According to https://www.thepeoplehistory.com/1946.html, "Following the end of the war people expected a better life than before the war years with the Great Depression causing poverty and hardship worldwide. There were major shortages in jobs and housing for those returning from war, around the world the start of the baby boom also started as couples married and had children, also there were still shortages of food, and materials. "
"Jan 2, 1945
My very dearest Ellen,
It's now another year and the prospects look very glum indeed. I just came to the realization of how far Okinawa is from dear old home. By home I really mean Boston but I guess any spot in the U.S.A. would do just as well right about now just as long as you were there with me. I figure I could go by way of China and still be home at about the same time as if I went by way of Frisco.
I received a letter from you dated December 10 and have had a few more up till the 18th but they come in batches. I guess the whole mail situation is really fouled up but good. I've been writing to you quite regularly so I can't see the 23 day break in there at all. I would(n't) wait that long to write to you even if I were angry at you which I am not. Maybe in a week or two the mail situation will be straightened out and everything will be hunky-dory again. I hope so anyway. Well honey how how did you spend New Years? I hope you didn't get too buzzed up or I'm afraid I'll be forced to disown you. Things were quiet out here although a few managed to get their hands on whiskey and beer. Only the strongest and fittest survived as whiskey with a beer chaser, usually called a boilermaker, really knocks you for a loop. Everyone was noisy up till 10 PM then it died down till midnite. At midnite hell broke loose what with .45s, rifles, machine guns, fog horns, pots and pans and every noise making device in the rock went to work for about ten minutes. When the guns commence popping your darling little man was ready at a moments notice to slide underneath the cot just in case a stray bullet happened to head my way. But luck was with me and I just lay in my sack. On VJ Day they had the same deal with everyone shooting off guns and 17 guys were dead the next morning. The only reason that I wasn't buzzed was due to the fact that I had the duty New Year's Day and wanted to be in good shape for it. I guess if I were with you, of course we would be married by then, you would have a poor soul on your hands I think. Maybe! We'll give it a try next New Years ~ I hope.
Now that the holidays are over I hope the time just flies by and that we get relieved out here. As I said before everyone is leaving and no one is coming out here as yet. They will be on their way soon I think then I can see where I stand as far as going home is concerned. I really hope Joe made it for Christmas as it would do them a world of good at home to have one of us home for the occasion. Well my honey I've got to close for now and will write again in a day or two. I have no photograph to enclose this time but will keep trying for some nevertheless. I miss you and love oh so much. I guess I'll have to close now for the time being but I still love you and will
Always
John"
"Jan 7 1946
My dearest Ellen,
I received three letters from you so far this week and I am glad that you had a half way enjoyable Christmas at least, as I was sincerely hoping that one of us would. I see that Santa was good to you or at least he sounded as though he was anyway. By the way did you receive the telegram that I sent to you from out here? It was supposed to be delivered prior to Christmas and in your last letter - Dec 28 – you have as yet not mentioned it. I guess you can't depend on Navy communications anymore now that the war is over. That foot of yours has me worried honey, isn't it well yet? I hope it clears up as it can be pretty dangerous. Keep me posted please. By the way when you were celebrating Christmas I was 17 hours ahead of you so figure it out. I was eating eating my turkey Christmas Day while you people back home were putting your presents under the tree. About now 6 PM out here you should be in bed as it's 1 AM back there. So you see I'm away ahead of you. That hope chest incidentally should be quite full by now so I guess I'll have to send you some money to hire a bigger one to put some nice furniture in. I see you finally met Tom's woman. I'll tell you something confidential but don't say a word to a soul or I'll disown you. She stepped out on Tom a couple of times and Tom was pretty peeved over it. I use peeved as it's the mildest word I know. He was going to kick her all over town but they have reconciled since I think. He took me into his confidence for once so don't say anything about it to anyone or else I'll have Tom on me like a ton of lead. From what I know and have seen of Edwina she is a nice kid. I met her really for the first time the day I left for California at the end of my leave. I knew her by sight when I was a young rowdy on the corners of Dorchester but never had