –
Boby
Keep me posted as to when my letters arrive, so that I shall know whether it is worth while to use air mail.

December 17, 1942
My darling Margot –
You have been swell about writing such frequent & detailed letters. I seem to be delinquent in that respect. Yesterday I was on watch all day – that meant that I not only was kept busy but missed classes & study time for which I have had to catch up. And also yesterday we had a second typhoid shot, and quite a few men were really laid out by it; I haven’t felt so good myself, but I have managed to keep going.
…
The days have been busy ones – also cold. We went to the Prairie State again this a.m. – took a tour of the ship, had more training in knots & semaphore, another lecture on small hand arms, firing a 4-in. gun, etc. we were scheduled to row again, but they called that off because of the cold, and it was just as well, for it was very cold and we all had sore arms from yesterday’s inoculations.
.
It is definite that we get off from 3 p.m. Dec. 24 to 5:45 p.m. Dec. 25. (There is also a big dance at the Waldorf Dec. 26, but I am not going). We are sworn in as midshipmen Dec. 29, but will be allowed to wear our dress blues during Christmas liberty. It has also been announced that we get our commissions, if we survive, on March 31.
.
The entire school attends a vesper service at the beautiful & famous Riverside Church every Sunday night. It is quite an impressive service, largely because of the glorious beauty of the church. We of our class sit in the second balcony, and the Chaplain is not a very good preacher – so I didn’t get much of it last time. We are invited to attend a.m. services there, and I may go this week to hear Dr. Fosdick preach. I enclose a calendar to give you an idea of what a massive organization such a church is.

Riverside Church in New York. It borders Riverside Park and the Hudson River.

Interior view of Riverside Church looking toward the altar.

…
I know something else I could use for Christmas – one of those small postal scales. Since I write less frequently than I want to, I shall send many letters as fast as possible – by air mail. Then it is nice to have a scale to be sure that one 6 cents [stamp] is enough, although I know that you received my Sun. air mail letter of 4 pp. Your letters come the day after they are written if they are sent early enough in the day; otherwise I get them the second day after they are written.
.
Much to my surprise, we do not get such a hard physical workout here – nothing but drill. And I guess it stays that way all thru the course. We have a busy enough day to make us pretty tired at night, but I am not getting into any better shape. I understand that at Abbot Hall & Notre Dame there is much more emphasis on physical work and much less academic work than here.
.
I forgot to tell you of the funny experience I had last Saturday. I got some letters; including one from you, just before going out to get a hair cut. I read them in the barber shop, while awaiting my turn. There were a lot of the men there, and I must have stuffed the letters in the pocket of someone else’s coat – there were at least 20 identical coats hanging there – for when I left the letters were not in my coat pocket! That nite I came in & found waiting for me a man who had the letters. But it wasn’t his coat either – he had got his coat switched with the one who owned the coat I put my letters in! Anyway, I got my letters back, and I guess they got their coats changed too eventually.

