Letters

To  Sgt. James Buchanan Barnes
107th Infantry Regiment
New York Army National Guard
England, United Kingdom

Brooklyn, NY

Dear James,

The world is changing! I am not sure if it is somewhat connected to what you are doing over there, but the old-fashioned notion of a woman’s place in society has drastically changed. With Rosie the Riveter, the pop culture image of the woman is now that of a hard working citizen instead of a housewife. And that makes me so proud. It also makes me proud that I am actually a part of it.

Maybe you’ve heard, the president has called for rationing programs to guarantee at least a minimum amount of the most basic necessities to everyone, especially poor people. Well, and of course to prevent inflation. We were also asked to participate in rationing programs and to recycle all types of metal for scheduled scrap metal drives, because apparently we are running out of steel and other resources needed for the war.

Most workers already had an automatic payroll deduction, my dad told me. But now with all four of us working, we can still get by well enough. My parents have even spent most of their savings on those Liberty bonds. I am not too sure about this since they were saving all that money for when they retire. But apparently, that’s not that much of a worrysome detail for them at the moment. They say that they feel they are doing their part for the war effort. All for the war, right?

But there are also good things happening! Did I tell you about how my sister now works at a munitions plant? So, that company, Sperry Gyroscope Company located on Long Island, used to only provide ammunition of all kinds. Today, they make everything, guns, bullets, bombs, compasses, gun sights and automatic pilots, whatever that is. It is amazing how many different items are needed for the war. Now, until a couple of days ago, Sally was operating machines involved in the production of gun mechanisms but it seems as if there’s still not enough workforce. Now she is doing so much more… wiring fuses for bombs, filling bullets with powder, greasing gun barrels or painting those barrels at the final production stage before the guns were shipped over. Sally told me that in the beginning she would draw a little something on each barrel just to send some love and support to the soldiers but there is just too much work.

I am sorry, I am just babbling away, silly me! The mayor calls all of the women working at Sperry Cyroscope’s his Bombshell Beauties. And now, you couldn’t have guessed it, he took all of them to a show of Captain America! Have you heard of this Captain America? He is our new symbol of hope for peace. Sally said the show was magnificent. There were dancers and Captain America knocked Hitler out. Of course, it was not the real Hitler, it was an actor. She even got an autograph! And she says he is cute!

I wonder who this Captain America really is. He seems to be so much more than Rosie the Riveter. Well, for one he is a real person, and he looks quite charming in his starred and striped blue-red-white uniform. It seems as if he just popped out of nowhere but honestly, nobody really cares. Everybody just gets really happy whenever they see him on TV or in the ‘papers. Some people say that he is some sort of beacon of hope? But is he really a soldier? Or just an actor like the guy who played Hitler? Nobody really knows. I haven’t seen him myself, only on posters, and as you know, I am barely home to watch TV to see one of those shows.

I did see however that there was an airstrike led by American soldiers in England.

Please, James… At least drop me a line or two to know that you are doing well! I miss you very much. I am looking at the picture from the ‘Times right now, from the Stark Expo. Of course, I had to keep it. It’s basically the only thing I have left of us.

Please…write me.

Lots of love from home, Connie