30 Whole Number 227
was their first opportunity to plan and make
a life together. For others, it was the oppor-
tunity to start again. Figure 11 illustrates a
free mail cover and its contents. Mailed by
the soldier/groom from his stateside train-
ing base, it is a wedding announcement sent
out by the newlywed couple. The bride is
referred to as “Mrs.” with a different last
name from the groom. It is reasonable to
assume that this woman was a war widow
and was fortunate to find another chance for
romance in her life. For those who had parts
of their life postponed by military service,
it was also a time of homecomings and re-
unions. Figure 12 is free 1
st
class mail from
a homebound husband to his wife. The sol-
dier was temporarily located at Camp Lucky
Strike, one of the overseas “cigarette”
camps. Once France had been liberated in
1944-45, the U.S. Army established a series
of staging area camps near Le Havre and
combat assembly camps near Reims. The
wartime plan had incoming units first pass
through staging camps, move to the combat
assembly areas, and then to the front. The
staging-area camps were named after vari-
ous brands of American cigarettes; such as
Lucky Strike and Chesterfield; the assem-
bly area camps were named after American
cities, such as Camp Atlanta and Camp Bal-
Figure 10 presents an enlarged V-mail letter used as a wedding
timore. Referring to the camps without an
announcement in December 1944. Most wedding details made it past
indication of their geographical location was
the censor, except for who gave away the bride.
designed to confuse the enemy about loca-
and the more con-
centrated efforts
in the Pacific The-
ater, war with Ja-
pan was also not
likely to last more
than another year.
With the end of
the fighting on the
horizon, people
wanted to stop
thinking about
and start actually
doing things to
achieve their post-
war future. For
Figure 11 illustrates a free mail cover and its contents of a wedding announcement. The bride is
some couples, it
referred to as “Mrs.” with a different last name from the groom, and she possibly was a young
war widow with another chance for romance in her life.
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