…
The watch is served by each of us for a day every two weeks or so. It is similar to a watch on a ship. There are various positions, and we each get a crack at each of them. This last time I was a messenger, i.e. ran errands for anyone on the watch or officer’s staff. It involved a lot of running but required little mental effort. Also during our watch, but while the other section is on duty, we must do some cleaning work – we swabbed the walls & heating pipes on one of the upper floors.
.
They have a glee club & choir here and have called for volunteers, but I do not think that I shall try out, since I don’t have any time to spare as it is. However, I may change my mind.
I have signed up to take the Times every a.m. won’t have much time to read it, but at least I shall be able to glance at the headlines & war news summaries and keep some track of what goes on.
.
For service dress blues we have to have shirts with collars detached & stiff collars. I have such a shirt on the bottom of the right-hand pile in my top bureau drawer. I shall have to buy some, but you might send that along when it is convenient. I have some collars too, but I don’t know where they are, unless in one of my suitcases in the attic; so don’t bother to look for them very much.
.
Marching and drill have been pretty grim in this cold weather. We start work on the manual of arms tomorrow. We march to mess, classes & all other functions. Lately we have found it hard to keep in step & even keep our feet on the icy streets. Our commanding officer fell flat on his face while leading us up Broadway the other day. We have priority over all traffic except emergency vehicles and have great fun marching thru red lights. Being at the head of the column, I have the duty of stopping any traffic that may not see us or know enough to stop – never have had to do so yet. I am still section leader, but I hope I shall be relieved of that responsibility soon.
…
My five roommates are swell. Bill Clark is a nice friendly fellow from California. Ed Muller is a screwball & fresh-air fiend also from California – exasperating but amusing. Jack Fralick is form Chicago – he is serious but friendly – also madly in love. Charley Eagan & Joe Zirkle are from New Orleans, both swell guys – Joe is very funny. Each is married – Charley has a daughter 2 weeks younger than Judy – she weighs more but is about the same stage of intellectual development apparently. We are very crowded & have a helluva time keeping our room clean – we have to sweep, dust, scrub, & clean wash basin every day – we get inspections at unexpected times and must do extra work or drill duty if we don’t meet very high standards. They are also strict about personal appearance – so we are constantly shining shoes, brushing clothes, etc.
.
The men here – we call each other mates – are certainly a varied lot. There are a very large number of southern boys, who find the snow & cold incredible. There are few easterners but quite a few middle westerners – I have met men from Whitewater, Milwaukee, Fond du Lac, & Green Lake. Mostly the mates are men of non-technical training, or they would already be in the service in technical jobs. So there are many teachers, lawyers, insurance men, reporters, etc. Also quite a number – probably not half, but at least 1/3, I would say – are married, and some have children – so I am not alone.
We all have to have several interviews with officers, who are getting a line on us from the standpoint of personality. I had one with a very nice Lt. named England, a Yale graduate & lawyer. I have another one coming up soon.
…
I want to read over your letters and make some comments on them. I also want to discuss the matter of your coming east. But both those things will take time, and it is growing late. So I shall close this and save those for Saturday, when I shall write again. That will be so soon that I shall not have much to say about myself anyway. So I’ll close this now, hastily.
I miss you all more than I can ever express in words. I wish you could know how much I think about you & wonder what you are doing.
.
I love you more than anything in all the universe forever & ever –
Bob

Training 1942-1943: Dad’s first letters to his wife

Beginning Training, late 1942

My father wrote to my mother as often as he could. Eventually he would write a letter to her daily, but at the beginning, during training, he was busy. These are his first two letters home:
============================================================

Sunday – 3:15 p.m. (no date, but it had to be beginning of December, 1942)
–
Margot darling –
–
Another jiggly train, but I hope you can figure this out.
–
My train got in promptly, and the trip passed quickly, since I read the paper all the way in. Not seeing Horace & Barbara around, I walked to the Club and got my package. It contained what I wanted it to.
–
While I was examining it, Horace & Barbara walked in. They had intended to meet the train from Janesville but did not make it, so went direct to the Club. He is well and cheerful. She is not pretty, but is friendly & interesting.
–

The Berghoff today

We walked over to the Berghoff, had lunch, and then walked to La Salle St. Sta. They seem to be happy, and it was fun to have a visit with them. Those pictures were Horace’s, and he was glad to get them. They will write to Mother about a wedding present, for which they have several ideas. …
–
At the Union Sta., they said there was no NYC or MC train at 1:30, but after consulting time tables they concluded that it was the New England States of the N.Y.C. When I got to La Salle St. Sta. I found there were two – that & the Advance Commodore-Vanderbilt. My car is on the latter.
–
The train is very full but comfortable. I have bumped into six other boys headed for the same training school for the same course. They seem like nice, friendly fellows, and it is good to have someone to talk to about what is ahead. None of them, including one who has been in the navy for a long time as an enlisted man, know anything more about the school than I do. So we shall start from scratch together – that is encouraging.
You & Mother were so brave this morning – I appreciated it, for it helped me a lot to face the departure. I do & will miss you all, but I am so convinced that I am doing what is right & best for all of us that I am not really sad. Judy was so cute this morning too – give her a hug for me.
–
Mother, your note & gift brought a tear to me eye, but they made me feel happier & stronger in the end. Thank you for thinking of me so well. You cannot know how much it meant.
–
I seem to be at a loss for words to say more. I think & hope you both know how I feel. We have just left Elkhart, and I shall try to get this off to you at the next station, so that you will get it tomorrow. I’ll wire or write tomorrow from New York.
–
All the love I have, Bob

(Do not mention Robert C. Lovejoy, A.S., V-7
Columbia Univ.) U.S.N.R. Midshipmen’s School
Room 535 , Fernald Hall
New York City
–
Dear Margot:
I am starting this only a few minutes after writing the post-card, but I have no idea when I shall finish it.
–
(First interruption!)
–
Had an uneventful trip here on the train – read & chatted most of the time. We got in at 9 a.m., had breakfast in the station, and then came up here by taxi. The train didn’t stop at 125th St.; so we had to come all the way back from Grand Central. There were ten of us, and two cabs did not cost us much more than the subway. (I forgot to mention that we saw the Gripsholm anchored in the Hudson on the way down.)

