Letters & Notes
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World War I
Chaplain’s copy of a moving condolence letter written to the father of a killed Soldier in France by British chaplain Gordon W.B. Stott, 7 August 1916.
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Letter to Rev. Donald Mackinnon of Maine from The Adjutant General’s Office dated 8 August 1917, requesting proof of U.S. citizenship (author’s collection).
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Letter from Chaplain D.H. Browne, 305th Infantry, AEF, to the wife of Lieutenant A.M. Agler about his death and funeral, 19 December 1918.
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Letter written by Chaplain T. J. O’Connell, Knights of Columbus Chaplain serving with the 82d Division, AEF, 6 March 1919, to another K of C chaplain searching for details surrounding a Soldier’s death (author’s collection).
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A letter to Major General William Haskell from Chaplain Francis Duffy, after his retirement, 15 January 1932.
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World War II
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Just prior to the United State’s entry into World War 2, the Fort Myer Post Chaplain, John C. W. Linsley, requested permission to purchase a “Western Union electrically synchronized clock” for the Post Chapel to be paid for from the Chaplain’s Fund, 28 October 1941 (author’s collection).
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Christmas letter sent home to the family and friends of the 57th Signal Battalion by the chaplain, Charles B. McConnell, 1942 (author’s collection)
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LG Patton’s famous Christmas message to the Soldiers of the 3rd Army in 1944. (copy of an original, author’s collection).
Chaplain James O’Neill, LG Patton’s chaplain, wrote this prayer at the request of Patton and it was printed on the reverse of Patton’s famous Christmas message to the Soldiers of the 3rd Army in 1944. (copy of an original, author’s collection). Chaplain O’Neill’s account of his interaction with LG Patton about his prayer can be found here: http://www.pattonhq.com/prayer.html
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Christmas card from Chaplain William J. Maloney of the 121st Medical BN, Americal Division, 1944. At the time, they were on Bougainville Island in the South Pacific (author’s collection).
Inside of a Christmas card from Chaplain William J. Maloney of the 121st Medical BN, Americal Division, 1944. At the time, they were on Bougainville Island in the South Pacific (author’s collection).
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Postcard size Christmas greeting card from Chaplain Elmer N. Bentley, with a picture of him sitting on the bumper of what looks like a 1942 Willy’s MB (author’s collection)
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Chaplain note-helping Soldiers, 7 June 1945 (Author’s collection)
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Letter written to the mother of a returning seaman upon discharge from the Navy following the end of WW2, with gratitude to her sacrifice as well as his. Sent from the U.S. Naval Personnel Separation Center (enlisted) at Great Lakes, IL, by USNR chaplain A.G. Riggle, 2 April 1946 (author’s collection)
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Letter to a parent of a trainee of the U.S. Maritime Service, sometime between 1942 and 1954, when Sheepshead Bay was a training station (author’s collection).
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Korean War
Letter to a mother of a Marine in training at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego requesting baptism records, by Catholic chaplain, 16 January 1952 (author’s collection).
The Chaplain Kit 