My Father and Uncle spent two Christmases in the South Pacific area, during WWII. During the time of their service, Mother received many letters and V-Mail cards, from them. The letters my Father wrote, in his beautiful Palmer Method handwriting, on thin "onion skin" paper, were laced with tiny rectangles, showing where words had been cut away. All mail was heavily censored during the war. I have some of those letters and a V-Mail card or two. The V-Mail Christmas card, shown in the above photograph, was sent from my Uncle Ernie, to my Mother. I looked for a date with a magnifying glass, but could find none. I believe it was sent in 1943 or 1944. I've photographed it with ornaments, from the same era.My friend, Amber, Blue Mango Creations, mentioned the song, "I'll Be Home For Christmas", in a comment she left on my Silent Night post. Ironically, just after I read her comment, J found the V-Mail card, while looking through old albums. "I'll Be Home For Christmas" was recorded by Bing Crosby in 1943. It's a beautiful song, that resonates with the same meaning today, as it did over 60 years ago.
During the planning and writing of this post, I've shed tears for those long ago Soldiers, who served our country and for our Troops, serving today. Many will be away from home at Christmas 2007. Our thoughts and prayers are with these brave men and women.
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I'm dreamin' tonight of a place I love
Even more than I usually do
And although I know it's a long road back
I promise you...
I'll be home for Christmas
You can count on me
Please have snow and mistletoe
And presents under the tree.
Christmas Eve will find me
Where the love-light gleams
I'll be home for Christmas
If only in my dreams.
~Recorded by Bing Crosby-1943~
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My thanks to Amber for the beautiful inspiration for this post.
**Mail was censored, for security reasons. It was thought a word or phrase might disclose important locations or maneuvers. My Father wrote several letters to Mother, trying to let her know, my Uncle Ernie had been located and was okay. In the end she "read between the lines".
***Clicking on Amber's name will take you to her site. Clicking on V-Mail will take you to the Postal Museum site, for more information about V-Mail.