3 July 1945

In this letter, it appears that Margaret has scolded Jim for not writing often enough. She seems upset that she didn't have a letter waiting for her in Miami. Jim has to explain how he's mailing them without going through the censors. Jim also has some wise advice about not waiting to wait for things in life and to live as not "to lose a moment of happiness."

Post marked | 5 July 1945 1:00am from Boston, Massachusetts

SERIAL NO. 4

Tuesday night 11 p.m.

In port.

Hello Sweetheart..

I received my first letter from you today, which was written just before you left for Miami. Guess you were excited, weren't you? I suppose your Mother and step-pappy will be honeymooning by now. So he thinks he's going to get a daughter? Maybe I'll have her before long. How about that? Now that I have been here exactly a week since coming from leave, I wish I had brought you up with me. In fact, the night I got home, I went on liberty, came back and wrote you a letter telling you to catch a plane up the next day however, I reconsidered when I figured you had planned on going to Florida and didn't want to spoil your plans, so I didn't mail the letter. I figured that when I do have you come up, I will want to be with you longer than a week, and then too, during this week I have been all alone in the office and it has been one busy place. Would be much better to wait until we get in for a 20 day period and then try and get some leave to spend in Boston with you.

Today, I've really been stepping from the time I got up at 730 this morning until just now. I have written down the work I have to do tomorrow, and it covers a whole page. Tomorrow, however, I have one of my men back from leave and he can do a lot of this work for me. The other one will be back Friday. Tomorrow is the Fourth and we get early liberty starting at 1 p.m., but even though I have liberty, I will most likely be sitting right here in this hot office sweating away. I don't know why I work so hard. I don't have to try to impress the Captain with my energy, and I can't make chief yeoman for some time, so there's really no use unless it's the fact that I just don't know how to loaf on a job. Somebody has to do it, and things got rather fouled up while I was gone and I had to get caught up, so there I went.

What do you mean I'll have to make up for all the time I can't be with you? I can be sweet to you all the time, starting whenever I'm with you even could have started in Birmingham, but things have to wait, so--I'll say it too.. you'll have to be sweet to me for standing me off. I'm funny. I am a sailor. Long times away wasting precious months and years of my life fighting a war and waiting for it to end--waiting and more waiting. When I find things in life that I want, I dont want to wait. I get tired of having to wait for everything in life. That's why you thought I was trying to rush things. I hate to lose a moment of happiness. You only live once and you're a long time dead. Why postpone most of life hoping there will be something just a bit better around the corner or thinking that next month or next year will be better than the present? Life is a gamble, and in gambling, you can't expect to win unless you lay a wager and stand to lose it. You can sit next to a game all night and never win a cent unless you risk your money. Perhaps my i deas of life are quaint. I suppose the old man

SERIAL NO. 4/page 2

has lived quite a lot for his few years of age. At least I think I have learned the secret of living and most people live and die and never do. t he. old saying is 'some people live and learn, some people never live' really holds true in most cases.

That's enough of that honey. I could go on and on and probably never convince you that I knew what I was talking about. To convince thoroughly, you have to be with someone. I don't do a very good selling job by way of letters. Can do more better by person, huh? I know you were disappointed when you didn't find a letter waiting for you at the hotel, but it's hard to get them ashore. I write tonight, and it's noon tomorrow before the mail clerk gets to the post office. If I don't get it censored, he has to drop it in a street mailbox and it may be late afternoon before it gets in the postoffice. If I get busy and miss a day or so, then it really is a long time between letters. I hope you understand that it is not because I dont think of you. I do . This is the third letter I've mailed to the hotel. I have numbered my letters to you just in case you dont get all of them, you will know. If you miss any of them let me know. We aren't supposed to mail letters ashore and when we do, I have to put on a phoney address and then too, I have to be sure that the dead-letter office wont get them for if they did and saw the ship's name on the inside, they would turn it over to the Naval Intelligence and I'd be in a jam, so I put your address on the back at the Bgham News. In case it doesn't reach you at the hotel, it can be returned to you at the news. Can't miss that way. I don't know how the letter you got was postmarked Washington, but if I'm not mistaken, l gave it to a guy to mail for me and he was going on leave and probably forgot to mail it until he got into Washington. Hope it wasn't delayed by that. Anything is liable when you have to depend on others to do for you.

l haven't had a shower in 3 days as the hot water has been off, so I must stop now and get one. It's 10 minutes to midnight. Goodnight sweetheart, and please write often. I love you.

Jim