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Object Description
Title | Letter from Warren Johnston to Bobby [Letter 210] |
Subject | Correspondence; World War, 1939-1945.; World War, 1939-1945--Women. |
Description | #162 Saturday March 10 5 pm - on duty So the people of Carmel and Monterey don't like the boys loafing around, eh? Well, Ernie Pyle is right when he says that nobody out here begrudges their being there - though everyone would like to get a share of it himself - but criticism of the way MG manages its pool and its assignments is universal. The “regimentation” I thought they were subjected to must have been related to Fort Ord* and everything situated there rather than to CASA itself, however. Darling, it is pretty sure to be a long time yet before I will be able to say what you most want to hear. I want you to realize that - and then to keep on hoping. Meanwhile I am holding you tight, sweetie - often, physically, so that I can feel you next to me; always spiritually, so that you’re a part of all I do. Reif, coming in to look at the daily news, says that the Army has just extended the date again for those who are entitled to wear a combat star on their Theater Area ribbon. As it stands now, any Army man who as on this island before December 1 gets one. (Navy and Marines get one for being here within about 10 days of D day - in other words, the period when the actual fighting was going on and when Reif, *I see later on where you say the married men had are that freedom even when they were stationed at Fort Ord. According to men here who've been there, it didn't used to be that way. [pg 2] coming ashore in an amphib., saw two of them overturn ahead of him, with a couple of men lost. Even at that there's quite a contrast between those who just happened to be here and of whom one in a thousand was killed, and those who were in the front lines of actual combat. The latter, together with any who were on the island at the time, get the same star on the same ribbon as these brave Army lads who waded ashore on D+ four months proudly gaited in battle gear.) Remember how I used to be prejudicial in favor of the Army because it was the most democratic? In my experience so far (granting that its’ limited) there hasn't been a single occasion when the Army stacked up with the Navy. And that's a sad commentary on military organization in general. Both, to be sure, are accomplishing big things right now - a case of using a relatively small evil to fight an incomparably greater one. Despite these sardonic reflections I think (or rather, without having thought enough about it, I say offhand) that I'm in favor of some form of peace-time conscription of youth on a one-year basis. I'm not sure, one thing that comes to mind in its favor [pg 3] is the contrast between the Nisei boys who were here with Zaslow and those we have now. The latter are adequate for our purpose, are working hard and learning reasonably well, but in a respect do they compare with the others (Except in being Hawaiian boys and therefore amusing, full of fun). It's not relevant to think in terms of military training per se or language training either, since they’re to be devoted solely to military and hence - except in terms of war - essentially futile ends; what I refer to is the difference in initiative, self-confidence, ability to assume responsibility and generally being on the ball. Part of the difference may be due to selection, but from knowing both groups a little I’d say it was largely due to training. Zaslow's boys went through Savage, took pride in their group in an inoffensive way and one that made for excellent morale. 7 pm I am not going to try to type a letter tonight. All sorts of little interruptions when one is on duty make it hard to, whereas this sort of letter is easy - and besides I’d rather answer your letters, and reread them. [pg 4] 177: The small, pale orchid and yellow flower you attached is lovely - plants must grow almost as fast in Carmel as they do here. The military camp is fast getting landscaped by the way (a little too primly, with little squared-off coral walls about a foot and a half high) and we should be moving into Quonsets sometime next week. Today I spoke to Kubo, the Japanese in charge of landscaping and gardening (he's rather exceptional in having been in the Marianas for 30 years) and was promised that a place would be saved and some extra topsoil brought in for the planting of my four packages of flowers in front of the Quonset I'll be in. Was interested to hear of Gerry's receiving the big box of things made by the Gooks - Reinie told me that he and two or three other doctors had each ordered about $30 worth (it's not cheap) - I've just been able to order some things for