ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

Hey Soldier! - A Letter From Grace April 15th, 1942

Updated on September 25, 2012
Scan of Actual Document
Scan of Actual Document | Source

April 15th, 1942

About This Letter:

From: Grace Bauer

To: Corporal George F Lutz

Company C

6th Training Battalion

Camp Wheeler,

Georgia

Letter Transcription:


Wednesday Morning April 15th (At Breakfast)

Good morning honey!

How are you? Will write you tonight but in the meantime here are the pictures I took. The dates are on the back of them.

Here I am writing to you and eating at the same time, but I want you to see the pictures you've waited for so long.

Be good, dear, and I'll write again tonight.

Love,

Grace

Editors Note: This is probably one of the shortest Hey! Soldier letters in the series. Unfortunately the pictures were not located with the letters so we have no idea what my grandfather got to see with this delivery. Despite a very short letter I wanted to address something that I have recently been thinking about. In a previous letter Grace mentions to George how he can reply to her at no cost because the postal service wasn't charging service men for their letters home. This also happened within my lifetime during Operation Desert Storm. Soldiers often times made up their own colorful illustrations instead of stamps. Rumor has it, the heat and humidity made actually applying stamps and keeping them stuck to the envelopes provided a logistical nightmare in the desert. Anyway, what about Grace's expenses writing to him? In a previous letter Grace mentions she was running out of paper, and even his parents seems to use every last inch of paper to get news back and forth.

Now I do realize there was a paper shortage and it was rationed in the US and in Great Britain in particular, but that is only one part of it. According to the postage stamp it costs 3 cents to mail these letters to George. I also see very few letters where additional postage was ever added. Notably when George received his tax documents from his father. I personally doubt the USPS had the resources to weigh each letter individually back then. But back on track, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics here in the US, accounting for inflation, that $.03 would actually cost only $.42 in today's money. Interestingly enough, mailing a similar latter via 1st class postage actually costs $.45 via the USPS. The one time so far where George's mother sent him a letter via air mail, the total price was $.21, or $2.97 in today's prices. Priority mail now costs at least $4.95 for a small letter.

In comparison, remember in 1942, based on the information George's dad sent him, the Federal government didn't require you to file taxes if you made less than $750 annually. George Claimed $694.50 after deductions for 1941, thats $9,815.84 today, or like making only $188 weekly in today's society. This is far from a minimum wage. George's brother Gene on the other hand mentions making around $18.06 in one paycheck for overtime, as well as having $50 to go spend one Friday night. He didn't make out so bad in comparison, that's $255.28 in overtime and $706.68 when he partied that weekend! Remember the husband of one of Grace's friends who was an airplane mechanic? He made $94 monthly, or $1,128 annually. Adjusted thats more like $1594.79, again, a far cry from what we would consider a great job nowadays, but was certainly enough to get by.

My point with all this is that I suppose with today's free communication such as texts, instant messaging, emails, and blog posts, it's easy to forget that people needed to actually make an effort to send these letters to George. It was truly money out of their pocket, if only a little here and there. Multiplied over the course of the war, the communications could really add up.


Scan of Actual Document
Scan of Actual Document | Source
Scan of Actual Document
Scan of Actual Document | Source
working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)