any dealings with her. She has a pretty sharp tongue when someone crosses her path. She believes in having a lot of fun. Incidentally she doesn't exactly like Rita O'Hara and from what I gather they are continually spatting over one thing or the other. She is blunt and to the point which at some occasions is a good quality but at others is quite catastrophic – whew! I see you also met the herd or tribe or whatever name is really appropriate to fill out the description. Martin Joyce the character in question is really a prince of a guy and when he gets half cracked he is really a riot. How did you like his brogue? When he gets drunk you can't understand a word he is saying. Nora King is my long time admirer just like a long lost rich aunt which she ain't. We used to wait ever so longingly for her to come to Christmas dinner when we were kids as she was loaded down with presents for all of us. She was in reality a second Santa Claus. As we grew older though she favored my sister the most bringing her dresses and dolls etc. and bringing us only shirts ties handkerchiefs etc. I guess we were pretty ungrateful inwardly but I guess we were pretty good actors also as she kept bringing them. I haven't seen her now for about five or six years. As for being quiet well as I said before I was a pretty good actor and besides I couldn't tread on the toes that were so nice to me.
As for missing me so very much well honey that goes double. Please keep praying honey as something may happen yet to get me home soon. This outfit will fold up soon as all the men are going home on discharge and as yet no new faces have arrived to replace them. We can't go on that way. The work is getting ahead of us now and the men making rates show their inexperience in 1 million ways. Something has got to be done preferably a trip back to the states. I'll have six months done January 30. They have a rotation plan here for transfer back in 14 months so that leaves me till summer time. I want so much to get home but I'm just one of 1 million who wish the same thing. Keep your prayers up kid who knows. If I get home by September I'll still be cheating them. Please try to understand honey I'm out in left field as most of the other guys have been out here a year or more and are just getting a chance to get home now. One chief I know, a cook, has been home once for four months in six years. Out of his four months 30 days was all the leave that got. All in all I've been lucky to a degree. I miss you terribly and love you so much. I know how you feel so take it easy and see what breaks. I'll close out now with all my love to you always and always
John"
On January 10 the United Nations General Assembly met for the first time in London.
"15 January 1946
My dearest Ellen,
Well honey here I am again and for once in my life I am on time at last. Since I wrote you last nothing has happened in this neck of the woods to relieve the monotony so we carry on at the same job doing pretty close to the same old thing. The mail situation is the same adding up to the grand total of zero. I guess during certain lapses this mail service gets a touch of spring fever and quits all together. I guess though when it does come through I'll have enough to hold me over for an hour or so at least. I haven't received mail from home for close to three weeks and I haven't had a letter from you in close to 10 days so you see you are not the only one being affected by this bungling of the Post Office Dept. I know they shipped some out of here on board ship as they didn't have planes enough to carry it out so I imagine they must still be doing it as it's the only reasoning that sounds plausible. I have been writing to you on an average of two or three times a week since I hit this area and if you aren't getting letters pretty regular from me they must be laying around in some Fleet Post office waiting to be picked up by some poor bleary-eyed sailor who is filling in for the regular mailman.
The officers around here are having a big conference with a couple of big shots from Guam tomorrow so I will have to see what develops. They probably have formulated plans for our unit so when the hush is over maybe our destiny will have been decided.
Do you still miss me as much as ever honey? I hope so anyway! You know I'd like to drop in on you this evening just for fun. I'd ring the doorbell and maybe you would answer it maybe not but who ever it was I'd hug & squeeze and smother them with kisses. If it was small it was someone else, if it was large it was your mother and if it were a shirt it was Jim – I hope. By the way has he got home yet? But ~ baby if she turned out to be just right, namely you, well look out. O well I can dream can't I. I miss you something fierce kid and keep hoping that someday I may get home to marry you as we planned in the long long ago – or so it seems after six months out here. I'll get there someday so keep your fingers crossed and give me some luck. I have to close for now and will write again tomorrow or the next day. I love you.
