Letters Home From World War II Letters were a lifeline for the soldiers in World War II. They were okay with going through the complications of sending letters back home. They usually wrote to their girlfriends or their family. Not much mattered to the soldiers except making it out alive, and knowing there were people back home supporting them. They knew this due to the fact they received letters from home. The letters talked about how much they loved, and missed their loved ones in combat. And in return the soldiers then wrote back about various events, and how much they missed homelife. A lot about their days were dependent on writing, and receiving letters. When they got a letter it would make their day so much better. They would remember …show more content…
We had V-mail or victory mail. This was a more secure method of sending letters. We would get a paper with a place for a name, an address, and a few lines to write what we wanted. That letter would then be copied to film and sent. Then when it arrived it would be printed again it’s normal size. This was more secure and saved us money, but it was painful to deal with because you could only write so much and the process was long. This also reduced the weight and bulk carried in the planes which saved room for other …show more content…
They kept me going through the tough days. Writing letters, (and receiving them) kept me in touch with loved ones, and kept me in touch with the world outside of this place. Whether I received a letter on any given day would determine if it was a good day or not. However, soon after receiving them, we would have to shred or burn then to protect us from our enemies using our information against us if the letter got lost. Each day I could think up something to say, and send my thoughts to Bobbi, or my parents. But there was never enough time to do so between the long days of training, and actually getting sleep. When I did write my letters they were detailed, but short. I could only write so much on the tiny papers that we were provided. I always wanted to say more, but just couldn’t. I would let them know I was okay, and that I loved
Many soldiers who come back from the war need to express how they feel. Many do it in the way of writing. Many soldiers die in war, but the ones who come back are just as “dead.” Many cadets come back with shell shock, amputated arms and legs, and sometimes even their friends aren’t there with them. So during World War I, there was a burst of new art and writings come from the soldiers. Many express in the way of books, poems, short stories and art itself. Most soldiers are just trying to escape. A lot of these soldiers are trying to show what war is really like, and people respond. They finally might think war might not be the answer. This is why writers use imagery, irony and structure to protest war.
A deeper meaning into what a soldier carried along to the war from which it was necessary supplies to good luck charms or something that reminded one of home. The things each person carried shows more into who the soldier really is or who he wants to be in front of the other soldiers-trying to become someone else. The different pieces each carry will remind them of home “Jimmy Cross carried letters from a girl named Martha…Mitchell Sanders carried condoms…Kiowa…carried an illustrated New Testament…” (Tim O’Brien The Things They Carried pg. 3) Every soldier carried what was necessary like food, guns, bullets etc. but the personal things they carried made everyone different form that crowded but big space between each soldier. Tim O’Brien uses this description to introduce the characters and how each one starts from one po...
Ultimately, they were trying to survive. They were trying to make it back home when they knew they would never be the same man as before. They were scared, but walked around and carried the war on a courageous front. Often, these men carried each other with unconscious support. They were brothers in arms.
Edited by Bernard Edelman, “Dear America” is a collection of letters written by soldiers during the Vietnam War. Their letters are written to love ones back home such as parents, siblings, and spouses but they are a great depiction of the Vietnam War. The soldiers would write these letters to help keep hope alive and to keep sane. Throughout the book the letters are categorize into those who are barely arriving into the war to those who have been there a long time. The stress and anxiety grows more and more as the letters continue and the soldiers begin to contemplate their situation. I’ve learned a lot of factual things about the Vietnam War throughout my life such as how it began and what the outcome was but reading this book was the first time I learned about what the soldiers were experiencing and the cruel reality of this war. A few letters in “Dear America” I found very interesting and are a good depiction of the Vietnam War.
Other hymns, as well as religion in general, were an important part of the soldiers' and officers' lives. Over forty million prayer books, hymn books, and Bibles were distributed among soldiers during the first two years of war by several different agencies. Many of the books had the typical inscription: "Please carry this in your pocket and read it every day" (Wilkinson 153).
The narrator starts off with the letters because they make it easier to discuss the more difficult things that a soldier carries at war. Then, the narrator says, “The things they carried were largely determined by necessity. Among the necessities or near necessities were P-38 can openers, pocket knives, heat tabs, wristwatches, dog tags, mosquito repellent, chewing gum, candy, cigarettes, salt tablets, [and] packets of Kool-Aid” (470). In this scene, the narrator starts off listing everyday items because these items are easier to discuss without being emotional issues. The narrator ends the second paragraph by saying, “Because the nights were cold, and because the monsoons were wet, each [soldier] carried a green poncho[.]
