A Soldier's Letter To His Mom Finally Arrived Nearly 80 Years Later
As Angelina Gonsalves absorbs the words on the page before her, she feels her emotions rising. The handwriting is so familiar, even though she hasn’t seen it in quite some time. The man who sent this note is dead now, and the words were written long ago. The world had changed a lot since Army Sgt. John Gonsalves sent this note from Germany in 1945, nearly 80 years before.
A young soldier
John had been a young man back then, serving his country during the horrors of World War II. He was just 22 years of age at the time of writing, doing his duty in Germany. It had been Christmas time when he had penned his note, which was intended to reach his mom back home.
A regular note
John’s letter to his mom was nothing out of the ordinary — he was obviously trying to give her the impression that he was doing okay. He informed her his health was generally in a good state, though he did admit he wasn’t enjoying the food available to him in Germany. All in all, though, he was fine.
“Dear Mom...”
“Dear Mom,” began John’s letter, written all those decades ago in Europe. “Received another letter from you today and was happy to hear that everything is okay. As for myself, I’m fine and getting along okay. But as far as the food… [goes] it’s pretty lousy most of the time.”
Love and kisses
John’s letter ended with all the affection you’d expect to find within a note written by a soldier overseas, missing his home and loved ones. “Love and kisses,” he wrote, “Your son Johnny.” And that was that, except for one last sentence. It read, “I’ll be seeing you soon, I hope.”
