Saving Private Ryan, 57:40 ©Dreamworks Pictures and Paramount Pictures
I’ve met with any number of book clubs where someone remarked how little they knew about French forced labor during WWII before hearing Marcel’s story (…hey, me too, sister. Me too!) A number of readers have also remarked that — now that they know more about what happened to conscripted French civilians — they’ve ‘picked up’ on references to it while reading other books.
Who doesn’t enjoy a pictogram? You know what that is: it’s where a picture represents a word, concept, or instruction. Gosh, I remember having so much fun with those kinds of books as a kid (…a big shout-out to the Verona Public Library, where, as a kid, I’d check out books by the armful).READ MORE
Saturday, October 10, 1942
.
My dear Mom,
.
Today no letter from you, but a package for which I thank you very much: a padlock, Felisedine, slippers, hard candies, envelopes, a blanket, in short, everything that was written on the little paper inside, everything except the ‘Comedia’ that you may have taken out at the last minute.
If that’s the case, you were right, for the reading of ’Echo de Nancy’ is enough for me. Again, thank you but please do not deprive yourself of anything for me, for I don’t need anything else and I wouldn’t fear asking you if I did. So please don’t go without something for my comfort, promise?
Elbing, July 2, 1944
Dear Madame and Monsieur Roland,
I received your kind letter [which] gave me great pleasure to have your news and information about the arrival of Roland. Thank you very much for the information about the [unclear] young lady. I’m in good spirits, don’t worry.
People often ask whether I’m still actively searching for information on Marcel. People seem disappointed when I tell them I am not trying to find additional information on his life or his time in the Berlin-Marienfelde labor camp. I feel I have enough information to understand who he was and what he may have experienced. And I believe that even if I were to find additional documents (or letters!) it would not fundamentally change the man I came to know: a kind and loving husband and father.READ MORE
Photos: Pack O’ Good Nights by Onolee Jones, Wetzel Publishing, 1943
For men* shipped abroad during WWII, this book was meant as a keepsake they could leave at the bedside of their beloved. It’s small—just 4.5″ wide x 2,75″ tall—and its 86 pages are filled with night-time wishes, words of love and prayers the war would soon be over.READ MORE
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Earlier this year I received an email from a man named David Hoople, who was writing from his home in Maine. After reading Marcel’s Letters he was so struck by similarities in our stories that he felt compelled to reach out. “The parallels to my project were inspiring,” he wrote. David went on to explain he had been transcribing the letters his father, Ted, mailed home while serving in the 10th Mountain Division during WWII. Similar to my search for information on Marcel, David’s journey to understand his father’s experience involved carefully piecing together information from handwritten letters, a trip abroad, and a remarkable encounter at the top of Mt. Croce—one of those goosebump-inducing moments that just might make you believe in divine meddling.READ MORE
C. H. Brandt
Chambersburg
RR6 (Pennsylvania)
August 12, 1945
Dear Family,
Hello folks & how are all of you this fine Sunday. Just fine I hope as that is the way I feel.
Mr. and Mrs. Albert Roumieu
Bar sur Loup, close to Grasse, Maritime Alps, France
Ludwigshofen, June 2, 1944
My very dear parents,
I’m sending you these few words to share some of my news. First of all, I can tell you that we are all in good health and I hope that this letters will find you the same, my dear parents, as well as the Fécaud and Giordamanga families. READ MORE
Saturday, May 6, 1944
Dear little Alice,
I received your two letters of April 5 and 12. I’m confirming it to you, in case you didn’t receive my letter from Buching [?]. READ MORE
Mr. and Mrs. Albert Roumieu
Bar sur Loup, close to Grasse, Maritime Alps, France
Ludwigshofen, January 21, 1944
My very dear parents,
I have just received several letters dated December 20, 23, 25 and January 1 that pleased me very much, for they brought me your good news and I can see that your health is good, and I can tell you that it’s the same for all of us.READ MORE
November 2, 1944
Dear Madame,
I am sending this little card to give you some of my news that is still very good and to announce to you that I have become a free prisoner several days ago. READ MORE
Envelope
Miss Elza Delbovier
106 avenue Nouvelle
Brussels 4 [unclear]
Belgium
Full-page Letter
My dear Els,
You will undoubtedly receive this letter before the one that I mailed on Monday the 21st [unclear]. I apologize thousands of times for such a delay in writing to you. I would really not want you to be upset about this.READ MORE
June 12, 1944
My dear mom, my dear dad, my little sister Rolande..READ MORE
Letter 52
Wednesday, 13th May, 1942
1887416 Sgt. Leigh AA, RE
Transportation
Headquarters
Sudan
My Darling Sweetheart,
How long it is since I last wrote you. I don’t know but it is longer than it should have been. I am extremely sorry to keep you of all people waiting but I am sure you must know and realise that I have an excellent reason, so please forgive me darling. I must confess that I have been frightfully busy and working hard in the intense heat produces a tiredness which hinders all attempts to write but the smallest of letters. Since my precious you are worth far more to me than a few scrappy lines I just wait my opportunity. READ MORE
May 3, 1944
My beloved little darling wife,
I am happy tonight because I have mail like a notary clerk—nine letters in two days, not all from you, of course, but still, I have four—from March 23, March 26, April 2 and April 13. READ MORE
My dear Dad,
I’m writing to you hoping that you received all my cards in spite of the problems with the mail.READ MORE
Lafond–La Rochelle
April 1, 1944
Dear Mom,
Yesterday there was beautiful sunshine and today, for April Fish, we have grey weather and fine rain. Tomorrow night Gaston will take the train, and after tomorrow noon he will go see you for sure. It seems to me you come back at noon or 12:30.READ MORE
