Height x Width: 5 3/16 x 4 1/4 in. (13.18 x 10.8 cm)
Type:
Covers & Associated Letters
Place of Destination:
Connecticut
Place of Origin:
ITALY (republic)
Place:
United States of America
Date:
April 3, 1945
Description:
This V-Mail facsimile letter was sent by Private Edward C. Franklin at APO 34 (this APO was located in Anzio, Italy as of letter's date April 3,1945) to Reverend Floyd S. Leach in Norton, Connecticut.
Pvt. Franklin describes in his message some of the vagaries of wartime mail: "I hope you can read this after microfilming - I am writing by a candle, and my pen doesn't feed very well. A box came for me from Mar 27th, from Stamford, which was mailed Oct. 10th to the same address your cake was - so let's not despair! Fruit cake lasts well - (and makes a big hit with my buddies!)."
The facsimile, the military’s term for the V-Mail photographic print produced from enlargement of 16 mm microfilm, measured one-quarter the size of the original letter sheet. Depending on the equipment and staffing available at the V-Mail stations around the globe, the facsimiles were either prepared by John Dickinson & Co. machinery (also used for the British Airgraph service) or individually cut, folded, inserted into envelopes, and sealed by hand.
References:
Annual Report of the Postmaster General for the Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 1943. Washington, DC: United States Government Printing Office, 1944.
Cosentini, George. “Modern Commentary: V-Mail Notes.” The United States Post Office in World War II: The U.S. Government’s Classic ‘A Wartime History of the Post Office Department’ in a New Illustrated Edition with Modern Commentaries. Ed. Lawrence Sherman. Chicago: The Collectors Club of Chicago, 2002.
United States Army Service Forces. Adjutant General’s Office. Army Postal Service During World War II. December 31, 1945.
United States Post Office Department. A Wartime History of the Post Office Department: World War II 1939-1945. Washington, DC: Post Office Department, 1951.
Walker, Frank S. “Mail Service for Our Armed Forces.” The Postal Bulletin Vol. 63 No. 18450 (June 15, 1942): 1-5.
