Well apparently it's very hot - or hot as hell - in the southern waters in August. Jim's been gambling in the Chief's quarters and won $8 (a days wages). Jim gets the nickname "Lucky" Walton on the ship but only when he plays big games and wins a few hundred dollars. I didn't know my grandfather was so good at poker! They watched a movie called "Barbary Coast Gent" on board and he said it was just alright. One of the movie quotes is about keeping the home fires burning. Jim references this in the letter when he writes "Sleep tight, keep the home fires burning and be careful who you let up close to the fireplace." I wonder if Margaret understood and if she had seen the movie.
Monday, 16 July, 1945
At sea...hot as hell.
Angel, my love..
How's the little shimpt today? Baby, today has been a scorcher. This has been one day that I stayed out of the sun entirely expect for a couple of hours this afternoon during Battle Stations, then only my face caught the sun. It's steaming tonight. Just got through with a session of poker in the Chief's quarters. Won about $8. Just a days wages, but a little here and a little there will buy plenty of pants for baby some day. Will come in nice, for I borrowed fifty bucks in Boston from a shipmate rather than wire home for it, and I'll win enough this patrol to pay him back. They call me "Lucky" Walton, but that's usually when we have a big game going and I win two or three hundred. I don't particularly care for gambling, but a guy has to do something to kill time out here, and that's why I do it. The money comes in handy however.
Last night after writing you, I went to the movie aboard. Saw Wallace Beery in "Barbary Cost Gent". Not too bad. Amusing. Most of the pictures we get are old and "stinkers". We seldom are able to sit through them. Just get up and leave. Nothing much happened today. The "old man" was up a 4 a.m. shooting at a shark about 15 feet long, but I dont think he hit him. I've practically given up trying to catch one on a hook. This one nosed at the bait on about 6 hooks we had over the side and went swimming gaily along. Brazen shark, no less.
Well, the month is half whipped, and in about 15 more days we head north. I hope we get out of these southern waters during August and September. They have some hellacious hurricanes in these parts and baby, I've had my share of those things. They toss a ship about like a cork and they bounce you around like a man in a barrel going over Niagari Falls. Gee, I'd give my reserved seat in hell just to be down in Birmingham tonight. I'd be so happy I'd have to walk sideways to keep from running. Have my work caught up on board and am taking it easy. I figure it will be best to just sit tight until April, next year, and then get that shore job in Boston or nearby. How'd you like to spend the spring and summer in New England? It doesn't get so hot up there. Maybe could get stationed in Maine, however, it might be cold as a well-diggers behind up there in the wintertime. We'll see. Sweet, this is a poor attempt to write you, but I hope you don't get bored with my rambling around and I don't make any effort to make the proper paragraphs on different subjects either. Just jump around like an old maid with a flea up her girdle. Ignorant, huh?
I'll sign off for now and tie a stopper on this line, secure for tonight and break out a brand-new set of scuttlebutt tomorrow night if possible. Sleep tight, keep the home fires burning and be careful who you let up close to the fireplace. Love and kisses.
Honest Plush Brannon is a con-man thrown out of the Barbary Coast in San Francisco in the 1880s and headed for the gold rush region of Nevada. He discovers a real mine which lead to several complications.Also from IMDB, "at the very end of the film, after the cast is listed, the following message is displayed 'Pictures exhibited in this theater are given to the armed forces for showing in combat areas around the world'."
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