My journey ends here...
1944
FEBRUARY : Norma Jeane, still living in Catalina Island with Jim, wrote to her sister Berniece (
,
,
) hoping that this one, with her husband Paris and their daughter Mona Rae, could visit them.
SPRING :
Jim Dougherty was right when he said that his wife was dependent on him.
Whatever could have been her unspoken desires, Norma Jeane felt very unhappy when he was sent (on his request) with the Merchant Marine, on the Pacific Ocean and Asian South-East operations field.
Jim could only promised him to start a family when he would be back.
Whatever could have been her feelings ambiguity towards Jim, his leaving awoke her former fears. She wanted something, someone, constantly within her grasp. Jim Dougherty remembered of her tears and her anxiety when he left.
He shipped out on the "Julia S. DuMont" cargo ship, bound for Townsville,
Australia.
Ethel worked as a nurse at the Radio Plane
Munitions Factory (a factory founded by the actor Reginald Denny, who produced target planes for the antiaircraft exercises) located at the Metropolitan Airport (which later became the Burbank Airport).
It was Doc Goddard who had helped her to obtain a job at the Radio Plane.
At
the beginning, Norma Jeane tried to run the house and to take care
of the housework, while Ethel was working. But getting bored and
also wanting to contribute to the war effort, she ended by asking her
mother-in-law to find her a job at the Radio Plane.
The economy of South California leapt forward during the war thanks to
the defense and the aeronautics, and there were thousands jobs for
women.
APRIL:
Ethel found a job for Norma Jeane at the Radio Plane. She first worked in the "doper-brush" room where she varnished the planes fuselage. She had to spray a foul-odored varnish on the fuselages (it was called "working in drugs")
(
,
).
This thankless work however guaranteed her a regular income. She earned 20$ a week, for 10 hours of working a day.
Life with her mother-in-law was relatively pleasant, but she missed Jim's presence.
At the beginning, their mail was frequent. During their 2-years separation, they summed not less than 200 letters.
Wednesday, April 19, Norma Jeane took part in a picnic in Balboa Park, with her colleagues of the Radio Plane :
,
,
.
JUNE :
Thursday, June 15 : Norma Jeane wrote to Grace McKee-Goddard in West Virginia : 
.
Marilyn
later admitted she had embellished the passage about her wedding,
with loyalty towards her husband, and with some respects to
please Grace Goddard.
SUMMER:
During
holidays, Norma Jeane left California for the first time, to visit
Grace. This one was temporarily employed in a laboratory of film
developing in Chicago.
She was forced to leave Virginia because, even if she had a stable job, she had started to drink.
She also visited Bebe
Goddard in West Viriginia, and followed her road to Detroit where she stayed with her sister Berniece Miracle (
,
;
).
With Berniece, Paris her husband, and the little Mona Rae and Paris's sister Niobe, they visited Canada : 
.
In October
she was in Chicago to see Grace, and sent a postcard to Berniece : 
.
END OF FALL:
Back
to California, she went back to work at the Radio Plane, where her new
task consisted in checking and folding parachutes, which didn't
interest her more than spraying glue (
,).
She still earned the minimum salary : 20$ a week for 60 hours of working.
She was an exemplary employee because she obtained a certificate graded "E" for excellence.
During her holidays, Norma Jeane often visited Ana Lower. During Jim's absence, it was Ana who became her family substitute.
A photographers team belonging to the Army First Motion Picture Unit came to the factory.
Their mission consisted in testifying about the women part in the war effort. They had to take some snapshots for publications commercial as long as military and silent movies, showing that the most pretty girls of the country were fervent patriots.
Corporal David Conover (
)
was transferred there for a mission : he had to make movies and
pictures for the Army, designed to stimulate the troops on the front,
and to prove them that their efforts were supported by the most pretty
girls.
For
this occasion, Norma Jeane was pushed forward. Corporal Conover
expressed his interest by taking several color pictures of Norma Jeane (
,
;
,
).
DECEMBER:
She
wrote to Grace, a little late, to thank her to have offered her a
new dress and to have welcomed her so kindly in Chicago ; her
letter, dated from Sunday December 3rd 1944
, referred to a sum of money she had sent to Grace: 
.
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