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August 2, 2006

Kathy Poston's "World War II letters" presentation was extremely interesting, historical and personal insight into of the lives of her grandparents when they were a young married couple during the war.  The letters were kept by her grandmother for the rest of her life as a treasure of that time and not seen by the family until after her passing six years ago.   

Kathy has copied the letters and put them in a binder for sharing and also to protect the originals. 

Vincent Peltier went off to war in 1942 and wrote to his "Dearest Dot" almost every day for the next three years.  This covered training camps in the United States, the Normandy landing and the battle  through Europe until the end of the war.  He was discharged in 1945 and returned home to resume life with his young family.  Kathy stated he never talked about his involvement in the war but the letters have given her and her family a chance to get to know him as a young man during those years.   He died at age 65 so as a young girl she only knew him as a grandfather.  As with most young people grandparents are usually viewed as the older members of the family and somehow we do not think much about them being young.  The letters were a link to that past and she discovered he was a swimmer, a ping pong player and had a great sense of humor.  

Almost all the letters were about what was happening at home with his young wife.  During his training and while still in the United States he would share his daily activities with his wife and many times she would read them to family members.  Some were very personal and not shared. He was excited about getting his "Sharpshooter" rating by beating all but three other men out of 362.  He had to buy his medal for $2.65.  He pointed out that after buying the medal and some soap he only had 65 cents cash remaining.

After the invasion he rarely mentioned what he was doing.  Since his family was originally from Quebec and he spoke French he became an interpreter after the invasion.  He was with the 101st Division of the 214th MP Group.  Kathy said he would refer to "going to work" or "been working hard the past month" but never details of his daily life.  She did know that he helped liberate Dachau Concentration Camp. 

Contact Kathy for more information on this piece of family treasure.