Written

        I never knew that my dad was such a great writer until I started reading his WWII letters that he wrote to his wife (our mom) when he was overseas. It is one of the aspects of transcribing his letters that I actually treasure the most, because if they didn’t exist, I never would have known this about him. And to be honest, I don’t know if he even knew this about himself. In this blog post, I am going to share a few snippets of his letters.

It was  November 1944 when Dad was sent overseas with the Army Medical Corps. He was a prolific letter writer back home to his new wife. They had been married just over one year when he was ordered to Europe. Maybe the amount of letters he wrote was not that uncommon, but what was definitely uncommon is Mom kept all of his letters until she passed away. That means she kept them safe for over 70 years!!! On average he wrote about 12 letters home a month, and most of those were at least 6-10 pages, on thin onion-skin type paper. 

Cover of the first booklet I did of Dad's letters home

Before Mom passed away in 2017 she told me more than once not to throw away the stuff in the blue carryall she kept in her closet. I knew they were all the letters Dad sent her from overseas.  I also knew at some point I would be able to preserve them, but I could not dream of taking them while she was still living, because even at her advanced age (99) she would take a letter or two out of that bag at random and read it.  She even carried a couple pages of his letters in her purse. 

After she passed, and also time, I felt ready to delve into the project I had in mind, which was to scan, transcribe, and share these letters (all of them) with family. In total it took about one year, which actually equates to the 12 months of letters I had.

A letter I chose at random to illustrate what his letters looked like.

Of all the family history work I have done over the years, this project by far has been the most impactful and rewarding to me. Let me add that Mom wrote to him just as much as he wrote to her, but only one of her letters survived. That was not because her letters weren’t important to him, it was the simple fact that he couldn’t carry them with him. The logistics of his job and the space he had available simply didn’t allow for it. 

    (The blue text are from his letters)

“ One person alone can’t get very much out of life I think, because he can only see one viewpoint of it. We are looking at it with two pairs of eyes, differently than the other, but these viewpoints are consolidated and each individual is hence greatly enhanced with life, beauty and realism.” 

“ You are my whole life honey, I love you deeply, thoroughly, and sincerely, and you are always in my mind. I am in this war, I know now, in order that I may come back to you, and live with you as you and I want to live.” 

Dad had a very poetic and deep soul. He could write beautiful passages about what he witnessed overseas, and also about his love for Mom, his hopes for the future and how to raise their children (still to come). The man really did know how to turn a phrase!

        “Today at the mess hall they had a very good soldier band and their music sounded so wonderful, principally because I’m not used to it, but it made me so sentimental that I could hardly eat dinner.”  (This was written just a couple days before he boarded the ship that would take him back to the USA)

        As I might have said before, one of the most poignant parts of this project was actually finishing it. Dad returned home safely, and there were no more letters, but I felt like I hadn't heard the ending. Of course I did, as one year after he returned home, I came into this world. But I didn't get to read it in Dad's written words.