November 2007 25
This was one of a number of large hos-
pitals specially built in 1940-1942 for
recovery, convalescence and rehabili-
tation of soldiers injured in battle. On
the other side of the correspondence,
the soldier/sailor also worried about his
wife for many reasons. Sometime, it
was a really good reason, such as when
she was pregnant. The envelope in Fig-
ure 5 was mailed in December 1944
from a cook at Box 1663, Santa Fe New
Mexico. This was (and still is in 2007)
the “secret” address for the Los Alamos
Laboratory. It was founded and run by
the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dur-
Figure 3 was mailed in July 1945 from a Merchant Mariner to his wife,
ing World War II as a secret, central-
who was one of the many wives and families affected by the domestic
ized facility to coordinate the scientific
housing shortage during the war
research of the Manhattan Project, the
.
Allied project to develop the first
forts to send, receive and deliver mail to and from the
nuclear weapons. In this letter, the soldier writes ex-
soldiers and sailors. In letters that have survived, ev-
pressing his concerns about her well being, “I hope
eryone talks of the “normal”things in life—, how are
you are feeling as good as can be expected these
the crops, I miss the weather, did you hear from/about
days….How about things at work? Still doing nice
John, etc. On top of these things, married couples
easy work upstairs like you have been honey?” This
would express their sentiments, desires and concerns
for each other. Uppermost in everyone’s mind, but
rarely spoken about unless there
was a clear and present need was
the physical safety of the spouse.
Based on total personnel in service
and the total causalities, on aver-
age 1 out of 15 GI’s was killed or
wounded. Clearly the odds were
higher in some branches (subma-
rine service) or locations (any
beach landing) than others. Figure
4 shows an envelope sent from a
wife to her husband who had been
wounded and was hospitalized in
England in November 1944. By
the time this surface mail 1
st
class
letter arrived at the military hos-
pital (almost 30 days), the soldier
had “Returned to United States
…POE APO New York 17 NY”.
After the letter traveled back to the
US (another 30 days), the NY Port
APO directory service forwarded
Figure 4 shows an envelope sent from a wife to her husband who had been
the letter to Lovell General Hos-
wounded and was hospitalized in England in November 1944. By the time this
pital, at Fort Devens, MA, about surface mail 1
st
class letter reached the addressee, it had taken 60 days to
30 miles from the soldier’s home.
travel overseas and back.
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