This film came out around the time of John's letter to Margaret. It is a romantic comedy that depicts a group of men and women living together, which would have been considered rather scandalous at the time. It is easy to wonder if John and Margaret ever went to the movies, and if so would this have been the type of film they saw or was the topic too racy for a "date"?
Citation: “Young and Willing.” IMDb. IMDb.com, February 5, 1943. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036553/?ref_=ext_shr_lnk.
The following object description information includes basic elements from the Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (DCMI). An additional notes field is included to list dates from the actual letter, envelope postmark locations, and any other identifying details.
The podcast "Our Letters, Ourselves" is a mother/daughter podcast exploring history and culture through the lens of their family's letters from WWII. Each episode they read new letters and explore other stories related to their central theme. This episode is titled "January 26, 1943, again: "Dating" on Bases". Click on the player below to listen to the episode.
Citation: Mik Cardoza and Keke Almeida, "Our Letters, Ourselves: January 26, 1943, again: "Dating" on Bases", recorded October 11, 2022, podcast, 38 minutes, https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/january-26-1943-again/id1644618035?i=1000582275416.
In this letter, Jack tells Margaret about his scoring high (96) on a test at the Red Cross, and goes on to proudly say he has been made an instructor. At this time the Red Cross was teaching first aid and swimming to soldiers, but since this is February it is more likely he was teaching first aid. The link above is an article from the Red Cross outlining all of the services they provided for the war effort.
Citation: American Red Cross. (n.d.). World War II and the American Red Cross. A brief history of the American Red Cross. Retrieved April 4, 2023, from https://www.redcross.org/content/dam/redcross/National/history-full-history.pdf