February 21, 1942 was Lester’s twenty-fourth birthday. Amazingly enough, his mother baked a cake and sent it to help him celebrate. This was his first birthday a long way from home, and though none knew it at the time, it was to be his last birthday.
Lester with his sister Frances about 1920.
February 21-1942
Saturday evening
Dear Folks
I received your card & letter yesterday & the cake arrived today. It was in perfect condition and still fresh and very good. We haven’t eaten all of it yet. I didn’t set it out for everyone because there wouldn’t be enough to go around but some of the boys in my section helped me sample it.
I did intend to go on liberty this evening and tomorrow but we are quarantined on the station because of scarlet fever. Two men from this dormitory were taken ill this morning with it. If I should happen to get it, someone will let you know but I will be OK. You don’t need to come to see me because they wouldn’t let you in.
I had planned to go over into Canada and see what it looks like. If you look on the map you will see that Windsor, Canada is only a short distance from Detroit. We are allowed to cross the border without a passport.
I received a birthday card from Margaret & Hank but they didn’t write anything. I wish that since she used a three cent stamp on it, that she had written a few lines. I think I told you I got a Christmas card from Anne the other day. It has been at Great Lakes all this time.
Ambassador Bridge at Night between Detroit, Mich. and Windsor, Ont. Photo from postal card, 1942
Sunday morning
It is nine-thirty and I have just returned from church. The protestant services are held from eight-thirty until 9:30 and the Catholic services from then until ten-thirty. There seems to be about an equal number of the two denominations that go to church services. We don’t have a regular choir, usually about six or eight volunteers. It is such a nice bright day today that it will surely warm up. We don’t dress up to go to church, just wear our neckerchiefs with undress blues.
We took our second-class seaman test yesterday. It was so easy that all of us passed. We get that extra stripe on our sleeves now and should get our extra pay before too long.
I received two cards and a letter from Frances and Gloyd. Gloyd wrote the letter and said he thought Frances was taking the flu. How is she now?
There are four boys singing songs about ten feet away. Did I say singing? Well, at least they are trying. They can get plenty of volume.
This letter is progressing pretty slowly and I have several others I should answer so guess I better start on them.
Lester, on right, with his sister Frances and younger brother Wallace. About 1928.
Wallace, the addressee of this letter, was my dad. Years after 1942 he wrote this about his brother, Lester. “Although Lester was seven years older than me, we were friends and played together some. He was slight of build and was a friendly kind of person. One time when I was in grade school and it had rained a lot during the day, Lester brought a horse for me to ride home so that I wouldn’t have to walk in the mud.”
In this letter, Lester responds to one that Wallace had written him. A junior in high school, Wallace was fascinated by the technology of his time: radios and electricity. Lester encouraged this interest in his younger brother.
Ford Motor Company
Dearborn, Michigan
Friday the thirteenth February, 1942
Dear Wallace,
I will start to answer your letter this morning though I don’t have much time. I just finished washing my ditty bag so as to have it clean for inspection tomorrow. Saturday morning is always inspection in the navy. Friday is field day which means that we clean everything up extra well. We will do that tonight after chow when we get back from shop. We don’t go to school on Saturday so we usually have a little free time. Half of us are supposed to get liberty tomorrow but it isn’t my half. I am supposed to get liberty next Saturday. So far I haven’t been outside the gates up here yet.
Did you go on war time? We did of course but I don’t mind it. We still get eight hours sleep, sometimes. Last night the U.S.O. put on an entertainment for us. They had singing, dancing, acrobatics and a speaker, the kind that makes up his talk as he goes along. He was very good. Boys in the crowd gave him different topics on which to talk. Then he made them into a rhyme & sang about them. Here is part of the list they gave him: Hitler, Mussolini, McArthur, Japs, Capt. Kelly, Mr. Ford, Submarines, Pearl Harbor, Hedy Lamarr, Fox deluxe (a beer), U.S. Navy & others which I don’t remember right now. Try making those into a rhyme. We called him back for an encore & he made up rhymes about the ladies in the front. I bet they could have choked him.
I didn’t get this finished this morning so will continue this evening. Field day is over and I had a watch from 4 to 7 so I missed out on the work.
How are you getting along with your radio work? I believe it would be a good idea to learn all you can about it because if you have to enter the service, it would probably qualify you for a pretty good job. It won’t hurt anyway. Write again.
