Tuesday, February 1, 1944

WWII doesn't play.  You cannot stop running even if you have a cold.  Grandma coughed for the last couple of days.

"I have been coughing so much lately that it was getting me down.  I went down and saw the Dr. today and he gave me some cough medicine that is helping already.  I hope that it rids me of that cough for good.  I also have been studying for my first class test so I don't do too much running around nor writing."

I'm glad to hear that Grandma is being so studious.  I find that when Shannon women find something they believe is worth working for they fight for it.  When I graduated undergrad, my father told me he was proud and impressed, because he didn't expect me to be studious.  Like I told him that day, I found something I cared about.

Grandma received word from several Missoulians this week.  Both of them seem to be sweet on her, but she is not entertaining any ideas.  

"Sunday night Bailey Stortz called me.  His ship was in here and he is now on his way to Trinidad.  I had lunch with him yesterday afternoon.  He is still as homely as ever but very nice, he likes to brag a lot though.  I pretend I am listening but my mind wanders all over while he is talking."

Grandma is without feeling however as she demonstrates with a Marine friend who is desperately homesick.

"I got a package from Gib LaVoie yesterday.  He is in Hawaii you know.  He sent me a yellow and pink gold bracelet.  It is that kind like Marilyn's watch chain is made from.  In the middle of it is a heart and that opens and he put his picture in one side.  I just about died when I got it.  At first, my one thought was to send it back to him but then I got to thinking that he only thought it would please me and he knows that we are just good friends and that's all we could ever be, and in his last letter he sounded so homesick that I wouldn't have the heart to send it back------ and anyways it is awfully pretty.  Oh, yes, on the heart he has the Marine Corp insignia.  I won't put my picture on the other side though."

More and more girls are joining the war effort.  Grandma's bunk is adding on another roommate and she's hoping to get an apartment with Beverly. Let's hope it works out.

Thursday, January 27, 1944

Grandma and Beverly screamed their way through a carnival that is in Miami this week.  She went on every ride and she won a prize for throwing baseballs.  Also a Shannon trait that I inherited.  I can throw a baseball or football some distance but heaven knows where it is going to end up.

"There is a big carnival here.  Beverly and I went without dates to it the other night.  I went on all the rides and into every side show.  In fact, I even won a prize for throwing baseballs.  Also, a lady would guess your age and if she didn't hit it within two years you would get a prize.  She guessed me to be 24 and I am still 21 so she had to give me a prize.  I guess I must look like an old Grandma or something."

I remember taking offense at people telling me I looked like I was 25 when I was only 21.  Now that I'm 27 people are surprised that I'm not younger.  I'll take it.

New friends from Missoula pop up in WWII Miami.  They are a Lieutenant and his wife from Missoula who read about Grandma in the Missoulian before they came to Miami and they decided to look her up.  They found her and invited her over to their home.

"Tonight I am going out to that Lt. Woodworth's and his wife's place for dinner.  I'm not too anxious to go now but I guess I will have a good time."

This is the second time that someone in Miami who is from Missoula, MT reached out to my Grandmother.  Is Missoula a small enough city that you can do that?  Maybe back then people believed that when you are from the same town you will automatically be friends?  I know they were more trusting back in the day, but just because you're from the same town does not mean that you're going to get along.  However, when I lived in Chicago I thirsted for people who were form Atlanta.  If I heard someone even mention Georgia I was like white on rice.  I pumped them for their details about where they were from and what they're thoughts on Waffle House were.  We'd share our Atlanta stories and promise to hang out soon.  Usually Atlanta only brought us together for the one evening, but it was always magical.

The other thought I had about the phenomenon was that it also must be a wartime paradigm.  You all want to be home, and you are so far away from that place.  Whenever you have a chance to make that connection and share it with someone else you lunge for it.  War disrupts everyone's home and if there is something that can make your current city feel like home you reach out and make that effort.

On this day in WWII history

Thursday, January 20, 1944

It's a major triumph when you can mail cake across the United States during World War II.  However you do have to go pick it up at the Railroad Express Agency.  Especially if you put the address as just the US Naval Barracks.

"I got a card from the Railroad Express Agency to come down and pick up a package.  It says that it is cake.  I think form now on you had better put my address as Robert Clay Hotel, U.S. Naval Barracks, Room 915, Miami (4), Fla.  I will be sure to the mail right away then.  Just putting U.S. Naval Barracks the mail goes all over the country first and then I finally get it."

In between her letters, Grandma became quite the joiner.  Well she has altruistic reasons but hey at least she's making new friend and getting some exercise like she wants to.  

"I got a letter from Helen Shepard Hinton with the snap of Peggy and me.  I look as fat as I am in that picture and it makes me mad.  I guess I will have to go on a diet.  I am playing basketball on the WAVES' team now so I think I might lose some weight.  I need more exercise.  I am going to join the bowling team too."

Remember Grandma's old roommate Marvel?  Well her boyfriend, Tris Coffin asked her to marry him and she said yes!  

"- he told me that he had a ring for Marvel but he was afraid she wouldn't take it because she doesn't believe in long engagements but evidently she took it."

I wonder what Marvel considers a long engagement?

One of Grandma's new roommates continually tries to convert her to the Christian Science faith.  The best part about this whole scenario is that her roommate's name is Pirtle.  All I want to do now is find a turtle and name it Pirtle.  So I could run around yelling, "Pirtle the TURTLE!"

"My roommate, Pirtle, tried to talk me into going to church with her last night.  I think she thinks she can convert me to the Christian Science religion.  She is always giving me pamphlets to read.  Beverly and I are going to try to get a room together."

Grandma says this move is going to be pretty tough as Miami is filling up with tourists and new WAVES.  I'm going to cross my fingers for her and hope it all works out.

Happy Thanksgiving Eve to all of my American readers and happy Wednesday to my International readers.  I hope you takes the time tomorrow and everyday to let the people in your life know just how thankful you are for them. 

On this day in WWII history

Monday, January 17, 1944

The Navy messed up Grandma's mail.  Technically one of the girls who works in the barracks messed up Grandma's mail.

"One of the girls that works at the barracks thought because I was gone so long that I had been transferred to Northampton and s she sent all of my mail up there.  It was pretty dumb of her so I don't know what is going to happen about my mail.  They might send it back to sender."

