I have always strongly believed that everyone should keep a journal. I believe that pictures, letters, and now, conversation e-mails should be kept. Everyone is creating their own personal history each day, their own legacy. Whether you are young or old, married or single, with or without children, your life story needs to be captured for those who come after you. Before you balk at this thought, think of where we would be as a people if those who came before us had not written down their thoughts and experiences? There would be no history books and we sure wouldn't know a whole heck of a lot.
I love touching the past just as much as I enjoy the present and look forward to the future.
This last week I received a package on my doorstep. When I saw the package on my porch I wondered what it was for. There was no special holiday and it was not my birthday.
Ben Bell
After carefully opening the small but heavy box, I realized I was the proud caretaker of an incredible treasure. Here neatly packaged were letters written between my grandmother and grandfather during World War II while he was serving in the US Navy. Over 400 letters to be exact. So many thoughts ran through my head, but I will tell you, I am so thankful that they not only wrote letters to each other but that they saved them. How cool is that?! These letters are a window into the day to day life of my grandparents, most likely their love, concern, and struggles, during an important time in our nations history. This is a piece of our heritage.
I remember my grandfather talking about these letters. For years they were stored in the attic. He wanted to throw them away because he didn't see any reason to keep storing them. My grandmother wouldn't allow it. In 2003 a few years after my grandmother died he took them down from the attic and read them. He said he was so thankful that they were not thrown away. Reading them brought great comfort now that she was gone. Now that both of them are gone (my grandfather passed away a few years ago) I will take great comfort in getting to know them better, through their letters.
Among the letters was my Grandfather's American Legion hat. What surprised me was that it said "Pearl Harbor" on it. I remember talking with my grandfather about his service and I knew he worked in supply, doing things like mending clothes etc. But he never said he served at Pearl Harbor (he was not there for the attack). All of the letters are addressed to "FPO Navy 128, San Francisco, California." After some quick research I found that this address was one of the many "secret" addresses the military used. FPO Navy 128, San Fransisco, California was a code address for "Pearl Harbor." I wish my grandfather were still alive so I could ask him more questions but for now I'm thrilled and content with reading the letters.
I recognize that these are not really "my" letters, but they belong to each of the grandchildren. I will just be the keeper over them at this time. My hope is to make copies in a bound record for each of the grandchildren should they want them (once I get my mind wrapped around how to do that with that many letters).
I don't think they ever thought that their letters would mean so much to their posterity, either way "Thanks grandpa and grandma for saving this part of your history!!!"
Food for thought .... What are you leaving for those that come after you?
