Sunday, November 05, 2006

War and Love Letters

I watched a thought provoking video about the importance of saving those pieces of paper that we call letters or in this day and age (email's) to include in our histories or those of our ancestral family members.

I must confess that the letters of my husband to me when we were dating have become more precious to me as time passes. Since my husband passed away last year from melanoma, those letters that I have saved from him bring back great joy and pleasure to me in a way that other items such as pictures can't. These letters are his words to me...It is as if he were sitting right beside me. I am grateful that I have kept these letters and love to reflect on them from time to time. Letters are a very intimate way to learn about your family, your history, and yourself.

This web link that I have provided for you is from Roots Television and can be found at the bottom of this blog or you can just watch the video here on my blog. The video that I would encourage you all to look at is the one about the War Letters. It is an interesting way to look on life as history happened. These letters make the history come alive in a very personal way. I am amazed that so many people would be able to part with these letters that would mean so much. The people who donated these letters made a great sacrifice in relinquishing these for the project. I am grateful for the sacrifices of the families and the young men and women that have or are currently serving, or will serve in the armed forces for our freedom. I do think these feelings can and should be expressed by anyone from any country. We are benefiting now from the sacrifices of the few for the many. I thank you all for your sacrifce for me.




War Letters

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow! In a quick glance of your post, and before I watched the video, I thought "YES! Letters. Excellent. Oh yeah, I'm reading a book by someone who collected war letters..." Ahem, the book happens to be the one that Andrew Carroll put together. So thank you so much for pointing out this video. Some of it gave me chills. What a worthy project that Andrew Carroll undertook.

One letter I read (from the book) that was so jaw-drop amazing was from a survivor of the sinking of the Indianapolis in the Pacific. Sunk by the Japanese, and adrift at sea for four days before rescue, it was a watery hell. Out of a crew of 1200, 317 survived.

Our Future Rooted in Our Past said...

Susan,

I am glad that you liked the video. What a coincidence that the book that you read was written by Andrew Carroll. He and those that contributed to the project have provided great insight. This insight allows us to learn and grow appreciating the courage and sacrifices of those that are and have served in the armed forces. These letters also provide profound insight the their lives and the lives of their family. They were never the same.

Letters provide a very intimate look into one's personal history. I feel that you come to know a person in a totally different light when you can read through some of the letters they have written to family, friends, or others. Thank you for stopping by and sharing.

TexArts said...

Hoping someone could help suggest a book that has ww 11 love letters
to and from the homefront - whether
romantic or to children at home.
Im putting together a holiday showcase from WW 11 and looking for
letter.
Thank you for your help
admin@tex-arts.org