As best as we can determine, the approximately two hundred letters in this book are being published here, in their entirety, for the first time. The overwhelming number of these letters were contributed by individuals who have never before shown their wartime correspondence to anyone outside of their family. Some contributors have photocopied and bound their letters in self-published collections, but these were done on a strictly limited basis—usually no more than a few hundred copies—and distributed primarily to their friends and loved ones. Others have placed their family’s letters on the Web, as have several archives. I think this is an ideal way to give these letters exposure, and the Legacy Project plans to feature many letters not included in this book, due to space limitations, on our own site.
A handful of the letters by the more prominent servicemen and women featured in this book have been quoted in other publications but were cut for length and edited to fix errors in spelling or punctuation. For this book, they are transcribed in their entirety and without revisions. These “mistakes,” I believe, offer glimpses into the personality of the letter writers and the conditions under which they may have been writing. The excerpts of letters featured in this book as chapter epigraphs are also from previously unpublished correspondences. Some writers self-censored their letters, using dashes or underlines to indicate swear words. There are, however, surprisingly few words missing or censored from the letters here, and, unless otherwise noted, the ellipses in the letters are in the originals and were added by the correspondents for stylistic reasons.
The letters are arranged chronologically, except in the occasional case where, for narrative purposes, a letter was placed out of sequence. It was not always possible to discern a letter’s exact date or find out the specific rank or division of the correspondent. The “Extended Correspondence” sections do not necessarily feature letters that are more historic or better written than others; they are merely a series of letters with additional biographical information and a photograph of the correspondent. The purpose of the “Extended Correspondence” is to offer a more detailed portrayal of who these young servicemen and women were.
It was not possible to verify for certain if some of these letters, especially those written during the Civil War, have not appeared in local newspapers a century ago or in a limited-circulation, out-of-print publication. Again, the vast majority of the letters listed in the table of contents can be confirmed never to have been published before, and all the rest are believed to be previously unpublished. All of them were selected for their literary and historical merits, and the decision to use previously unpublished material is to demonstrate, overall, how many exceptional wartime letters are still filed and boxed away in private homes and archives throughout this nation.
Although the letters span almost a hundred and forty years of warfare, there are several omissions—the Indian Wars (as they were called, and which spanned the latter half of the nineteenth century), the Spanish-American War, and the War in the Philippines. They are not featured in this book for one simple reason: The Legacy Project received virtually no letters from these wars. In fact, we received more letters written by Americans recently stationed in Bosnia than letters written during the aforementioned three wars combined. Ideally, I would have preferred to include every war in our nation’s history, beginning with the War of Independence. But here, too, we received very few letters from the American Revolution, the War of 1812, and the Mexican War.
There is, however, a common thread that binds the wars ultimately featured in this collection, and it is the personal and emotional connection Americans feel toward them. It was not surprising to me that most of the letters in this book were sent in by the immediate family members of the 16 million American men and women who served in World War II. I did not expect, however, that many of the World War I letters in this book would come from the the children and even the wives of World War I soldiers, or that two of the Civil War letters would be submitted by the grandchildren of Civil War soldiers—one Union and one Confederate. It is a stunning reminder of how young our country is.
I cannot emphasize enough how grateful I am to the tens of thousands of people who have sent wartime letters to the Legacy Project, regardless of whether or not I was able to publish their letters in this book. I have gotten to know many of these families, and I am honored to call them friends. I offer my sincerest apologies to those whose letters were not included, and I assure them it was only a matter of space limitations.
Speaking of such limitations, it is not possible to list again the individuals who allowed me to use letters for this book, as they are mentioned in the permissions section. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the other individuals who made this book possible:
First and foremost, there would be no book and no Legacy Project if it were not for Jeanne Philips and Abigail Van Buren, who announced the Legacy Project in “Dear Abby” on November 11, 1998. This single column generated our initial avalanche of mail and set this project in motion. Abigail Van Buren, Jeanne, and Olivia “Newt” Vis have been more generous and supportive than I can express, and I will be forever in their debt.
I am also indebted to my agent, Miriam Altshuler, who is, quite simply, the greatest agent an author could hope to have. Miriam’s integrity, sense of humor, thoughtfulness, and encouragement buoyed me every step of the way. Miriam is truly the gold standard of professionalism and friendship, and without her this book never would have been possible.
I am especially grateful to Miriam for finding Scribner and the most phenomenal group of individuals with whom an author could hope to work. Susan Moldow and Nan Graham understood the spirit of this book from its very conception. They recognized that this project represented a personal mission for a great many people, and I will never forget how much they have done to nurture that spirit. I adore them, I respect them, and I truly cannot thank them enough for letting me work with them on this book.
