I feel strongly that letters are journals. They are journals unbound and shared through the mail. In honor of Veteran's Day, I'm making my journaling inspiration of the month about Veteran's letters, and in particular, about two "journals" of sorts that share some of these letters with the world.
I got this idea from
a story I heard today on the PRI radio show,
The World. The story highlighted two blogs that both feature historical letters sent to family from Vets of WWI.
The first blog features the letters of an English soldier and WWI veteran,
Harry Lamin. Harry's grandson, Bill, has been posting Harry's letters that he sent home during the war exactly 90 years after the date that Harry wrote his letters. The radio show indicated that the letters reveal a very personal portrait of one man's experience in the war. I've looked at the blog a bit and I confess I'm hooked! I want to read it like a novel. Lucky for me, Bill mentioned on the radio that he is working at translating the blog into a book.
Harry's blog inspired William Hills and his daughter Carol to start their own
blog, featuring the letters of an American WWI Vet, William's dad, Paul Hills. These letters also look to paint an intimate picture of WWI. Fascinating and I look forward to reading it in more detail.
Do you have old letters or an old journal from a passed loved one sitting around in an attic somewhere? Maybe you've got a blog to start...
Or at the very least, maybe you could honor these letters by finding a beautiful box to put them in. Then get the box out of the attic. Put it out and show it off. It'll be worth conversation.