Victory Mail
During WWII, military leaders claimed that letters from home boosted morale more than battlefield victories. Waiting for those letters—whether at home or overseas—was agonizing. Hand-written letters competed with food, fuel, and equipment for cargo space on ships. Victory Mail became the solution. V-mail used special stationery, a combined letter and envelope. Workers reduced V-mail letters to thumbnail-sized images on microfilm. Upon arrival at their destination, personnel enlarged the microfilm images, copied them onto special paper, and delivered them to soldiers. The final product, a miniature image of the original letter, resembled a photograph and was 4 ¼” x 5”.
Most people didn’t like V-mail because they didn’t want strangers reading their letters, but V-Mail use increased greatly as the war went on. A 16mm reel of microfilm could contain 18,000 letters. The reels of film went by air and could reduce the point-to-point delivery time to one week.
Correspondents used 8 ½” x11” V-Mail stationery like that shown below. To ensure compatibility with Kodak microfilm machines, paper producers standardized the dimensions, layout, weight, and grain. Customers could get only two free sheets of V-Mail stationary per day at the Post Office, and they had the option to purchase more at stores.
This video (2:17) from the Smithsonian illustrates the process: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WR8cBKhgELc
My grandmother wrote to my father as he was serving as a combat medic in France:
November 12, 1944
“Dear Richard,
I don’t usually like V-mail so much, but no two letters were ever more welcome than the ones we received from you today. It was exactly a month since you had written from an eastern port. It’s too bad you were so seasick but you have had the great experience of crossing the ocean. Also, from what you say, your appetite was not affected very long!”
Featured Photo: A V-Mail my Dad wrote from France Nov. 1, 1944.
More than one billion V-Mail letters were delivered between June 1942 and November 1945. In spite of censorship, V-Mail sent between military personnel and their loved ones relayed their daily struggles, love for each other, and the urgent request for more mail, more often.
A few years back during the social time before one of my book talks, a young woman handed her aunt a V-Mail letter. The V-Mail was from the aunt’s father. The young woman mentioned that her mother had discovered it while cleaning out the attic. The aunt opened the V-Mail, started reading it, and suddenly burst into tears. Overcome with emotion, and embarrassed in front of her club members, she apologized saying, “It’s the only letter I’ve seen from my Dad during his WWII service.” The powerful reaction of this woman touched everyone in attendance.
Having read hundreds of my father’s WWII letters home, I knew how she felt. I treasure each letter that he sent home as well as the letters his family and friends sent to him. He saved them all. Those letters are the foundation of my book about his experiences—Waiting for Peace: The Journals & Correspondence of a WWII Medic.