Ada Goodnight, thanks to an old boyfriend who had been a crop duster, knew how to fly a plane and went to Texas to join up with the newly formed group of women fliers known as the WASPs. Female pilots were desperately needed to ferry planes and supplies around the United States and free up the men for combat duty.
Letters were so important. After a long wait, one mother in town danced with joy when she received a one-word message from her son, who had been in the Battle of Midway. The word was “Okay.”
The next day, Hazel Goodnight was happy to get a letter from her daughter Ada.
SWEETWATER, TEXAS
Dear Mother,
Sorry to be so long in writing. We’ve been in flight training 24 hours a day, it seems. Did you know that Texas was HOT? I am nearly burning up here…but have met a swell bunch of gals. My roommate is a real corker from Wisconsin, named Fritzi Jurdabralinski. She is the best flier here. Me second, I think. Will let you know after the next test flight. Send all my love to Bess and Irene. Please write news of home.
Love,
Ada
ELMWOOD SPRINGS, MISSOURI
Dearest Daughter,
The biggest news from home is we continue to miss you. We are doing everything we can here. You would be proud of your sister Irene. She is working part-time at the dairy, and your sister Bess is doing fine over at the Western Union office.
Mr. Ericksen fell off his bike and broke his leg, so Macky Warren is now delivering telegrams. Elner Shimfissle brought us two dozen eggs and asked about you, as does everybody. Oh, and I almost forgot, last week, I caught that rotten Lester Shingle in the bushes outside Irene’s window again. Chased him, but he got away, dammit.
Love from,
Mother
1943
The boys didn’t know exactly where they were going, but they all had a general idea. It was their last three weeks in San Francisco, and the town was swarming with servicemen like them, looking for dates. The USO dances were so crowded that there were about ten soldiers to every one girl, so Gene had more or less given up.
That afternoon, he was just hanging around with his friend Beamis outside a big department store in Union Square. Lucky Beamis had a date that night with a girl who worked there, and he was waiting for her to get off.
As they were standing there shooting the breeze, someone came out of the revolving glass door, and Gene caught a quick glimpse of the girl behind the perfume counter. “See you later, Beamis,” he said, as he went in to buy a bottle of perfume for his mother.
In the next few weeks first his mother, then his aunt Ida and aunt Elner, and even his little cousin, Norma, each received a beautifully wrapped bottle of perfume from the I. Magnin department store in San Francisco. It took a while, but he finally got a date. Her name was Marion.
For their first date, he wanted to impress her, so he took her for dinner and dancing at the Top of the Mark, the glamorous supper club in the sky overlooking the city. He had on his dress blue uniform, and she wore a lavender dress and had a white gardenia in her hair. Anyone who saw the couple that night sitting at the small round table by the window could see that the boy was in love.
Dear Folks, By the time you get this, I will have shipped out. I am sorry there was not time for you to get here for the wedding. It was just a quick courthouse affair. But don’t worry, when I get back, we will come home and do it up right. I can’t wait for you to meet Marion. You won’t believe how beautiful she is. Also, sorry I haven’t written sooner, but these last two weeks I have been busy dealing with stuff, making sure Marion gets my allotments from the government, etc. Gosh, life sure changes when you are a married man. I’m so happy I don’t think I’ll ever climb off this pink cloud.
Love from your lovesick son
P.S. Tell Aunt Elner thanks for the preserves.
In late 1943, the war was heating up, and Bess Goodnight relieved a man who had been drafted and she was now running the Western Union office.
The army needed all the men it could get. Even thirty-two-year-old Snooky Pickens, the movie projectionist who was terribly nearsighted, was drafted and ordered to report to training camp in two weeks. He quickly trained James Whooten to take over his job at the theater, but it was always hit or miss. With James working the projector, sometimes the picture was on the screen, and sometimes it was on the side wall.
That summer, the weekend dances at the lake were canceled. There was nobody left to dance with, except Lester Shingle and a few old men.
At around ten A.M., the names of the boys from Missouri who had been killed in action were posted on the Western Union office front window. Bud Eggstrom, who had served in World War I, had a son who was somewhere in the Pacific, but he didn’t know where. Every day, he would get up and walk downtown to look at the list, along with all the families whose sons were serving. And every day, they all held their breath. Every day that Billy Eggstrom’s name did not appear on the dead or missing-in-action list, Bud would stop by the church and say thank you.
By 1944, Hollywood had gone to war full-time. Even cartoon characters Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck were reminding people not to waste precious gasoline, so needed for the war effort. Film stars such as Jimmy Stewart and Henry Fonda had entered the service, and others were kept busy entertaining the troops. Suddenly, big Hollywood stars were crisscrossing the country, selling war bonds.
In May 1944, movie star and Missouri native Ginger Rogers went on a tour of the Midwest selling war bonds, and when they found out that she would be stopping in Elmwood Springs, the whole town went crazy. Mr. Warren and a few of the other men helped set up a platform in front of the theater for the occasion.
On the day Miss Rogers was to appear, everybody within miles around was there and crowded the street, so excited they could hardly stand it.
At around three o’clock, she arrived looking exactly like herself, only better. People screamed and cheered as the high school band played “Hooray for Hollywood.” Mayor Ted Nordstrom proudly presented her with a key to the city. Immediately after the presentation, the Tappettes dance troupe, under the leadership of Dixie Cahill, came running out of the theater and up onto the stage to perform a special dance number in her honor to the tune of “Isn’t It a Lovely Day.”
Thirteen-year-old Tappette Norma Jenkins had been nervous to begin with, and Ginger Rogers was her very favorite movie star in the entire world. So when she looked up and saw her in person for the first time, she fainted halfway through the number. A distraught Dixie Cahill had to run out and drag her off to the side. As Norma’s aunt Elner said later, “Being in such close proximity to greatness had just been too much for her.”
1945
Dear Mom and Dad, I’m sure Marion wrote to you about the baby. You are now the grandparents of an 8-pound, 7-ounce, 22-inch-long baby girl. Her name is Dena Katrina Nordstrom. Can you believe I am a father? Have you gotten her photo yet? What a beauty. I am convinced that she will be Miss America 1965. All the more reason to get this rotten mess over with soon. All the married guys with kids feel the same way, and it makes us fight even harder.
Gene