modern history lost to future historians

[duffrey]

Hi all: I am a writer and it has occurred to me that we are in danger of losing some of our most valuable sources of military history, namely the letters that soldiers write home from the battlefield. I recently published a collection of war letters from Americans fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan and it became apparent then that the vast majority of the "letters home" were in fact, emails... many of which are then lost when the yahoo (or whatever) account is closed or goes dormant after the soldier returns home.

Letters were preserved in shoe boxes and the like for centuries now, many examples can be found in our national archives and in private collections and museums, but the modern soldier does all his communication via cyberspace... I encourage all families to print out and preserve the emails from their loved ones who serve overseas!

I am now writing a book similar to the last, which will be exclusive to the Canadian involvement in Afghanistan, I encourage all soldiers or families to contact me who might be interested in having their letters in the book.

You can see more about me and find a link to contact me at my website duffreysigurdson.com or contact me through the forums.

I would be interested to hear others thoughts on this predicament too... all you historians and archivists out there!

regards, duff sigurdson

 

[orange.paint]

Hi all: I am a writer and it has occurred to me that we are in danger of losing some of our most valuable sources of military history, namely the letters that soldiers write home from the battlefield. I recently published a collection of war letters from Americans fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan and it became apparent then that the vast majority of the "letters home" were in fact, emails... many of which are then lost when the yahoo (or whatever) account is closed or goes dormant after the soldier returns home.

Letters were preserved in shoe boxes and the like for centuries now, many examples can be found in our national archives and in private collections and museums, but the modern soldier does all his communication via cyberspace... I encourage all families to print out and preserve the emails from their loved ones who serve overseas!

I am now writing a book similar to the last, which will be exclusive to the Canadian involvement in Afghanistan, I encourage all soldiers or families to contact me who might be interested in having their letters in the book.

You can see more about me and find a link to contact me at my website duffreysigurdson.com or contact me through the forums.

I would be interested to hear others thoughts on this predicament too... all you historians and archivists out there!

regards, duff sigurdson

I think what your doing is great.However I believe you will find most soldiers a bit hesitant posting true feelings,family problems,love letters in a book for all his peer's/country to read.Are you also worried the ones who do give you letters are editing the work to make it appear different than it original context?This in my opinion is why WW2,Korea letters stayed sealed in boxes for years.And prove such a TRUE and accurate snapshot of that time.

 

[duffrey]

I do agree with your observations on privacy, many soldiers don't want to hang it all out there, but some do. I work with each soldier individually to select the letters which best tell the story of his or her tour, that avoids any embarrassment straight away! I don't change a word of the letters and in fact I had huge fights with my editor and publisher when they wanted to correct spelling and grammar in the last book!

We had a National Guardsman in our book and my editor complained that he sounded like a nerd, well, he was a nerd, he worked at one of the biggest computer companies in America and he is a citizen soldier torn away from everyday life, what? He should write like Hemingway?

I wanted and got it all VERBATIM into the last book. I don't comment on the letters other than to provide a chapter that puts them in historical (and historically accurate) context. I don't criticize, analyze or proselytize! My only contribution is the introduction and the background material (units and regimental history etc), and the effort to put it together! You make of it what you will, but it is intended to be a "scholarly" work and as such, I won't tamper with it or manipulate the contents. If there is something in a letter that makes the soldier uncomfortable, we don't use the letter, period and too bad for history...

I can't say if soldiers pre-edit the letters they contribute, but I doubt it because I usually get them as photocopies or original documents. I am sure some private letters are not handed over and that is okay, military historians don't really need to know the details of the romantic letters. Email is a bit harder to say, and like the handwritten letters, some private emails are likely to be held back. Blogs by their nature better be honest because all soldiers have buddies who read them and know the truth! A better question is do ANY historical letters tell the "truth"?

The letters are just daily observations for the most part. I did have one hardcore Marine in the last book who gave me all his letters including the mushy romantic stuff and it is a great chapter. He loves his wife and child so much, and he shows it, and in other parts of the letters you KNOW this guy is a natural born killer.

I will say that soldiers in my day were pretty uneducated and unaware of the big picture of global politics and conflict. Most soldiers today are very aware of the world around them and are well educated, so although the letters are similar in content to the letters of WWII (for example), the letters today are richer in content I think.

