Letters
In arrived in the mail
For many families, grief first arrived through letters. Fellow soldiers, nurses, and aid workers attempted to explain loss, preserve personality, and provide comfort across great distance.
Imagine opening an envelope and finding a life summarized in ink. What would you look at first?
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Letter, Thomas F. Darcy Jr. Writing home for the dead. Letters from nurses, soldiers, and officers became memorials themselves – preserving bravery, humor, friendship, and the final moments families could never witness firsthand. Transcription : Germany Jan 2-18...
Letter, Captain M.C. Rudolph
What would you want someone to say about you after your death?
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She attended the funeral for them. Red Cross workers sometimes became witnesses, mourners, and messengers for families separated from loved ones by an ocean and a war. American Red Cross volunteer Madeline Thomas wrote this letter to Private James McCabe’s famil...
Private McCabe was seriously wounded in battle in late April 1918 and sent to Base Hospital 23 to recover. Though he survived nearly two months, he died from his injuries in July 1918. He was first buried at the hospital cemetery and was later moved to the Meuse...