The collection is comprised of letters, postcards, and greeting cards written to Gladys and Creighton Garesche by service men and women and also by their son and daughter in-law. The letters range from 1941 to 1949 and are arranged chronologically. The bulk of the letters date from 1944 to May 1945 during World War II. There are also three photographs that were enclosed with letters. There are no letters from 1942, June 1945, or September 1945. The first letter, 2 October 1941, is from Gladys to her son, Winston, while he was training at Fort Eustis, Virginia. The remainder of the letters are addressed primarily to Mrs. Garesche, but also to Mr. Garesche, or to both. There are two exceptions: two V-Mail letters addressed to Winston (“Gary”) from Lt. Malcolm J. Graham (15 Apr 1944, 24 Apr 1944, f.5). In many of the letters, the writers thank Mrs. Garesche for sending them a box of homemade fudge. She sent fudge all around the U.S. and to the countries around the world where American troops were stationed including: India, New Guinea, England, France, and Germany. Mrs. Garesche also sent books and other goods in care packages. Her correspondents included young men and women that she knew but also some of whom she did not know. A list of correspondents appears at the end of this finding aid. Most of the letters are not long but they often reveal in one or two short paragraphs what the writer was doing for the war effort or their thoughts on the war. It is interesting to have so many different services and perspectives on World War II. Envelopes appear with the letters, providing date information and also the return addresses, which reveal more about how/where each correspondent served in the armed forces. There are several V-Mail letters in the collection, especially as the war moves into 1944 and 1945. Only one letter is an original, 3 May 1945 (f.15). The remaining V-Mail letters are the small copies printed from the microfilm that was used for the program. It is also evident Mrs. Garesche placed the letters in this collection in an album, due to the glue and paper adhered to the back of the envelopes and cards. For many of the correspondents, there are only one or two letters in the collection. However, one of Winston’s friends, Capt. Richard (“Dick”) Kneisel wrote to the Garesches regularly and shared his views on the war. His wife, Marg, also wrote and sent a photo of their young son, Craig. The letters follow Kneisel from 1943 to 1945 as he transferred to bases around the country, then overseas to New Guinea, and safely home again. He missed the birth of his son in June 1944 and tells the Garesches in August 1944 that he had just received his first photos of the baby. Kneisel wrote of camp conditions, his duties and promotion, the difficulty of being away from home, and encountering friends from home stationed nearby. There are letters from four women who served in the armed forces: Harriett Beach (WAVES), Maxine Coats (USMCWR), Eleanor Wingaris (74th General Hospital in England), and Carolyn T. Kastes (57th Field Hospital in Germany). Harriett Beach wrote two letters in October and November 1943 in which she explained her training at the Naval Training school and at Iowa State Teachers College (f.2). Lt. Maxine Coats wrote the lengthiest and most informative letters. She shared how she and her friends celebrated Christmas while being away from home in her 29 December 1943 letter (f.2). In her 8 March 1944 letter (f.4), Miss Coats explained her duties on base in San Diego and her role in the battalion review celebrating the first anniversary of the Women’s Reserve (USMCWR). She worked in the base recruit depot and found the number of young officers leaving every few months for deployment to be upsetting. Her final letter on 23 May 1944 tells of her new duties on base and how she and her roommates, Lt. Marie Ryan and Lt. Florence Caliendo, spent a weekend away from base (f.5). There is only one letter each from the Eleanor Wingaris and Carolyn Kastes, presumably nurses, who were both in Europe. On 10 April 1945, Kastes write of the current conditions for the hospital with she worked and her attitude toward the German people (f.14). Wingaris writes from England on 8 May 1945 of the celebrations that are occurring in London (f.15). There are many personal anecdotes and observations in these letters. Some examples include the letter of Arthur Roden, the Garesche’s nephew, who writes from France on 12 March 1945, that he and his buddies attempted to make fudge by melting their chocolate bars (f.13). Eugene (“Gene”) Marron writes on 4 February 1945 of bombing Germany and seeing the devastation of the bombs on London (f.12). In a V-Mail dated 26 March 1945, Ed Deal tells of the unexpected bonus that he called “the combat liquor ration,” a bottle of John Haig whisky (f.13). The final two folders in the collection contain letters written to Gladys and Creighton from their son and daughter in-law, Winston and Betty. Most of the letters date from May through October 1949 while Winston was stationed on Guam. The stationery used by the correspondents stationed in the U.S. is varied and reflects where they were stationed. Presumably, the stationery was made available for purchase at the bases. Eugene L. Marron, Gladys’s cousin, wrote to her from Flexible Gunnery School at Fort Myers in Florida in May 1944 (f.6). The second letter’s stationery is headed by caricatures of a pilot and a gunner. Friends of Winston’s stationed in Lakeland wrote a thank you note to Mrs. Garesche on colorful stationery with images of planes and balloons and the phrase, “U.S. Army Air Forces in Florida,” on both the letter and its envelope (f.4). A Christmas card sent by Major Edwin Bugbee from Corsica is illustrated with planes flying through the sky, a white star in the center, and a sprig of holly in the corner (f.10).