John and Adele said 'I DO'

       A few days ago I received a text message from Ellie, one of many nieces of mine, telling me that she had gone through all my blog entries looking for a picture of my parents wedding.  She wanted to show the photo to her husband as they prepared for her brothers wedding. (Ellie, you are correct I never wrote about their wedding.) 

     Adele Hugus and John B. Armstrong  had been students at North High School in Columbus, Ohio in the 1930s.  They had met because Adele's best friend was John's sister, Dorothy.  Sometime in early 1939, Adele told John she was moving to California.  She had been to California to visit cousins and loved the beach and hated the winters of Ohio.  She claimed it was the Ohio winters. But maybe she wanted John to make a decision about marriage.  In either case, when John finished his Master Degree in Chemistry  he hightailed it for California.  The were soon planning a wedding.

On December 16, 1939. they were married in The Wee Kirk o' the Heather, Glendale, California

Information about Wee Kirk - scroll 60% down or. use link on side

 
Video of Wee Kirk

Historical Photos  (9 of the 24 photos were taken around the time of John's and Adele's Wedding.

Color Photos on this page were taken by Jayme and David Armstrong in 2010

John and Adele Armstrong

Viva  Pickett Hugus, Beverly Briney, 
Adele Hugus, John Armstrong,  
Hugh McNeil, Dorothy Armstrong

Letters From The Front - Part II

     The second letter in the collection from Lt. John B. Armstrong to his sister Dorothy Armstrong Naylor is dated Sept 7, 1943. By this time the third division had fought their way across Sicily and was preparing to invade Salerno.  The invasion occurred two days later.  
     My father had not seen his family for over a year.  His second child and oldest son, John, had been born the previous November.  He would not see them for another year. He knew that Dorothy was expecting her first child.  Her son, Charles, was born a week after this letter was written although Charles was probably born before this letter arrived.
     He mentions that his brother, Jim, is in love.  Jim and Marie were married on Oct 24, 1943, about six weeks later.  This meant that he missed the wedding of both of his younger siblings while he was overseas.
     The return address shows that he was at headquarters.  For a period of time he had been transferred to headquarters because he had a gift for military tactics.  He was there when his company was ambushed in a field laced with mines.  His captain and a large number of his fellow soldiers were killed.  He was spared because of the time he had spent at headquarters.  

     Below is an image of the letter followed by a transcription.

7 Sep 1943

Dear Dorothy & Everett,

     Hope everyone is fine.  I suppose by now your baby is here or will be by the time you get this.  I will be waiting to hear about it.

     I hear Adele, the children, Jim & Marie were all up to see you.  I guess Jim is pretty much in love.  I haven't heard from him for some time now.

     How did you like my family by now?  I guess they've really grown.  Its been over a year now since I was home.  I hope it won't be that much more.  Things are looking good now.

     Be sure to write to me & tell me the news.  I'll be waiting for it. 

                                                                         John

Letters From The Front - Part I

     Every once in a while I read where people discover old wartime letters.  These letters can provide insight into the lives and thoughts of soldiers and their families.  There are a few projects whose purpose is to save wartime letters. See The Center for American War Letters (CAWL)  &  The Legacy Project.
     My parents saved letters that they had written during World War II, however these letters somehow got destroyed when my mother passed away.  I was extremely upset to learn of the fate of the letters. 

     So last week was I surprised when I received an email from Rick Platt, opened the attachment, and found images of three letters written by my father to his sister Dorothy.  (Dorothy is Rick’s grandmother.)  A huge amount of gratitude goes out to Rick for sharing the letters with me.

Below is an image of the first letter followed by a transcription and some notes about context.

23 May 1943

Dear Dorothy,
     Sorry I haven’t written more but I figure you and Everett are getting to read my mail home & I don’t write many letters.  There is not too much to write about.  
     How do you like the picture of Diane by now?  I sure wish I was home with them.
     Some day I’ll be able to tell you what all we’ve been doing here in Africa but for now I have to keep quiet. The place reminds me of Calif. but not enough to make me feel at home.  We might (?) be going elsewhere soon.  We’ll get to see a lot of the world I guess before we get home.  Everything you see though makes you want to see the U.S.A. again ( ?).         Love, John

Notes:  My father, Lt. John B. Armstrong, had departed from Norfolk, Virginia with the 3rd Division on Oct 24, 1942.   Dorothy Armstrong married Everett Naylor two days later.  John had left his wife and young daughter in Southern California, while Dorothy and their parents were in Ohio.  In early November the 3rd Division took part in the invasion at Casablanca.   Earlier blog on this topic.

    By the time he wrote this first letter on May 23, 1943, his unit had moved east and was in the region around present day Skikda, Algeria (along the coast, just west of the border with Tunisia).

     He couldn't tell where they were going next, if he knew, for security reasons.  We know now that they were preparing to invade Sicily in early July.  

     My father referred to a picture of Diane who was about 2½ years old at the time. This picture of Diane may be the picture he referenced.