WW2 Era Letter Written by Navy Sailor to an Unknown Lady Thanking Her For Donating Magazines For The Servicemen.

[Heartfeltzero]

This letter was written by a Boyd Burr Baldwin. He was born on October 15th 1918 in Pasadena, California. During the war, he served in the Navy onboard the U.S.S. Karnes, which was an Attack Transport Ship. He was writing to a lady he didn’t know, thanking her for donating magazines for the servicemen to read. The letter reads:

“ Somewhere in the Pacific
June 15, 1945

Dear Mrs. Smith :

Have you ever wondered where those magazines you donate for the benefit of the armed forces end up? This letter is to tell you where one went- namely, a march 5th issue of Time.

I am a crew member of an attack transport. Ours is a comparatively new ship, having been commissioned in December of last year. Since February we have been operating between Pearl Harbor and islands in the western Pacific such as Eniwetok, Saipan, Ulithi, and more recently Okinawa. Our mission completed at the last named island, our ship was fortunate in being ordered back to the west coast for a brief layover. During our stay there, a service organization delivered magazines to us, including yours.

Today a buddy and I were relaxing, each reading a back issue of Time. Noticing your name on the mailing sticker, I commented to my buddy that I wondered if the folks who donated those magazines have any idea where they go. I said it would be nice to write and tell them. He thought that was a good suggestion and he would write the original owner of his magazine (another Menlo Park resident) and I would write you. So that explains why you are receiving a letter from a sailor you never heard of.

Perhaps you have heard how service men read and pass on magazines until they are ragged and worn out, and I can assure you this is true. We have a pretty hard time finding magazines to read during the long, spare hours and if it wasn’t for persons like you, we sure wouldn’t get much reading done.

So please accept my thanks and those of many other fellows for your kindness. It really helps and we certainly appreciate it.

Gratefully-
Boyd Baldwin
USS Karnes “

Boyd would survive the rest of the war and return home. He would pass away on June 8th 2012 aged 93. He is buried in the Riverside National Cemetery in California.