The Gripsholm

It has been a mad rush the rest of the day. First we were outfitted. We wear regular sailor blue pants (with the usual 13 buttons), navy blue flannel shirts (closed-neck, not middies), black ties, black sox & shoes, navy blue trench coats with zipped-in lining, and navy blue visor caps – not exactly a fetching costume, but it could be worse.

Navy uniform-enlisted men

Navy enlisted men dress uniform (winter)

–

USN wool Bridge trench coat

We are the heart of the campus, living in old Columbia dormitories. Our quarters are not as good as some; we are in two adjoining rooms, one for four men (mine) & one for two), with one wash-stand & closet for the six of us. Most of the men here in Fernald have double rooms only, with the same size closet & the one wash-stand the six of us have to share. But there is a good bunch of fellows here in our suite – two from California, two from the south, & one from Chicago.
–
We have good food – the big meal at noon – served cafeteria style on metal trays divided into sections, into each of which is plunked some item of food. There is plenty, and it is good, though it may grow monotonous in time. We have milk at noon & cocoa at nite – I haven’t sampled breakfast yet.
–
This afternoon we were issued books, had some time to settle our room in approximate accordance with regulations, filled out innumerable blanks, and were given a little preliminary drill training. My company commander is a Yale classmate named Cooney (first name Bob, I think), but I didn’t know him well, and if he does recognize me had can probably take no cognizance of it. Being the tallest in my section, I march at the head of the line. We all get a try at being section leader for a few days each, and the tallest were chosen first – so I am it, for a day or two at least. It doesn’t entail much except seeing that the fellows line up straight.
–
We are to keep our civilian clothes until told to send them home; so don’t expect them soon. As I expected, you do nothing until you are told. But that keeps us busy, and it will continue to do so.
–
The indoctrination period, during which we have no liberty beyond an area of a few blocks and Christmas will be like any other day, will last until about Dec. 28, after which we shall remain here as midshipmen – there apparently is no transferring any more.
I have seen only a few of the men I came with since we arrived. We were spread all over the place. I have bumped into two fellows I knew slightly at Michigan, and saw Marty Sus & Ralph Telver, who have been here six weeks and are now Midshipmen, to yell at while going into mess tonight.
–
The buildings are all considered as ships, and we are trained to use navy terminology – ladders for stairs, decks for floors, lockers for closets, bunks for beds, etc. We are to receive more instructions & information tonight and much more tomorrow. I shall tell you much more about the routine, etc., in my next. Tomorrow we have drilling, intelligence tests, etc., physical exams Wednesday, and classes begin Thursday. I expect the work to be hard, but good training, and in a way a lot of fun.
–
I may not have time to write as often as I would like to, but I think you will understand. I miss you all so much, but they keep us very busy, and that makes it not so bad. I am well, not unhappy, & treated well. So do not worry about me.
–
I know it will be several days before I get a letter from you, since I have no way of telegraphing my address, but I shall be eager to hear all about you & Mother & the baby and how everything is going at home. Take care of yourselves, please, sweetie pie.
–
I love you more than anything in the universe forever & ever –
Bob
–
I wrote you on the train yesterday. Porter said neither he nor I would have time to mail it in Toledo, but a man getting off there overheard and said he would mail it promptly. I hope he did and that you got it today.
–
Note: All pictures in this post were downloaded from Google Images.

World War II: Dad joins the Navy

Dec. 7, 1941:  Two young couples were playing bridge in Ann Arbor, Michigan. One of these couples was newlyweds Margot and Bob Lovejoy. Bob Lovejoy (my father) was attending law school at University of Michigan at the time.

One of the four suggested turning on the radio to listen to some music. Someone got up to switch it on. Big band music played for a few minutes, then an announcer’s voice proclaimed: “We interrupt this broadcast to bring you this important news bulletin….Japan has attacked the port of Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Hawaii….The United States has declared war on Japan.”

My parents and their friends looked at each other with shock.   My mother, who told me this story, said that without saying anything, they all knew their lives were going to change drastically and that they would never be the same again.

After graduation from law school, Dad signed up to join the Navy.  The following introduction to his war letters was written by my mother.

Notes on Part I of the letters of Robert Carr Lovejoy, 1942-1945
(written by his wife, Margaret Thom Lovejoy)
These letters were written to me over the course of my husband’s career in the U.S. Navy during World War II. He had volunteered for the officers’ training program shortly before the birth of our first child in September of 1942. He was ordered to report for duty in early December of that year at Columbia University in New York City. The first of the letters was written from the train carrying him from Chicago to New York. I was then living with our baby daughter in a house we rented from my mother-in-law at 61 Harrison Street, in Janesville, Wisconsin.