Given the frequency of his previous letters, it is hard to believe that none arrived home from early December until now. Surely there are a few missing in the collection. Perhaps he called home a time or two. Since his last letter, Lester has been accepted in the US Navy Service school at Ford Motor Company and moved to Dearborn. He spent some time in the hospital, so must have been quite ill for a while. He writes again:
Postmark: Dearborn, Mich. Feb 9 11:30 AM, 1942 US postage 3c
Sunday, Feb. 8, ‘42
Dear Folks:
I have just returned from church so will try to get a letter off to you before chow. We have church at 8:30 here & it isn’t compulsory as it was at Great Lakes. Today was my first time up here as I was in the hospital the other two Sundays. It is getting colder & the wind is quite sharp but the sun is shining so it isn’t too cold. We have had some snow but it has been above freezing most of the time so there isn’t much snow on the ground. We have had pretty nice weather so far. Hope it continues. We didn’t get liberty this weekend as we were supposed to because someone has measles or scarlet fever. That means I won’t get liberty for two more weeks as only half of us get liberty each week. Guess they must want to help us save our money. About one more month & I should be getting my $36 per month instead of $21. Yesterday was inspection day but that is about all we did except hear a lecture on firearms & march around the station for an hour. We have a little more time here than at Great Lakes but not too much at that. I went to the show last night “All Through the Night”. It was a propanganda film showing the Nazis work in the U.S. Our shows aren’t all like that. We have the same shows here as at home. I haven’t been out on liberty yet & we do the same thing every day so there isn’t much to tell you. I wrote to Myron this morning. Maybe he will get it by the 4th of July. I should answer a letter from Frances today if I can.
Lester (upper right) with his sister Frances, little brother Wallace, and their grandmother.
Dunlap Kansas
Feb. 19, 1934
Dear Lester,
I thought and thought,
And thought in vain,
And thought at last
I would sign my name.
Your friend
Leland V.
“Junior 32-34”
Council Grove Ks.
Feb. 7, 1934
Dear Lester,
As I’m a freshmen green as grass.
Forgive all mistakes and the past
And let our friendship always last.
Don’t forget the old rugged cross.
Your friend
Irmarene Walter
Dunlap, Kansas.
Jan. 18, 1934
Dear Lester,
You have friends,
Perhaps lovers—
To give them room
I’ll write on the cover.
When the golden sun is sinking
And the path no more you trod
May your name be written
On the autograph of God.
Your friend,
Winifred Weaver
May 15—34
Dear Lester
Tomorrow’s wishes never come.
Today’s wishes may be only one.
But let me wish you success in the
Many days that are to follow in the
Coming years.
Your Friend
Violet Turner
Senior 1934
Dear Lester,
You can fall from a tree
You can fall from above
But for heaven’s sakes
Don’t fall in love.
Your friend
Sistie
Dunlap, Kansas
January 8, 1934
Dear Lester,
On this page so pure & white,
To your request these lines I write,
That you may read, some future day,
Perhaps when I am far away—ha! ha!
Your friend
Beulah Blossom
Juniors of 1934
F-o-r-G-e-t-M-e-N-o-t.
Forget Dunlap Kans me
Feb. 1, 1934
Dear Lester
Down by the river on a rock
Is wrote forget-me-not.
Your schoolmate
Melvin W.
(Soph) not
Dunlap Kans.
April 4, 1934
Friend Lester,
Down in the meadow
There is a rock,
On it is written
Forget-me-not.
I have enjoyed our classes and friendship
During the days at D.R. H.S.
I wish you plenty of success through life.
A friend,
Nina Combs
Dunlap, Kans. May 13-1935
Dear Lester:
First in your album
Last in your heart,
First to be remembered
But last to be forgot.
Your friend,
Juanita Stewart
Soph. 1934-35
Dear Lester,
If you could look into my heart
And see the love that’s there,
Then turn it into money
You would be a millionaire.
Your brother,
Wallace H.
Dear Lester
When you get married
And live across the river
I’ll kill my dogs
And send you the liver.
Melvin Whitaker and Morris Cole
Seniors 1935-36
Dunlap Ks.
April 3, 1935
Dear Lester:
When the golden sun is sinking,
And your mind is free from care,
When of others you are thinking,
Won’t you sometimes think of me?
Margaret Linn
Sr. 1935
Friend Lester:–
I am your friend always.
Sincerely
Chas. Tomlinson
Dunlap Kans.