Think about how much of a hassle it would be to get that figured out in the present day.  Then subtract the internet, reliable phone service, and add an international war.  It will probably take months for everything to be corrected.

Great-Grandma Shannon apparently chewed Grandma out for not contacting sooner when she arrived back in Miami.  

"I think that I explained to you in that one letter why I didn't write.  I am ashamed of myself but I was so tired then that I didn't care if I ever moved again.  I didn't call the relatives in St. Paul cause we got in there after 12 (the train was late) and besides the train only stops for 15 minutes and you have to go too far to the telephones."

Remarkably, this exchange perpetuates through out generations.  The Mother admonishes the Daughter for not fulfilling her daughterly duties and the Daughter promptly takes a defensive stance but apologizes.  Shannon women are geniuses when it comes to defensive apologizing.

Despite enjoying her new life and freedom in Miami, Grandma does not want to make it her home.  

"I'm not homesick but I still like Montana and wish I were there again.  The next time I come home I hope it will be a one-way ticket."

Pride fills my heart when I discover that Grandma is studying for her 1st Class exam.  Although she did not progress to Officer's training, she still wants to achieve.  She takes pride in her position and does it to the best of her abilities.  

"I plan on trying to get my 1st class rating by the 1st of March.  I understand that we have to wait 5 mos. instead of 4 1/2 so that will be the 1st of March for me.  I don't mind because that gives me two more weeks to study."

In closing, on this week of Thanksgiving I am grateful for many things in my life.  I know I have not been the most prodigious of bloggers, but I do want to play catch up this week.  I publish this statement to hold myself accountable: I am writing 4 blog posts this week in honor of the people I am most grateful for.  Happy Early Thanksgiving and let's do this!

On this day in WWII history

Thursday, January 13, 1944

It's always hard to return from vacation.  Especially if that vacation had you traveling for four days both ways just for 6 days to see your family you haven't seen in a year.

"Well, this is my 4th day to be back to work & I'd give anything to be sleeping late every morning.  It about kills me off to get up early in the morning.  I guess I was spoiled by sleeping late while home.  Now all I'm looking forward to is another leave."

Beverly and Grandma are experiencing the return from leave-itis.  They haven't gone out much because all they do when they get back to the barracks is crawl into their bunks and fall asleep.

"We haven't been doing anything but going to bed cause we are both tired."

Grandma is so tired all she can talk about is going back to sleep and the hair brush she received as a Christmas present.  

"I have been brushing my hair every day 50 strokes.  I surely like that brush."

The 50 or 100 hair brush strokes a day thing always intrigued me.  Does it actually make your hair shiny and fuller?  I researched the history behind it and it worked back in the day when women washed their hair only once a month.  With the advent of wonderful hair care and the ability to take heated showers daily if we want to, it just means that amount of brushing can cause more hair care harm than good.  Sorry, Grandma's letter was so short and I get a little dotty at times that researching hair brushing struck my fancy.  Also, I am listening to Christmas music before Thanksgiving.  Judge me as you will.

On this day in WWII history

Monday, January 10, 1944

Happy New Year to Grandma in 1944!  She is back in Miami and is awfully busy.  She hasn't had enough time to send a wire to her Mom and Dad that she is back safely in Miami.

"I'm sorry for not sending you the wire but I was pretty tires when I got in so I went right to bed & slept.  I had a nice trip back but I hated to get here but now I don't mind too much cause I'm busy & I don't think of getting homesick or anything.  I am going to send a wire tonight so you won't worry."

Grandma is going to meet her friend Beverly at the train depot because she gets back into town this evening.  I'm thankful that Grandma has Beverly to spend her time with.  Grandma doesn't get homesick when she's busy at work and is enjoying the Miami nightlife.  

Chicago provides a hub for travel between the two coasts.  Grandma had a layover in Chicago both to and from Missoula.  I miss Chicago at times when I wouldn't have to wear a winter coat.  Of course I miss my friends there and the hustle and bustle of the city.  Grandma on the other hand treasured her last snow frost dusting her coat.  

"They had a snowstorm when I was in Chicago and I enjoyed getting out & walking in the snow for the last time for a good time to come."

Grandma fills her homesickness  with work and covers in a wistful cloak in her letters.

"I had a wonderful time while I was home & I'm looking forward to being there for good before too long I hope.  I'll write more later this week."

Homesickness is affecting Grandma's letters.  They get shorter and are hurried.  It looks like they pick up when she meets my Grandfather.  I know I can't skip ahead to the end, but I want to discover their courtship and what their relationship was like.  Their romance is a mystery to me and Grandma's reaction to falling in love is going to be a hoot!

On this day in WWII history

Thursday, December 9, 1943

Let me take this moment and thank Grandma Robinson, Grandpa Robinson, Grandpa Wyse, and my Uncle Jim for serving our country.  The immense pride and love I have for these people is doubled because of their service to this country.  Thank you to everyone who has and is serving in the Military.  Happy Veteran's Day!

Grandma has mere weeks until she is in Missoula again.

"Just a few lines to let you know that I am still in existence & planning to come home.  I'll arrive in Missoula the 22nd & have to leave around the 2nd.  I am quite excited and the time seems to just literally drag."

She is beyond ready to be home.  She spent the last year away from people she saw everyday for 20 years.  She is about to jump out of her skin. Before she heads home for the holidays, Grandma has to defeat this recurring cold.

"My cold is practically gone now.  I have been going to bed early and taking it easy.  Anything that I can't stand is a cold."

Mom inherited Grandma's hatred of colds.  Grandma says she's taking it easy, but she most likely goes to work everyday and doesn't take a day off to recover just like my Mom.  Mom fights colds by beating the into submission with Vitamin C and working as if she was healthy.  The world doesn't stop turning if they have a cold, so why should they stop moving?  Go to work, come home, take some vitamin C, and go to be.  Wake up and repeat.

Although these two women had no idea how to stop moving, having them in my life is an inspiration everyday.  However, trying to convince my mother that I was sick enough to stay home from school was a fight I lost long before I was born.

Happy Veteran's Day!

On this day in WWII history

Monday, December 6, 1943

Grandma's full Christmas leave is official!  They approved the entire amount of time.  I want to yell at her to just go on leave right now before they change their minds!

"I haven't written to you because I have been waiting for my leave to be approved and there was no use writing and keeping you wondering.  I sent you a night letter today so you will know by tomorrow morning that I will be home for Christmas for sure.  I bet the next two weeks will just drag."

