When my father died in 2011, I was given the box of letters he had written to his mother and father during WWII. Albert Whitney Wallach started writing on his way to Boot Camp and ended with a telegram announcing his arrival home. He wrote often. He loved his mother and she was worried about his well-being and survival. Reading the letters was the beginning of a conversation, answers to questions that were never asked out loud. My father enlisted with his parents’ permission at the age of 17. He was a boy and had to figure out how to become a man while serving in a war.
For the last several years, I have been transcribing the letters so they could be shared, resulting in the publication of Love to All: Letters Home During WWII by Albert Whitney Wallach. I contributed the introduction I read the letters over and over again and each time I had to stop because I was filled with emotion. In my mind’s eye, I saw a boy, filled with curiosity and wonder, wanting to be important, wanting to do the right thing, confronted with the reality of war, at times feeling frustrated and finally longing to come home. He was everyman and no one at the same time.
Whit Wallach had a life of service. The letters shared things he learned while a private in the Marines and later had to reconsider. I will share stories from the letters and his life, insights and remaining questions about the cost of sending boys to war.
Join us!
Sunday 9 June 2024
Potluck dinner begins at 6:00 p.m.
Please bring something to eat or drink
Chris begins sharing at 6:45
At the home of Cami, Sheila, and Alden
739 Harvard Avenue in University City
