The beginning

August 14, 2007

Where to begin?

Well when I was younger, most likely between the ages of 10 and 12 my grandma Bien and I sat down at the dining room table at her house on Columbia Street and she took out packets of letters. They were the letters that my grandpa had written to her and she had written to him during World War II. She wanted to share them with me and to show me in particular these cartoons that a soldier stationed with my grandpa had drawn during the time they were stationed together. I was young then and I can only remember snippets of what she told me. Turns out that I was the only one that she ever told much about these letters and the cartoons. What I wouldn’t give for having had a tape recorder that day when I look back now.

In recent years I have been bugging my dad, who has these letters in his basement, to let me see them again. They’ve been there since my grandma passed away almost 10 years ago. For some reason today, most likely brought on by my only remaining grandpa’s passing this past week, I begged him to take me to find the letters so that I could start what I dreamed to be a big project. After dinner he obliged, most likely thinking that this would keep me busy for awhile and not have me home alone sitting bored while Eric is away with work.

We went to the basement and found boxes and boxes and boxes. Actually not that many but it seemed like a lot. It took us a good half an hour to find the box. He was sure it was a clear plastic box. While he dug around the shelves I tore (figuratively, literally I was really careful!) through the other boxes turning over every photo I could get my hands on to see who the photos were of, desperately trying to learn more about my grandparents, of whom I know very little. You see, my dad and uncle know very little about their parents and grandparents subsequently I know even less. In a way, these letters, that seem to span from 1941 to 1945 are all that might tell me about even a tiny part of their lives. I can’t wait to dive in.

Dad finally decided that enough was enough for one night and that, having found the box of letters, I had more than enough to keep me busy for awhile. I agreed and with a huge smile and lots of anticipation, he drove me home.

Here I sit at my dining room table with two boxes before me. One is the clear plastic box of letters that only once I opened did I discover that they are in some semblance of order (making my first mission of putting them in order much easier). I picked up one letter that was at the top. This one was out of order – it’s from July 1944, according to the postmark.

I know to a lot of people these letters might not seem important. But to me they’re liked a treasure chest full of possibility. From these letters I have the chance to get to know my grandparents. That’s something really special. Something that I can’t quite put into words tonight.

I also found a plastic baggy full of letters (after this evening I discovered that grandma Bien LOVED to put things in plastic baggies). I picked out the letter that seemed to be on top of the stack.

This is what it said:

April 27, 1991

Dear Sons,
I started to reread these letters today with the idea that I would read them all and throw them away – so I read these your dad wrote me after he went into the service of our Country. I tore them up but I couldn’t throw them away. So I spent hours putting them back together hoping some time when you are older and have time on your hands you will read them. Maybe you will understand your Dad better and see just a few of the things he went through those years and for many months I was still a bride.
I want you to know that your Dad was a great man in spite of some of his Crazy ways.
I truly love him more to-day than way back then 50 years ago.
He died loving us all so very much and I can go on living until my time comes to be with him again.

I love you both so very much,
Mother



I feel like I am about to embark on some sort of grand adventure. Whatever these letters hold will be exciting for me, for my Dad, my brother, my cousin, aunt and uncle.

My plan is write about my journey through these letters – what I find out, what they make me think of, what I can piece together about my ancestry through them. There are also photos. Though not many of them are labeled I can deduce some things from some of them and I am hopeful that I will be able to figure even more out as I read along. The other half of my grand plan is to create some sort of book with scans of these letters and photos so that my brother Mike and my cousin Megan (and me) will be able to always have these as a part of our own histories. And so that they can share them with their children. And so on. I want us to have some sort of legacy to see and to share.

We’ll see what happens….