“Letters of a World War II Airman” shares original letters to and from my uncle, Frank Ebner Gartz, from 1943-1945, tracing the course of WWII, life on the home front, and the evolution of a neighborhood kid into seasoned airman.
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, [...]
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 [...]
Here's a letter from Frank Von Arx to my uncle. Frank Von Arx was two months older than Ebner, He enlisted and took the train to Camp Grant on 12/12/1943, for basic training, same place Ebner would go in January. Most of Ebner's friends were training for the war, bonding a generation in shared experiences.
Will Gartz, Harlem Airport, 1943-1944 Writing Ebner became focal point of Gartz family life. Here’s a letter from the oldest Gartz brother, Will. Born in 1913, he was eleven years older than Ebner. Age 29 when Ebner was [...]
My grandmother's letters to her son were written in a foreign language—English. Lisi Gartz's schooling back in Austro-Hungary, before it became Romania after World War I, only went as far as the fourth grade, so even in her native tongue, spelling and grammar had never been mastered.