Personal Correspondence of Catherine Clark and Meredith Lyons Pearl Harbor, 1941

www.zonderkidz.com Liberty Letters: The Personal Correspondence of Catherine Clark and Meredith Lyons Copyright © 2004 by Nancy Oliver LeSourd This book is a work of fiction. References to real people, events, establishments, organizations, or locales are intended only to provide a sense of authenticity, and are used fictitiously. All other characters, and all incidents and dialogue, are drawn from the author's imagination and are not to be construed as real. Requests for information should be addressed to: Grand Rapids, Michigan 49530 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means-electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other-except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher. Zonderkidz is a trademark of Zondervan. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data LeSourd, Nancy. The personal correspondence of Catherine Clark and Meredith Lyons : Pearl Harbor, 1941 / Nancy LeSourd. p. cm.-(Liberty letters) Summary: Letters between two young girls, one in Washington, D.C., and eager to become a newspaper reporter, the other in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, determined to take flying lessons, chronicle not only events in the year leading up to the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, but also the pain of having their fathers in the war. ISBN 0-310-70353-0 (hardcover) 1. World War, 1939-1945. [1. World War, 1939-1945-Fiction. 2. Reporters and reporting-Fiction. 3. Airplanes-Piloting-Fiction. 4. Christian life-Fiction. 5. Letters Fiction.] I. title. PZ7.L56268Pc 2004 [Fic]--dc22 2004012663 Liberty Letters is a trademark of Nancy Oliver LeSourd. Editor: Amy DeVries Cover design: Michelle Lenger Interior design: Tracey Moran Photo layout design: Merit Alderink and Susan Ambs Printed in the United States of America 04 05 06 07 /.DC/ 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 IN HONOR OF JIM DOWNING Gunners Mate, USS West Virginia Pearl Harbor Veteran Twenty-Four Years in the U.S. Navy Thirty Years on Staff with the Navigators Ephesians 3:20 and IN MEMORY OF LEN LESOURD Pilot, U.S. Army Air Corps, 43-G Author, Sky-Bent Editor, Author, Publisher, Father-in-Law and Friend Proverbs 3:5 and 6 Somewhere Over the Pacific Ocean October 25, 1940 Dear Catherine, Mother always says my big mouth gets me into trouble. But today it got me into the cockpit of a Clipper Ship! Granddaddy insisted we take the Pan Am Clipper for the last part of our trip from San Francisco to Pearl Harbor. When Mother said it was too expensive, he said we'll use military vehicles for the rest of our lives. He wanted us to have this once-in-a-lifetime experience. But that's just it. If this is the only time I'm on a flying airship, I've got to truly experience it. That's where an eightyear- old brother who can't sit still comes in handy. I told Mother I'd watch Gordon while he went to explore. Mother leaned back, closed her eyes, and murmured, "Uh huh," which I took to mean yes. Gordo has no clue how lucky we are to fly on a Clipper Ship. This flying ship can land on water, has places for us to sleep, and makes it possible to cross oceans in days instead of weeks. Gordo wanted to find out if a celebrity was in the deluxe cabin, but I was tired of the passenger deck. We'd already spent a lot of time here. I tugged at my dress which had wrinkled dreadfully. I'd have to change for dinner, for sure. We've eaten all our meals in the elegant dining room with its starched white tablecloths, gleaming china and crystal, and sterling silverware. Mother insisted we dress to match. I think it's stupid to wear my white gloves to dinner, just to take them off, and try not to get any food on them. As we walked along the passenger deck, we kept bumping into stewards wanting to fulfill my every need. "Juice, Miss Lyons?" "Another blanket, Miss Lyons?" "Care for tea, Miss Lyons?" VeryLeSourd, Nancy is the author of 'Personal Correspondence of Catherine Clark and Meredith Lyons Pearl Harbor, 1941' with ISBN 9780310703532 and ISBN 0310703530.