May 14, 1935
Dear Lester
Up on a hill
There is a rock
Carved on this rock
Are three little words
Forget me not.
Your friend
George Hylton
Freshman 34-35
Dear Lester
Some love one
Some love two
But the only one I love is you.
Your friend
Chester Miller
Dunlap Kans.
May 18, 1935
Lester,
I wish you much success and happiness in your future life,
And I also wish you a cute little wife and cute kids.
I have not been in any of your classes but have heard you
Are a good student.
When you are building your chimney of life count me as a brick.
For-get-me-not A friend
Arline Wirsig
Dunlap, Kansas
April 3, 1935
Remember the good old D.R.H.S.
Dear Lester,
I will write on pink
Because I can’t think
How to tell you
To be blue.
Remember the senior play.
Remember the day Prof was gone.
Down by the river there is a rock
And on it is written for-get-me-not.
I write in green because it is my color.
Your friend
Oscar Young
Freshman 34-35
Dunlap, Kans
April 3, 1935
Dear Lester
I thought and thought in vain
Finally I thought I sign my name.
Your friend,
Archie Hylton
Don’t forget when Prof’s father-in-law
Died and you acted as Prof.
Dunlap, Kans
April 4, 1935
Dear Lester,
When the golden sun is sinking,
And this path no more you trod,
May your name in gold be written
In the autograph of God.
I am wishing you much success in your future life.
May it be filled with happiness.
Remember the Senior play “Hobglblin House,”
The student council & the many other things
That have taken place at D.R. H.S.
A friend who happens to be a senior,
Elaine Drummond
(Better known as Stubby.)
Dunlap, Kansas,
April 3, 1935
Dear Lester,
I wish you health, I wish you joy. I wish you first a baby boy and
When his hair begins to curl, I wish you then a baby girl.
Remember our school days in D.R. H.S. and my sophomore year
When you sat behind me. Wishing you much success in all your undertakings,
Nellie Evelyn
Dunlap, Ks.
April 4, 1935
Dear Lester—
You took me by surprise as I guess the
Only thing I really have to say is that I wish you
Success all through life in whatever you undertake
To do.
Remember the constitution and Sociology
Classes we have gone through.
Oh! Yes. Don’t forget all our spats we
Have had. Though they were few & far between.
Your friend
Dorothy Ryman
“Senior 34-35”
Dunlap, Ka
April 4, 1935
Dear Lester,
Leaves may wither
Flowers may die
Some may forget you
But never will I.
Your friend
Sylvia Pater
F-o-r-get-me-not. Of a Freshman
Dear Lester,
Up in the barn and over the rafters
Maxcine Blanton’s the girl you’re after.
Soph (34-35)
SCB April 4, 1935
Dunlap Kansas
D.R.H.S.
April 11, 1935
Dear Lester
Remember the good days
In D.R.H.S. and the
Spanish class. HA! HA!
You’re friend
Pete Cessmon
Dunlap, Kansas
April 4, 1935
Dear Lester:
I’ve looked these pages
Over & over to see what others
Wrote before. At last I chose
This little spot to leave
A small for-get-me-not.
A Senior Friend
Alberta (Bert)
Senior 1934-35
Wishing you the best of luck &
happiness thru out the rest of your life.
Dunlap, Kans.
May 14_35
Dear Lester,
Remember me
And don’t forget
You have a friend
In Kansas yet.
Your friend
Francis Edwards
For-get-me-not! Freshman 34-35
Lindsay, Calif.
July 7, 1935
Dear Lester:
I am having a swell trip and glad
You are still around this country.
This Kansas weather isn’t the same as Sunny
Calif so you will hafto come out and
Find out for yourself. And for the
Girls they rase them nice and they are
Pretty too so you won’t get lonesome.
Ha ha. Well I don’t want to write a letter
So will sign off. Hears how:
Your Friend.
Wayne H.
Dunlap Kans.
May 14, 1935
Dear Lester:
Well as I can’t think of anything to write,
just remember our D.R.H.S. days to-gether.
Your friend
Bill Cornelius
“Junior-34-35”
“Yours till the ocean wears rubber pants to keep its bottom dry.”
Dunlap, Kansas
April 4, 1935
Dearest Lester:
I can wiggle my hips,
And I can shake my knees,
I’m a free born citizen,
And I can do as I please.