And then there is my personal editor, Gillian Blake. Who doesn’t like me to begin sentences with conjunctions or use sentence fragments for emphasis or repeat phrases for dramatic effect. And who excoriated me vituperatively for my rampant verbosity. In all seriousness, Gillian Blake is one of the most brilliant, beautiful, and creative persons I have ever known. She endured my nervewracking delays with the patience of a saint and brought both heart and intellect to the editing process. Gillian will never know how grateful I am to her for all that she has done for this book and for putting up with me for the past year. Gillian’s wonderful assistant, Rachel Sussman, was also more helpful and more patient with me than I deserved (especially considering my daily barrage of phone calls), and I am seriously beginning to suspect that Rachel is singlehandedly keeping the Simon & Schuster empire together. I am also enormously grateful to Pat Eisemann and Giulia Melucci for all they have done, are doing, and are about to do to help us spread the word about this book. They are truly incredible, and I look forward to working with them on this project and many more.
Along with the opportunity to read all of these exceptional letters, one of the greatest thrills of this project has been meeting, working with, and even becoming friends with people I have seen and admired from afar. Doug Brinkley is not only one of our nation’s greatest historians, he is also one of the most gracious, generous, and thoughtful people I have ever known. Doug directed me to several letters in this book (including the letter by a young Lt. George McGovern), and spent his entire Christmas and New Year’s writing the introduction. Doug would frequently call to just to check in and make sure I was alive, and I hope he knows how much these and a thousand other acts of kindness meant to me. Doug also introduced me to one of my other great heroes, Stephen Ambrose. Doug and Steve have inspired in millions of Americans a love for history, and I certainly count myself as one of those influenced by their passion. I also want to thank the folks at the Eisenhower Center (which Doug directs)—assistant director Kevin R. Willey, Erica L. Whittington, Michael J. Edwards, Matthew M. Ellefson, and Andrew Devreaux. They are a talented and all-around remarkable group of individuals.
When the first strangling sense of fear took hold of me as my deadline for this book loomed, a dear friend and former teacher of mine, John Elko, recommended having one of his students, Jake Jeppson, assist me. Well, if it were not for Jake, this book could not have been completed. Jake transcribed letters, hunted down information for the headnotes, traveled hundreds of miles to gather letters we needed, offered invaluable commentary, and even found, on his own initiative, several of the letters featured in this book. Jake’s intelligence, integrity, discipline, sense of humor, and attention to detail make him not only an ideal assistant, but an exemplary young man. Jake is just graduating from high school, and I know he is going to go far in this world. If Jake is representative of his generation (and I believe he is), I have no fears for the future of this country.
I am also indebted to Deborah Baker, who fostered my passion for letters and helped me with the initial idea for the Legacy Project. Deb was there when it all started, and she has been an extraordinary friend over these past many years.
Several of the best letters in this book came from the U.S. Army Military History Institute at the Carlisle Barracks, and David Keough, Dennis Vetock, and especially Dr. Richard Sommers, were incredibly helpful and hospitable to me when I visited them. The Institute has many of this nation’s greatest wartime letters, and I look forward to continue working with these incredible scholars and archivists.
Most importantly, I am eternally grateful to my mom, dad, brother, and sister-in-law, who could not have been more encouraging and loving, and who were more than understanding about my absence at certain family events and functions as I worked on this book. I am also grateful to my friends, who similarly put up with my overall crankiness, odd working hours, and occasional “disappearances” as I hunkered down to meet one deadline after another. Drinks are on me, fellas.