Grandma wants to bring some sort of present to Missoula since she is spending most of her money on the trip to and from Montana.  This is also the first time that Grandma brings up WWII rationing.  Mainly she mentions dates, raisins, and some items that my Grandma's old roommate's mother sent to the old roommate and then the old roommate sent it to Grandma.  You follow that? You remember Marvel?  Her mom is generous and sent items to Grandma.

"they have lots of dates and raisens down here.  I am going to try and get some points to get the raisens.  I will try to send you as many as I possibly can."

"Marvel's mother sent her a box and Marvel and sent me some of the stuff on that her Mother sent for me.  There was a card congratulating me on my promotion to 2nd class and there were peanuts, gum, candy and cookies.  I thought that was awfully nice of her.  I am going to write to her today and thank her."

Despite the rationing, Grandma is thrilled to go home.

"I can hardly wait to pull into Missoula.  Of course I will expect the City Band to be there to meet me.  It will seem good to get away from here for awhile.  I guess you can get tired of any place that you are in.  Sometimes the crowded streets and stores get on my nerves so that I could scream.  I try to get down the street real fast and the lazy southerners are all strolling and it makes me mad."

Grandma didn't realize she would have an entire satellite family of southerners in her brood.  Ok, maybe it was only me who drawled on and on about being a Georgia Peach.  I also had a southern five, loved big floppy hats (still do), and head was a two syllable word.  My family asked me to say head so many times that I grew out of it.  In five minutes.  So I understand why Grandma is eager to return to life amongst the yankees.

On this day in WWII history

Monday, November, 29, 1943

Roy is giving Grandma a Christmas present.  Her old beaux who marries her best friend is giving her a Christmas present!  She also lets the detail slip that she sent him a miniature of herself.

"You said that Roy is going to give me a Xmas present.  I sent him a miniature picture of myself and I didn't send a Xmas present in time and so now I can't.  I feel guilty but I guess it is too late now.  I will write to him and tell him to ask me to send him a package and then I can send it.  I won't let him know he is giving me anything."

What were dating politics like back then?  Grandma goes on a slew of dates with lots of suitors, but she send a picture of herself to her old boyfriend who ends up marrying her best friend?  How odd.  Is that how it was in the 40s or is it still like that today?  I mean my dating history includes several excruciating date in college, an internet boyfriend in high school (don't ask), and my current boyfriend of five years.  My philosophy was and still is I didn't want to waste my time on dating losers who made me feel worthless.  Maybe the 40s approach to dating was different?  My other set of Grandparents met, dated, and married in the same year.  Did you date a whole bunch of people, find one who didn't bug ya too much, and get married?  Anyone with insight please comment below.

Grandma didn't get much of a Thanksgiving, but she is ready to travel home for Christmas.

"On my way home I will stop in Forsyth to meet Peggy so I will get home the same day she is supposed to.  I guess that is about the 23rd isn't it?  I am not too sure yet whether my leave is approved but I think it is and I think that I will be home with bells on."

Christmas is always a big deal in my family.  I hope Grandma receives her full leave.  I think her Commanding Officer is sweet on her.  She'll get her full request.  Grandma is making os many plans to people on her way home and to pick up her sister on the way through Forsyth.  She is thrilled and all I can think of is that Norman Rockwell Poster "Homecoming G.I.".  The pure joy of the Family hits me in the gut and spring t my eyes.  I know that's how Grandma's return to good old Missoula, MT was.  That's how every Christmas should be.  Lots of lights, noise, and open arms welcoming you home.

Norman Rockwell, Saturday Evening Post Cover, May 26, 1945

On this day in WWII history

Thursday, November 18, 1943

It's kind of pathetic that I just realized this, but I am writing this blog 70 years after Grandma started writing her letters.  I didn't intend it that way, but now that I am aware I strike a grand ol' self five.

The weather in Miami was so terrible that Grandma didn't want to venture outside.  She somehow braved the forecast and danced the night away with the sailors off the DE 16 that is in port.

"Last night I went to a dance for the sailors off the DE 16 that is in port.  There were a couple of Montana kids at the dance and we had a good time talking over the best state in the union.  They were from Livingston and Great Falls but they knew some kids that I know."

WWII shifted so many people around.  It didn't matter if you had the money to travel, the military would make sure you got where you needed to go.  People who probably never left their hometown and probably never would, were sent all over the world.  With the men overseas, the military gave so many women a chance to strike out on their own.  Grandma answered the call for volunteers and it was one of my Grandmother's proudest moments.  She spoke of her experiences with the WAVES as if they were fairy stories.  They were enmeshed in my family history and I will tell everyone that I know that my Grandmother changed the world by being a WAVE.

Grandma is so busy being a WAVES that she had to stop mid letter and pick it up the next day!  She brings up Thanksgiving and speculates about a turkey dinner.

"Are you going to have a turkey Thanksgiving or are you going to save it if I get to come home.  I want turkey if I come.  I don't know what I will eat on Thanksgiving.  It is just another working day for me.  Xmas day is the only holiday the Navy has and at that someone has to be on watch."

Grandma has a habit of in her letters where she asks a question and then demands something from her mother.  Previously, it was about sending her laundry ahead and now it's about the turkey.  It's odd getting annoyed with Grandma over this and realizing I do the same thing.  Grandma is rolling her eyes and whistling through her teeth at me.  Those teeth whistles often said a lot more about her mood than her words did.  They were the sign of either joyous days ahead or that you should run for the hills.

On this day in WWII history

Friday, November 12, 1943

Grandma and I are no strangers to pitching fits.  When I was a kid, I could get riled up about anything from where we were eating dinner to the disaster of the missing Barbie shoe.  Everything shattered the earth and the apocalypse was upon us.  I would spend dreary afternoons pouring my soul into my diaries and doing my best Emily Dickinson impression.  Turns out my hysterical moods are inherited from Grandma as she was amazingly talented as staging her own productions as well.

"How is the new apartment?  Do you like it as well as a house?  I suppose when I come home I won't be able to have one my good old tantrums if I want to.  Do you know you(r) neighbors as yet?"

Initially I thought that Grandma asked about their new neighbors out of desire for them to have a supportive apartment community.  Now I'm thinking she asks so her parents can prepare the new neighbors for my Grandmother's arrival.  It is definitely going to be a noisy one.