For any one concerned on any of this I can say that I have VERY good references and the last book featured a foreword by the former Chief of Staff of the US Army, General Dennis Reimer. I also provide contact details for the soldiers who were in my last book so my Canadian contributors can speak with them about the experience of being in a book and working with me.

I am very conscious of the fact that Soldiers don't like journalists (Christie Blatchford excepted!) and I always introduce myself as a writer and amateur historian for that reason! I am ex-PPCLI so hopefully that will win me some small measure of trust, and although my career was short and undistinguished, I am proud of my service and would never participate in a project that would stain the reputation of our soldiers!

regards, duff

 

[reccecrewman]

I actually made a point to write at least one letter a month to my wife in my own handwriting and sent it home via snailmail for just the reason you speak of.  I wanted something that I knew would be kept by her that someday my grandchildren would be able to read, even though I sent her e-mails quite frequently.  It is a terrific endeaver that you are undertaking with your efforts at preservation of history.

Regards

 

[Roy Harding]

I actually made a point to write at least one letter a month to my wife in my own handwriting and sent it home via snailmail for just the reason you speak of.  I wanted something that I knew would be kept by her that someday my grandchildren would be able to read, even though I sent her e-mails quite frequently.  It is a terrific endeaver that you are undertaking with your efforts at preservation of history.

Regards

When my wife was on tour, I was at home with three little ones (Sergeant Dad, so to speak).  I bought a WHACK of those "Thinking of You", and blank cards with nice pictures on them.  I made a WHACK of mailing labels.  Every morning, after breakfast, my three boys and I would write a little message to Mom, slap a mailing label and a stamp on it, and walk down to the mailbox to drop it in.  She got mail EVERY mail call!!  When I was in Banja Luka in 00/01 I did the same thing in reverse - sending her a card obtained at the Dutch PX EVERY day.  (Couldn't do this on other tours - no easily accessible CANEX/PX at that time, in those places.)

We recently moved, and I accidentally discovered shoe boxes FULL of these old cards (some filled with some quite embarrassing missives of the "romantic" kind.)  She'd kept every damned one of those things.  She's got them hidden away again, and when we eventually get taken out of this place (feet first - a LONG time from now), our boys will probably be open to giving these things to an historian.

In the meantime, while I'm still alive, you can't have 'em - I'd die of embarrassment over some of the contents!!


Roy

 

[duffrey]

We used many wonderful groups in the US to contact soldiers, MarineParents.org was a big one and it was wives in many cases who said "Honey, let's do this book thing ." Soldiers being soldiers go along with orders... BTW I am eager to get female soldiers in the book. I think that however it plays out in Afghanistan, Canadian women in combat will be one of the major historical markers for Canada in regards Afghanistan. I wonder if young soldiers think it remarkable that women are fighting with them shoulder to shoulder or if it is just me being old!

On a side note: There is no turning back for the military, women in combat are here to stay and it will be interesting to observe this new breed of warrior in the coming decades! I have just finished a great volume called "A Writer at War" which is a collection of the private notes of the great Russian war journalist and novelist Vasily Grossman. He comments at length on the valor and skills of Soviet women in action. I highly recommend the book to anyone interested in that period. The editor of the journals is Anthony Beevor who wrote the definitive account of the battle of Stalingrad.

regards, duff

 

[3rd Herd]

On a side note: There is no turning back for the military, women in combat are here to stay and it will be interesting to observe this new breed of warrior in the coming decades! I have just finished a great volume called "A Writer at War" which is a collection of the private notes of the great Russian war journalist and novelist Vasily Grossman. He comments at length on the valor and skills of Soviet women in action. I highly recommend the book to anyone interested in that period. The editor of the journals is Anthony Beevor who wrote the definitive account of the battle of Stalingrad.

regards, duff

Carrying on the side note. I do not believe that Beavor's account is the definitive. Right now I have eight different authors sitting on my shelves all about Stalingrad. Add in about fifty or so journal articles and personal biographies. Each gives a unique perspective on the battle, but without full access to Russian archival sources the chances of the definitive treatise on the Battle of Stalingrad is a long time coming.

Back onto the thread topic. Several universities have developed on 'oral history' format. In the format the respondant is asked to fill answers to a designed questionnaire. These have been very interesting from both a research point of view and a method of recording what happened when, where, and why. Respondants are encouraged to review any of their correspondants from the time period to assist in completing the "oral history".

edit: fix oridginal post