PART III: I DO
June-August 1940
“Stardust” by Tommy Dorsey & The Pied Pipers with Frank Sinatra:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R81yulORVAM
After Cy’s letter of June 10th, there is no correspondence until December, but that was because Cy and Marty were finally together and no longer needed to communicate by letter. Between June 10 and June 14th, Marty managed to get to Detroit and pick up the new Plymouth Deluxe 2-door sedan and she drove it back to Oak Park. Then she packed and set out on the long drive down to Shreveport, Louisiana. By the 14th, Marty and Cy were posing for pictures with their “new baby”.
At this same time, the U.S. government begins shipping military supplies to Great Britain and passes funding legislation for a massive overhaul and modernization program for the U.S. Navy. In Europe, the German army has taken Paris and Hitler is strolling past the Eiffel Tower, surveying his latest conquest.
Against this ominous backdrop, Cy and Marty forge ahead with their plans to marry in the short window of time allowed by army regulations. On June 22nd, with their good friends Tom and Meg Gerrity, they pack into the car and drive the 200 miles from Shreveport to Baton Rouge where they meet up with Cy’s sister Emma (a/k/a “Jack”), who is a nurse with the red cross. Cy and Marty are married in the Presbyterian Church and finally the long wait is over.
They know that Cy will have to continue his training and that they will probably have to move frequently, which is part and parcel of army life. They’ve had to borrow a fair amount of money to pay for the car and expenses to get settled, but their happiness and fearless idealism is plain to see on their faces.
I did not find any evidence that they really had a honeymoon after the wedding, but on June 23rd they moved into their first apartment in Shreveport.
In July, Cy made local news when he had to share his plane with a friendly mouse.
Within two days, France has formally surrendered to Germany leaving Great Britain and the Soviet Union as last serious opponents to the Nazi juggernaut.
On July 7, 1940, Richard Starkey is born in Liverpool, England. Later he will become a musician, change his name to Ringo Starr, and gain world-wide fame as the drummer for The Beatles. “It don’t come easy”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anpjEN9KeJ0
The United States, fearing the rising power of Japan, enacts restrictions on the sale of steel and oil to Japan on July 25, 1940.
In mid-August, the Germans begin heavy aerial bombing of British air force installations in an attempt to diminish British air power as the Germans plan for an invasion of Britain in September. The British retaliate on August 26th with the first bombing raids directly on Berlin.
On August 30th, the Army Air Corps obtains permission to build a base at Hunter Municipal Airfield, Savannah, Ga., which is destined to become the new home of the 27th Bombardment Group.
*A “Googlemaps” photo of Cy & Marty’s first house, as seen in 2014.