I am also indebted to the following individuals for all that they have done to make this book and the Legacy Project possible (several of them reviewed the chapters for historical accuracy; since, however, I added letters and headnotes after they reviewed the book, I take full responsibility for the final product): Ted Alexander, the park historian at Antietam National Battlefield, who reviewed the Civil War chapter and has been enormously helpful (I am also grateful to Brian Baracz and Mike Weinstein at Antietam); Meredith Ashley and Thomas “Lud” Ashley for their support and for helping me get a copy of the letter President George Bush wrote as a young lieutenant; Ted Barker at the Korean War Project, who reviewed the Korean War section of the book; Scott Baron, who is the author of a terrific book, They Also Served: Military Biographies of Uncommon Americans (Spartanburg: MIE Publishing, 1998), and who helped me find the Patrick Hitler letter; Peter Bartis, with the Veterans’ Oral History Project at the Library of Congress’s American Folklife Center; Jean Becker, who also helped me with President Bush’s letter and could not have been more gracious; Judy Bellafaire at the Women in Military Service for America Memorial Foundation; Peter Bergman, who saved the day by meticulously typing in the last batch of letters as our deadline loomed; Jean V. Berlin, who is the editor of A Confederate Nurse: The Diary of Ada W. Bacot 1860–1863 (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press) and coeditor, with Brooks D. Simpson, of Sherman’s Civil War: Selected Correspondence of William T. Sherman, 1860–1865 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1999) and who generously found for me a previously unpublished letter by W. T. Sherman; Joseph E. Bles, Inspector General of the Young Marines; Erwin Blonder, whose World War II letter (which I used in a previous book) was influential in creating the Legacy Project; Roy and Susan Boehm for all their help with Roy’s letters; Doug Bradshaw, who helped me respond to the first onslaught of letters the Legacy Project received; Preston Brown for sharing two of his best Sherman letters with me; Mary Lynn McCree Bryan for setting me in the right direction to find the letter by Jane Addams; Margaret Buchholz, who contributed Civil War and World War I letters to the Legacy Project; Christopher Buckley, quite simply one of the greatest people I know, for his support and encouragement; Ronald Bulatoff and Carol Leadenham at the Hoover Institution; Jim Burgess at the Manassas National Battlefield Park; Sylvia Helene Burley, for helping me find letters by African-American servicemen and -women; Chris Calkins at the Petersburg National Battlefield; Richard A. Cameron at the National Historical Publications and Records Commission; Alan Canfora, who is the director of the Kent May 4 Center (www.May4.org), and who sent me the Kent State letters; Doran Cart and Lynn Ward at the Liberty Memorial Museum of World War I; Julia Child and everyone who helped me find her letters: her extremely gracious sister Dorothy Cousins, her biographer Noël Riley Fitch, author of the sensational Appetite for Life: The Biography of Julia Child (New York: Doubleday, 1997), Linda Morrison (who went through Julia Child’s letters for me in Boston), and Elizabeth P. McIntosh, who wrote Sisterhood of Spies: The Women of the OSS (New York: Dell, 1998); Wendy Chmielewski at the Swarthmore College Peace Collection; Jonathan Y. Cole at the Center for the Book at the Library of Congress; Henry S. F. Cooper, who sent me the Edgar Shepard letter; the saintly “Brother” Bruce Cummings and the wonderful “Sister” Sandy Dennison for all their support; Robert J. Corrette, who alerted me to the sensational collection of Civil War letters at the Military History Institute; Richard Danzig, whose kind notes throughout this process were very meaningful to me; Kitty B. Deernose and John Doerner at the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument; Denali DeGraf, a brilliant young student who laboriously typed in many of the letters in this book; Megan Desnoyers at the John Fitzgerald Kennedy Library, who found the John F. Kennedy and Bobbie Lou Pendergrass letters; David Dunckel, who helped me search for Gulf War letters; Bernard Edelman, who found the letter by Bill Hunt in the Persian Gulf War section and who is the editor, himself, of what remains one of the greatest collections of war letters ever assembled, Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam (New York: Pocket Books, 1985); John S. D. Eisenhower, for granting me permission to include his father’s letter; Susan Eisenhower for all of her help and for putting me in touch with Daun van Ee at Johns Hopkins University and with James W. Leyerzapf, who ultimately found the letter by Dwight D. Eisenhower I included; Amy and Kathy Eldon, who shared two of the letters written by Dan Eldon, and who have inspired me more than they will ever know. Kathy also edited The Journey Is the Destination: The Journals of Dan Eldon (San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1997); Robert G. Evans, who lead me to the William Harris Hardy letter; Horace Evers, who has become a dear friend; Duery Felton Jr., who helped me find Richard Luttrell and the letter he left at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial; Leslie Fields at the Morgan Library, who went out of