This collection contains 14 V-mail letters that various soldiers (12 items) and a navy nurse (2 items) wrote to correspondents in Poughkeepsie, New York, from 1943-1944. Recipients included Dean H. Temple, then receiving mail at the Poughkeepsie YMCA (5 items); Mr. and Mrs. Carl E. Lewis (4 items); the Poughkeepsie YMCA (3 items); and others (2 items). Most writers were members of the United States Army serving in England and Africa; these men discussed their travels, their eagerness to participate in combat, their leisure activities, and other subjects.
Norris DeRonde's V-mail letter to the Lewis family includes "Mystic India," a poem copied from the military newspaper CBI Roundup. The poem pertains to aspects of military service and life in India, and DeRonde added his own comments on native attire. Navy nurse Alice St. John discussed her difficulty finding in apartment in an unspecified location and remarked on weather patterns while serving at Base Hospital #2. Two items are pre-printed holiday greetings showing a soldier smoking by a palm tree (Christmas 1944) and a nativity scene (undated).
Carl E. Lewis worked at the Warring School in Poughkeepsie, New York, around the mid-20th century; he and his wife corresponded with United States servicemen and at least one navy nurse during World War II. Dean H. Temple resided at the Poughkeepsie YMCA during the early years of the war and also corresponded with soldiers.
The soldiers who wrote these V-mail letters served in various United States Army units in Europe, Africa, and Asia; the only female writer was Alice A. St. John, who was a nurse at United States Navy Base Hospital #2 in 1943.
