H- War Letters
H- War Letters
Paper details:
What did you learn about the soldiers’ experiences? Are there similarities with the letters? What appears
important
to the soldier? What are their hopes? fears? Then Interview a family member, neighbor. or family friend who is
veteran of a foreign war or who exchanged letters with a veteran. What does he or she recall about the
importance
of exchanging letters during wartime? Was any single letter he or she read or wrote especially memorable.
and if so,
why? Did people exchanging these letters sometimes avoid difficult topics in order to keep from upsetting
their
correspondent? Write a summary of what you learned from the interview.
Would your interviewee be willing to share his/ her letter(s) with others on the web?
Ralph‘s Letter
Read the following post-World War II letter written by Ralph to Daisy. Ralph was an American soldier in
occupied Japan, the year after the war had ended.
Daisy was the girlfriend he had left behind in Texas. Fifty years later… Daisy dies. She was the grandmother of
a Palo Alto College student. The student
found this letter among Daisy’s belongings. She shared the letter with her history professor- Mr. Robert
Hines. The student had never heard of Ralph. Why
do you think Daisy stopped writing?