Love in a time of war

June 25, 1945
Dear Judy:-

How is my best girl today? Another day nearer the time. I'll be seeing you again and who knows it might not be so far off. Anyway darling I'm looking for a furlough were going to get married immediately if not sooner as we've wasted enough of our lives as it is. How about it, do you hope with me? Well I'm still on a hangover from my visit to Scotland, I sure wish you could of been with me, maybe next time you will. I'm hoping so anyway. Say, what color is your wedding dress? You know that is one " " interested in although I admit when I was home I was more interested in becoming a bachelor. So you see maybe my being in the army has done some good at least from out. How much I missed you and that by the way is more then you'll ever know. Well honey I'm afraid I'll have to close take care of yourself and I'll be seeing you soon.
Love and Kisses,
George


June 29, 1945
Dear Judy:-

How is my best girl today? Another day with you and you darling. Gosh how I miss you. I just wish I had you in my arms right now, you'd be sorry and don't mean perhaps. Well it won't be long now and then will come the happy day. Last night I went to the show and seen "The White Cliffs of Dover". You should see it darling it will give you some idea of England. By the way it hasn't changed much since the last war, the twins are exactly the same. They look like toys. Well darling I seen my service records today and it is marked limited service. So you can see my feet are in pretty bad shape. But not bad as that I can't walk with you to the Stratford and back. Gosh them were the days. The one thing I do miss though is bowling, say how are you coming along, bowl much lately. Well darling I'm afraid I'll have to close for now take care of yourself. I love you very much.
Love and Kisses,
George


I recently read a couple of digitalized letters from the site war-letters.com, original letters from World War I. These two specially caught my attention. The tone in which they were written can be easily compared to a love letter from today, yet the setting is completely different. I put myself in his place and gave it a little more thought on what his feelings would've been like. I found 4 emotions that perfectly described his situation, and I spoke as if I were him:

Loneliness. “I don’t know anyone here. It’d be nice to see a familiar face. I miss my family, friends, and specially Judy.

Concern.“I wonder if Judy is okay. Is she going to wait for me all this time? I hope she stays faithful to my love.”

Despair. “How much I wished I had control over what happens to us, about my future.”

Anxiety. “I can’t wait to see Judy. I wake everyday and she’s not here. I hope to see her soon.”

One feeling wandered across me as I read this letters: impotence. How lucky these two were to have each other, and how impotent I felt that they couldn't be physically together. More frustrating yet, thinking about their future and all the plans they had. I would've liked to know whether they made these come true or if distance and time brought them apart.

Nowadays communication is not even close to a problem. Anywhere you may be in the world you can find a way to send a message across. This was definitely not the case back in the 1940's, obviously. I can only imagine what their lives would've been if they had access to a cell phone, or perhaps a computer. What it would've been like if George and Judy could talk to each other through a webcam once in a while. How much would this have lessened George's frustration?