Letter home can be seen at Town Point Park Norfolk
Virginia
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=3475
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=3475
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| Andrew Allard's letter was written Feb 11, 1777, REVELATIONAL WAR |
February 11, 1777
Loving Wife,
My regards to you and our children, hoping
These few lines will find you all in good
Health as through the goodness of God...
As for news, I have nothing strange to
Inform you at present, only that I went
Out a scout one day this week along with
Lt. Willson, eleven more, and we all
Had a chance to come across the Light
Horse. I am a little distance from the
The rest of our men had liked to have been
Taken by them, but through the goodness
Of God, I got to the rest of our party and
We made a stand and we kept them back
None hurt upon our side. We lie in four
Miles, of the Hessian lines, and we use
They every other day. My love to all my
Friends, so I remain your loving Andrew Allard.
Andrew Allard
d. August 23, 1777
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| Sullivan Ballou wrote on July 14, 1861, about CIVIL WAR
Civil War Union Army Officer
He served as a Major in the 2nd Rhode Island Volunteer Infantry. On July 14, 1861, Ballou wrote an eloquent letter to his wife predicting his death. He was wounded at the First Battle of Bull Run on July 21 and died from his injuries a week later. His sentiments in the letter became famous and were quoted in Ken Burns' "Civil War" documentary.
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July 14, 1861
My Dear Wife,
The indications are very strong that we shall
move in a few days, perhaps tomorrow, and lest I should not be able to write
you again I feel impelled to write a few lines that may fall under your eye
when I am no more...I have no misgivings about or lack of confidence in the
cause in which I amen gaged, and my courage does not halt or falter... Sarah,
my love for you is deathless. It seems to bind me with mighty cables that
nothing but Omnipotence can break and yet my love of country comes over me like
a strong wind and bears me irresistible with all those chains to the
battlefield. The memories of all the blissful moments I have enjoyed with you
come crowding over me, and I feel most deeply grateful to God and you that I
have enjoyed them for so long... If I do not return, my dear Sarah, never forget
how much I loved you...
Sullivan Ballou
July 21, 1861
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| Robert A. Baun wrote on April 3, 1943, about WWII |
April 3, 1943
... A guy gets in some serious
thinking out here... Sometimes when I
happen to be walking along alone, say for
instance at night, I stop and say, "Well,
Bob, you are in a heck of a fix. What are
you doing here? Do you remember how
you laughed at the idea of ever bearing
arms...? It's the fellows that have gone
before us who make us willingly bear
our burdens. Dear God, spare our lives.
for we are young and love life so much.
This is just a short incident in a fellow's
life, I tell myself, and soon it will be
behind me and I will have forgotten it,
and settle down among you all again.
....This is one game I'm going to beat,
I know. When I played baseball I never
wanted to sit on the bench, always
wanted to play the whole game. And here
too, I'm going out every time, and while
too, I
I'm playing this game, I'm going to play
hard, and win.
Robert A. Baun d. April 1943
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| Bertram Arnold Bunting letter written Jan 17, 1968
BERTRAM ARNOLD BUNTING MAJ - O4 - Army - Regular 20 th Eng Bde Length of service 10 years tour began on Jul 9, 1967Casualty was on Feb 12, 1968In, SOUTH VIETNAMHostile, died of wounds, GROUND CASUALTY GUN, SMALL ARMS FIREBody was recovered Panel 39E - Line 2
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January 17, 1968
My darling wife-
As this day draws to a close, I can only
think of you. Possibly I'm just emerging from
the R&R haze in which I've been enveloped for
these past weeks. Until now the detail of our
the meeting was all so clear: I could still hear your
of your absence is upon me; I know all too well
this feeling: I lived with it for the many months
before December. My only hope is that I can
survive this attack of my imagination upon my
sanity.
When we met again I can promise you that
there will be no wasted moments. Every minute
spent with you will be nothing less than a gift,
to be cherished. I have found that it isn't
necessary to always do: talking, eating
walking, dance, and swimming. There are many
times when I want only to know your presence:
to hear you moving around, to see you next to
me. There are many ways of living-perhaps
the simplest is the most satisfying.
Bertram Arnold Bunting
d. February 12, 1968
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| John Chilto letter written in 1777
John Chilton was Captain of the Third Virginia Infantry Regiment in the Revolutionary War. He was mortally wounded in 1777 at the Battle of Brandywine but refused to be carried off the field until the battle was over so as not to discourage his men.
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My dear Friends,
....We are on our guard and our men seem resolutely bent to give them a warm reception at the meeting... There were three ships and a tender lying opposite the enemy's camp about a mile below our lowest lines, within these two days two more and a tender have joined them. What or when we shall be ever ready to receive their attacks as men fighting for Liberty should do...
.... We had between 50 and 100 killed and wounded; the enemy about 300... On one side of the field of battle is a steep, rocky, precipice, where we imagine they threw many of their dead as the buzzards and ravens resort to that place constantly.
.... I begin to think that mankind when engaged in warfare are as wary and timorous of each other as deer are of men and the boldness of one party increase as they find the other fearful.
John Chilton
d. Sept. 11, 1777
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| Meyer Davis, Jr. Letter written 1943 WWII
Meyer Davis Jr was the son of well-known orchestra leaders and was himself a violinist. He enlisted in the Navy immediately after the attack on Pearl Harbor. A petty officer second class, Davis was listed as missing in action after the sinking of the destroyer BUICK in 1943 off Salerno, Italy just before his 21st birthday.
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....We got a submarine today!! There is almost no chance that we missed, and the crew is already cutting notches in their belts...
....In effect, it is just another rehearsal with the addition of sound effects. The fact that men die below us doesn't really come into the mind, they just happened to have the misfortune to be inside the sub when it went down. Essentially, we are killing submarines, not men- - if they want to have the bad judgment to be in the vicinity that's their hard luck.
Perhaps the foregoing is only a rationalization of an uncomfortable feeling that today I helped kill some men that had wives and sweethearts, mothers and children.... but I have to try to be quite ruthless or I won't be much use in this war.
Meyer Davis, Jr.
d. October 9, 1943
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| KIA Gulf WarOn February 27, 1991, John Wesley Hutto died during Operation Desert Storm in Iraq at the age of 19. He was a(n) Private First Class for the United States Army. John was born on August 03, 1971, and was from Andalusia, Alabama. |
January 31, 1991
Mom,
....I really do love you and miss you a
whole lot. Can't wait till this war is over so's I
can come home. May not get to write you for a
while, but rest assured of three things. (1)I'll
be home soon as possible. (2) I will write you
every chance I get to let you know that I'm still
kicking you know what. and (3) I love you more
than words, at least the ones I know, can say.
The Army ain't the life for me you can bet your
bottom dollar on that one too...You know
something else all of my dreams are about
some time after the war. And I believe that that
is a sign that I will survive. 'Cause other people
have dreamed about the war and seldom dream
of home or life after this war, which are the only
two things I dream about. The only two things, I
remember were another dream I had where I got off
the plane at Hunter and you, B., and D. C. were
real not to come true, too real.
Gotta go for now.
John Wesley Hutto
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