Bob & Margot Lovejoy with daughter Julia, 1942

The training period leading to his commission would cover a period of four months. The first month was an indoctrination period such as was given to all recruits, after which the officer candidates were enrolled in the naval reserve training program, from which they would emerge commissioned as ensigns., – referred to, rather scornfully by regular navy personnel, as ’90 Day Wonders’. Columbia, like other institutions with such programs on campus had no academic connection with the navy’s officer training program.

–

My husband was the youngest of three sons, of Isabel Thomas Lovejoy (Mrs. Allen Perry Lovejoy, Jr.). Widowed when Bob was not yet two, she had raised her boys with firmness and love, centered her life work on raising them to high standards of duty and accomplishment. Now, when she could have hoped to enjoy loving respect turned to adult friendships, the national interest required that her sons be put ‘in harm’s way’.

–

The eldest son, Allen III, was married and the father of two daughters, living in Connecticut… Eventually he would be ‘drafted’ into non-combat duty, possibly because he declared himself a conscientious objector. Considering his age, and marital situation I doubt if he would have been drafted at all, had he not volunteered his pacifist philosophy when registering for the draft. A scholar, an intellectual he might have had a rewarding career in diplomacy, had he not been tarred in the mindset of the times as a coward. Perhaps he was the bravest of the brothers. THEY respected his decision, as did their mother. The army drafted him, set him to ironing shirts at a facility caring for the disabled, for the duration of the war.

–

John, the second brother was already in the service; he had completed his basic training and had recently been commissioned as a second lieutenant. He was engaged to Jean Clarke Davidson, their wedding would take place in February 1943, at the New York City home of the Rev. and Mrs. Frank Scribner, old family friends. “Mr. Scrib” had been pastor of the Congregational Church in Janesville in the 1920s and had inducted the Lovejoy boys into church membership. He now had a national organizational position within the church.

Julia with ‘Uncle’ Horace, late 1943

       The Horace mentioned in Bob’s first letter was his first cousin, Horace A. Phillips, Jr. He had been an usher at our wedding. A Californian, graduate of Cal Tech he was newly married, and working in Chicago. Barbara, his bride whose ‘beauty shines from within’, as Bob would eventually discover! She and Horace would spend the first Christmas of their wedded life with my mother-in-law at her home on Lake Geneva at Williams Bay, Wisconsin, a comfort to her in her loneliness and worry for her sons, which I in my own distress at Bob’s absence did not understand.

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I, with baby Julia, in my own distress at Bob’s absence, fled to the bosom of my own relatives for the holiday. I have long regretted that I did not spend that Christmas with my mother-in-law. The baby was such a joy and comfort to her.

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I do not know where Bob spent Christmas. That letter if there was one – (Bob may have telephoned.) has been lost.

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Bob found an apartment within the parameters in which the Navy allowed him to ramble – it was on 116th Street, about a block from Riverside Drive. It was frightfully expensive $125 a month – and he not yet commissioned and so without much income – I do not recall what the Navy paid him – at the most $75. He rented it anyway, occupancy starting on the 1st of February…But I could no longer wait until then; the baby and I arrived in New York in time to celebrate Bob’s 26th birthday on January 20th, 1943. He met [us] at the Commodore Hotel, which was in the vicinity of Grand Central Station – indeed the station and the hotel were connected by a walkway tunnel.

Commodore Hotel, New York, as it looked in 1928.

He did not recognize little Julia – babies change a lot in six weeks – he was startled,

he

Dad with Julia, 1943

had missed so much of her development. I guess I looked the same though. This was not the case for me. This man to whom I was married, this guy with me in the hotel bedroom was some sort of stranger – taller than I remembered, lean, hard, incredibly handsome. He had written that the school at Columbia was tilted toward the academic in contrast to Abbot Hall in Chicago where the training was more physical. He did not think he was being toughened up. Well, he must have lost 20 lbs. in the six weeks since we had parted, and all that drilling and marching around had made quite a muscular difference in the way he moved and carried himself… Our reunion was pretty physical – and for me, deliciously sinful.

World War II Navy cadets (from Google images)

The Commodore was too expensive a place to stay for more than a couple of nights, and our expensive apartment would not be available for another 10 days or so. Julia and I stayed in a boarding house room a few doors down from the apartment. I was nursing the baby, and since in those days, supplemental foods were not given until a baby was six months old – doctors in Janesville didn’t call for it anyway – I had no need for larger accommodations. I ate my meals with the other boarders, and I read books and wrote letters in the parlor; the high point of my day being the half-hour or so when Bob could visit. There was ribald surmise about that half-hour in the Navy dorms, but those minutes were a togetherness time when Bob held his baby and we talked.