Always
John
P.S. Did you get my Christmas telegram or my Christmas postcard yet?"
"16 January 1946
My dearest Ellen
Here I am again although I am a little short as far as inspiration is concerned. To coin a phrase "quote" - when inspirations are few, just say that "I love you" unquote. I do really love you and miss you a lot. Honest I do. I'm still trying to think what you are doing and from what I can make out you should be just about getting home from work and eating your supper - last night. If you can figure it out, while you are eating your supper today I am eating dinner tomorrow so we are both eating at approximately the same time only different. Do you understand? It confuses me too so we'll let it go at that. By the way hon have you seen "State Fair" yet? If not see it soon as it's a swell picture featuring Dick Haymes, one of your favorite crooners next to the Bingle and Frankie's closest competitor. It's really a swell show. We've been getting some swell pictures out here but I guess they are pretty old back in the states. In the last few nights we've had the aforementioned "State Fair," "Hold that Blonde," Captain Blood and "The True Glory" a documentary film on the Battle for Europe. They were all pretty good but I still like "State Fair." I guess it reminds me of the Brockton Fair where we all sneaked over or under the fence to get in. That incidentally was when yours truly was a youngster. I guess I've worn out that hobby by now so when I get home and we ever do go to a fair you can rest assured that I won't drag you over the fence. Maybe I'll meet you on the inside. Saves one admission.
We were graced with a visit of a couple of dear senators a few days back. It seems they wanted to see how the boys were making out as far as the construction on the island was concerned. After they received their reports they didn't waste any time in leaving. Lucky boys! Now I guess they have seeing the forward areas so they can write a book and make a bestseller out of it. What a racket!
I guess, like MacArthur and Wainwright, I'll simply have to have my memoirs published just to see from pure curiosity who would really be interested in a simple unadulterated doings of one of Uncle Sammy's boys in blue. I guess I'd go deeply in debt. I'll write them in my old age just to see if I led a really good life. Maybe they will bring back a spark of life to these weary bones when I reach the ancient age of say 35 or 40. The time spent here would all add up to nothing at all so I could even insert a blank page or two for a novelty. I just finished reading what I have written to you so far in this letter and am patting myself on the back for my poetic introduction. Me a poet ~ o my God.
Well honey I hope the mail situation improves soon so I can get inspired a little bit when I write again. Well I guess I'll close for now and will write again soon in a day or two to be correct I still love you with all my heart.
Always
John"
Apparently 1945's State Fair was the first musical by Rodgers and Hammerstein written for film. I had to learn a song from it - It's a Grand Night for Singing - for a musical production that June Condon put on at St. Pat's when we were in grammar school.
I have heard of Hold that Blonde which was also made in 1945, but I like the cast of Captain Blood so much better! Errol Flynn, Basil Rathbone, Olivia de Havilland!
The True Glory (1945) is a co-production of the US Office of War Information and the British Ministry of Information, documenting the victory on the Western Front, from Normandy to the collapse of the Third Reich.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_True_Glory#cite_note-3 reports that:
The documentary film is notable for using multiple first-person perspectives as narrative voices ... However, in The True Glory, instead of just an American G.I. and a British Tommy, the voices include a Canadian, a French resister, a Parisian civilian family, an African-American tank gunner, and several female perspectives including a nurse and clerical staff. The film is introduced by General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in Europe. Prominent commentators include General George S. Patton; Best Actor Tony nominee and American Theatre Hall of Fame and Grammy Hall of Fame Broadway and film star Sam Levene; two-time Academy Award-winning film actor and director, Peter Ustinov; and three-time Academy Award-winning playwright Paddy Chayefsky.
The title is taken from a letter of Sir Francis Drake, which is quoted in a final caption: "There must be a beginning of any great matter, but the continuing unto the end until it be thoroughly finished yields the true glory."
