Historians often recount the course of warfare in terms of major battles and massive troop movements, but the Orland Historical Society has a more personal mission.
“We’re trying to memorialize the life of the common soldier,” said Michael Lahti, a volunteer who is spearheading the society’s Letters Project, an effort to preserve the correspondence of Orland-area residents who have served in the nation’s military.
The Letters Project, a joint effort of the society and the Orland Park Veterans Commission, was inspired by the commission’s work in putting together a book titled “Lest We Forget–Orland Park Salutes Its Veterans.”
“They decided to write a chronicle of the veterans from this area,” Lahti said. Gathering the information and publishing the book were “quite a challenge,” he said. “That took a couple of years to put together.”
The book was completed in time for Veterans Day 2001.
“The point is the village wants to be very cognizant of what the vets have done,” Lahti said. The message to veterans, he said, is “not only do we recognize you now, we’re going to remember.
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“If we can pull it off, we’d like to do a second book, to be called `Mail Call.'”
The letters provide a soldier’s-eye view of military life, according to Lahti and Bob Elli, the society’s vice president who served in the Marine Corps in the Pacific in World War II.
“If you get enough of these letters, you can really get an insight into what people are thinking,” Elli said. “These weren’t generals. Generals are political; they’re always thinking about their careers.”
The memories of those who served are a key part of the historical record, Lahti said. “It’s something that’s going to be lost forever if we don’t collect” the letters, he said.
Letters often cast aside
“A lot of vets feel that what they have will be kept by their families,” but that is not always the case, he said. People move more often than they once did, and a father’s or grandfather’s old letters are often among the objects cast aside during the moving process.
The collection is “not limited to wartime correspondence,” Lahti said.
Veterans’ families can donate the letters if they wish, but “it’s not an either/or situation. We image the stuff.”
Images of letters written during the Civil War and World War I, along with photos of the young soldiers, can be seen on the society’s Web page, www.orlandhistory.org.
The society started collecting last June and ended up with some fascinating letters, but getting permission to publish, even by imaging on a Web site, is not always easy.
“The further you go back, the more willing the families are to give you the letters,” Lahti said. Letters from WW I veterans are the most plentiful, he said. Letters written by WW II veterans are often “still considered personal,” he said.
Communications from young people sent off to war follow a pattern, Lahti said. “In the beginning, it’s a grand adventure.” Then homesickness sets in, and they want to know what’s happening at home. One envelope is addressed to “The Best Mom and Dad in the World.”
“The feelings are the same,” said society member Mona Creer, whose husband, Clarence, served in England in WWII.
“I take my pen in hand,” wrote Pvt. Edward Cox, a Union soldier in the Civil War whose family lived on Harmony Farm on what is now West Avenue. He asked his sister, Martha, if she had enjoyed the round of spring parties. “Do you have Sunday school this summer?” he asked. “Sunday is a lazy day here. All the boys are either sleeping or writing letters. … Write soon and tell me all the news.”
Another letter from Cox to Martha, written in 1864, the year of his death in battle at age 19, expresses his support for the Union cause.
“We have been fighting for two years now and the hardest fighting is done if the men will turn out now and show the rebels that we are bound to make them come into the Union.”
Voice from the past
In 1917, before he left for the battlefield in France, Pvt. Owen Dawson wrote to Ella Loebe, a Red Cross volunteer, “I received the box of good things which you sent to me the day before Christmas. I was very pleased to get this remembrance from my home town. It helped to brighten the first Xmas away from home.”
Dawson, who was assigned to the 3rd Division, underwent basic training at Camp Hill in Newport News, Va. The society doesn’t know the details of his service in France.
Computer technology that is helping Orland Park history buffs preserve the aging letters of long ago seems to be making contemporary wartime communication harder to preserve.
Most of the people serving in Iraq appear to be using e-mails and phone calls to connect with family and friends at home.
“They call on the phone–they don’t write letters,” said Robert Tesmond, a member of the local post of the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the father of a Marine sergeant. “They get on the Internet.”
Gail Blummer, who is coordinating veterans outreach programs at the Orland Park Civic Center, said the village’s Employee Development Advisory Committee is going with the trend.
The committee and the Veterans Commission are planning to donate money to pay for phone cards for military people serving in Iraq.
At Park School in Orland Park, Principal Mary O’Sullivan said pupils in teacher Marge Gallagher’s computer class are sending e-mails to Gallagher’s son, who is serving in Iraq.
Though modes of communication have changed, the desire to help those in the military has not.
In WW I, volunteers working with the local chapter of the Red Cross knitted mufflers, wristlets and socks to keep the soldiers warm on the chilly European battlefield and wrote letters to warm their hearts with good wishes.
“It gives me pleasure to reply to your inspiring letter, also to thank you very sincerely for the muffler and pair of wristlets which you were so kind in sending to me,” George M. Yunker wrote to Loebe from Camp Grant in Rockford before he left for France in 1918.
Care packages for today’s servicemen in Iraq’s desert climate include phone cards, baby wipes to substitute for shower facilities and snacks to supplement dried military rations.
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Pupils at Meadow Ridge School and Orland Park Junior High School shared some of the letters of support they wrote recently.
Children show support
Meadow Ridge teacher Mary Wells, who started the writing project at her school, said she was inspired by the reminiscence of an 84-year-old aunt who had written letters of support to service people during WW II.
“It’s something that we thought was an important thing to do,” Wells said.
In a letter illustrated with a drawing of soldier and an American flag, Billy, a Meadow Ridge 4th-grader, wrote: “Thank you for protecting us. We believe in you. You are the best. Good luck.”
A 5th-grader named Jillian wrote: “Your family, my family and many others across the nation wish you and your troops as much luck as possible, we are confident in you. Don’t give up; you do make a difference in our country.”
Lauren, an 8th-grader at Orland Junior High School, praised the troops’ humanitarian efforts.
“One thing I noticed is that the soldiers from our country seem to try to treat the people of Iraq fairly,” she said. “I even saw a picture of one soldier carrying a wounded Iraqi soldier to a safe area so he could get medical help. This made me feel very proud of all our soldiers.”
Joe, a 7th-grader at Orland Park Junior High, wrote: “Thank you for all you have done freeing Iraq and protecting the U.S. I hope all goes well for you and your regiment and you stay safe. Have you seen any combat? Good luck!”
Support for veterans runs deep in Orland Park. The Veterans Commission was established in 1991.
Tom Dubelbeis, a former village trustee who heads the commission, said the commission has seven appointed members and nine ad hoc members, but “I kind of consider every veteran a member.”
“The intent of the Veterans Commission is that we really think violence and war are measures of last resort, and we want to make sure the men and women who risked their lives are treated fairly,” he said. Commission activities honor the “citizen soldier,” he said.
A candlelight vigil was held April 10 at the Orland Park Veterans Memorial next to Village Hall for those serving in Iraq. The commission also sponsors Memorial Day and Veterans Day ceremonies.
People wishing to donate letters to the Orland Historical Society Letters Project can obtain a donation form at the Village Hall, 14700 Ravinia Ave., Orland Park. The society requests one donation form for each letter and a photo of the Armed Forces member if possible. For more information, call Patty Vlazny at 708-403-6145.