[dynachrome]

Interesting letters from soldiers, to soldiers. Of historical interest.

[JonPreston]

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[JonPreston]

Have you read these letters? The web site is impossible for me to navigate.

[dfwgator]

I remember this poem from “The World At War”

Wait For Me - Konstantin Simonov

Wait for me and I’ll return, only wait very hard.
Wait when you are filled with sorrow as you watch the yellow rain.
Wait when the wind sweeps the snowdrifts.
Wait in the sweltering heat.
Wait when others have stopped waiting, forgetting their yesterdays.
Wait even when from afar no letters come for you.
Wait even when others are tired of waiting.

Wait for me and I’ll return, but wait patiently.
Wait even when you are told that you should forget.
Wait even when my mother and son think I am no more.
And when friends sit around the fire drinking to my memory
Wait and do not hurry to drink to my memory too.

Wait for me and I’ll return, defying every death.
And let those who do not wait say that I was lucky.
They will never understand that in the midst of death
You with your waiting saved me.
Only you and I will know how I survived:
It was because you waited as no one else did.

[Flavious_Maximus]

The entire website seems to be an svg animation or video. You have to wait a while before the animation starts.

[alexander_busek]

My wife's grandfather (a Colonel / Surgeon in the Red Army) and grandmother (a Captain / Assistant Surgeon in the Red Army) celebrated the birth of their first child (my mother-in-law) ten days after V-E Day, in Potsdam. How can I submit their letters to home to this website? I could translate them myself.

Regards,

[DesertRhino]

I know I’m probably backwards on this. But I don’t like soldier letters being exposed for the world. You sit in some hole, in a truck cab, or in some hard to find quiet corner and write during a bad time, thinking you might die soon. Your thoughts and emotions are all over the place and you think that letter is for just one person who you trust.

Women and Ken Burns love reading soldier’s letters, but it’s just too personal.

[alexander_busek]

Sorry, have visited the website, and am disappointed that it offers no substantive content.

Rather, it's an "artsy-fartsy" attempt to evoke pathos.

I was expecting thousands of meticulously transcribed, full-length letters, with plenty of background info and annotations - something that could be used to reconstruct actual troop movements and the like.

This website offers nothing of the kind.

Regards,

[allendale]

Say what you like about the Russians. But had it not been for their spirit, fighting and incredible capacity to tolerate suffering and loss, they would not have decimated the best of the German army by 1944. If America had to invade Europe with the German army largely intact, the casualties would have been huge. Many young men would have never returned, never had children and many Americans would have never come to exist.

[fso301]

I wonder how many Russian soldiers died because of what the censor read in their letters?

[outofsalt]

Is there a soundtrack for reading these letters?

When you read civil war letters they sound so much more poignant when you have a soundtrack playing melancholic instrumentals.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZmxZThb084

My beloved Charlotte,
It seems the battle will be here before the leaves lose their gold and red tones, but I hope the lazy summer days will keep you warm back home as thoughts of you comfort me here on this ridge tonight.

[redcatcherb412]

Letters were a lifeline in WW1, WW2, Korea and Vietnam. Now it's video chat on the Internet.
In the 60's schools especially had their students write letters to the soldiers. I received some and as the years went by the memory of them went to the back of my mind.

Then one day out of the blue an email.

I’m writing to you as I clean out my moms closet. Her name was Jan (Janet) G**** and I’ve found old letters from the 2 of you. Nothing too significant, but for me to letters and mail from 1968 is pretty cool. Wanted to let you know my mom held onto them all this time and always appreciated a man or woman in service. I’m sure your communications with her strengthened her patriotism and affinity for our military. Just thought this was a cool find, and wanted to share with you.

So a 7th-8th grade young girl writes letters to an 18 year old soldier and keeps them for over 50 years. For me getting this email and the attached photos was like a time machine.

Doesn't matter the war or the time, communications far from home are like gold.