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Major General Norman “Dutch” Cota, commander of of 28th Infantry Division, accepts Christmas cookies from one of his men.
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https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...bourg001-1.jpg
Major General Norman “Dutch” Cota, commander of of 28th Infantry Division, accepts Christmas cookies from one of his men.
My wife sent me a banana loaf overseas once...arrived about two weeks later through the military post office to an arid 40 Celsius climate... The entire loaf was blue in color. I was heartbroken...
Thats pretty awful Jim as I cannot imagine just how much deployed troops look forward to "mail call"
From my personal experience some 50 years and three or four wars for some poor sods ago in the days 'snail mail' and long before e-mail, Skye, and Sat phones, it can be defined alternatively by two words: 'joyful' and 'disappointing'. 'Joyful' when you get mail and especially so when there is a care package from a love one, and 'disappointing' when there is nothing from anyone, even family, for weeks or months.
Then, in the category of 'seen it', there were the 'Dear John' letters which usually arrived three to six months after lobbing up 'in country'. In that case, the letters were either enraging or crushing depending upon the recipient's personality and emotional investment in the relationship. Alternatively, though not any better, the young lady in question got bored, moved on to a new relationship and just quit writing.
I saw a man have to take his release from the military just a few weeks into training because his wife "Couldn't take the separation"...I now look back and think it was as much that he couldn't take the training... Saw lots of that other.
I also received a box of chocolate chip cookies that could turn a bullet. Coffee does wonders though...
Yes, those of us that enjoy banana loaf can share in the greif...
Back then it was all hand written and sending a cassette tape was a hi-tech deal.
I think of the modern era with the wonderful convenience of Skype and Facetime. That is great. There is only one downside: There are going to be far fewer of those wartime notes left fifty years hence that will give the next generation a real feeling for the human side of war.
Bob