Your true pal,
“Lefty”
During these weeks when there are no written communications home from Lester, it’s fun to share his autograph book, signed by many of his school friends and relatives during his high school years. Posts in the autograph book are dated from 1930 to 1935, in no particular order. The practice of having your friends post a cute message in your autograph book carried into the next generation, but seems to have become a relic of the past. It’s fun to read what Lester’s friends wrote to him.
Lester, about the age when he received his autograph book.
Americus Kansas
December 26, 1930
Dear Lester,
Remember me.
When this you see
Tho many a mile,
Apart we be.
Your Cousin
Norma
Dunlap Kansas
December 29, 1930
Dear Lester:
When rocks and hills divide us,
And you no more I see,
Just sit down by the table
And write a line to me.
Your cousin
Nelva May
Dunlap Kans.
Jan. 2, 1930
Dear Lester
Dry is a cracker.
Without some cheese.
So is a kiss.
Without a squeeze.
Your friend (haha)
Roy
Dunlap Kans.
Dear Lester
Round is the ring
That has no end.
So is my love
For you my friend,
Roy
Americus Kans.
Jan. 7, 1931
Dear Lester:
Fill the day with friendliness,
And little kindly deeds.
And you will have the brightest day;
That anybody needs.
Your friend,
Frances Edmiston
Dear Lester:
Lester now
Lester never
Lester now but not forever!
Erma
Dear Lester,
Remember me as a good writer
As I remember you as a good actor.
Your Friend,
Nelson Parru
Dunlap Kansas
January 2, 1931
Dear Lester
Some love one
Some love two
But the only one I love is you.
Ha Ha
Your friend
Claude Miller
Dear Lester
Choose not your friends from outward show
Feathers float but pearls lie low.
Mother
Americus, Ks
Feb. 3 1931
Dear Lester,
Remember me early
Remember me late,
Remember me at the garden gate.
Your friend,
Marjorie
Americus Kansas
Feb. 4, 1931
Dear Lester,
Remember me early:
Remember me late:
Remember me on your
Wedding date.
Your school friend
Wanda
Ha Ha
Dear Lester:
“Read and me I
This down not am
Up Forget while around.”
Your friend
Nelson Miller
Freshman 1931-32
Dear Lester
Geese on the milk pond
Ducks on the ocean
Lester can’t get married until
Frances takes a notion.
Your friend
Gene Daharsh
Dunlap Kansas.
January 19, 1931
Dear Lester:
Down by a pond is a rock.
And on it is written,
“I love you” not
Your Friend
Belle Ho: Ho:
Ha: Ha:
Dunlap Kan
Jan. 9, 1931
Dear Lester
Remember me in friendship
Remember me in love
Remember me when we meet
On that happy land above.
Your school friend
Hurschal
January 9, 1931Dear Lester,I love you in my hartI love you in my chestAnd it will tell youWho I love best.Your friendHerman
Dunlap, Kansas
Feb 3, 1932
Dear Lester,
Down in the valley
Written on a rock is
“I love you”
Your friend
Rosalee Edington
Dear Lester
I hope you remember
The Geometry Book.
Your friend,
Taylor Blossom
Americus, Kans.
Feb 3, 1932
Dear Lester:
As sure as the vine grows around a stump
You are Frances’ darling sugar lump.
True isn’t it? Ha! Ha!
Your Friend
Elizabeth Weller
Dunlap Kans.
April 6, 1932
Dear Lester:
Remember me early,
Remember me late,
Remember me on your wedding day
And send me a slice of cake.
Your friend
Freda Pritchard
February 4, 1932
Dear Lester
I don’t like to study.
I don’t like to go to school.
But when I come to loving I am an educated fool.
Junior
Dunlap Kans
Feb. 3, 1932
Dear Lester:
When the Whip-poor-will is calling
Out over the lonely sea
And when of others we are thinking
Won’t you sometimes think of me.
Your schoolmate & friend
Lawrence Sexton
Dear Lester,
Three years have past and gone quickly
But they have been filled with many happy
Experiences. I hope that your remaining experiences
Will also be happy.
I have enjoyed knowing you and I wish you
Much happiness and success.
Sincerely,
Helen Frost
District 72
Feb. 9, 1932
Dear Lester:
A good thing to remember
And a better thing to do
Is to work with the construction gang,
And not with the wrecking crew.
May your school days reward you richly
and may your success be unbounded.
Best wishes for a high school
and college (?) career.
