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Inventory

World War II Letters of Sergeant John H. Bowman
Dates:  1941-1942
Accession Number:  20041027C
Donor:  Patty J. Goodwin
Description:  Two letters (photocopies) in a file folder

Content and Scope of Collection

This collection contains photocopies of two letters from John H. Bowman to his mother during World War II. 

The first letter is dated December 8, 1941 and describes Bowman's experiences of being under attack from Japanese bombers and machine guns at an unspecified location.  Bowman mentions that it was, “not very bad here compared to the airfields and Pearl Harbour.”  This letter appears to have been written on regular paper

The second letter is dated November 14, 1942 and sent from San Francisco, California.  Bowman tells his mother that he has been accepted to Officer Candidate School in the Army Air Force. 

The second letter was sent as V-mail. In the V-mail system, military personnel would write a letter which would then be reduced to microfilm at a central clearinghouse and then sent to the United States where the microfilm would be reproduced on sheets of paper labeled “V-mail” and mailed to their destination.