23 June 1952

"Oh babe, how I would like to be with you....Wednesday is, yes, you said it, my birthday....You still love me even if I am 100 years old, won't you dear. Like you say, we will do it till we are seventy....I think with your help I will be able to no matter how old I am."

Ruth and Buss--1974.

 

 

21 June 1952
"Most of the crew are on a picnic today. I can't see going on one of them. Most of the time when they come back they have black eyes and sore heads. So you can imagine what they go through when they are on a so called "picnic".

Buss and Ruth circa 1952

20 June 1952

"Gee, just think, maybe next Feb. or March we might have an increase in the family. Wouldn't that be gorgeous....I sure do hope that you can carry the baby all the way through....I think that the time waiting will be worth every bit of it....I hope that I get some more mail from the "best little wife in the world" tomorrow. I must go to General Quarters again."

 

19 June 1952

"...you wanted to know if I wanted a cake for my birthday. Well, Dear, as much as I know that you would like to send it to me, I believe that I will enjoy it much better when I get home."

 

16 June 1952

"Ruth I seen another movie tonite. It was "David and Bathsheba". I sort of liked it. The only reason I go is to pass away the time faster....Just think 29 more days and I will be in your arms."

15 June 1952

"My teeth have been giving me a little trouble lately....Doc Ellis is still aboard so maybe I can get fixed up rather quickly....I wish I had teeth like yours. You don't realize how lucky you are to have good teeth. I don't realize how lucky I am to have a good little wife like I have either. I know that I am going to appreciate you more when I get home this time than I ever did before."

"Tub, Pop, Buss, Mom, Ike Gerdes circa 1955

 

14 June 1952

"Now that is very top secret, so don't breathe a word of it to anyone. I know that I can depend on you....Boy there was one day this week that I was really in the dumps. I told Mr. Reeder to get somebody else to do this work. I was fed up with it....He even asked the Chief, "What is wrong with Gerdes, he is not himself today."

 

12 June 1952

"Gee, that was almost 6 years ago. And still we don't have any children. What's wrong with us, anyway. Only kidding my dear. We will show the public what we can do as soon as I get home. Wouldn't that be nice to have you pregnant while I am away. Then about the time I get home you will be giving me a "Daughter". Well I can dream, can't I."

13 June 1952

"I know that you will enjoy life so much more if you can hear the patter of little feet about the house. I don't mean chickens running around either."

 

Big Guns

9 June 1952

"Today is Monday and we fired the big guns today. We fired at a target that another small ship was towing. I don't think that we hit anything. But it gives the boys something to shoot at, more practice is what they need."

USS Quincy circa 1948

8 June 1952
"You asked me what dress you should wear when you come down to the dock to meet us. Well I don't care which one you wear just so your in it. Like you say, I won't look at the dress anyway....To tell you the truth, I like you in anything, why don't you come on down to the dock in the....Boy that would sure draw a crowd, wouldn't it?"

 

Alligator handbag and shoes

7 June 1952

"Say Honey, we are going to get some alligator shoes for women aboard about Monday....If you want me to get you a pair of shoes and a matching handbag of alligator skin, just send me your size and I will see what I can do."

Vintage alligator handbag and shoes

 

 

6 June 1952
"I have been sleeping up here in the office lately. I just put my mattress on the desk and Bennett puts his on the deck...I have a good fan that I have turned on me during the nite and that way I sleep fairly well."

 

5 June 1952

"I wish that I had my twenty in so that I could be home with you and the family every nite....I think of you and what your doing a thousand times a day....Actually Ruth I feel sorry for you. Cause I know that if you had married someone else, you would have had your husband home every nite."

 

3 June 1952
"Ruth dear, are you still satisfied to live in a house trailer? I know it is not the best but I am so glad that we do have a roof over our heads....some girls are so different than you, they want an apartment and everything but you are trying to be the best little wife that a person could ask for."

Buss and Ruth's 'house trailer'

 

1 June 1952 (After the movies)

"Well Ruth dear, I just came back from the movies. They were showing "Fancy Pants" with Bob Hope."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUVdvUE4ewY

1 June 1952

"I did not go over here in Panama. I stood by for Bennett. I had seen some of the things that happen over on the beach before. I'll go over in Norfolk where I will enjoy myself. The women actually ask you to ???? them over here. I never in my life have seen anything like it."

Note: This is another first-hand account of the incident during the ships course thorough the Panama Canal: 
I was talking to Burt Olson on the phone the other day and he reminded me of an incident that happened on our reporting of the ship from Bremerton to Norfolk. We were in the Panama Canal when either a gust of wind or an error in ship handling caused the ship to hit the side of the lock and tear the screw guard off the side of the ship. The hole in the side happened to be in one of my storerooms. I was the Storekeeper called “The Jack of the Dust.” I took care of all dry stores. The word was passed for me to lay down to this particular storeroom, but I was so far up in the 01 decks rubbernecking, that I never heard the announcement. A shipmate saw me and told me that they had been passing the word for me. I hightailed down to the storeroom just in time to see them cut the lock off the hatch. We went in and started tearing off the insulation to find the damage. We found that we had ripped a hole through to the outside. We were so covered with fiberglass that I itched like the devil . The hole had to be patched before we got out of the Canal and into the Atlantic, so we put men over the side to weld a patch over the hole. The patch held while we were in Guantanamo and Haiti and when we got to Norfolk we went into dry-dock for a more permanent repair.               

Jim Smith SKG3, 1952

Submitted by Burt Olson

My Darling Wife:

29 May 1952

"I hope to have you pregnant as soon as I possibly can after I get home....that will give us enough time to try for a daughter twice."

 

30 May 1952

"You know the perfume that you mentioned in your letter that you wrote me. Well I am getting that tomorrow from one of the salesmen that came aboard today. I don't think that I will have to pay for it as I was in on the deal with Mr. Reeder....that Jean Patou "Joy"."

 

My Darling Wife:

"Have you been thinking about a name for our little girl as yet? You know it's proper to name your children when they are born. I mean it's sorta foolish to have children and not name them. How about "Henrietta"???????? Oh, I can just hear you say now, "I'll never name my children that name.""

Note: Ruth's middle name was Henrietta.
 

24 May 1952

"Well Ruth dear, it won't be too long till we have been married almost 6 years. Time sure does fly by doesn't it. Remember the first nite....We have had a lot of good times together since that time haven't we?"

 

22 May 1952

"Thanks for the wonderful letters that you have been writing to me in the last month. I got the one yesterday with the "Kiss" in it....I put it under the glass on my desk. That way everybody can see it..."

 

May 21 1952

21 May 1952
"Well Babe, I guess that I have to be first class for another year. Yes, the list came out and I was not on it....I was over in town the other nite and seen the list in a uniform shop and I looked for my name but found nothing....Honestly Ruth, I did my very best."