War Letters, World War II

The best examples of Kansas war correspondence during World War II came from the Pacific Theater of Operations. John Martin provided us with two letters, including a sample of his V-mail, sent to his uncle. V-mail was one of the innovations new at the time. Service personnel were provided with V-mail stationery. After the writer wrote out his letter on the stationery, the letter would go to censors to check for any classified, confidential, or secret information. Any letters bearing information that was considered "classified" or higher was painted over. Then the V-mail stationery was sent to a microfilmer, who would film hundreds of letters at a time. A small and light-weight roll of microfilm (containing hundreds of letters) could be easily flown to the United States, where the film was developed, and the letters projected onto photo-sensitive paper for copying. Then copied pages were inserted into envelopes and sent to the addressee.

Also included in this collection is a series of three letters from or concerning Navy Ensign Paul Ramsey Stephens, a pilot whose plane crashed in July of 1945. His last letter to his parents, a telegram from the Navy, and a letter written by Paul's father (written to Paul in the hopes that he might still be alive) are found here. It seems that Harry T. Stephens, Paul's father, wrote this letter as a form of therapy, helping him deal with the loss of his son.

In the case of World War II, the best and most graphic descriptions of war are seldom found in letters. In keeping with the needs of wartime secrecy, the good stuff was almost always censored out (a loose lip could sink a ship). Knowing better than to write about things they knew would be censored, servicemen instead wrote about how much they missed their loved ones. The best primary source documentation from combatants appears in memoirs, written after the fact. This collection includes no examples from the European Theater of Operations, as the letters from ETO participants (in the K.S.H.S. manuscript collections) did not include any noteworthy material.

Kansas War Letters Online

• "Bleeding Kansas"
• Civil War
• Indian Campaigns
• Spanish American War
• World War I
• Korean War
• Vietnam Conflict
• Gulf War

For more information concerning Kansas history and the resources at the Kansas Historical Society, contact the Library Reference Desk, 785-272-8681, ext. 117. People interested in donating letters, memoirs, manuscripts, or photographs should contact Nancy Sherbert, 785-272-8681, ext. 303. People interested in donating museum objects should contact Blair Tarr, ext. 427.

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