Each soldiers experience in the war was devastating in its own way. The men would go home carrying the pictures and memories of their dead companions, as well as the enemy soldiers they killed. “They all carried emotional baggage of men who might die. Grief, terror, love, longing- these were intangibles, but the intangibles had their own mass and specific gravity, they had tangible weight.” These were the things that weighed the most, the burdens that the men wanted to put down the most, but were the things that they would forever carry, they would never find relief from the emotional baggage no matter where they went.
World War 1...what is it? Normally when you think about it you must be wondering how on earth am I still alive! World War 1 was also known as The Great War that took place from 1914-1918 within most parts of Europe. Within this informative essay I will be talking about the features, the results, the end, and how World War 1 changed the lives of the Europeans.
Tragic events occur not only in the United States, but also all over the world. From these tragic events communities, families, and the government decide to place memorials for people that were lost and as a thank you for people protecting the citizens of the country. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial, The Wall, in Washington D.C. is one of these cases. However, what exactly was the purpose of this memorial? The purpose of putting up the Vietnam Veterans Memorial was not only to thank the veterans for their bravery, but to remind future generations about happened during the Vietnam War. Also, the memorial is important to help people and the veterans to accept the fact that the war actually
War is what keeps a nation from dying, it is the backbone of a country. This is the shown throughout the course of World War I, also known as “the war to end all wars.” World War I started in the summer of 1914. Archduke Francis Ferdinand, from the Austro – Hungarian Empire was visiting Bosnia. He was shot, along with his wife, Sofia, by a young man from the Black Hand, Gavrillo Princip. What were the three main factors that started World War I? There were three main underlying causes that started World War I: greed, nationalism, and militarism.
Practicing these rituals would occupy the soldier's spare time and give them something to believe in, this would also help the soldiers find it a little bit easier to endure the horrors of war. This is similar to the motivation through the love of their families that drives the men to continue. When Jack finds out his son has died, he has more determination to stay alive which causes him to believe he is “immune to death”. This same motivation is evident when the soldiers receive packages and letters from home. Normally, the soldiers would feel very detached from the home front due to their minds being on surviving which meant they “hardly ever thought of home”, so on receiving the packages, the soldiers felt loved, which also helped in giving them an incentive to return back
One of the significant concepts in The Things They Carried is that of the importance of certain objects or feelings used by the soldiers of Alpha Company to survive the war. Some examples of these items are the picture of the girl carried by Jimmy Cross, the Bible carried by Kiowa, and the stockings carried by Henry Dobbins. All the items helped the respective soldier to survive from day to day and to continue fighting the war. One of the most important things that helped the soldiers is their friendship with each other. This bond that the soldiers form helped them to survive, excluded someone who was outside their group, and helped the men of Alpha Company to cope with the war after they returned to the United States.
In document thirteen, we encounter a letter written by a young English soldier fighting the Germans from the woods. He starts his letter by explaining how once again he was forced to be out in the trenches for forty-eight consecutive hours. The letter, addressed to his parents, illustrates how devastating it can be for a young man out at war. When he asked for time alone they told him to take a group of men with him and after a bit of difficulty they finally let him go off on his own. While he is out on a stroll he comes across a German trench and kills an officer, he does the same thing the next day. By the end of the letter he simply defines the experience as awful.
The most common used letter in the 1800s is the personal letter. Most personal letters included family news, local news, and even expressions of how someone felt. Personal letters were mostly used between two people that knew each other. The other genre of letters that were found to be used a lot were classified as official letters. Official letters were primarily written on a nice sheet of paper, official and personal letters were usually always written differently in regards to correct grammar and organization.
The Thirty Years War was a series of conflicts, not-knowingly involving most European countries from 1618 to 1648. The war, which was fought mainly in Germany, was started when Bohemian Protestants furiously attacked the Holy Roman Emperor in terms to impose a restriction on their religious and civil liberties. By understanding the Thirty Years War, you will notice the notable religious, political and social changes. The changes paved the religious and political maps of Europe. Not only did this war affect the religious and political demographic, it caused populations to perish and lose large amounts of their goods. What was known as a religious battle, turned out to be a political feud in competition of which state has the greater power affecting men, women, soldiers and civilians. “[The bohemians] had no idea that their violent deed would set off a chain reaction of armed conflict that would last thirty years and later be called Europe’s “first world war” of the modern era.” When the war ended, the lands were defiled and over 5 million people were killed.