Writing as much as I can
Ebner responds to his mother's desperate plea for more letters, and his oldest brother's (Will) apparent chastisement about the "dearth" of letters.
Lots of Love on Valentine’s Day
Lisi Gartz, my grandmother, struggles again with English, writing in her tortured spelling and syntax to Ebner, her youngest son, who's in basic training at Keesler Field, Mississippi. She enlists my mother, Lillian, to take over midway through the letter to help with the writing.
In charge of 200 men…
The War Department started an Aviation Mechanics school at Keesler Field, which was activated in June 1941. "The first shipment of recruits arrived at Keesler Field on August 21, 1941. Many stayed at Keesler to become airplane and engine mechanics, while others transferred to aerial gunner or aviation cadet schools."
My troubled heart
Elisabeth (Lisi) Gartz, Jan. 1943 Ebner’s mother was undoubtedly finding that writing her son in English was so difficult, she fell back to writing to him in German. Below is a translation into English of what she wrote, [...]
Slow Starvation?
Ebner’s best buddy, Frank Von Arx, wrote him on Feb. 2, 1943. Seventy years ago today, Von Arx’s mom took her turn filling Ebner in on the home front. She reports her mother is dying. I’ve edited the letter for [...]