Timeless Love Letters

Letters of World War II: A Love Story. Colleen Sawyer, October 22, 2016.

The social isolation spurred by COVID-19 has prompted many to employ the long-lost art of letter writing. Hand-written letters possess a thrill upon receipt that an email or a text cannot match. The act of opening the envelope and then holding the paper or card that your friend, relative, or lover recently touched has a visceral power and attraction.

For the men and women deployed in the military, letters have long been a vital connection to the home-front and a welcome respite from the drudgery and horror of war. In the Coffee & Conversation linked above and below from October 22, 2016, Colleen Sawyer describes the spirited love letters exchanged between her mother and father. Between the years of 1942 and 1945, her father, George Sawyer, and her mother, Jane Remer, exchanged many, many letters with each other and their discourse blossomed into love. Sawyer was deployed in North Africa and Italy during World War II, and it was clear through these letter that his relationship “on paper” with Remer was the beating heart of his persistence in the face of difficulty and boredom.

Learn more about this fascinating story and perhaps be motivated to write letters to your loved ones by watching the video linked here or above.

This charcoal drawing depicts an American soldier writing a letter home during the Great War (World War I).
Source: Benda, Wladyslaw T. , Artist. Soldier Writing Letter
. Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/2010715107/>.