July 6, 1944 - France

Since photographic paper was in such short supply, any snap shots were shared via the mail. Unfortunately, they were not returned to this letter. I don't have the letter where Paul describes his 'close call'. I have no idea of what happened. I just can not imagine what Joe and Paul were thinking and feeling, knowing that today could very well be their last. I was fortunate, that all of my immediate relatives survived WWII.

May 15, 1944

Click on the letter to enlarge it. Hit your browser's back button to return to the post, and click on the next page of the letter to enlarge.



Joe Holasek was my father's best friend. If memory serves correctly, he had a bad leg that kept him from serving in WWII. He resented his situation. In the coming weeks, on my family history blog(see link to the right), I will be posting pictures of my dad and Joe Holasek including additional information.

To learn more about V-MAIL click the wikipedia link below:

V-Mail

April 16, 1944

Click on the letter to enlarge it. Hit your browser's back button to return to the post, and click on the next page of the letter to enlarge.

As an aside, my father wrote on the envelop the date when he received these letters. From Europe to the South Pacific, V-Mail took about one month. In this present age of the Internet where an email takes seconds to minutes to be delivered, can you imagine waiting 30 days for a one page shrunken letter?

To learn more about V-MAIL click the wikipedia link below:

V-Mail

April 8, 1944

Click on the letter to enlarge it. Hit your browser's back button to return to the post, and click on the next page of the letter to enlarge.

Text of the letter due to the difficulty in reading(even the original):

Dear Joe,

Your V written Mar 15th arrived a few days ago but the first paragraph was the only one legible. The rest of the letter is blurred due to some error in developing or printing. I can, however, make out the last sentence saying you received my letter acknowledging the receipt of your package.

I'm anxiously awaiting the arrival of your airmail letter. I'll assure you Joe, any film service you get is better than ours. My roll has been gone for a month now. It'll eventually get here though and that is the best means of getting them developed since you can't send any home that aren't censored here.

Things here are pretty much the same. All routine stuff and I feel o.k. except for a bad tooth the dentist can't decide what is wrong with.

I sent Justine a letter asking her to buy mom something for Mother's Day. The P.X. took orders but prices didn't fit my cash on hand. So long and good luck.

Paul

To learn more about V-MAIL click the wikipedia link below:

V-Mail