Grandma received word about her holiday leave form Personnel.  It appears her Commanding Officer forgot to share some of the leave guidelines with my Grandma.

"A letter came through yesterday on leaves.  It says that not more than 14 days is allowed during the holidays.  Well that really puts a crimp in my style. ... I'll be sick if that will be all the time I can have at home after spending all the money to come all that way.  I don't know what is going to happen now but I had better get what I want or I will really raise the roof.  If that should happen, my only getting 14 days, I will at least have Christmas day at home.  I would like to have New Year's Day as well."

It will wake Grandma four days to travel from Miami to Missoula one way.  The idea that it would take me that long to travel anywhere is baffling.  I flew to Japan and it took me a day and a half.  That was around the world not across the country.  Thanks to the universe for making air travel so much cheaper than it was back then. If it cost my Grandma nearly $1400 in todays dollars to take a train, I do not want to know what it would have cost her to fly there. I shudder at the expense.  

Grandma and I will close this entry the same way she closes this letter.  We will introduce a new character in my Grandmother's life in Miami.  A fellow Montanan from Flathead, MT is seeking out Grandma's company and trying to share in their love of Montana.  Grandma doesn't appreciate her efforts.

"...then I went out and visited that lady.  She is a typical person form Flathead. ... She was a great talker and I couldn't get a word in edgewise.  So of course you know that went over big with me."

These letters help me understand where some zanier aspects of my personality come from.  Grandma was flamboyant and was a wealth of pizzaz.  Grandma had so much pizzaz that she gladly bequeathed some of it to me.

On this day in WWII history

Tuesday, November 9, 1943

As most of you know, Grandma is making a valiant effort to go home for Christmas.

"My Commanding Officer signed my leaves papers so now I will have to wait until the 1st of December to see if Personnel will pass it!  They better because I am planning on coming home and if they don't I will be a sick baby.  If I can't come home then I won't come home until around June.  I am pretty sure that I will be home Xmas."

If Grandma doesn't go home for Christmas, the next time she will see her family is a year and a half after she left!  Even the thought of not seeing my family for months makes my heart shrivel.  Thinking about it now, I don't think my Grandmother went without seeing her sister at least twice a year during my lifetime.  Whenever Grandma and Great Aunt Peg got together, Ooooo-wee did the flamboyancy fly! I don't think there's enough glitter to describe it.  They were just so in sync.  They could just sit there and sparkle. 

Grandma talks about the journey she is taking from Miami, FL to Missoula, MT.  

"I leave by streamliner from here to Chicago and that won't be bad.  The dirty part of the trip will be from Chicago to Missoula. ... The trip is going to cost me $90.00 round trip coach and then of course I have to count my meals too.  I won't be able to get real nice Xmas presents for you but I will try to get you little things."

I looked into the conversion of $90 in 1940 to dollars with today's inflation.  What I have found is that $1 in 1940 is equivalent to $15.28 in today's dollars.  It looks like Grandma paid $1,375 in today's dollars for this trip back in 1943.  The ticket prices for the same journey, well to Whitefish, MT, are significantly lower than what Grandma paid back in 1943.  I'm guessing with the advent of inexpensive travel options AmTrack and other train companies had to lower their prices as well.

My Great-Grandfather is sick.  Grandma wants to buy him Christmas presents, but she does not know his current size.

"Since he has been sick I don't know what sizes he wears.  I wish you would write and give me his size in shoes, socks, shirts and pajamas.  Now, that is no sign I am going to give you any of those things, Pop."

Love my Grandma, but she was never one to keep a secret or keep Christmas presents a secret.  I cannot judge her for that; I told my boyfriend what he was getting for our first 3 years of Birthday, Christmas, and Anniversary presents.  I was just so excited and they were just so perfect!

Ohp, Grandma is in search of a new beaux!

"Saturday night I went to dinner and a show with that Ensign named Don Coffelt. He is back in Panama now so I will have to hustle myself another boyfriend again."

BUD ROBINSON, Come on Down!

Grandma and Great Aunt Peg

On this day in WWII history

Thursday, November 4, 1943

I struggle with Grandma's circus fascination.  Not only did she go once, but she went TWICE!

"Well, guess what?  I went to the circus twice.  Beverly and I went Tuesday night and then this Ensign that I have been going with and his friend that Bev goes with were in town last night and they wanted to go to the circus so we went again.  It was wonderful and we had a good time.  It isn't exactly the same as when I last saw it but it is just as good."

We did go to the circus as a family, and I think we went to the circus on a school field trip.  But, I just don't get it.  When I was growing up, circuses were heavily criticized for the treatment of their animals.  Animal and environmental rights were burgeoning in the late 80s early 90s.  Destitute animals and their appalling care  were photographed and publicized when I was a kid.  Those images are forever branded in my memory and circuses are tainted.  Also, Water for Elephants didn't help either.

Grandma's Naval Officer's commission was not accepted.  She will not be moving to Northampton, MA. 

My application for commission didn't pass through Washington.  They say that my age is against me.  Evidently they like older girls for officers.  Also, they said that my qualifications were good but that there were others that were better than mine."

Grandma prepared herself for this.  She goes on to talk about coming home for Christmas and that she is happy where she is.  

"At least on my commission though, I passed in the Seventh Naval District and I didn't lose anything by trying."

Grandma also gets to meet and marry my Grandfather.  I am longing to read about him and soak up what personal details I can.  He was here for a short time in my life.  I take every chance I get to discover more about him.

There is one more tidbit that ignites my imagination.  

"I was surprised to hear that Shirley might go over seas.  I will write to her this week."

I have no idea who Shirley is, but not many women were sent over seas.  Obviously if you were a nurse you automatically went over seas, but then my Grandmother wouldn't be surprised.  Does anybody in the great wide blogisphere know of a female Missoula, Montana citizen named Shirley who went overseas during WWII?  C'mon blogisphere: DIG!

Is that you Shirley? Yo! Second from the left!

On this day in WWII history

Monday, November 1, 1943

The Circus is in town!  I always forget what an event the circus is in the 40s.  There were parades and the train was always a spectacle.  Grandma is ecstatic!

"Tonight is the big night.  I am going to try to get my reserve seat for the Circus this afternoon.  I went down there once already and there was such a line that I couldn't wait cause I had to get back to work.  I am all excited to see it."