Your teacher,
Mrs. Frances Sheaffer
Dunlap, Kans.
Feb. 5, 1932
Dear Lester
I love you little
I love you big
I love you lake
A little pig.
Your School Friend,
Annie
D.R.H.S.
May 12, 1932
Dear Lester,
Your school days in D.R. H.S. are almost gone,
And I hope that commencement is only a beginning
Of the success that your excellent work and dependability
Prophesy for you.
Wishing you success and happiness always,
I am
Sincerely,
Norma E. Ryman
Inside this card from Christmas 1941 is a message from John Downes, Rear Admiral USN, Commanding.
“It it my privilege and pleasure to extend Christmas greetings to the officers and men at the Naval Training Station and to their loved ones at home.
During the coming year we will be bound together even more closely, by the united efforts of all, to defend and preserve our American way of life.
It is my sincere wish that each of you may have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.”
The following page included a menu for the CHRISTMAS DAY DINNER at the US Naval Training Station.
Cream of Tomato Soup
Saltine Crackers
Roast Tom Turkey Oyster Dressing
Baked Spiced Ham
Candied Sweet Potatoes
Giblet Gravy Fresh Cranberry Sauce
Sweet Pickles Stuffed Celery Ripe Olives
Fruit Cake Hot Mince Meat Pie Fruit
Hot Rolls Butter Coffee
Candy Nuts
Cigarettes
The back page listed Christmas Church Services. Those on Christmas Eve, December 24th for the Main Station included Protestant services at 2300: Candlelight Choir and Carol Service followed by celebration of Holy Communion, at the Drill Hall, Building no. 4.
Catholic services were at 2400: Midnight Mass in the Auditorium of Building No. 3.
Services on Christmas Day, December 25th for the First Regiment included Protestant services at 1000: Christmas Service, Drill Hall, Building No. 4. Frank Lash Captain, USN, Senior Chaplain.
Catholic service also at 1000: Christmas Mass, Auditorium of Building No. 3. Additional Christmas Masses to be held at 0715 and 0915 in the Hospital Chapel.
Though no personal note from Lester exists, he evidently was able to celebrate Christmas at the training station with other Navy personnel. The note from the commander echoed the tension felt across the country as troops and sailors readied themselves for battle in World War II. No doubt many prayers were lifted that Christmas season for peace on earth and a quick end to the escalating conflict around the world.
Sometimes clawing, creeping fingers of ice threaten to douse the sparkle of the season.
A few years ago, in the aftermath of my father’s death, I was called to tune the piano in the home of a man who had lost his wife within the previous few months. She had always been the person to arrange the tunings. In his attempts to heal, he was following her habits, taking over tasks that had always been hers. So he called me to tune the piano, even though the main piano player was no longer around.
Given my fresh loss, and his, we fell into conversation about our experiences. There is healing to be found by talking with someone who walks the same path you walk. When I headed to my next appointment, my spirit had been lifted by sharing our separate and individual grief.
Dan Deener is the man who grieved for his beloved wife Lin. Before I left his home, he gave me a link to find a special analogy he wanted to share. Over the past few years, I have shared his story with others who faced a new loss. I am always amazed at the healing power to be found by simply sharing a personal story with others who hurt.
This is Dan’s story:
Many years ago when I lost my father suddenly and unexpectedly I came up with this metaphor for the grief I was dealing with. I was struggling and it hurt so much. It was as if God handed you a bucket of grief and it was soooo heavy. You had to get up every morning and carry it with you. You didn’t know how you could carry it but you did.
Bucket in the sand (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
But, every morning when you could swing your feet over the edge of the bed and get up you were entitled to take a scoop of sand from the bucket. Every time you cried, every time you smiled with a pleasant memory, every time some one said how much your loved one meant to them, every time you told some one a story about your loved one, every holiday you must endure without them, every anniversary, every birthday, every night when you go to bed……………….you get to take another scoop of sand from your bucket. You get the idea.
The bucket gets lighter but there is always more sand in the bucket and you will have to carry it the rest of your life. Such is the cost of loving some one.
As I sit in front of the computer and tears run down my cheeks, guess what. I get to take another scoop of sand from my bucket. I hope we can help each other make our load lighter.