you and Wendy as I've planned to for quite awhile and they'll take about ten days. I wanted them to be just a little bit special; I hope you won't be disappointed in having seen, for the most part, what the things will [pg 5] be like. (The reason for the delay in ordering before now is that special orders were not being taken for a couple of months or so). It's possible that the box (now being made out of a couple of wooden boxes used by Mr. Pearson as shelving, before he left) may not reach you in time for your birthday. I want it to, but will be consoled a little bit by the fact that it's to be partly a first-birthday box for Wendy too. (Darling, it's hard to imagine my little sweetie being one year old so soon!) …wish the Navy would let me stay right where I am - I do too, darling, at least for a few more months. It's good for me and I know it gives you a sense of security. There are no signs right now that any of us will be moving, and there are many who've been here 2 or 3 months longer than I have. …Keep thinking of next March, and it isn't even this March yet? - Well, here it is a third gone. I have never seen time fly so fast as it does for us here. Every other day I realize that I have censorship duty with Charlie and Tel [pg 6] the next morning and that a whole week has gone by again; or that I'm on duty and another 20 days has passed; or that the monthly payline is coming up again, and it was just the other day… The time doesn't always pass pleasantly: sometimes I miss you too much, for all of being busy, to be reconciled to being so far away, unable to share my thoughts and feelings with you except remotely and imperfectly. But it does go by, and before you know it I'll be home again. I loved the card, Sweetie (“What did Eve have…”) 178: If it's not too late, will you let me keep getting Life out here? I enjoy it, pass it around (always bring whatever copies I have on hand to headquarters when I'm on duty) and eventually take it up to school. Fun hearing about Bobbie. I hope he likes the little kite I sent you for him - black is not usually an attractive color to children, but that's all the material there was at the time (you sent it). It's not the only shape of kite they make, either, the one I like best is a vertical segment of a cylinder, the shape of a Roman shield. [pg 7] Loved the story about your asking Wendy if maybe she couldn't think of some way to bring me home soon. “The corners of her mouth went down and she said 'Naw.’” I laughed too, aloud. Thanks for the suggestion about checking the dispensary for baby oil and the kitchen for salad oil - haven't taken it yet but I will, as a temporary expedient. Yes, Fran is going to (or rather is in) Hawaii for reassignment. He doesn't know whether he'll be stuck in the translating pool (which all the men hate) or sent out again on MG. It would be wonderful to know what we’re going to do after the war, darling. I won't promise that we will know before, say, a year from now. The one thing that's more important (though I understand perfectly how you feel about having our future settled) is, that, for all your hatred of it (adding half again for me) the Navy has been good for us in certain ways. It may be that I would have achieved the same degree of a healthy lack of concern about the future had I remained a civilian, but I don't think I could ever have toughened sufficiently to work together or in competition with men who think [pg 8] very largely in impersonal terms - nothing counts during working hours except initiative and the ability to produce intelligently. I'm learning that here because I'm working with men certain of whom (in terms of such experience and of self-confidence, of not pulling punches) are more competent than myself. And I'm learning a lot because of it.* [* For one thing I never mention [?] such things any more. To do so is to ink a plea for understanding, and I've discovered that I can get along better without that sort of sympathy. (This is the kind of confession which should be made only in the wee small hours or in letters)] Henry has left Hawaii and is, I believe, on Leyte. That was about all Fran could tell me, except that he's doing intelligence work and is not connected with MG. Glad and relieved to hear that your ring fits snugly now. Congrats on the bank balance. I'm saving out some of my pay this month for presinks (am also taking advantage of the occasion to order a few little things for Muz, Mr. F., Jean, Doug, Jean May, Toni Deane…) but will be able to send something at least to Father. By the time I get to be a lieutenant (somewhere around 1 Jan. ’46) we should be going strong financially. Don't care whether you cry, sing or just talk when I get to that telephone - just so I can hear your voice. But I agree that by and large this is a better deal, my being out here, even without [pg 9] the phone available. Gee, that was a good long letter, sweetie. 