Above top: This card from the Ninth Infantry Division depicts troops gathered in a battle-damaged church for Christmas services. Above: On the inside, humor takes center stage, highlighting where the 9th had served and noting slyly that Paris was “off limits.” December 1944.
FDR loved everything about Christmas. Annual traditions like reading “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas” to his family marked Christmas Eves in Hyde Park and the White House. He hosted a Christmas party at the Library each year for staff and during the war for the 240th military police battalion which protected the President, the Library, and his estate for the duration. The Christmas parties were festive, featuring music, carols, and gift exchanges. A tree from FDR’s farm would grace the Library lobby.
President and Mrs. Roosevelt with family at the 1943 Christmas party in the main exhibition room here at the Library. During the war, FDR and Mrs. Roosevelt hosted two Library parties each year to account for military police on and off duty.
The general public sent Christmas cards in abundance, many of which were retained and found a home in the archives. The cards provide humorous and often moving testimonies from everyday citizens. This is especially true of cards and notes from service members during World War II, especially that last Christmas of the war, 1944. Some were homemade and hand drawn. Others were created by specific units and sent individually or by a group of soldiers, sailors, or flyers. They represent a cross section of our fighting forces.
The sense of camaraderie is apparent in almost all group cards. Here, the “radio gang” of the USS Corregidor sent a Merry Christmas message to FDR.
Many Christmas greetings made their way to FDR in the form of v-mail. For victory mail, the services censored and photographed the original letters, removing locations or other sensitive data inadvertently included, and then transported them back home in the form of microfilm. They would then be developed into a standard size and delivered to the intended recipients. V-mail greatly reduced the bulk and cost of shipping letters home from overseas.
Above: A stack of 1944 v-mail holiday greetings to the President.
Above left: One Chicago soldier sent a hand drawn portrait of FDR from somewhere in Italy in 1944. Above right: V-mail still in its original envelope. In the cellophane address window, to the left appears the censor’s stamp. As the postmark shows, this holiday v-mail didn’t make it to the White House until after Christmas.
Christmas “Greetings,” often a play on the standard government draft notice which began with “Greetings,” showed great humor which might surprise some today. Others evidenced a touching and understandable longing for home. All together, they fill one with the Christmas spirit and hope for an ever better new year of possibility and promise, peace and goodwill to all. Enjoy this selection-each a record of its time, each of great value.
With an emphasis on “Greetings,” the First Tank Battalion Armored Division gave a nod to Uncle Sam’s draft notices in 1944.
Above top and bottom: Simple Christmas cards from an American “yank,” “somewhere in Germany,” and a South African flight squadron which served over Italy. December 1944.
Above: From somewhere in Germany, Gun Crew Number Six stopped “just long enough on ‘The Road to Berlin'” to send Christmas greetings. The “road” reference probably is a nod to the immensely popular “Road” movies of the era starring Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, and Dorothy Lamour. December 1944.
Above: Private John Sullivan of the Spearhead Division wished a Merry Christmas to FDR as well as good luck for his forth term. He added a view shared by all Americans–“let’s get this thing over with in a hurry!” December 1944.
Above: Soldiers in Europe wished the President a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year in this card which featured a soldier waving a holly branch from atop the Eiffel Tower, December 1944.
Above: four GIs sent this cartoon, “Dreaming of a Right Christmas,” not a “white” one, with a handwritten note “next year,” during the Battle of the Bulge, December 1944. One of the signatories, Bobbie Phipps, would be killed in action six weeks later.
Above: Meteorologists aboard the USS Enterprise sent a humorous card with their heads superimposed over cartoon figures, December 1944.
Above: A good example of a v-mail form prior to photography. This message, with its re-election congratulations, was probably sent stateside by regular mail, December 1944.
You must be logged in to post a comment.