In Tim O’Brien’s novel, one of the things a soldier carried was a packet of letters. A letter can so clearly evoke a living, breathing person—somehow the intimate format captures the writer and a moment in time in a way that no history book or newspaper headline can.
Letters written home from soldiers might be lost forever, but fortunately many projects and exhibits have preserved these ephemeral writings. Here’s how you can read soldiers’ letters online and in books.
The NEA project Operation Homecoming began in 2004 to “gather the writing of servicemen and women and their families who have participated in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan”. PBS developed a video version of Operation Homecoming and their website includes a smattering of letters to read online.
Check Sno-Isle's catalog to order the book Operation Homecoming : Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Home Front, in the words of U.S. troops and their families, edited by Andrew Carroll. Sno-Isle also owns the 60 minute PBS video, under the title, Operation Homecoming: writing the wartime experience.
Founded in 1998, the Legacy Project
The website features links to many online collections of letters, including those held at the Gilder Lehrman Insitute of American History, letters featured in the PBS documentary, War Letters, correspondence featured in the History Channel documentary, Dear Home, and letters from an exhibit by the National Postal Museum.
The Legacy Project has also published several collections of letters written by soldiers that are available in Sno-Isle Libraries. Try searching the catalog for these titles:
Grace Under Fire : letters of faith in times of war edited by Andrew Carroll
Behind the Lines : powerful and revealing American and foreign war letters--and one man's search to find them edited by Andrew Carroll
War Letters : extraordinary correspondence from American wars edited by Andrew Carroll.
Ruth Griffith
Adult Services Librarian
Sno-Isle Libraries
Adult Services Librarian
Sno-Isle Libraries
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