"Jan 16 1946
My dearest Ellen,
Hello! Hello! Hello! Hello! I just got four letters in this afternoon's mail that I had been wondering all along as to their whereabouts. It gave my morale about a 100 point boost so now you can see. I have written to you already today so this makes my second writing. My poor morale is performing miracles to say the absolute least. I see that you received my telegram also so that eases my mind a bit although I don't know how that guys name was added into the bottom. I guess he must have sneaked in somewhere between here and Watertown Mass. As for that postcard I really didn't know what could have happened to it as it's been in the mails since December 16. What are you people doing with all the snow back there in the states? It must've been the war to cause all of it to fall this year. As for that picture you sent that I failed to acknowledge I got it all right so you needn't worry about it. Those two batches I got also about two days apart and the last one slipped my mind ~ please forgive -
I guess that poor colleen from the old country will wind up with an Italian accent in a year or so if I remember the Italian tubes around Watertown correctly. I'm glad someone can understand her and I guess she must be good company for your mother coming from the same spot on the earth.
As for ball playing I haven't done that now for a month or two as we have regular working hours. My pastime is now playing horseshoes the regulation barnyard game. I guess I'm beginning to get old. Pray tell, why shirts? It's too damn cold now for shirts and besides cameras around here are kind of scarce at the present. Maybe some other time! As for a record well kid that's a real problem as I doubt if there is a machine of the sort in the rock. I won't promise you anything but if I can find one I'll let you know. As for my signing for six years I'm not the least bit sorry at all. Since you asked I'll write you a letter on the subject in a day or two so that you will know where I stand and what I think of it.
Honey I don't ever doubt or mistrust you nor never will as I believe you sincerely and I want you to feel the same way about me. At times I may appear to be wild and indifferent but that is some thing I'll have to overcome as time progresses. I must close now so again I'll say I love you with all my heart and miss you an awful lot. All my love always
Always
John"
I'm wondering who the colleen from the old country was? I thought it might be Eileen Cooney - she was the first of her family to emigrate I think and she stayed on Green Street. But I looked her up on www.ancestry.com which reports that she immigrated to New York in October 1947 - she was joining Aunt Nellie in Boston. So I don't know who this Irish colleen might be.
"Jan 21 1946
My very dearest Ellen,
My every other day schedule of letter writing was rudely interrupted due to conditions beyond my control so I guess I'll never turn out to be a really consistent correspondent, but I'll endeavor to do my best. Everything was going fine till Friday night when another chief and I borrowed a truck to go to Awase, our old stomping grounds to see if we could promote a little laundry service for our dirty clothes. We piled a board at about 5:30 AM and started off to a Awase about 15 to 18 miles away. We managed pretty well till we came to an intersection about a mile from our destination and then we spotted Marine MPs stopping all types of vehicles & checking for proper registration and drivers permits. Having neither we spun around and backtracked till we came to a short cut that would've taken us around the MPs. After a bit of solid deliberation we decided to cut cross the field to a work area where we knew one of the chiefs. After we hit the work area no one was around and it was as black as hades so at that appropriate moment the engine stopped dead. We did everything in the book and even resorted to pleading and praying interspersed with plenty of cussing but that engine would not budge. After about two hours of the toil we had to walk 2 miles or so to Commander Naval Air bases camp area toting along our laundry bags all the way. At about 9:00 we made our destination a little worn out and after disposing of our laundry we got a good natured Chief to drive us the 18 miles back. Saturday night we borrowed a jeep, the two two of us again, and started out to pick up the laundry. At the outset we got caught in a deluge of rain and were forced to return for rain coats. After donning the raincoats we ran out of gas but fortunately we were near a gas pump, so for once our luck was good. We made Com N.A.B. all right but both laundry men were plastered on beer so we couldn't get our stuff. We got back into the jeep and the damned jeep wouldn't start. We pushed it and pushed it but no go. After a few minutes thought we commenced to check over the wiring etc. After a short period we found a dead battery to be the reason for our troubles. We scouted around for a battery but none was to be had. Meanwhile it commenced to get dark so we "borrowed" one of the officers jeeps and traded batteries. Still no go! What a mess! We swore we'd never leave Yonabaru again under any circumstances once we got back. With the new battery and all it still balked so we commence pulling the wiring out. We were all over that crate and still no luck. Eight o'clock and nine o'clock rolled by and finally at about ten we juggle a couple of wires together and finally got it started. We kept it running, got the officers jeep running, parked it and drove over to the chiefs club where we downed four fast cans of beer that I really figured we deserved. At about eleven we started back the same way we came - empty-handed. When we got back here we found the new battery was getting lower and lower as the headlights were dimming out on us. Eureka - we had found the trouble. A bad generator. We returned the jeep to its rightful owner and explained the situation to him. After that we retired to our deserved sleep.
Sunday one of Com NAB's chiefs came down and took us up in his truck to a party they were having for one of the chiefs who was going home. That turned out to be an all day affair save for the hour I took out to go to church in the afternoon. I didn't get buzzed up at all as we were drinking beer and eating fried chicken and saltines. What a diet! I guess I have the reputation here at the chiefs mess as the biggest chicken eater in the Navy. Boy, when we get roasted or fried chicken cut up in sections I make a beeline for the breast bone and commence gnawing away one after another till there is nothing left but bones. So you see I'm not starving in the least.
They are going to commission another Navy field out here, but as for manpower I don't know where they are going to get it. So far they have two officers for it and no enlisted men whatsoever. Boy things are really snafu around here now.
That snapshot that you asked me far I am now able to forward to you. You know the shirts(?) style. I have this small one and if I can get a blown up one I'll send it along. I have been looking it over with a magnifying glass and that really clears up the snaps good. Try it out yourself. Get a flashlight and a reading magnifying glass and go over the films. You really see a lot of things you never saw before on the picture. Well honey I forgot so far to tell you that I love you with all my heart and still miss you so much. Now that I have said it I'll close for now and will write again in a day or two. All my love to you
Always
John
P.S. – Please excuse the rugged writing as my table is wobbly."
So did they get their laundry back?
"Jan 23 1945
My dearest Ellen,
I just got another letter from you today the first in four or five days. It was written on the seventh so I'm sure it's coming out by ship. I also got two letters from Weber my buddy in Japan and one from my brother. Tom expects to go home in February so once again he is at least reasonably happy. I guess his unit is just about folded up the same as all the others out here. As far as my transfer is concerned I'm here and here to stay for quite a while anyway. I don't mind it out here very much and if I were going about now I'm afraid after my leave was up I'd be sent right back out to some other forsaken spot. So you see it's just as well that I am out here for a while as by the time I get home replacements of some sort will have reached these parts and chances are that I will get some stateside duty for a while. These places will be built up by the time I get home and if I do come out again I'll bring you along with me. Please don't worry too much about it as I think I am doing the right thing ~ at least it's the most logical anyway from my way of thinking as a lot of guys who went home earlier are coming back out again.
As far as the hometown scandals are concerned well I guess it's happening all over. No one is to blame really. Sometimes it's the wife sometimes it's the husband. Most of them no doubt are ex servicemen and their wives. It had to come sooner or later as married women ran around like a pack of wild hens during the war and their morals were pretty low. If you'll pardon an expression of sophistication ~ ahem ~ they put the prostitutes out of business – do you see what I mean? The men were no better, as the married men were the biggest wolves in the service and I don't think any servicemen will deny that. As far as the guys at Hibernian are concerned, ignore them as they are still servicemen at heart. They are using the line that they used for the past few years on these "victory" girls in each city they were at and still not quite aware that the war is over they keep using it. Give them a few months and they will all be back to normal again.
Please take care of that foot of yours. I still miss you very much. I love you with all my heart and will
Always
John"
How about that drawing on the envelope?
