Letters from America's Wars

Based on newly discovered personal correspondence from the Revolutionary War to the Gulf War, this presentation brings to life vivid eyewitness accounts of famous battles, intimate declarations of love and longing, poignant letters penned just before the writer was killed, and heartbreaking "Dear John" letters from home. The best of these letters transcend the subject of war; they are about love, perseverance, honor, passion, and faith. Most were unpublished, many rescued from oblivion in attics and basements. Read by a live cast, they are illustrated with a blend of dramatic archival footage and photographs, evocative recreations, and images of those who wrote, and those who read, letters from American battlefronts. Letters were crucial; they were the only communication between men and women participating in a war and their loved ones. Reading a letter just received from a son, a girlfriend, a wife, a mother or father, or just a friend, was always the high point of the day. The very act of writing implied love and caring; feelings were expressed that rarely, if ever, would have been before the war, when life was ordinary. War Letters presents letters written over 200 years ago with those written in the last decade. The presentation reveals the spirit of the times and our American culture. One gains an intimate view of the writer's family, relatives and friends. The letters show the development of a philosophical view of the world, and a maturing. Together they are a character study of a young country coming of age, a life on hold until the war is over.

Based on "War Letters: Extraordinary Correspondence From America's Wars" edited by Andrew Carroll. Conceived, directed, and adapted for the stage by Phil Lauricella. Produced by Phil Lauricella & Don't Know Much About History Presentations.

War Letters is performed by a local Northern Illinois ensemble group of amateur actors & historical interpreters, who may also happen to be your neighbors. They are brought together by a love of history and those who experienced it. The program is live and each reading is supported by moving music and video of actual or recreated wartime footage. This hour long production is suited for mature school groups, Libraries, Veterans Groups or anyone who enjoys remembering our past.

The Letter	The Writer	The Resolution	Our Stage Presenter
KOREA "I'm coming home! It's official as of this morning. I am going to tell you now. You'll need a lot of patience with me. Patience, and, understanding."		When he returned from Korea, he went to work in his father's construction business, and started a family.
CIVIL WAR "...the acres of little shelter tents are dark and still as death, no wonder for as I gazed sorrowfully upon them, I thought I could almost hear the slow flap of the grim messenger's wings, as one by one he sought and selected his victims for the morning sacrifice..."		After the war, Clara Barton went on to found the American Red Cross.
WWI "We were all subjected to several different kinds of [gas] today, with and without masks... It sure is horrible stuff, honey."		Was wounded in France, but he did return home to his wife. He spent 36 years in the Army and was a regimental commander in World War II.
VIET NAM "I don't want to really get to know anybody over here because it would be bad enough to lose a man -- I damn sure don't want to lose a friend..."		Four days after writing his wife, he stepped on a land mine. He died three days later.
Civil War " every one of us could not refrain from casting a glance at the dying man who lay there trembling in every limb and the blood spirting from his nostrils and the wound in his forehead. In the heat of action such scenes do not much affect one but at a time like this it is awful indeed." "		Embree survived the war. He joined his father's law practice and worked there until he died in 1877.