How the hell did soldiers exchange letters between their families during WWII?

Answer 1

by Mail

Answer 2

Writing letters home and receiving letters by soldiers was recognised as one of the great ways by governments to maintain morale in a war which was brutal, savage.

After writing the letter, i imagine the letters would have been given to the Officer in charge and sent by despatch back to the support units, and made its way back to the transports by plane or ship direct back to the U.S.

From there - if the ship was not sunk or the plane shot down - the despatch would have been received by the central office of intelligence and edited for any remarks giving away sensitive information etc etc - and then after editing would have been sent by local mail to the families.

Receiving letters from families would have been much more complicated in terms of time delays - if the soldiers had not moved or been transferred or killed in action or presumed dead.

Would be interesting to hear the views of any veterans on this question - of any war.

Answer 3

They (American soldiers) had "V-mail", an ingenious system to expedite letters to and from the home front. The "V" was for "Victory". The American brass KNEW the moral advantage of letters from home, so they devoted resources in ships and planes to make sure there would be letters going both ways to bolster the morale of the men. V-mail letters were made from a light, thin paper that folded over to make its own envelope. This way huge numbers of letters could be transported with minimal weight. The mail from the soldiers was censored by officers to make sure no military secrets were divulged in case the letters were captured in transit.
Good question. You might try a search engine like Yahoo or Google to check for further info on "V-mail".

Answer 4

It was encouraged that soldiers write home in both WW1 and WW2. When not in combat operations, the soldiers were supplied with materials to post letters. The letters were collected by the NCO's and brought to the units headquarters. They were forwarded through channels to a military censorship group to be sure no military information was included. The mail was collected in bulk and shipped back to the USA on freighters and sometimes on warships returning to the States. It sometimes took months for a piece of mail to get through. Sadly, sometimes a soldier was dead before it did. The families sent mail back through APO (Army Post Office) or the American Red Cross. There were Millions of men in service in WW2. Many letters are available in archives and museums to see and many millions more in attics and family bibles. War is a sad story. Always was, always will be.

Answer 5

Germany had extra useful equipment, however the U. S. had extra useful coaching. that is how the U. S. grow to be waiting to defeat the Nazis AND the eastern. In war you in basic terms use and enemy weapon once you have no longer have been given something, or you be responsive to the thank you to field strip it. the U. S. infantrymen did no longer be responsive to the thank you to field strip German weapons like an MG-40 two. So, they does no longer be waiting to apply it very long because they are able to't sparkling it properly. American infantrymen might take and save small palms like hand weapons and what no longer. yet, each and every thing else grow to be stockpiled at US militia Bases. After that, I think of the captured weapons might the two be stripped down for areas, destroyed, bought, given away, or saved.

Answer 6

They wrote back and forth, believe that or not, just like today, with a pen and or pencil and paper. I have a box load of letters that my father and mother wrote to each other for over two years, they wrote to each other almost every day. My father by the way was isolated in the Siegfried line for over 82 days under heavy German fire, he received a unit citation for it. He never missed a day, he saved all the letter for those days and sent them at the same time. He loved my mother very much.

It's hard to read them without crying.

P.S. and, by the way, he had a 128 Brownie camara and took many pictures of him and his friends. In battle.

Answer 7

It was called Victory Mail. They were not charged postage. In World War I they called it Liberty Mail.

Answer 8

There was a postal service for all troops. It was considered very important for morale. Although all mail was censored before delivery

Answer 9

The US mail follows the troops.

Answer 10

B17 or b24 would come in and pick it up and Fly off to mail them