179: The silk scarf was a swell idea. I don't think I’d trust any pattern the needlewoman hereabouts would make in a blouse for you. The best dressed girls in camp, apart from a kind of picturesqueness that would not be becoming except at a costume party (and then you’d need the whole outfit) are those who have simple cotton dresses made from American patterns. So it'll probably be head scarfs - I'll do the best I can with them. Glad to hear something about Tom Murfin and Steve [Nickelstang?] - Tom was interested in MG when I was there and I think he's a good man for it. 180: The poetry you quoted from sounds like Bev. Because of that I felt that she was intruding and couldn't read it comfortably. Your comments make it more personal, though, and there'll be another time, some quiet moment when I'm all alone with you and can dream just of you as I read it, when I'll enjoy it. Yes, I would love to read it with you when we can have the proper finale. Yes, sweetie, it's just when it becomes a chore that underlining is bad. Let's continue to underline lightly for each other and erase later. You think that Wendy may actually be a blonde? Or, [pg 10] perhaps, intermediate? Tell me more about the two latest books on Korea that the librarian gave you. And I will try to write her! And now, way back to #152 (Feb. 4) - You speak of my facility for getting things down on paper (in connection with ideas about the Russians getting to Berlin first). If you will notice, darling, the bulk of my letters, written hastily (like tonight's) to cover a multitude of minutiae, are written with no particular facility of expression. I’d really prefer writing well twice a week to dashing off notes, of whatever length, every day; daily letters when one hasn't the time to do them justice are just one more form of bondage imposed by the time and distance which separate us. But I know how good it feels to get your letters and, what's more important, how much it means to you to get mine, and am not proposing to alter the schedule. I too would rather you didn't do anything about that trouble of yours until I get home if the doctor thinks its’ nothing urgent. I do want you to consult him about it, sweetie, and I think it would be wise to make a note of any recurrence - also, briefly, whether they [pg 11] seemed to be associated (either as cause or as effect) with feeling depressed, etc. I'm not worried about it and don't want you to be, but I'm anxious to have you reassure me that you won't blindly ignore it just because I'm not there to see it through with you. If you should come down with any sort of illness any time, remember that the Community Hospital could take better care of you and Wendy both than you could of even just Wendy. But enough of that; I don't think you’re very likely to be sick; I merely want us to be as wise as possible in facing any such eventuality. I intend to be with you the whole time when we’re having over next baby. (Some of these back letters I've answered parts of. Getting answers to other parts now, 5 or 6 weeks later, must seem strange and far away…) Of course I should like to have you knit me a sweater, or socks, or both, as a homecoming presink - Right now I'm almost tempted to say bright red, or turquoise, after so long in drab clothing - but I think perhaps Navy Blue could be best. Or would you like a celadon green - sweater and socks matching? [pg 12] I wish you’d choose the color! As for pattern, I think a sleeveless V-neck is best in a knitted sweater (sleeves go with a boughten camel's hair one.) Tonight, wearing laundered and not too well creased khakis - long pants, sleeves rolled down - I feel all dressed up in an outfit that would seem very sloppy stateside. And when I see someone else who usually wears greens and a baseball cap or a sun-helmet dressed for a change in khakis and visor cap, he looks dressed up too (still wearing field shoes and of course no necktie). I seldom think about clothing out here, and I'm afraid that after I get over the first months’ initial thrill of being able to exercise taste and dress as I please, I'll miss the comfortable and time-saving casualness of the way we dress now. 153: I melt every time you say something like “I do love being married to you…we have so very much that not even this separation can take away from us - even if it hurts to think about it.” I melt inside, and feel stronger all over at the same time. [pg 13] Just 15 more days till we knock off that big block of 6 mos. - or 12, to figure from Carmel. But for Navy purposes the official date is the 25. By the way, Doug's birthday is the 25th of March. Jean's the 26th. Will you send them a card for both of us and say that I asked you to write for me that I'm ordering small presents for them from the native basketweavers and will send them as soon as possible? 