Nallenweg explained that during World War II the locations of troops were secret. How Whitemore was able to find the letter written by someone stationed in his hometown involved a bit of luck. (Courtesy of Rod Whitemore) Cracking open a secret Bernard Blankenbiller in May 1944, and Whitemore is seeking to connect with his relatives. William Moyer in Mohnton that was purchased by Rod Whitemore of Sherborne, England. One of the World War II letters written to Dr. “So they aren’t rare, but they are really sought after because people really love them,” Nallenweg said. “In 1945, 2.5 billion pieces went through the Army Postal Service and 8 million pieces through Navy post offices,” the National WWII Museum website states. V-mail is short for Victory Mail, a system that operated from June 1942 to November 1945 to expedite postal delivery to the troops, according to The National WWII Museum. “The government was advocating for it to happen and facilitating it to happen through V-mail.” Mark Gillen, founder and president of the Berks Military History Museum in Mohnton, noting it gave the servicemen a morale boost. “In any given war year there were billions of letters written,” said state Rep. Mark Gillen, founder and president of the Berks Military Museum, holds a piece of V-Mail at a World War II Field Post Office display at the Mohnton museum.V-mail is short for Victory Mail, a system that operated from June 1942 to November 1945 to expedite postal delivery to the troops. Moyer, whom Whitemore would later learn was the town doctor in Mohnton for many years.īILL UHRICH - READING EAGLEState Rep. The first letter he purchased on eBay was written by a soldier who was serving as an orderly in the Army hospital in Sherborne to a Dr. That curiosity started him on a trip down a rabbit hole that led him to Mohnton. Maybe he was one of those stationed at the hospital who wandered into the nearby pub called the Swan that his grandmother, Eileen “Joyce” Smith used to run. “On this particular day I saw a photo of this letter and it was from a guy who was stationed there and I noticed it was for sale, so I decided I was going to buy it from the guy who was selling it, who is in the states, actually.” “I went home and jumped on Google to do a little bit of research,” Whitemore, 46, said during a recent video interview. Army installation in an area of his hometown that he romped in as kid, and his interest was rekindled. He frequently passed what was left of the 228th Station Hospital, a World War II U.S. Little did he know that would lead him on a trail across the Atlantic Ocean to Mohnton. Rod Whitemore was taking walks in his neighborhood in Sherborne, Dorset, in southwest England back in 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic was raging.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |