I am going through a lot of very old family photos and correspondence, trying to consolidate in anticipation of our moving abroad. Today I came across this rare item from 1943. It is my uncle Vernon's Xmas card to his sister when he was stationed in Burma helping to build the China-Burma Road. The army was protecting the whereabouts of the troops in this area, which required sending their Christmas cards to New York, where they were photostated and a copy was mailed to the relatives. Some of us may just be able to remember those World War II days. Notice that the official army card was distinctly Christian in message. I don't know if other forms were provided for those soldiers of other faiths. Anyway, an interesting bit of our history.
5 comments:
It has been said that the generation fighting World War II was the "greatest". I must agree!
My memories of WWII are vivid and undying. A differennce of 6 years in age I guess. On Dec 7th 1941 I ran up to Hankins Drug Store to buy something and learned the news of Pearl Harbor. I ran back home (2 blocks) to tell my family. We then huddled around our miniscule Emerson radio to hear the horrific news. The grim countenances of all the adults--another memory of that day.
We still have a veteran of the China-Burma-India theater living here in our midst; Glen Everett Smith. Some of you would remember that he and his brother Roy were good baseball players for Cedar Vale.
I remember that day also. Mother, Billy and I had our radio on and heard the news. I ran up to Grandma and Grandpa's house to see if they knew. They did not. When I told Grandpa, he gasped and I thought he would faint. He immediately turned on their radio and started listening. Dick and I had a cousin, Comer Parks, taken prisoner. I well remember the grief Uncle Hugh and Aunt Grace went through trying to find out about him.He survived the POW camp and came home when the war ended. My Uncle Donald Akin was in the Navy.
My brother Kale and brothers-in-law Carl and Ross and, as Pat said, our cousin Comer, were also in WWII. My father-in-law was a Lt. Col. in the Army Air Force, and flew bombing raids over Germany. The thing that amazes me, is that none of them, and most veterans I know would talk about their experiences during the War.
Dick, I had the same feeling. My uncle was a captain in Patton's artillery. He went into the war a funny, happy-go-lucky youngster, and came out a hard bitter man that would not talk about the war. He did mention the sight of bodies and body parts flying through the air when he was shelling an installation, and how that was devastating to him as the person responsible.
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