The collection consists of 26 items, the majority of which are 14 love letters written by Staff Sergeant William H. Davis to his wife, Elnora Benford Davis of Detroit during his Army service between 1943 and 1945. Other documents include military change of address notices and visitation requests, union dues receipts, and a W-2. One ration book granted to Elnora Benford Davis contains a partial sheet of ration stamps for "BCN Cooperative." One snapshot photograph shows an unidentified African American woman, possibly Elnora Benford Davis.
The first of the letters, dated July 2, 1940, is written to Miss E. Elnora Benford ("Billie") during her visit to relatives in Milledgeville, Georgia, and references a violent encounter with "a white fellow." Subsequent letters written while Davis served abroad include requests for items from home, news of family and friends, and expressions of affection for "Buster." In his last two letters, he questions Elnora's faithfulness and ultimately agrees to end the relationship. The bulk of the letters were sent as V-Mail.
Staff Sergeant William "Bill" Harold Davis was an African American man born in Lyerly, Georgia, on February 2, 1911, to Laura Goree. As a young man, he moved to Detroit, Michigan, where he worked for Briggs Manufacturing Company before he was drafted as a private in the United States Army. Davis served in Company C of the 534th Quartermaster Service Battalion and was stationed at Camp McCain, Mississippi, before shipping overseas to Europe. Company C was stationed at Honeybourne Depot in the United Kingdom in 1943. He married Elnora Benford between July 2, 1940, and October 5, 1943.
Elnora E. Benford was born September 20, 1911, in Florida. Her grandparents were July Benford (1859-1922) and Elnora (Bonner) Benford (1861-1938), originally of Milledgeville, Georgia. She was raised in her grandparents' Macon, Georgia, home. By the 1940s, Benford resided in Detroit, Michigan, worked for Kuhn's Confectionary and Tea Room, and was a dues paying member of the Hotel and Restaurant Employees' Alliance, No. 705. Following her separation from William Davis, she married Henry Ray Sears. The couple resided in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where Henry Sears worked as a photographer and insurance agent and Elnora Sears as a nurses' aide. Elnora E. Sears died December 4, 2004.