Grandma's mentioned it several times to her Father.  She knows that he would appreciate the Circus just as much as she would.  It is intoxicating learning personal details about Great-Grandparents I've never met.  Even as a grandchild you never fully know your Grandparents like you know your parents.  Your parents are humans with faults, desires, and crushed dreams.  Grandparents have a golden sheen to them.  They are eternally perfect.  No matter what your parents tell you.

Grandma loved to laugh.  She made jokes, and adored being teased.  I think she just played a prank on me while she's sipping her Bud Light with ice in heaven.  I'm waxing poetical about my Grandparents and my gaze is drawn to this saucy passage.

"We had a very nice time on our weekend and saved some money since we didn't have to buy our dinners.  I wish that would happen more often.  I could go to dinner nearly every night with kids that  bore me to death but I would just as soon but my own dinner and enjoy myself."

Grandma's advice about men was always practical.  Especially when it was unsolicited from 4 year old me.  As her only granddaughter, she provided me with her personal dating cheat codes.  The one that she didn't need to communicate was that you do everything with flare.  Betty Robinson had flare.

In between dating advice and the Circus, there is optimistic news from the War Front.

"They are taking the dimout regulations off all along the coast and tonight for the first time I will see Miami beach all lit up.  They say that is beautiful.  It will seem good to have the lights on again.  I guess maybe the war is coming more in our favor every day.  I heard the newsboy yelling the other day that Germany was getting ready to sign an armistice and so I bought a paper.  All I could find was an article an inch square on it.  Boy was I mad at wasting a nickel."

The newspaper boy sure did know how to sell a newspaper.  Wonder what company he's the CEO of now.

Let's play"Find Grandma in the Picture!"

On this day in WWII history

Friday, October 29, 1943

Montana is calling Grandma's name.  She nearly chased a Montana license plated car down the street because she was so excited.

"I saw a Montana car the other day.  It was from Great Falls.  I about fell over when I saw it.  I just wanted to run down the street and yell at them till they stopped but I didn't do that."

The homesickness is compounded by Grandma's sorrow over her roommate moving up in the ranks while she is still waiting to hear about her acceptance into Officer's training.  

"I have received one letter from Marvel since she has been in school.  She likes it a lot so far.  She has her gold buttons sewed on already.  I surely miss her.  I have Beverly though and she is a wonderful girl.  My new roommate is a lot of fun too so I don't have too much time to sit around and brood."

Homesickness and the loss of her best friend in the WAVES, makes Grandma's heart yearn for Montana.  The only problem is that when and if she returns to Montana, she won't return to her childhood home.  

"I was quite surprised that you really have decided to move. ... It won't seem right to come home and not to go to the house on 5th E. but we are still on the same street.  I am so glad Chief can still live with you. ... Give him a pat on the head for me or better yet, Mother, you put a lot of lipstick on  and kiss him, I know that you would love that!"

Grandma is so homesick that when one of her dancing partners is from a town in Minnesota, I guess that is near some of our I've never known about relatives, she inquires after her family.  Of course not everyone in Minnesota knows everybody, but I guess it was worth a shot.  Especially since he was such an impressive dancer.  Gosh I wish men knew how to dance this day in age.  You actually had to learn the dances, and not just stand there while someone uses your lower half as a battering ram.

"I went out with a boy by the name of Don Graham last night from Bimigee (sp), Minn.  We went dancing and we had a lot of fun.  He was really a very good dancer and I think that I danced for 3 hours straight.  He doesn't know any of our relatives though.  He has only lived there 3 years.  He is a sailor."

When the world gets you down, all you want to do is click your heels and be whisked away home.  The loss of Marvel and her uncertain future in the Navy is weighing heavily upon Grandma.  She hasn't seen her family in 10 months and she needs to recharge.  I hope her leave goes through so she can return to Montana's ferocious grace.

Evening, McDonald Lake, Glacier National Park, 1942 Ansel Adams

On this day in WWII history

Tuesday, October 26, 1943

The Navy doesn't joke about thievery.  One of the other WAVES, Beverly, had her room broken into.  The barracks went into Lockdown.

"It developed that some girl stole $25 from Beverly's roommate and $25 from the girl next to Bev's room.  They restricted the whole barrack and searched every room to no avail.  Thank goodness I wasn't in the barracks when that happened.  Everyone had to go to bed and couldn't even so much as take a shower.  A lot of girls didn't even get to eat."

I know I wouldn't be able to sleep with all that adrenaline pumping through the barracks.  What if it turned into The Monsters are due on Maple Street?  Everyone betraying each other until a shot rings out, returning everyone to their senses with blood on their hands.  In reality, the most distress caused by this is some rumbling bellies.

Grandma was invited to tea by four English women staying at the Granada hotel.  They were stopping through on their way to Canada to enlist with the CWACs.  

"4 English girls are going through here on their way to Canada to join up with the Girls Army in Canada. ... They were so nice and we had a lot of fun comparing our countries.  They were very much interested in our being in the WAVES."

They are the Canadian version of the WAACS.  Grandma calls it the Girls Army however.  I wonder if it's a slight to the Canadian army or if she's just referring to them informally.  If it is a slight, I wonder how my Grandmother referred to the WAACs.

Grandma moved into a room with an accordion playing roommate to get away from Marvel's replacement.  Apparently, Grandma loves to jam out to some accordion music.

"My other roommate belongs to the Salvation Army and she has an accordion and she plays and sings all the time.  It was enough to drive me nuts.  She also would give me lectures on the Salvation Army.  She said that people made fun of them but she thought they were cute.  That was enough to put me out for the night."

I just imagine this woman with an accordion strapped to her chest belting out a spiritual. She's most likely choreographing marches to rival any band directed by John Philip Souza.  She's got some sick moves.

On this day in WWII history

Thursday, October 21, 1943

Certain people are able to disguise their emotions when writing.  I am not one of those people. When perturbed, I tend to write my feelings and I feel infinitely better.  Regrettably, I reread the letter fifty more times, but this process is faster than me taking up someone else's time with my overreactions.  Unfortunately, I still torture my friends and family with every minute scruple that goes on in my life.  I love y'all dearly for that.  Also, thank you for not running away screaming.  Thankfully, I am completely desolate in my writing, and only slightly desolate when I talk to my friends and family.  You should have seen my high school diary.  Tears streak some of the pages...wish I was kidding.  My Grandmother on the other hand, is able to shut it down before she picks up a pen!  She took her Officer's Training Entry exam (yes, that is the Naval lingo), and this is all she has to say about it:

"I took my test and it was very hard.  I am not sure that I will be an Officer now.  If I'm not I will be home for X-mas tho."

