Monday, December 8, 2008

Soldier's Letters

I really enjoyed reading the letters from soldiers. The ones that I particularly enjoyed were those from soldiers back to their girlfriends and wives. Each one tells stories and makes you feel almost as if you are experiencing what they are going through. You know that each letter was written with great thought for this was the only communication between them and their love back home.

One that I enjoyed the most was from a soldier in the civil war named William F. Testerman and he was writing a letter to his girlfriend, Miss Jane Davis. It was written July 25th, 1864. Unlike most of the writing individuals create in letters today, it was very beautifully written. Though there were a lot of spelling errors due to his lack of education, his writing was still beautiful. William's letter almost seemed graceful as you read from one word to the next. He used phrases such as, "if you were to fail it would almost break my heart for you are the girl that I am depending upon and if it was not for you I would not be writing by my candle tonight". Reading this letter makes you realize how much these two individuals must miss each other. Being so far apart and not knowing if you would ever be together again.

Here is the link if you would like to read the whole letter...
http://spec.lib.vt.edu/cwlove/testerman.html

5 comments:

Kevin said...

In one of the letters that I read from World War 2, the soldier also wrote a letter to his girlfriend back at home. She had been sick, and he really wanted to come back home. He said how much he loved her and how he planned his life around her. His mom had also just sent him a letter wanting to know when they were going to get married.

Ky-Ky Bebeh said...

I enjoyed reading the letters too!

However, I will admit that I had to search around until I found typed letters because some of the handwritten ones were rather difficult to read.

I think my favorite letter was from WWII, where the author was writing to his parents about how he couldn't give many details on his new "secret mission" he was about to embark on. Later, he talked about how they shouldn't be sad if he were to die on this mission. It was very depressing to read at that point.

Rae Rae said...

Kelsey-

I agree with you. The letters that the soldiers write to their girlfriends and wives back home always seem to be extremely sweet and from the heart. I couldn't even imagine what it would be like to have your loved one fighting a war. First of all their life is in constant danger and secondly they are far away from you. That would be really tough. I also read a couple really cute letters from a soldier to his girlfriend. They things he said to her were just so touching that it made me feel like I was loved!

-Rachel :)

AGray said...

I'd have to agree with you on the letters to the girliefriends and wives. Haha. I read a series of this soldier writing to his lover and it was so cute! I don't really understand why we've all of a sudden jumped into a unit of war as its sole purpose but I suppose it was an O.K. activity. I like your connection from your letter about the missing somebody, and the dependency the two individuals shared on each other. Neat--O! peace out woman!

Shauna L said...

I agree with you. The letters that the soldiers write back to their loved ones are always sweet. However, I also sense a deep sadness within the letters. Like you said, they may never see each other again...only the power of paper and ink can connect the lovers in terms of communication.
Also, I like how you connected the letters to your own feelings of missing someone.