her way to help me find Civil War-era letters; Liz Filler, who shared with me the extraordinary story of her great-uncle; Susan Finta at the Clara Barton National Historic Site; Jeffrey Flannery, at the Manuscripts Division of the Library of Congress and one of our nation’s greatest archivists (not to mention a man to whom I am eternally indebted for all his help); David Fox, a living saint who runs The Immortal Chaplains Foundation (www.immortalchaplains.org) and who helped me get in touch with Theresa Goode Kaplan (another person dear to my heart); Mary Folsom, who helped me find the remarkable Frank Conwell letter; Karen Fortner at Levenger for supporting the Legacy Project from its very beginning; John Gable, director of the Theodore Roosevelt Association, who graciously sent me the historic letter by Theodore Roosevelt; Jimmy Gaines, who delivers the mail at my building and always looks out for me; Brad Gernand at the Library of Congress; Jeff Giamborn at the Vicksburg Old Court House Museum; Patricia W. Gianneschi and her son Matthew for the William Byron letters; Hill Goodspeed at the National Museum of Naval Aviation; Philip Gourevitch, who wrote about the Immortal Chaplains in the New Yorker and put me in touch with David Fox; Bernice M. Grudzinski, Debra Beyerlein, and Gregory Grudzinski for the historic Tojo letter; Peggy Haile, city historian of Norfolk, Virginia; Shane T. Hamilton and Kathleen Wach at Miller & Chevalier, who very generously provided the Legacy Project with pro bono legal advice when we were just starting; Margot Hartmann, my wonderful aunt, who sends me letters and newspaper clippings on all sorts of issues of importance to me (and who understands how much I, too, miss Frank Hartmann—a true war hero); historian Rick Hatcher, who led me to the Marcus Morton letter; Philip Himberg at Sundance; Olivia Hines in Miriam Altshuler’s office; Tony Hiss, who sent me the complete copy of the letter his father, Alger, wrote from prison; Nathan and Evelyn Hoffman, whom I love and admire, and who have essentially become my adopted grandparents; Bob Huddleston, who singlehandedly found the historic letter by Samuel Cabble and graciously provided me with additional information about Cabble; Terry A. Johnston Jr., who is the editor of the sensational book Him on One Side and Me on the Other: The Civil War Letters of Alexander Campbell and James Campbell (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1999) and who went out of his way to help me find previously unpublished Civil War letters; Mary-Virginia Jones at the Virginia Historical Society; David Kennedy at Dan Curtis Productions, who has been supportive of this project from day one and has been a rock of friendship throughout; Robert Kenner, Paul Taylor, and Melissa Adelson, who are putting together the documentary for American Experience (to air November 2001) based on the Legacy Project and who helped me select many letters in this book; Carolyn Kingston, granddaughter of Major Edward Ball Cole, and Mary Sayward Cole, the daughter-in-law of Major Cole, whose thoughtful conservation of his letters was the source of the letter dated April 22, 1918; Thomas Knoles at the American Antiquarian Society; John Kremer, who contributed the letter by John Steinbeck; Robert E. L. Krick at the Richmond National Battlefield Park; Betsy Kuhn, who is the author of Angels of Mercy: The Army Nurses of World War II (New York: Athaneum Books, 1999), and who helped me find that gripping letter by Vera Rieck; Bob Leahy, who contributed an incredible letter and reviewed the Vietnam War section for me; Donna Lehmann at the Gerald R. Ford Library, who found the Graham Martin cables; Vickie Lewis, who edited the wonderful book Side-by-Side: A Photographic History of American Women at War (New York: Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 1999); Judy Barrett Litoff, who has done more to find and preserve war letters written by women than anyone else; Brian Lipson at Endeavor, who understood the spirit of this book and project from the beginning and who connected the Legacy Project with PBS’s American Experience; Christina Lowery at the History Channel, who has done two sensational documentaries based on wartime letters and has been incredibly helpful in more ways than she will ever know; Ellin Martens, who singlehandedly helped us bring in hundreds of extraordinary letters; Helen Matthews at the Atlanta History Center; Jessica Mathewson at the American Foundation for the Blind; Yvette Mayo and everyone else at the post office where we have our PO box number; Toshiko McCallum at the Japanese American National Museum; Adrienne McGrath, who sent me a letter by her husband which is one of the most dramatic I have ever seen; James M. McPherson, one of the greatest Civil War historians alive, for offering me ideas on where to look for letters; Kirke Mechem (musician/composer extraordinaire) for putting me in touch with Larry Lawrence, chairman of the John Brown Society, who told me about the Aaron Dwight Stevens letters at the Morgan Library; Harry Miller, who shared with me several of the best Vietnam War letters at the State Historical Society of Wisconsin; Patricia Morse, who helped me with Maxine Meyers’ letters; Barbara and Opal Nestingen; Lisa Newman and Eric Rosenthal for all their support and encouragement, and especially Lisa, who has helped the Legacy Project spread the word