154: Have already answered this one. Picking up my pen again just now (it's the one I was using - not counting our family institution, the green one - before I bought the Eversharp; writes remarkably well with Parker 51 ink, badly with any other; is too light and small, though, to balance well in my hand) remind me that I still have the remains of both pen and pencil (Eversharp) - they came all apart, broke down completely - and will wrap them up sometime and send them to you for forwarding. I'll label the package “The Wahl Pen Co.” and [pg 13] send it to you with a covering letter; you can find out the factory address from some jeweler and fill it in. 155: In this one you relay an acceptable compliment (about reputation at MG School) and ask me not to be cross with you for tossing bouquets, which you say isn't your place…Darling, it wouldn't occur to me to be cross with you for that; I just feel pleased, tho of course I assess the compliment for what I Think it's worth. Incidentally, it's awfully good for me to feel senior in experience to some other men in the general category of colleagues; out here I'm junior to all those who in my opinion are worth anything, and superficially (in terms of various techniques learned) to some others as well. That I well recognize is largely an accident of time and place; but so is all experience, and it's the experience and not the accident that counts. Educational research would be a poor field for me, I think, sweetie. It's overexploited and full of eager people with unnecessary ideas. If I happened on some particular angle, perhaps. But it doesn't interest me much in broad terms. [pg 15] As for openings in Washington I should think there are likely to be many - how interesting. I don't know. I'll keep my ears open for that sort of thing. I don't know that it would be so much easier to make a decision if I were home - at least, not now. You see - not to harp on it too much, I hope - things are going on inside of me right now that will influence whatever decisions I may make ultimately, in a positive way. I shall not be too ambitious - not dearly so much for myself, in fact, as I will for my own children; and I don't intend to shove anything down their throats, either. The thought of our children, their growth and their development under the optimum condition we can provide (not all nor even primarily economic conditions) is always with me whenever I think of the future. It isn't that I have any regrets at all about my own growing up, when I realize its inadequacies - hell, if I hadn't grown up as I did I wouldn't be me, and that would be awful! - but just that you and I [pg 16] are on the threshold of being mature beings (and here I use mature to mean intellectual more than emotional aspects of personality); we have been handicapped by getting off to a slow start, though no fault of our own, so that we do not represent the optimum development of our native intelligence (good god, who does, I am thinking askance); but we can be both eager enough to encourage that in our own children, so that they at 18 or 20 are as fully developed as we are not (it's quite possible, in most ways) and at the same time we've enough to maintain the grown of our own intellectual curiosity and vigor without fretting over lost time, or being unhappy about what we don't know. By ‘knowing’ I don't mean facts, I mean that supple, resilient, tough thing which is conveyed by the honest use of the word ‘understanding.’ What I mean by optimum conditions for our children is, in addition to the emotional stability and joy in life that we shall surely give them without need of outside help, the intellectual atmosphere that we can't. That atmosphere depends of course on our friends and the stronger characters amongst our acquaintance, on their children, and on a great many physical factors in the environment [pg 17] It's too late tonight to go into a discussion of this subject. It's one, however, that I’d far rather talk about in detail than I would continue speaking in vague terms of my-or your - growth; the latter usually leaves me with something of an uneasy feeling, as though it's time now to be done with talking about it. Perhaps it is. I enjoyed your sinful rubber pantie expedition on which you bought the checked and ruffled pinafore that Wendy “didn't really need.” Apparently you did! I’d love to have heard Marge on the subject of changing her religion if it meant having more babies and I hope Chuck does catch up with me sometime, or I with