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The baby cried a lot. I was under the misapprehension that I would ‘spoil’ her if I did not follow an exact schedule with the nursing. I sat in the parlor with my book and gritted my teeth and let her howl. Looking back on our stay in that boarding house, I think the poor baby was hungry as well as lonely all by herself in a darkened room. The happiest moments of her day, were like mine – when Bob came to visit. He was a better and more loving parent than I was.

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I found out after several days, Julia’s cries were also a source of concern to the other boarders, when I happened upon a college friend who was also staying at that boarding house. when she found out it was my infant distressing all the inhabitants she disabused me of my old-fashioned theories about child care (she had minored in psychology). I still kept the baby on a rigid feeding schedule, but I stayed in the room to read, and picked her up from time to time…she did not seem to mind the light – slept as much in a brightly lit room as in a darkened one.

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Eventually I found a pediatrician – as it happened he turned out to be an old friend of Aunt Julie Cuniberti. I disremember his name, Philip somebody. He was a society doctor, with an office on Riverside Drive and I think the only reason he took us on as new patients was because of the baby’s name – he must have been startled to see the name of ‘Julia Lovejoy’ on an application blank. His price was reasonable – for New York, that was.

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Once the probationary period ended, and the cadets given more freedom along with zippered trousers (those 13 button affairs were surely an impediment to decisive action in emergencies), a number of other wives arrived in New York for extended stays. Outside of myself, I only met up with one who had a child – and she was Phyllis Eagan from New Orleans. Her daughter, Delerie Ann, was just a few weeks younger than Julia. We and the Eagans made a foursome – sixsome I should say. We wheeled our babies along Morningside and Riverside Drives, shopped together at Gristedes around the corner, went to movies, etc. Phyllis and C.J. were graduates of Tulane and its sister campus Sophie Newcomb, respectively. She was very French and he Irish. We were very congenial.

Robert Lovejoy, Margot Lovejoy, Phyllis Eagan, CJ Eagan, Mrs. WW Clarke, WW (Dub Dub) Clarke (on back of picture, it is dated 1942, but probably early 1943)

       A number of New Yorkers made special efforts to help the young men training at Columbia. There was an Italian couple with two children in the neighborhood, not too much older than we were, who opened their home to us wives, for tea and conversation on a weekly schedule. Forelli, their name was – very attractive and upscale, sophisticated people. They found us baby sitters and the pediatrician, advised of the mores of New York and otherwise made our stay in the city pleasant…

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Among the organizations which took an interest in the Navy recruits, was the Junior League. The young ladies had fancy entertainments – dances and cocktails and dinners, and invited the Columbia cadets. They did not expect married ones of course, in any case not dragging wives along… We went to one of these affairs, with the Eagans. The debutantes were a bit non-plussed with us. We felt a lack of a warm welcome, but with some amusement we drank and dined at their expense!

Junior League members

My cousin Betty Foster and her husband George and their young son were living in an apartment off Central Park. We visited them from time to time. George was a tall lanky man with gawd-awful eyesight – big thick glasses – none of the services would have him. He was among our favorite people in the world. Once, going down in an elevator with him, he mistook an admiral all covered with gold braid (scrambled eggs, we called the stuff) for the elevator man, and requested a stop at such and such a floor. There stood Bob in his navy blues, and the only insignia a tiny anchor on his lapel – but enough to identify his lowly position to that admiral…He very quietly stopped the elevator at the requested floor, and Bob stumbled out in George’s wake, thankful to be still alive.

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We moved into our two bedroom apartment on February 1st, and Bob’s mother moved in with us too. She came for John’s wedding and stayed. Little Julia’s life changed for the better – the pediatrician started her on solid food (pablum) which filled her little stomach, and her grandmother did not hold with schedules – she held babies, rocked and sang to them and spoiled my baby rotten!

Column of marching soldiers on college campus (from Google images)

The weather was cold and snowy. We watched Bob marching on the icy streets, toting a wooden rifle. There were too few real ones to waste them on marching cadets. Eventually there was a graduation ceremony. Bob’s uniform now sported epaulettes, and he had a gold stripe on his sleeve. He had a stipend of $250 a month (a fortune!), travel money and a couple weeks leave before reporting for further training at the sub-chaser school in Miami, Florida.