Many thanks to Dan Deener for permission to share his story here today. And with compassion, I think of all my friends who are nursing pain and loss of their own. I think of those who face this holiday season for the first time in their lives without a special loved one. I think of Cheryl, of Madeline, Kelley, Travis, Scott, Linda and Michael, Maureen, Derek, Barbara, Ann, Helena, Daniel, and Vickie. I also think of Jim, and Mary, Sheryl, Marcel, Travis, Ralph, Mildred, Derek, Kay, Chaz, Gary, Donte, Mike, Jan, Ashley, Wayne, Phoebe, Allison, Juanita, Betty, Jeff, Roxy, and Joyce who continue to feel the void of beloved family members through the passing years. I think of Grizzly, and Barbara, and others who struggle with health issues of their own or in their families.
And I want to say, “You are not alone.”
With each passing day of this holiday season, we can all take another scoop of sand from our buckets of grief. By connecting with others who know what it’s like, we can all help each other make our loads lighter.
It happened again last night. I tossed in bed, unable to sleep, trying to still the voices in my head. They pointed out every flaw I’ve ever had, identified my weaknesses, my insufficiencies. Whispers in my mind invited me to retire from civilization, to crawl into my cozy hole and give up on the crazy madhouse of insanity the world has become.
The landscape outside is painted in drab colors. Temperatures plunge into single digits. Winter has arrived, and with it, the holiday blues. I wonder how many others struggle to step through each day, as if dragging buckets of sand with each foot. The joyfulness of the season is forced into shadows of a heart that weeps silently with unforgotten pain and memories of Christmases long ago when excitement was real.
Those who brace themselves for another season without the presence of a dear one must number in the millions. There are new widows and widowers every year, as well as newly bereft parents, and children who will never share another holiday with a parent. There are friends who miss best friends forever, treasured aunts or uncles or grandparents now living only in memories. There are beloved pets who now wait for their owners at the rainbow bridge, not to mention people who have lost other treasures. Marriages, relationships, and friendships have gone sour. Some people have lost their robust health. Some are disfigured with scars of character in a culture that worships a narrow definition of beauty. Some have lost the vitality of youth and grieve for days that will never return. Some mourn the loss of dreams, of visions they once harbored about the way life should be and never was. Do they all struggle to remain cheerful like I do?
The things to mourn mount in number as we age until they could easily overwhelm us with grief, especially at the holidays. Given the vast array of personal loss, I wonder sometimes if anyone can escape the cold, clawing fingers of holiday blues that spread around the heart and threaten to snuff out the season’s joy. Are we all simply seduced by the advertisers to make ourselves feel better in the stores? Shop until we drop. Buy. Buy. Buy. I have yet to see the frenzy of Christmas shopping make anyone truly feel better. Are we all simply just going through the motions, with no regard for the long-range consequences?
And yet—and yet—the actions involved in going through the motions can bring healing. Getting up and dragging myself through the day’s routine can be a salve for those forever-wounds. Taking steps to bring a moment of cheer to someone else can lighten my load and brighten the day’s drab landscape. Choices made in honor of missing loved ones ease the pain of their absence.
So, I smile. Even when I have to make myself smile. I stand a little taller. I pull my shoulders back and put a spring into my gait. When I reach out to others, the gesture warms my own heart. Perhaps it warms them too. Somehow, in some mystifying way, the joy and the peace inherent in the season finds its way into a small crevice in my armor. I am one step closer to feeling whole again.
Some things I have tried at various times in the past to help vanquish the blues include (but are not limited to):
1. Take a box of my homemade cookies to someone who wouldn’t expect them.
2. Focus on the music of the season. Play it every chance I get, in every way possible, on every instrument I have. Piano arrangements, dulcimer music, handbell choirs or small ensembles, even recordings–all can bring joy through beautiful melodies.
3. Contribute whatever pocket change I have every single time I encounter a bell ringer for the Salvation Army.
Parlor at the Cattle Baron Inn.Cattle Baron Inn Bed and Breakfast, Howard, Kansas
4. Expand my horizons. Do something I’ve never done before, like booking an overnight stay at a nearby bed-and-breakfast.
5. Take a long walk in a natural setting. Walk until I see something new, or think of a totally new thought.
6. Renew an old friendship or make a new friend.
To all who struggle to find cheer during the holiday season, may you feel a moment of peace now and then to comfort your heart.
English: A navy photographer snapped this photograph of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii on December 7, 1941, just as the USS Shaw exploded. (80-G-16871) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Pearl Harbor in Hawaii was attacked on December 7, 1941, catapulting the US into World War II. All over the country people learned the news with disbelief. They braced for decisive action, and worried more about their sons in military service.
