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July 1943. "Greenville, South Carolina. Air Service Command. Writing a letter home." Photo by Jack Delano for the Office of War Information. View full size.
No ashtrays in the barracks then or now.
Later he would receive a letter from his best girl with the above salutation. He was totally devastated until a buddy told him "please don't carry on this way, your name isn't John".
Little does the young man realize, but his best gal back home whom he's been going steady with since ninth grade has already fallen into the arms of his best friend, Jody. Due to the wartime slowness of the postal system, he won't get the "Dear John" letter for at least another week.
Still a whole lot better than moving through Sicily at the time.
That pen is an Eversharp Skyline, one of the most popular fountain pen models of the 1940's. It was designed by Henry Dreyfuss, the same guy who designed various classic American products like the 500 desk phone and the Trimline phone, the Polaroid SX-70 Land Camera, the 1939 Westclox Big Ben alarm clock, and other iconic stuff. The pen has a pretty distinctive tapered dome shape to the cap that you can spot a mile away.
In 1943 when I was four years old I went with my parents to Greenville, SC to see Uncle Buck before he shipped out to the Pacific. My mother told me much later that they knew several boys who had been killed and buried out there and were concerned they'd never see him again. He was stationed on Guam in support of the B-29s.
is an Eversharp Skyline manufactured by Wahl-Eversharp. A great example of Mid-Century modernism/streamlining. I have quite a collection, and they are great writers as they utilize the Wahl nib design that had been around for quite some time.
cigarette butt on the deck. Drop and give me 25 soldier.
This was in a wooded area adjacent to the Greenville Municipal Airport. The Air Service Command area was set up to give different aviation support units training on living and working in rough forward, remote and unimproved areas overseas. It was administered to and supported by the 35th Sub-Depot Squadron at the nearby Greenville Army Air Base.
He looks like that young private in every war movie who shows everybody a picture of his sweetheart back home and explains how they're getting married just as quick as they can. Even as the hearts of experienced moviegoers sink: No way you're making it home, kid.
I hope this young man came through the war safe and well; he has a strikingly sweet and open face.
Looks to me like this young man hasn't been there all that long. His sleeves are slick and he hasn't got sense enough not to grind out a cigarette on his barracks floor.
He looks like a young Gomer Pyle and I would bet that he is writing in cursive, a skill that seems to be disappearing.
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