Dinner Key Base
Feb. 1, 1944
Chris to Mother
First letter about dating Lt. Woody Faust


Dinner Key Base
February 1, 1944
Tuesday noon
Dear Mother-
I wish it were possible for you and Daddy to be down here. If he 
had come earlier in the year I'm sure he could have found a job in
his line. Right now Miami is so crowded that I hesitate to suggest such
a move. You'd enjoy being here. Something is always happening. No-
body bothers about clothes, and you can always count on seeing
somone who looks three times worse than you do. I know you must
get awfully lonely in Pittsboro.
As I've told you before the Naval Air Transport operates from this
base. Bachelor Officer's quarters are near the terminal. Consequently, I 
have the opportunity of meeting all the flight officers. They're
stationed here but fly to the Canal Zone, San Juan, and Cuba.
Most of these boys are unusual in every way - intelligent, good-
looking, and friendly. For a while I went around with several
different officers but have settled on one. You'd approve of him
whole-heartedly. My age; 6 feet fall; good looking; never drinks
and has beautiful manners. He's a full lieutenant in the navy
and is considered the most dependable pilot in his squadron.
He is Lt. "Woody" Faust from Pennsylvania- dutch and Irish.
Already he has saved enough money to buy a home and expects
to give up flying and take over his Dad's business after the
war. His Dad owns the Ford Agency in a town of about 20,000
People. I'm telling you all this because he has already said
that I'm going to marry him. That awaits to be seen. Anyway, you
wouldn't believe me if I told you how I felt so I'll just wait 
until later on.
As for Phil- I gave up that idea up long ago. Just didn't
tell you about it as I thought you might misunderstand. Before
he sailed he wrote me a letter saying that he wished to waive
all obligations - that he'd be too busy fighting a war to worry about 
me or any other woman. The only reason I've continued to write
him is because he asked me to and I hated to think of no
girl writing him when he was so far from home. The last letter
he wrote gave the suggestion for me to find some nice fellow and
marry him - as he'd be a long time getting home. So if he feels
badly later on, it will be nobody's fault but his own. I 
don't suppose he cares one way or the other.
One of the girls in our department is sick. That means
I'll be here ten or twelve hours today. I'm a little upset as
I had planned to go out for dinner with "Woody" and then go
to a show. As soon as I get a chance I'll take a picture
of him and send it to you. You know that I wouldn't pick 
an ugly friend boy.


Did I write you that I'm a volunteer Blood Donner to the 
Blood Bank here? Two weeks ago I gave a half pint of 
blood and will be able to donate in another six
weeks. It made me a little dizzy, but other than that
it didn't bother we much. The nurse examines your 
blood before hand to determine whether you're physically
able to give. Since I don't have any money to buy 
bonds I thought this would be better than nothing.
Friday night, Betty and I asked "Woody" and Frank
Rogers to dinner. Bernice cooked the fried chicken
(we had two) which tasted almost as good as if you'd
done it. We had potato salad, vegetables, and celery.
They certianly enjoyed it. It won't be long until
Frank leaves (he's the Captain from South Carolina) and
Betty is pretty unhappy about it. Ordinarily, she
doesn't seem interested in men but Frank is such
a good-looking boy and such a wonderful person
that Betty had become very fond of him. He's 
been at the house practically every day for a 
month. Long ago, he would have been gone if his
orders had not been lost. Now he's just sitting
here waiting in suspense. Betty came in crying the
other night, saying she wished he'd hurry up and
leave so she could forget about him.
You probably noticed that the letter which was
forwarded from here was from Lt. Wade Horn,
stationed at Fort Meade. I used to go with him
when he was at State, and I was at M.S.C.W-
hadn't heard from him since the year I
taught at Rose Hill. Wouldn't it have been nice
if he had looked Sonny Boy up? Wade wanted to
know if I were married yet -- it was one 
of the nicest letters I've ever had and it made 
me happy to know that he'd remembered me all 
these years. I also had a long letter from Frank  
Broadhurst. He's an officer in the Navy and
is aboard a destroyer in the Southwest Pacific.
Had a long letter from Eric yesterday --
it keeps me busy trying to write occasional letters
to the people I don't want to lose contact with.
Shirley writes me real often and expects and answer
right away - then there are a dozen or two others.
Don Cunningham, Naval Aide to the Govenor
of the V.I, came in yesterday from Saint Thomas.


He always heads for our place the minute he gets 
off a plane. With him were a Marine officer
and another Naval officer. They dashed in the 
door - told us all to get ready. We rushed 
to the Venetian Inn for dinner and rushed back 
home - in a little while they had to catch other 
plan for Washington. 
Don is a prominent lawyer in New York City 
and is engaged to a girl there. He seems to be 
fond of all of us and insisted last night on writing
his house address in case we came to New York 
after the war.
Will you give me Sonny Boy's last address just 
as you have it? I looked for it lately but must 
have misplaced it. Most of our friends seem to think 
that he would have been sent to England. Try 
not to worry about him too much.
For some reason I don't feel very well today - 
ache all over as if I'm taking a cold. I'm glad
Daddy took a rest. It will soon be getting 
warmer and he won't have to bother so 
much about exposure. Wish I had a lot 
of money and neither one of you ever had 
to hit another lick.
I love you both,
Chris