him. What's their last name? - it's so long since you've mentioned it that I don't know where to look for it. Now that you've found Olsen's Navy # for sure, I can't remember who Olsen is, either! One of these days I'll go back and start reading your letters from the beginning. Keep after Kay Miller's house! But of course there's nothing you can do except wait - I'm glad you do have a place in mind, tho. No, now that I read about it again (Memphis) [pg 18] I sure don't want you traipsing around the country, darling. Just get up to Berkeley some time. “Just between you and me, Dana said…” You did manage to keep very trim. And I would so like to see you as you are now. Clothespin dolls - yes, do make one and send it for a sample. Is it possible to buy clothespins cheaply? (there are none here, of course, except what you send me) How much would a thousand cost? Maybe we could get somebody, or a lot of people, to donate them. No, I was not implying that your morale was low when we were engaged!!! For shame yourself for suggesting that I was!!!! (I don't even remember, and didn't when I got the letter 2 or 3 weeks ago, what the reference was to, but let it pass). Darling, as I think back on that period (Nov.-Dec.) now all the hectic features of it fade and are the lovely, delicious ones remain. Bill Bull is back in the Marianas already - [pg 19] has been for several weeks. The bourbon? I christened the area when the new Quonsets are being set up with it. We’re due to get in a sizable supply of liquor soon. 157- Did I send my baseball glove back in my valpack? If so, I wish I hadn't. (Got in another lively game a couple of days ago.) 158: Yes, I found the anniversary rose in the package - I meant to mention it at the time but am not sure whether I did or not. Keep sending flowers, sweetie. I've made a note to go to the Liberty Store next time I'm in Honolulu. Thank Mr. Ricketson for me for opening the crates and fixing Wendy's stroller so well. 159: I was completely captivated by your suggestion of Wendy, sitting in the toidey or the edge of the bathtub, watching me shave. It's such a delicious thought. I did feel foolish about your rebuke (Well, tease) re Pardee Lowe's book. Of course I [pg 20] remember your reading it. I need enough of it myself at the time to have remarked to you that I’d like to finish it at a later date. Speaking of duration pajamas (to start wearing after the duration of my itch, which still flourishes but is no special trouble), if you can get some plain material that's one thing I can have the tailor here make up. Still have Wendy's ‘crinkling and chewing’ paper - Good golly, sweetie, I've still got ten letters to answer and it's nearly 1 am! (we get up at 6) Guess I’d better not get so far behind again - didn't realize I had, to quite that extent. To bed now, in the duty officers’ cot (we bring our own sheets and pillowcase over) I love you more every time I stop to think about it, and my love is there growing in between times - Warren |
Publisher | Wilson College, C. Elizabeth Boyd '33 Archives. |
Date | 1945-03-10 |
Type | Image |
Format | image/jpeg |
Identifier | WJ210 |
Source | Eunice Carpen Johnston (1942) Correspondence Collection (HC-10.28) |
Language | eng |
Rights | Digital images copyright of C. Elizabeth Boyd '33 Archives at Wilson College. The image may be used for educational purposes as long as a credit statement is included. For all other uses, contact the C. Elizabeth Boyd '33 Archives at Wilson College. |
Contributing Institution | C. Elizabeth Boyd '33 Archives at Wilson College |
Sponsorship | This Digital Object is provided in a collection that is included in POWER Library: Pennsylvania Photos and Documents, which is funded by the Office of Commonwealth Libraries of Pennsylvania/Pennsylvania Department of Education. |
Description
Title | Mar10_1945_page1 |
Subject | Correspondence; World War, 1939-1945.; World War, 1939-1945--Women. |
Publisher | Wilson College, C. Elizabeth Boyd '33 Archives. |
Type | Image |
Format | image/jpeg |
Source | Eunice Carpen Johnston (1942) Correspondence Collection (HC-10.28) |
Language | eng |
Rights | Digital images copyright of C. Elizabeth Boyd '33 Archives at Wilson College. The image may be used for educational purposes as long as a credit statement is included. For all other uses, contact the C. Elizabeth Boyd '33 Archives at Wilson College. |
Contributing Institution | C. Elizabeth Boyd '33 Archives at Wilson College |
Sponsorship | This Digital Object is provided in a collection that is included in POWER Library: Pennsylvania Photos and Documents, which is funded by the Office of Commonwealth Libraries of Pennsylvania/Pennsylvania Department of Education. |
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