That's all she said about it!  Although, I do the same thing when I'm disappointed.  I get discouraged and then push it aside.  "Oh well, I'll move on."  I just tuck it in the back of my mind until I am able to deal with it.  Again, you should have seen my high school diary.  So, this is what she is doing.  Grandma is covering it up and minimizing her pained feelings so they don't fluster her.  I cannot wait till I read her letter where she finally unleashes her fury on this subject.

In my family, we tend to misdirect our irritation onto other areas of our lives.  We tend to harshly express ourselves towards the object of our misdirected irritation.  Grandma does this on her new roommate.  

"I have a new roommate and I'm not too impressed with her.  She's around 28 and is real fat.  The only satisfaction I have is I'm smaller than she is."

I am sure there are other reasons beyond this woman's physical appearance that bug my Grandmother, and I believe that she never was truly rude to this woman about her weight.  If she was, I am sorry to this woman and I would admonish my Grandmother if she was alive.  Again, Grandma is misdirecting her anger and is taking it out on this woman.  I think there's more to this story and I will keep y'all updated.  This also serves as proof that Grandma is still shaken by the Officer's test and that it is of great significance to her.  I know this because of my family's famous misdirection of fury.

Flamboyant vocabulary is a particular passion of mine.  It adds a flair of the dramatic to everyday conversation.  For instance, I tend to use dated slang from the 40s and I do refer to my father as Daddio.  Grandma uses it to express her sorrow over losing Marvel and disguising it as a need for an alarm clock.

"Say - if you should see an alarm clock - grab it.  I haven't any timepiece.  Marvel had everything and when she left I was left practically desolate.  I can gets irons but I surely wish I had one."

Grandma's desolation over the need for a timepiece is her hiding her loneliness.  Her joyous use of language makes the connection across the decades stronger.

On this day in WWII history

Monday, October 18, 1943

When you have a roommate, or in my case roommates, you get your first peek into what married life could be like.  You learn a person's quirks and you adapt to each other.  You learn how to be part of someone's life like you've been there all along.  Grandma's roommate, Marvel, is moving out and moving onto Officer's training.

"Marvel left this morning for Northampton where she will enter Officer's Training.  I can tell you we've been going in high gear."

She wished to enter into Officer's training with Marvel, but Marvel got her papers in before her and Grandma is still waiting.  Grandma's true emotions finally come through her letter.  

"I would like very much  to make Officer's Training though and I am hoping and praying for it now.  Please keep the right thought for me. I will better myself so much if I can make it. ... I will have some schooling and so I am hoping that I will make it.  Don't say anything to anyone about this.  I don't want to tell them why I didn't make it. ... Let's just hope real hard that I will be able to go."

Grandma covets the life of a Naval Officer.  If she doesn't rise in rank, she feels she shouldn't have to explain it over and over again to people she loves.  Who wants to remember that humiliation? Who prays for something they don't get and wants to talk about it?  She yearns for the respect and prestige that comes with this life.  She journeyed across the country to move beyond her possibilities in Montana, and she is striving for that everyday she is in the WAVES. Yet, she cannot move on with the person who helped fashion this new life from her old one.  Marvel was Grandma's touchstone, and one of her few connections back to Montana.  Marvel was also born and raised there.  So, Marvel was the perfect amalgam of Grandma's old and new lives.

"This morning Marvel was so excited but she hated to leave me.  We could hardly keep from crying.  We have gotten to be great friends.  It seems so awful not to have one Montana person with me.  At least we could talk over familiar streets and acquaintances."

It's the uncertainty that finally undoes us all.  The biding of time; and my Grandmother was never a patient woman.  She despised waiting for information.  It's evident in her letters when she scolds her parents for not writing often enough.  She craved information and loved being a source of knowledge.  She was our family's google.  You asked her about a specific person or event and she would roll through her files.  She required immediate data and she never bided her time. It must have broken her heart to witness one of her good friends move on into a life of certainty and for her to be left in the dark.

Grandma and Marvel in The Missoulian when they enlisted

On this day in WWII history

Thursday, October 14, 1943

Surprisingly, my Grandmother receives leave form her duties from December 20, 1943 - January 6, 1944.  I'm floored that they even gave her that much leave.

"If everything pans out the way I want it to I will leave here the 20th of December and be home until the 3rd of January. ... I certainly hope now that everything turns out all right.  I won't know until the first of December for sure.  Let's just hope and pray."

I hope she gets leave to go see her family over the holidays.  She hasn't seen her family since that first letter from boot camp in January.  Can you imagine seeing someone every day of your life then poof! you don't see them for a year.  You receive a weekly letter and you are allotted an occasional phone call.  That does not always go through! It must be exceedingly lonely.

It seems she runs from her loneliness and fills it with dates and outings with sailors and Ensigns.  

"Marvel and I went out with a couple of sailors friends of ours the other night.  We went dancing and had a good time.  Tonight they are renting a car and taking us to dinner and dancing.  I hope we have a good time but the one that I have to go with bores me to no end."

She probably wanted to tear her hair out by the end of the evening!  I cannot wait until she meets my Grandfather.  She probably crucifies him and then finds he's up to the crucification.  They're a WWII Beatrice and Benedict love story.

Grandma still doesn't know about her Officer's commission.  It makes me antsy.  She's anxious as well, but she also wants to see her family.  

"I haven't heard about my commission but if that goes thru I don't know when I'll be able to come home."

She avoids talking about her commission in her letter, but I know she wants to continue on so badly.  I already know how this ends, and I'm still cheering for her.  Grandma's time in the WAVES is a huge part of my family's legend.  I know the facts and what's going to happen.  I know when she meets my Grandfather and how their lives were together.  She passes in June of 2001, months before 9/11.  9/11 would have broken her heart.  It's shocking to know how her entire life changes ten years from these letters.  This is a woman I never knew.  It's beautiful and devastating to witness her contagious hope.

They looked Thrilled

On this day in WWII history

Monday, October 11, 1943

My Grandmother's letter reflects the gloomy weather that they had in Miami in October of 1943.