about its mission; Frank Niader, who sent in some exceptional letters to the Legacy Project and put me in touch with the Gold Star Mothers; Michael and Elizabeth Norman, author of an incredible book, We Band of Angels: The Untold Story of American Nurses Trapped on Bataan by the Japanese (New York: Random House, 1999); Julia Oehmig for transcribing Joshua Chamberlain’s almost indecipherable handwriting; Betsy Paradis at the University of Maine’s Fogler Library; Ben and Robert Patton; Jeanne Penfold, at the American Gold Star Mothers, who introduced me to Theresa Davis; David O. Percy at the South Carolina Historical Society; Donald C. Pfanz at the Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park; Cristy and Ray Pfeiffer, who run Historic Tours and who put me in touch with Gary Powers Jr.; Carolyn Ponte, for sending me the letter by Charles McCallister; Nancy Pope at the Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum; Colin Powell and everyone who helped me find his letters: Peggy Cifrino and Bill Smullen in the general’s office, Susan Lemke at the National Defense University, and his son, Michael; Francis Gary Powers Jr., who not only let me publish his father’s letter from Moscow, but helped me look for other extraordinary Cold War-era letters. Gary started the nonprofit Cold War Museum (www.coldwar.org), which is actively seeking out items from this historical period, and he also operates “spy” tours in Washington, D.C.; Alfred Puntesecca, the man most responsible for the extraordinary letter by “Leon” in the Korean War chapter; Pam Putney and Ellen Wingard for their love and support, which has meant more to me than I can express; Steve Robinson, producer extraordinaire, who did a first-rate radio documentary based on war letters he acquired in Nebraska (two of which appear in this book) and also very generously put me in touch with Studs Terkel, to whom I am also enormously grateful; Joe “Buck” Rogers, my friend and neighbor (and World War II veteran) who read through several chapters for me; Chris Scheer at the Veterans Administration, who offered us his encouragement, guidance, and wisdom when the Legacy Project was just starting; H. Norman Schwarzkopf and his very helpful (and very kind) assistant Lynn Williams; Hunter Scott and his family for their assistance with the USS Indianapolis story; Jan Steinman for the Elijah Beeman quote; James O. Stinson, who sent me the wonderful Bob Brown letter mentioned in the introduction; Emma Sweeney, who generously shared her fathers’ letters and has become a dear friend; Sam Tanenhaus, who is the author of Whittaker Chambers: A Biography (New York: Random House, 1997) and who went out of his way to help me find the letter by Whittaker Chambers; Donald E. Thies, who alerted me to the collection of Vietnam War letters at the State Historical Society of Wisconsin; Anne Tramer, a dear friend and the person who, in so many ways, was instrumental in starting the Legacy Project; Aileen Tu at the Japanese American National Museum; Dan Welch, not only for letting me use his phenomenal Desert Storm letter, but for reviewing the section on the Persian Gulf War; John Weisman, who put me in touch with Roy Boehm, the “father” of the U.S. Navy SEALS; William C. Westmoreland and everyone who helped me find his letter: Mrs. Westmoreland, their son, Rip, and Herbert J. Hartsook at the University of South Carolina’s South Caroliniana Library; Joe Williams at the Appomattox Court House; Kathleen Williams, who is the web site producer at A&E’s History Channel and included us on their site (www.historychannel.com/dearhome), and who also helped me find Tom Shaffer’s letters (and Tom, himself); Rob Wilson, who is the director of the exemplary Veterans Education Project in Amherst, Massachusetts, and who sent me the Fritz Schnaittacher letter; Eugene Winick and Matt McGowan at MacIntosh & Otis, for their assistance with the John Steinbeck letter; David F. Winkler at the Naval Historical Foundation; Terrence J. Winschel at the Vicksburg National Military Park; Albert H. Wunsch III, who has contributed numerous exceptional Civil War correspondence to the Legacy Project and is a true man of letters, himself; Mitchell Yockelson, reference archivist at the National Archives; James W. Zobel at the MacArthur Memorial Archives; and a special thanks to Margie Myrick for the William Harris Hardy letter.
For the afterword, I would like to thank Syd Brisker, Sandy Mitten, Don Odom, Bill Wilhoit, and D. Michael Van De Veer for their letters and Rye Barcott and Salim Mohamed for their e-mails. I would also like to thank: Terry Baxter, who put me in touch with Professor Yuzuru J. Takeshita, who provided the Ritsuko Kawano letter; John P. Coyne, editor of www.peacecorpswriters.org, who found the D. Michael Van De Veer letter; Katherine DaCosta, who sent me the “Dear Butterfly” letter; Dale Leslie French, who sent me the Nye Moses and Bill Wilhoit letter; Jon and Paul Guttman, who provided me with the Robert Guttman letter; Suzanne Kerr Wright and Gladys B. Larrabee, who found the Russell Helie letter; James Sackett, who provided the “Dear Mr. Lincoln” letter; Philip and Betty C. Tibbs for providing the Howard A. Tibbs letter; Jill Tubbs for putting me in touch with Don Odom; Gregory R. Wessel, who found the “Sergey” letter; and Dr. Richard Zeitlin at the Wisconsin Veterans Museum, who put me in touch with Sandy Mitten.