Monday, October 13, 2008

Mr. Webster's letter

I love watching war movies. In Saving Private Ryan in particular, the war scenes were too bloody, but what I find really amusing were the dying soldiers crying, and shouting "mommy!!!"

The Pacific War Memorial Museum was the second to the last stop of the Corregidor tour. We were only given 30 minutes here. While everybody was busy looking at the century old guns and ammunition on display, the letters below caught my attention.

They're from an American soldier named Webster. A very short letter but may have meant a lot. I managed to take a macro shot before we left. This is the first one, dated 10-15-44. Double click to enlarge.


And the second letter; written about three months after. Notice that "father" was omitted on the greeting. The hand writing kinda changed too, but the content; almost the same.


Initially, I was just amused by the greeting "Dear Mother". But the content reminds me of how one wishes to be home, especially during difficult situations.

Sadly, as revealed by the articles below, Webster, including hundreds of other soldiers, never made it home...

Webster's photos; below and third from left in the upper photo.


Seeing the war photos around the museum, then reading these letters, left me speechless for a moment. For the first time, I remembered my grandfather, whom I never get to know, and who happens to be a WW2 veteran also.

8 comments:

_ice_ said...

" i do not seem to think of many things else to say except that i hope to be home soon"

nakakatouch naman yan na line na yan.. ang hirap talaga pag away ka sa family mo.. cguro habang sumusulat sya naiiyak sya.. so sad naman yong mga ngyayari sa kanila..

The Scud said...

i think this is one if not your best non-personal post. parang gusto ko na rin ata magpunta ng corregidor. :-)

lucas said...

this entry reminds me of the song 'letters from war'... one of my favorite songs :)

letters from '44. that's really interesting. literature really survives the times, including those who lost their lives to write them and history...

Ely said...

ice, yah, like that line too. naiimagine ko din un, naiiyak habang nagsusulat, kaya siguro very short lang letter niya.

thescud, thanks! try mo din, it's worth it.

roneiluke, not familiar with the song, but read the lyrics; which says it all.

Ely said...

*roneiluke, i submitted my vote for the "Emo" contest, but i think it was rejected. dunno why. LOL.

_ice_ said...

ako kaya ely nag vote ka sa akin.. heheheh btw pag trip mo lang yong entry ko hehehe

Anonymous said...

*speechless for a moment*
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hindi siya nakauwi ng bahay ng buhay.... hahayyy...at wala naman siyang ibang na wish kundi umuwi diba?
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na amuse lang ako, yung stationary nya may sulat hapon..la lang ^^
-
wei

Ely said...

gagitos, honga eh, Theory ko lang siguro ung papel, galing sa mga Hapon, kasi prisoner sila. Kaya din siguro limited, tig-isang papel lang. :)