"It has been raining a lot so it kind of bawls everything up for you.  When it rains down here it really rains.  It doesn't last long but it will rain a number of times during the day, and boy, does it ever come down."

My Great-Grandfather is not doing well and my Grandmother warns my Great-Grandmother to not overdo it.  (There were a great deal of grands in that sentence)  In the same paragraph though, she complains about receiving only one letter from them a week.

"It is kind of hard to get used to only one letter a week but I guess that I will just have to get  used to it.  How is Daddy now?  Is he still following the doctor's orders?  You must take care of yourself, Mother, and not get sick or overdo."

Grandma wants to come home for Christmas but it looks like other girls have already been denied leave.  So, in an effort to alleviate her disappointment, she suggests to them what she would like for Christmas.  The gifts she suggests gave me that jolt of war time.

"You know, for Xmas I would like an identification bracelet or some kind of luggage.  Just a suggestion not a hint."

The request for an identification bracelet as a gift caused my heart to race and my hands to clench.  If there is an accident, and somehow her body is found, then the authorities will be able to identify her.  It is a practical gift, but one that thankfully my Grandmother never had any use for.  I wonder if the ID bracelet was a fashion statement in the 40s or if it was a solemn reminder of the War.

Tourist season started in Miami and my Grandmother is resigned to it.

"The tourists are beginning to pour in down here now.  You would think with a war on they would stay home.  This town is plenty crowded but now it will be overflowing.  Oh, well, I like things to be moving right along and they will be."

America was unique that most of WWII, if not all, was not fought on our shores.  Let us not forget the devastating and atrocious attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, and what our Navy did for us in our oceans. However our mainland was not a victim of the Blitz, nor did the Desert Fox ever come to our shores.  Our citizens were still able to go on vacation for cripes sake!  Many are thankful for that.  America and its people were able to provide a land where refugees could escape the devastation of their home countries during and after the war.  They managed to create new lives in a country where the horrors of their old lives could not haunt them.

On this day in WWII history

Monday, September 27, 1943

World War II technology shocks me.  World War II creates the need for all of these advances, but it was so easily wonkified.  (Yes, that is a word)  My Grandmother mentions two things that are unacceptable now but were par for the course back then.

"I haven't heard from you since a week ago Friday.  What is the matter... Maybe the mail isn't getting through as well as it should."

AND

"Yesterday Beverly Bent, the girl from Boston, got a telegram that her mother was very ill so we all went into action and helped her get an emergency leave.  She got the plane out of here last night at 9:30.  She was given priority too so she should have landed in Boston this morning at 10 AM."

Flights used to take 10 and half hours to to go form Miami to Boston?  What the heck?!  Well, I'm guessing commercial airlines are going to have huge technological advancements in the 50s thanks to Lt. Joy Bright Hancock and her wonderful WAVES in the Naval Aeronautics division.  (I apologize if I got the Naval terminology completely wrong).  

Grandma talks about her Marylin in away that makes me finally relate to Marylin.

"What do you hear from Marylin?  As yet she hasn't written to me.  I suppose the poor kid is plenty busy.  Do you know whether she is going to work or just what she is planning to do?"

I can relate to Marylin in the fact that she seems not to understand what it is she is doing with her life.  I am in that stage of my life (again) where I've just recently graduated and I'm questioning my life choices.  What is my life meant to be?  What am I doing with my life?  I guess this blog is my response  those major questions.  I am taking a chance writing this blog and I'm not sure where this is leading me.  But, like so man members of my generation we are moving forward into the unknown.  Some of us not as gracefully as others, but we need to remember that we'll come out the other side.

This next paragraph made me understand just how peculiar I am sometimes.

"Saturday night I saw something very interesting.  A blimp was out over the bay demonstrating what it could do.  It would throw life preservers and provisions from the blimp to supposedly stranded people on the ocean.  It was very interesting."

So when Grandma said life preservers I thought she meant those little inner tubes that keep you afloat. Like you know "donuts."  So I thought "oh hey! donuts."  Then I thought about this giant blimp tossing donuts out to stranded survivors as forms of sustenance.  Then my brain went "Oh you know who likes donuts? Homer Simpson."  Then this picture formed of a giant Homer Simpson shaped Blimp tossing donuts to people in the water and him drooling into the sea over the donuts.  Ya, I think I'll leave you with that.

Grandma and Marylin

On this day in WWII history

Thursday, September 23, 1943

Grandma is sending some pictures home for her folks to see what her life is like in Miami.  She's not satisfied with how they turned out though.

"My other pictures will be ready today so you can expect them anyday.  They aren't as good as I had hoped but I think that I think that I am cuter than I am."

I always believe that if you think that you are cuter than you are, then that means you have great self-confidence.  Now this can go horribly wrong, but a non-flattering photo is always a wonderful reality check.  Although, I did show y'all the photo of her in her Navy whites and I believe she wears them very well.  Grandma disagrees, but I wish I looked that good in a white suit.  

"The one of me in my whites isn't very good.  My suit was wrinkled and it looks kind of ratty I think." 

My Grandmother might as well have been the social director for the Miami WAVES.  She knows every hot club in Miami and enjoys attending said clubs with friends and dates alike.

"I have been having quite a busy week.  (Monday night) We went dancing to the Royal Center.  Tuesday night I went out with an Ensign who is a friend of Marie Carey's boyfriend... We went out dancing and had a swell time.  (Last night) We went dancing out to the Sky Club and again I had a good time."

She really does love going out and being social.  Well, when the World's at war, life is uncertain.

  

Unfortunately for the Sailors on the Cruiser Memphis and the destroyer that docked in Miami, my Grandmother doesn't think life is that uncertain.

"Yesterday the cruiser Memphis and a destroyer docked in here and the streets are swarming with sailors.  They stop you on the street and beg you to go out with them.  They come over to the barracks and ask for dates... The boys are lonesome and have been to sea for a long time and want to go out dancing but I just don't like to go with them."

I'm not entirely certain why she writes this, but I do have an idea why she questions their motives.

My Grandmother's positivity and the calm demeanor in which she portrays her life in the Navy makes me forget that she is writing during World War II.  Then she writes a sentence that brings everything back to the forefront.

"Oh yes, I got the papers.  That was certainly terrible about Stan Hillman.  It seemed like there was a lot of news about a lot of the kids I know.  I am sure they will all be married or dead when I get home."