Lester jotted a quick note of reassurance to his family on December 7 and air mailed it home on December 8, with two 3 cent stamps instead of the usual one. He knew they’d be worried, and for good reason. At the time he wrote, nobody knew what to expect in the coming days or weeks. But he wanted to let them know he understood how worried they would be and to tell them that he would be in touch when possible. He had been in the US Navy a total of six weeks.
When the letter arrived, his folks didn’t take the time to release the envelope seal. They dispensed with proprieties and ripped the end off to get his news as fast as they could.
There is no evidence that he was able to keep his planned Christmas leave. All leaves must have been cancelled.
Dec 7, 1941.
Sunday 3:30
Dear Folks:
Anything I am about to tell you may be changed by the time you receive this letter. First, my leave has not yet been cancelled but the chances are that all leaves will be cancelled. The boys who did not make trade school have received notice that they will leave for the coast this Friday. We may have to leave also then but have had no word to that effect. Ernest did not make trade school & must leave Friday so of course he will not get leave. The news of the war has been quite a shock to us here. There is a lot of activity here now. I might call you by telephone if I learn anything but don’t jump every time it rings. Will write more when I learn something. Try not to worry as I may yet get to go to trade school. Don’t write after Wednesday unless you hear from me again.
Lester
Evidently, this is the last letter sent home in 1941. The next envelope would not arrive until mid-January. Perhaps he was able to telephone with news once or twice, but there is no way to know. It was weeks before his regular letter-writing schedule returned to a pre-war pattern. The holiday season in 1941 surely held more anxiety than joy. His family must have agonized about their beloved son and brother and what would happen to him next.
Though none knew it at the time, Lester’s letter home on December 3, 1941 was written on the first day of his last year on earth. It was a routine letter, upbeat and chatty. Nobody suspected that in only a few days, life would change drastically for all of them, or that Lester had only 365 days to live.
December 3, 1941
Dear Folks:
I want to drop you a line to let you know that I am feeling fine. I hope that dad & granddad are better by now. I’m sorry that I can’t find much news to make my letters more interesting but we live very much of a routine life here, one day is just about the same as another. Today we had another bag inspection & this time nearly everyone passed it. Mr. Baker said it was the best bag layout any of his companies had ever had. By the way, that picture of the “other boy” was Mr. Baker. He is our commander or boss. We all like him just fine. He is going to sea when he gets through with us.
The U.S. Navy hospital ship USS Solace (AH-5) circa 1941 in Hawaiian waters. She arrived at Pearl Harbor on 27 October 1941 and handled hundreds of casualties on 7 December 1941 during the Japanese attack there. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
A new officer is working with Mr. Baker so as to be able to train recruits. We call him Bakers’ shadow & “The Little Colonel”. He is a mighty fine fellow too. We joke & have a lot of fun with him. He came into the navy as a petty officer, has been in five months & is drawing $110 per month. Of course he had special training to do that.
I forgot to tell you in my other letters about Mr. Baker. I sent you the little booklet about Navy life but I didn’t know what was in it as the envelopes were sealed when we got them. You asked about the training here. We drill with rifles nearly every day but it is all marching. We haven’t fired a shot & won’t while we are here. I don’t get along with the marching any too well. It is hard for me to keep in step.
Postal card from the U.S. Naval Training Station, Great Lakes, Ill. 1941
We won the red rooster flag this week. It is a flag with a rooster emblem on it which is awarded on points won on drill. There is a blue rooster for next week. Our bag inspection, barracks & personal inspection count on it. We are working for it.
Something To Crow About (Photo credit: cobalt123)
Does the climate agree with me? Well, the last time I weighed I had gained about twelve or thirteen pounds. The grass is still green here & we don’t wear coats or gloves except once in a while. I’ll probably freeze when I come home. It is damp & foggy a good share of the time.
Yes, we will have to pay our own expenses home but I will have enough money & there isn’t anything I need, thanks.
That sounds like a dirty deal about Lillian & her boy friends. Did you go to her program? Ernest is ready to mail a letter so I’ll close & let him take this one too. Write again.
I received your card & letter yesterday & the cake arrived today. It was in perfect condition and still fresh and very good. We haven’t eaten all of it yet. I didn’t set it out for everyone because there wouldn’t be enough to go around but some of the boys in my section helped me sample it.
The Bridge 