"Jan 30th 1946
My very dearest Ellen,
I received five letters from you today and they were really appreciated as you alone know how mail is really appreciated. They range from Jan 14 to Jan 21. The last one contained two letters so I should really say that I got six instead of five. I just returned from the show and after finishing a quick game of pinochle I finally broke loose to write to you. I'll start off by answering your most urgent question pertaining to my return to the states. Well honey I don't want to smash all your hopes and dreams but it's just as I told you before, I really don't know exactly when I will be home. I may be home in the fall or thereabouts or they may keep me out here till my eighteen months are up as is the usual procedure. My luck can't always hold out so I'm still hoping for the best. I'm as anxious to get home as you are to get me home but there isn't anything I can do about it except go berserk or get jungle rot or something to that effect and I know you wouldn't like me in either condition. So please keep your chin up for a little while longer. The time seems to be flying by out here but I know it must be dragging for you. When I get home I'll try to make it up to you as best I can. As far as leisure is concerned out here I spend it now fixing up our new home which takes quite a bit of time. Today I did all my washing and then to my dismay I discovered that there wasn't a clothes line to hang the clothes on. I had only one alternative and that one I took. I built one and it indeed turned out to be a good one if you don't mind my saying so. Tomorrow something else will need fixing or building and off we go again. I'm getting to be a Mr Fixit I think. Incidentally in two hours I wound up with a medium rare sunburn. Not bad.
I'm sorry to hear Hibernian is so boring to you and that you are beginning to dislike it so much. I know that you loved that place not so long ago and at one period in our romance it was my deadliest rival although I never would give in. Why don't you try something else for a change like hockey basketball etc. and really get interested in them. As far as Madeline is concerned she is just a lovesick kid who doesn't know what she wants and will take anything as a second choice. I'll be glad when I do get home as these temptations they are poking your way are getting me jittery. Please Ellen, for my sake, don't do anything foolish that you'll probably regret later on. If Madeline wants to slop up the stuff let her slop it up till she blows up higher than a kite but please not you. As far as breaking up prior to our marriage there isn't much I can do about it out here but if you really want to break up well do so for about five minutes when I get back. I don't know where you get all these ideas but damn it stop getting them. I think it must be from reading those books or seeing too many movies. If I ever had any reason for breaking up or doing anything else as far as we are concerned I would have done it long ago and since nothing made me reason in that way till now I don't think I'll ever change. You should know me by now if not you never will. Before I get steamed up over it I'll cut it short. As for what I see in you that makes me love you, well I could write a book about it. Maybe some of the things you would understand, others you wouldn't. I guess the first was your high school girlish look when I met you, (2) you weren't like the others at the party; as I've so often said your different. After knowing you I found you were clean, a non-smoker and a non-drinker. You got pleasure out of decent things in life. Since I've been in the Navy and have seen and met thousands of women in my travels I appreciate you more and more. You're not Miss Glamourpuss and you're not Miss All Brains and the like, you're just you and that's why I love you and I know I always will.
Is that explanation satisfactory? I am no prize package myself but I have pretty good judgment and I'm counting on you to make my judgment correct. I love you with all my heart Ellen and I always want you to remember it. My love technique may not be à la Boyer and the rest of those two bit phonys but it's the best I can do and really mean it wholeheartedly. Believe me.
I'll close out now and will write again in a day or two. All of my love
Always John"
Wow! - did my mother really want to break up with my father?!? My voice was cracking as I was attempting to dictate this - thinking of my father out in the Pacific longing for home and longing to marry my mother - and my mother at home in Watertown where everyone else was going about their lives while she was waiting and waiting for my father to come home. I've often wondered if I would have waited so long - it was different when the war was going on - everyone was in the same position - now the war was over, but my father had not yet served half of his 6 year enlistment. That is a long time to wait. We have some idea of what he thinking - feeling - from the letter. I think I'd be crazy like some of the ones my father mentioned who received Dear John letters. And despite complaining about Hibernian Hall, I wonder if my mother was wondering if there were other prospects?
Boy I wish I had read these letters while they were both alive!!
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