The "Letters from Home Club"

In 1944 and 1945, Sandusky had a “Letters from Home” club. Members sent a monthly letter to more than 2000 men and women in military service during World War II. Pictures of the officers of the club appeared in the July, 1945 copy of letter sent out from the club. Mrs. Harrison W. Pratt was the president, Mrs. W.A. Carnes was vice president, Mrs. J.L. Sampson, Jr. served as secretary, and Mrs. Frank D. Schneider was the club’s treasurer. The letter included details about the potluck held at Lions Park, at which Cpl. Kenneth Stauffer spoke. An article which appeared in the September 11, 1943 issue of the Sandusky Register Star News reported that people in military service listed “letters from home” as what they most desired, followed closely by snapshots from home.  In June of 1944, serviceman Bernard Palmer wrote back after he read a letter sent to him from the club: 

“Out here in the South Pacific a fellow is always glad to hear from the folks at home. This is a land of perpetual summer. All these tropical islands are spots of everlasting green on the beautiful blue Pacific, but regardless of all this, give me dear old Sandusky, the best spot to me on all the earth. Walking down Columbus Ave. is just another thing to you people, but to us, and I mean all of us out here, it would be a privilege worth everything.”

One of the activities of the “Letters from Home” club was a baby contest in which local residents voted for the favorite son or daughter of Sandusky men and women in the service. Below are a few of the young boys in the contest.

 

Here are some the young ladies entered in the baby contest.

Besides the baby contest, the “Letters from Home” club also had contests in which they selected a pin-up girl and a pin-up grandmother. If you would like to read a copy of one of the letters from home, stop by the Reference Services desk.