Letters From the Front Lines

Letters From the Front Lines

Why write letters? • Soldiers and military personnel wrote letters to stay connected to their loved ones during the war • Because the military was concerned that intercepted letters would provide the enemy with detailed information about location of troops and battle plans, all mail was censored • This was called V Mail or Victory Mail

March 27, 1944 I just got through with chow. We are having beautiful weather here and I hope it’s the same way there, so you could take the babies out every afternoon. Love, Babe

April 14, 1944 I am in the very best of health and I hope to hear the same from all of you always. Well, things here are moving pretty smooth and the only thing I do is eat and sleep and if I keep it up much longer I’ll be like a barrel. Well, take care of yourselves and keep those stoves roaring because I’ll be doing a lot of eating when I get home. Love, Babe

April 30, 1944 This afternoon I might go swimming in the Tyrrhenian Sea. The salt water will do me good. Last night I received about ten letters. I’m glad to hear that the house was filled with flowers for Mother’s Day and that you all got a gift for Mom. Don’t worry about my money situation, because there isn’t anything to spend it on here in Anzio. Well, I had my dinner and guess what, I had – Pork chops, about a dozen of them. I’m getting to be a chow hound. Love, Babe

Some things to ponder… • To whom is Babe writing, one or many? • What does Babe recount that his family will be happy to hear? • In what ways does Babe make it sound as if he is practically on vacation? • What do you think he might be implying when he says, “Don’t worry about my money situation, because there is nothing to spend it on here in Anzio”? • In what ways does Babe intimately convey that he is still very connected to his home and family? • Why do you think Babe does not give his family more details about the real conditions on the beaches of Anzio?

Clip #2 • Babe’s brother, Thomas • http://www.pbs.org/thewar/search_details.php?id=5376&type=3

“He never mentioned a word about what he was doing, where he was. You couldn’t say much about where you were anyway. But it was always the upside. ‘I could only write a few lines right now because I’m, I’m going to chow and I don’t have time.’ This is in the heat of the battle and he’s going to chow line. I mean, there’s no such thing as a chow line when you’re in… But you don’t realize at the time, until years later, you get a little smarter and you go, ‘Geez, you know, how can you be going to chow line when you’re in the middle of a battle or you’re in a foxhole or someplace?... But he always had that upbeat outlook about him.”

Letters From the Front Lines

Letters From the Front Lines

Presentation Transcript