*WW2, Dated 1944, V-Mail Letter from 1st. Lt. Ralph J Hallman to Pvt Sarah Hallman plus additional unused V-Mail*
This V-mail, from 1st. Lt. Ralph J Hallman 01049189 to his wife Pvt Sarah Hallman A920147 Co10, 3rd Regiment, Fort Des Moines, Iowa, is dated May 28th, NY (NY was one of two processing areas) and has a post mark “Des Moines, Jun 20th, 1944”. In it he tells his wife of his change of address due to a change in job “Not happy at all about the change as I’ve been with my own boys for so long“.
Later army records show that “Ralph Jefferson Hallman, United States Army, is reported to have been awarded the Silver Star under the below-listed General Orders for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action while serving with the 2d Armored Division during World War II.” The 2nd Armored Division, landed at Omaha Beach on June 9th 1944, operated in the area and were part of Operation Cobra. Its mission? Prevent the Germans to re-establish a line of defense.
Ralph J Hallman PHD – 28 December 1911 (Texas) – 21 October 1985 (California). Married Sarah Catherine Evans on 24 December 1938.
During World War II, Pvt Sarah Hallman was stationed at Fort Des Moines, Iowa, which served as the first training site for the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) and the Women’s Army Corps (WAC). The WAAC, officially created on May 15, 1942, allowed women to serve with the Army, albeit without certain benefits granted to male soldiers. Recognizing the success of the WAAC, Congress established the Women’s Army Corps (WAC) in July 1943, enabling women to be directly inducted into the Army with full benefits. Fort Des Moines played a crucial role, accepting 440 women, including 40 African American women, out of more than 35,000 applicants for the first officer training class.
V-Mail, short for Victory Mail, was an airletter system designed for Armed Forces correspondence during World War II. Americans, responding to the call to write letters to service members overseas, overwhelmed the U.S. Postal Service with a massive volume of mail. To address this, the government introduced V-Mail in 1942, inspired by the British “Airgraph” system. In V-Mail, letters were written on a form, folded, and sealed. The form was then processed at a center, where it was opened, photographed on 16mm film, and stored in a metal container. A roll of film could hold up to 1700 messages, weighing only 5.5 oz (154g), significantly lighter than a sack of regular mail containing the same number of letters, which would weigh 50 lbs. (22.5kg). The film was later processed at the destination to print photographs of the letters in a small envelope for the intended recipient. The V-mail system was used between June 1942 and November 1945, and over 1 billion items were processed through. Mail TO all military personnel was (and still is) sent to an APO (Army Post Office) or FPO (Fleet Post Office) address, at one of several military mail processing centers within the US. V-Mail service began out of NY (serving Europe and part of Asia) on June 15, 1942, and San Francisco on July 10, 1942 (serving the Pacific).
*Condition*
This letter is a slice of history and gives us a glimpse into the lives of the real men and women that served the war effort. Both the letter and the unused letter are in excellent condition. Please see photographs as part of the condition report.
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