Jennifer Jean Miller - Marilyn Monroe & Joe DiMaggio: Love In Japan, Korea & Beyond

Marilyn Monroe & Joe DiMaggio -Love In Japan, Korea & Beyond

Copyright 2014 Jennifer Jean Miller

Published by J.J. Avenue Productions atSmashwords

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Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

For Marilyn and Joe with Love.

Acknowledgements

I thank God above for the purposeHe has instilled in my heart, of which I am still learning what itmay be. I thank Him for all the blessings He provides to me, secondby second of every day.

I offer my sincerest gratitude toall those who supported me through this project, most especially toJason, Christopher, Amanda and Jadin, who have been here for mewith their loving encouragement. You are all so special to me andprovide the fire to the little engine that couldmeaning mewithoutyour love, I know that this project could not have been possible.You have my greatest love in return always and thanks for beingyou. I thank God for all of you.

For my father, Joel, who has been my technical guruand spent time with me scanning my one-of-a-kind slides. I amgrateful for his support and love during this project and mywriting and photography endeavors overall.

For my family -- parents (Mom,John, Joel and Flor), siblings (Erik, John, Becky, Gina and Aleja),aunts (Donna, Ronnie, Dolores), uncles (Neil and David), niece(Alaina), cousins (David, Becky, Salley, Wendy, Ted, Mark, Tara,Alex, Samantha, Tommy, Michael and family, Allan and Paula, Janiceand family, Barbara and family and so on), in-laws, present andfuture (especially Mecca, Kristie, Karen, Rebecca, Debra, Don,Mary, Heather, Mike and members of my future extended family that Ihave yet to be introduced to) -- thank you for enriching my life inall the ways that you doI love you all.

In memory of my dear Nana JeanMiller, I thank her for being the spark in my writing career, whenyears ago I was led after a prayer to submit a writing sample,which was a tribute biography about her. I know she had wanted tobe a reporter, a dream potentially fulfilled as a policestenographer. While she was not on a news beat, each day when Itype in my byline Jennifer Jean Miller, her name is within, thusshe has a byline too. I love you Nana and thank you for touching myheart for our quarter century here together on earthandforever.

I also thank a few longtimefriends, Stephanie Slick, Lauren Dermody and Cristina Norcross.They are ladies who I have known since girlhood and have beenencouragers throughout various circumstances. Thank you all forbelieving in me. I have enjoyed our correspondences and chatsonline and off and I would like to acknowledge you all with specialthanks and love. Also to friends I have not known as long, KevinMorris and Julie Hanes, who are both wonderful friends who I havemet on Facebook, thank you for reaching out to me like you do andbeing here for me.

And a friend in real life and onFacebook who Ive enjoyed late night chats with as well as time inperson enjoying coffee and camaraderie in our local diners, thetalented Sara Hudock. She is the photographer who captured my imagefor this books headshot used in my bio. As a photographer too andone who owns unpublished images that are featured here, Iunderstand the special role a photographer plays in cementing aperson forever in time, thanks to their talents. I give that shoutout to Sara who is amazingly gifted and give her and her businessOne Red Tree Photography a plug too.

To Tom Russo and Hap Rowan, whoboth offered me their knowledge of baseball, and Tom, Hap and alsoGeorge Graham, who have given me the encouragement to become evenmore independent with my various writing projects, thank you forall for believing in me and my potential in my writing and businessendeavors.

To Bill Truran, Cristina Norcrossand Max Zimmer for their support they offered to me, one writer toanother penning my first book, I look forward to continuing toinspire one another in our book projects. Thank you to Bill for theintroduction to Pauline and Georgie Riggio. Pauline gladly sharedwith me their memories of meeting Joe, and relatives who had, aswell as their photos of Joe playing ball in his military years. Iam of course also very grateful to Pauline and Georgie for theirgenerosity in allowing me to use their photos.

Speaking of writers, I am grateful to the reporterswho worked on my team when I was their editor, especially JenniferFratangelo, Alley Shubert and Jane Primerano, for all your supportand encouragement. I feel blessed to have had the opportunity towork with the three of you and also Nisha Kash, who worked with meas a marketing consultant and has believed in me and my projectsand endeavors.

I am grateful to the unknownmilitary heroes who captured photos of both Marilyn and Joe. Thankyou for watching over us and serving our nation as you did. Thisbook is in tribute to you too. We all enjoy freedoms today becauseof your sacrifices.

For Tammie Horsfield, John Drakeand the staff at the Sussex County Chamber of Commerce, our localbusinesses and their leaders are blessed to have your support, andI believe, with your encouragement and mentorship, my variousprojects received an extra boost, which I thank you for. I know youview this as services you provide and your job, I still wouldlike to extend my thanks for doing such a stellar job at thatjob.

For my Marilyn friends,especially Ted Stampfer, Christine Krogull, Eric Woodard, PeterGonzalez, Heidi Hanson, Jill Adams, Lauren Dermody, Jennifer Pea,Michelle Leiby, Michelle Morgan, Keira Dazi, Holly Bevan andAndreea Pittei, your friendships, kind words, knowledge we haveexchanged over the years about Marilyn and other subjects, andoverall support for me and my children, has meant more to me thanyou will ever know.

To my family and friends, including those onFacebook who have been absolute virtual angels, I thank you foralways cheering me on. There are so many of you to name, who haveoffered kind words, and have taken the time to watch my back alongthe way, online and offlineI am grateful for what you have donefor me. There are so many to mention, who have always beenthere...

I am truly humbled and blessed tohave you in my lifeand am thankful to you all. Please forgive meif there is a name I have not specifically named hereplease knowyou are most importantly close in my heart and I so appreciateyou!

Preface

It was a match made in media heaven, between the King ofBaseball and Queen of Hollywood, often coined by the press as "Mr.and Mrs. America."

For Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio it was a unionon paper that would only last nine months beginning sixty years agoon January 14, 1954 -- nearly one of those months in thatthree-quarters of 1954 was spent overseas in Japan and Korea.

There was a preamble, however, to this legal bindingin the form of their courtship, which endured just shy of two yearsprior to their marriage.

As a postscript to their marital love story, inspite of their separate paths, Marilyn and Joe eventually connectedagain. Joe remained Marilyns champion and suitor in shining armoruntil and beyond her untimely death.

In addition, 2014 marks a specialtime in the legacy of Joe DiMaggio. This year, Joe DiMaggio wouldhave celebrated his 100 th Birthday on November 25. Acentury ago, a baby blessed the planet with his presence. He wouldachieve such greatness in the sports world, that even more thanseventy years after he achieved an incredible personal record knownas The Streak, it still remains unbroken.