She sounds nonchalant about it, but that's the truth that millions of people were living everyday with. So, you can either deny your truth or, as my Grandmother does, accept your truth, but either way you always have to move forward.

WAVES big wigs from the 1 year anniversary parade

On this day in WWII history

Sunday, August 29, 1943

Grandma passed her Yeoman 2nd Class test!  Unfortunately, she won't be able to become 2nd Class until October because she hasn't been 3rd Class for 6 months.  The Navy would give her a waiver if her quarterly grade in proficiency rates 3.8 or higher.  She had a 3.7!  Her Commanding Officer tried to speed the process along.

"He could have railroaded me thru but I said no because 1 month isn't a long time and I'd make enemies of other girls.  He told me he was glad I had said that and he said when I try for Ensign that if I meet all the qualifications that they won't turn down his request for my commission."

I am proud that my Grandmother decided to wait rather than pull strings.  Since she covets the rank of Ensign, I think she made the correct decision.  Also, I think her Commanding Officer might have been sweet on her.

On Wednesday, August 25, Grandma and 35 other WAVES were invited to the Rod and Reel Club for Dinner.  She says it is a very exclusive club.

"Very wealthy men belong.  We were the first women in there after 6 o'clock.  Not even the men's wives can go after 6."

I wonder if clubs like that still exist?  I know Gentlemen's clubs still exist in London, but are they in Atlanta or Miami?  While at the Reel and Rod club, she met Mr. Mahoney who invited my Grandmother and fellow WAVE Beverly Bent, to go deep sea fishing on his boat next Sunday.  Mr. Mahoney's wife will bring the lunch and they just need to bring themselves.  By the way, doesn't the name Beverly Bent remind you of some 1960s superhero's love interest?

This next part of Grandma's letter frustrates the bejesus out of me!

"I also met a famous ballplayer who was the White Sox best shortstop, in fact he's known as one of the best.  I forgot his name tho."

She can remember meeting Eustace Adams, a reporter for Red Book, Cosmopolitan, and Good Housekeeping, but she cannot remember meeting Vern Stephens or Luke Appling?  I'm pretty sure it was Luke Appling because he mainly played for the White Sox whereas Vern Stephens played for several clubs.  But seriously, C'MON! To her credit, all Grandma really has to say about Eustace Adams is, "He's very interesting to talk to but he looks like a typical author."

And the number one reason that I know I am truly my Grandmother's granddaughter is this statement:

"Please pardon the pencil but I'm too lazy to fill my pen."

On this day in WWII history

Thursday, August 19, 1943

Dancing is always the time in my life where I feel that I am truly myself.  Grandma and I shared this trait because she has been out dancing every night since her last letter on Monday.

One of my favorite memories of our time together involves her love for Elvis.  I host my annual Blue Christmas Party, but my Grandmother had everyone of Elvis' records on vinyl.  We were in her living room in St. Louis, when (Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear came on.  I was about 4 years old, but my favorite thing in this moment was to dance to this song.  I made my Grandmother play it over and over again.  What really got me Grandma rolling though was my Elvis lip.  I can do a perfect impersonation of Elvis giving his "Uh Huh" gyrating lip.  I think that went on for at least 20 minutes or until my 4 year old self got tired of the attention.  I will never forget that even though it is a fleeting memory.

She goes on to talk about her Yeoman 2nd class testing, and I finally understand where she is coming from.  It's that uncertainty of what your life is going to be like.  Is she going to move upward in the Navy? Where is she going to end up?  These are very practical questions in the WWII world.  These questions are also very relevant today.  Our economy is improving but our job market is still recovering.  People are more educated, but they are still working minimum wage jobs or don't have a job at all.  I won't question her anxiety over this testing again.  My current state of mind and the uncertainty of this world mirrors the worries my Grandmother had in this letter.  I can only hope that my life leads me to a place where my future Granddaughter can perfectly demonstrate Elvis' gyrating lip for me.  I think then my life will have come full circle.

On this day in WWII history

Monday, August 16, 1943

Grandma opens this letter by requesting more correspondence from my Aunt Peg and my Great-Grandma Shannon.  She says she nearly fell out of her chair when she received a letter from her best friend Marilyn.  Mom says Marilyn was always kind of an interesting character.  She and Grandma would be getting along fine then Marilyn would hit one of her moods and wouldn't talk to Grandma for months.  So, I can see why she is shocked about the letter even though it is her best friend.

She also thanks them for finally sending her driver's license, but she says Peggy obviously can keep the other dollar as her tip.  They also sent her letters of recommendation for the Yeoman 2nd Class test.  She must have a plan in place now because she sounds resolute about the situation.  It looks like she is going to take her test on August 24, 1943.  So cross your fingers again and we'll see what the Doctor can do about getting those well wishes to her in 1943.

Grandma Robinson gives us another taste of the nightlife in 1943.  She talks about the Coral Gables Country Club.  "The club is a beautiful place with the dance floor in the open and you dance under the stars and the beautiful Miami moon."  I can see her swirling around the dance floor in her Navy blues on the dimly lit dance floor.  Enjoying a drink, the live orchestra, and a few laughs.  Listening to the brass hum to her across the dance floor.  She really did love to go out and dance.  She found herself back at the Clover Club with a fellow WAVE and two Army Lieutenants.  She didn't sound very impressed, because she wrote more about when she got back than when she was out.  Yet another WAVE went out and got some hotdogs and sodas, and they had a picnic in Grandma and Marvel's room.  Sorry, the other WAVE bought pop.  Grandma drinks an onomatopoeia.

Grandma Robinson was going to close the letter, but then a Navy cruiser from the south Atlantic or the Pacific docks in the harbor.  The WAVES get to tour the cruiser, but she's anxious about the trip because, "When you go onboard you have to salute the Ensign (flag) and then turn and salute the Commanding Officer.  More than likely I will fall flat on my face or something."  She is so nervous about maintaining Navy protocol that it's comical.  She had another slip up with a WAVE officer, but the officer just laughed.  I still have my moments like that, but I finally realized that everybody else is way too busy worrying about themselves.  Her concern about her Naval reputation is commendable however because it shows how important this is to her.  The WAVES changed her entire life.

On this day in WWII history

Special thanks to http://www.historicalflorida.com/ for this one!