Welcome to the World, Baby Girl!

Letters Home

San Francisco, California

June 1943

Dear Folks,

I am wishing you were here to see this place. Everything is up and down hills, and they have tons of red streetcars and real Chinese people. It is so funny to see them for the first time, they really do look like their pictures. I am sort of confused about what the difference is between Chinese and Japanese. Never thought I would see either one in person, although I hope when I do meet the Japs in person I can make you proud. We have several guys here from Missouri and some from Kansas. One I had met at a Boy Scout Jamboree once so it is like old home week here. They finally gave me a uniform that fits. They are not used to the corn-fed type, I guess. A couple of the fellows are going to take pictures to send to their folks and I will get one and send it to you. I am sending you some postcard pictures of the Golden Gate and Chinatown. The ocean here is the biggest lake I have ever seen. Ha-ha. We went to a nightclub on top of a hotel and oh boy what a view and I mean the girls here as well, very, very pretty but hard to meet. Too many of us swarming around, I guess. We saw Red Skelton and Esther Williams in person … very, very pretty … her, not him. All the guys in my outfit seem to be good guys except for my sergeant, but as he said to us he doesn’t like us one little bit either so it evens out, but I suspect he really is a pretty good old guy, though, and I wouldn’t mind having him with me when we do get into it for real.

I miss you and will write soon.

Your loving son,

P.F.C. Eugene Nordstrom

San Francisco, California

1943

Dear Folks,

Well, get ready for some big news. Mom, go sit down. Dad, get some smelling salts ready. Here is the big news. I have met the one!!! And I don’t mean maybe and am I in a tailspin. Boy hidy, are my spirits riding high. Have you recovered yet? I am sure you are wanting details so here is the skinny. Bemis, a buddy of mine, had a date with a girl named Faye and I tagged along to pick her up after work. She works at this big ritzy department store here. Bemis and I were standing outside waiting, having a few smokes, when I looked in the window and saw HER. WOW! She was standing behind the perfume counter and I was almost knocked off my rocker. What a beauty. Faye came out and when I asked her who that knockout was she said her name was Marion and that she was not married and did not have a steady, as far as she knew. Faye asked her if she would join us for a drink or something but she said no. Believe me, Mom, this was not a pickup. It took me three weeks just to get a date. This was ten for sure. All the guys are razzing me … saying old wheat check is in love. She gave me a picture of her and all I do all night at the barracks is moon over her picture. All the guys are jealous, you bet. Mom say a prayer for me and keep your fingers crossed. Boy, am I lucky. I am the first soldier she has gone out with and with so many wolves in uniform roaming around this town, I wonder what she saw in me?

Your loving son,

P.F.C. Eugene Nordstrom

P.S. Mom, you will be getting some perfume in the mail from me but SHE picked it out.

San Francisco, California

1943

Dear Folks,

It is 2 am here in the Barracks and I am writing from the big pink cloud I am riding on. I am one happy boy. I know you may think this is fast, but I am no hayseed about this. She is the real goods, the whole shebang, the best there is, THE ONE for me, I know for sure, but here’s the deal. We don’t know when we are being shipped out and I am having to work fast and I need all the help I can get. She says she needs to know more about me and where I came from and all that. I have told her about the two of you and I know she will love you, you two are my ace in the hole. I have told her all about Elmwood Springs and Missouri and how great it is and how much she will love it, but, here’s where I need the help. Mom, I can’t blow my own horn without sounding like a braggart and I knew she would not like that. She has very high standards, so, Mom, if you could help me out I sure would appreciate it, the United States Army would appreciate it because I am not sure what kind of soldier I will make if I don’t get her. I am sending you her address. Could you write her and say how happy you and Dad are that I have met her and that I have told you what a nice girl she is and how I never before had a girl that I loved like I do her and that I am a real nice person, from a real nice family and not just some wolf. Maybe you could mention how popular I was in high school and that I was captain of the basketball team and have my letters in baseball, football, and basketball—I think it might be funny if you sent her my report card, you could pretend it was a joke, but she is very smart and I think it might make a difference. Send the one from when I was a junior and made three A’s. Also any cute pictures of me when I was little. NOT THE BATHTUB ONE!!! You might want to say how proud you were when I became an Eagle Scout—no, scratch that—that’s too corny. She is a very sophisticated person and I don’t think that would impress her, and say that you are looking forward to meeting her. She does not have a family and I think this will mean a lot. I really need your help.

Regards, your loving son,

P.F.C. Eugene Nordstrom

P.S. Mom, would it be too much trouble to send her some of your cookies. Also tell her you liked the perfume a lot. She has elegant taste, don’t you think? One more thing, send a picture of you—any picture will do—so she can see what a beautiful mother I have. Please send this as fast as possible to

Miss Marion Chapman

c/o 1436 Grove Street

San Francisco, California