World War II

YouTube can be a treasure trove of video gems, including World War II material. Although embedding has been disabled on this video by request, click on the graphic and you’ll be taken to the first video in a series of posts by CountryComesToTown.

You see, on a trip home to Alabama, he found a box of letters his father, who served in the Army Air Corps, wrote between 1941 and 1946. The bulk of the correspondence come from the period 1943-1945.

In the first video the son reads a letter from January 11, 1944 in which his father describes his trip overseas to England, being entertained by Red Cross workers on the ship and settling into his first stationing — even acquiring a bike.

Interspersed with the text of the letter you’ll get commentary on the degree to which mail home was censored as well as observations on vintage items and life on the American homefront. For instance, one of the commenters clears up confusion about V-Mail writing:

“Oh, almost forgot. V-Mail was the military’s effort to save room in mail bags. The letter was filled out by the sender on a standard form. Then Photographed and slightly scaled down, and developed on photographic film. This was placed in a flat encasement envelope and sent back with all the other mail to the states. May have saved room, but think of the cost of all the film.”

Look at the other videos posted by CountryComesToTown and you’ll find additional letters. It’s a wonderful glimpse into the personal correspondence of one of “the boys.”

World War II, V-Mail, letters, video