IN MY SHOES: A WWII-Era Code That Has Never Been Cracked
The Stiletto came across this very moving remembrance three months ago and hung on to it so she could share it with her readers on Valentine’s Day. David McGrath, who teaches English at the University of South Alabama, recounts in The Washington Post how he and his siblings pestered their mother for years to decode the love letters their father had sent her during WWII:
"Please, Mom. What did the letters G-O-G stand for?"
All we knew was that it was the nickname given to her by our father, her husband, Charlie, from their courtship, before their wedding in 1941. We had seen proof in the letters my father wrote during World War II, his swirling, loopy script rendered with fountain pen and green ink.
Dearest GOG … can't wait till this war is done,
… please, don't be lonely, GOG. Remember Beaverville, and the pasture at sunset?
… It won't be long, GOG, till I can cuddle you in my arms . . .
… my silky, beautiful GOG.
It excited us to imagine that our tall, serious, often stern father of eight once upon a time wanted to "cuddle" our "silky" mother in his arms.
The letters were bound with a wide red rubber band and kept in the "war chest," a worn oak toy box housing my father's uniform, his corporal's stripes, a billed officer's cap and various documents, including his release papers. …
We had speculated that one of the G's in G-O-G could stand for Gertrude, my mother's name. We'd sit at the kitchen table, ostensibly doing homework, brainstorming to break the code on our loose-leaf pages: Ga-Ga over Gertrude . . . Girlfriend of Glamour . . . Gem of a Girl. …
Today, Gertrude McGrath is 88. Her soldier boy has been dead 15 years.
"It's okay for you to finally tell us what GOG means, don't you think, Mom?" I could see her eyes clearly through her thick glasses, but her face darkened as she shook her head no.
I felt a catch in my throat then, as I realized that as long as only the two of them share the secret, Charlie remains alive in her heart. He was in the room.
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